Sonicware Liven XFM Prototype - Demo 6 - Morphing Soundscape

video by ChrisLody

"I'm back with another XFM solo demo, this time I've gone for something a bit more relaxed, an ambient soundscape that uses the morphing capabilities of the XFM.

The aim was to create a cinematic sounding ambient jam here, so there's lots of big chords flying around and a lot of modulation to get things moving.

Track one uses the X-LFO engine with a random LFO setting to morph rapidly between two pad sounds. Track 2 uses the X-FORM engine which morphs between two sounds over time. The pitch lock function is turned off here which gives that ring-mod like sweeping sound. Track 3 uses the Library engine which plays back the presets are they are stored but allows you to tweak the overall feedback level and attack setting. This sound uses a 'feedback web' as I started calling it when I was designing it which means all operators are fed into each other which can create some wild sounds. Track 4 is also set to Library but every step has movements of the preset sounds saved into it and the track is set to only trigger it's notes 25% of the time which gets lots of bleepy randomness. Plenty of the different types of filter are used to control the sounds over time and shape them together into a whole."

See the Sonicware label below for more.

Sonicware Liven 8bit Warps - Audio Looper Tutorial

video by ChrisLody

Sonicware Liven XFM Prototype - Demo 5 - Dub Techno

video by ChrisLody

"Time for another XFM demo. I built a very glitchy preset pattern for the XFM last week so I went into the studio intending to make something like that, but as soon as I made the filter pad chords I got distracted into making some Dub Techno. Not a genre I've really tried before but it works really well on the XFM

Both the percussion tracks on this have lots of modulation of their source sounds and some probability thrown in so the hits won't always trigger so there's plenty of glitchiness there. They are both filtered so a bit of tweaking adds some interest there too.

The other two tracks are both built from the DSTR (Distorted Pad) and B.TRP (Bright Trumpet) sounds that I made which creates a nice noisy waveform. The pad is filtered with the band-pass filter opening and closing with the envelope while the noisy lead sound uses the high-pass filter which almost gives a distorted electric guitar sound to my ear. It makes for a nice dark mood but with a worn sound to it somehow. The pan control is automated on both of these tracks too to widen the sound. Lovely stuff"

Sonicware Liven XFM Prototype demos

Sonicware Liven XFM Prototype - Demo 4 - Adding Layers Live

video by ChrisLody

"This is something I'd planned to play in a stream at some point and still may do that as a demonstration as it shows how live elements can be added to the Liven XFM tracks live

So when the sequencer starts to play the synth engines, sounds and setting are already loaded in but only the bass has been programmed. You'll see me punch in some rhythms for the drums then unmute that track so it plays. I then use the Parameter Lock to change step 15 to a clap and set the reverb level for the clap on that step only. I then real-time record the slightly unsettling pad sound and play the lead live.

The sequencer also offers non-realtime step sequencing as another way of entering note information which is how the bassline was programmed in which is done in the same way that I programmed the drums, but I'll save the details of that for a tutorial video"

See the Sonicware label below for more.

Sonicware Liven XFM Prototype - Demo 3 - Bass and Strings

video by ChrisLody

ChrisLody Sonicware Liven demos

Sonicware Liven XFM Prototype - No Filter Funk

video by ChrisLody

"The Liven XFM Prototype in this video was supplied by Sonicware (obviously 😁)

It's time for another Liven XFM Prototype demo, but a slightly different prototype than in the last video. If you do a direct A/B comparison with that one you'll see there's a lot of moving around and renaming of functions that have been done since the last one, of course with accompanying firmware so it all works the way it should. A few new things have been added including LFO delay to pitch which I wholly of.

To clarify, I've been hired on a freelance basis by Sonicware to make preset sounds and loops, plus promotional videos like this.

This demo started out as an attempt to make something a bit more 'traditionally FM synth' sounding. It technically is because I haven't used the filter at all on this, but I got really carried away playing with all the probability based triggering and effects so this is not very traditional sounding FM at all, again! I'll make some nice gentle ambient on it at some point, maybe 😄

So the bass-line from the 4th pattern onward is using probability based triggering for some of it's notes which gives a great amount of variation. Some of the drums are using this too to give a bit more of a human feel. I'm using the X-Lab manual morph function to morph between the Flanged Bass preset (which I love!) and a Bright Trumpet to add some noise. I'm also using the tone control in places to soften the sound, this is a manual control that lowers the level of feedback on all the operators. Then we get into the effects. There's a single send effect that can be saved with each pattern but each track has it's own send amount. First is overdrive, then a super short delay, bit crusher (♥️), chorus, flanger then back to delay. There are other effects to chose from but I was having the most fun with these on this track.

I had an absolute blast making this is has to be said. As with the last track this was all made from the pattern editing mode of the XFM without resorting to making any new preset sounds as there is plenty that can be done by combining and tweaking sounds without having to do that. I could have spent a lot longer fiddling around and refining patterns, but I've got deadlines to meet 😁

Btw, the gloves. I'm not cold but I did slip over on some ice on the way to the shops and managed to punch the tarmac on the way down just before I was going to film this so my knuckles are a bit bloody, and I don't think that's a look to go for here!"

Sonicware Liven XFM Prototype - Brass and Acid Jam

video by ChrisLody

"The Liven XFM Prototype in this video was supplied by Sonicware (obviously 😁)

Err.....surprise! I have a Sonicware XFM prototype in the studio. Why do I have an XFM prototype? Well, I feel very fortunate to have been hired by Sonicware to produce sounds and patterns for the XFM as well as beta testing this prototype. I've had it since January the 11th which is why my channel has been a little quiet recently, but I'm now allowed to share this first quick jam 😊

I've mainly spent that time doing sound design for the 'library' FM sounds on the unit. I'll have to be careful to not talk about too much what hasn't been announced but it has a fully editable 4 Op FM synth engine so I've been creating sounds for that, some of which is in this video. Everything you hear in this video is being produced by the XFM in real-time (apart from a limiter in Reaper to get the volume up for YouTube) with FM synthesis as the main sound source with the option to use filters, envelopes and lfos on through the pattern edit mode making it a very powerful hybrid of FM and virtual analog before we even consider what can be done with morphing. Don't pay too much attention to the text on the front panel as a few things have moved around since it was printed, a new version is on it's way to me as of this morning.

The opening brass sound is pure FM using the X-Form mode that can switch and/or fade from one FM sound to another. The acid line uses the filter and envelopes and I also manually tweak the morphing of the waveform between two different sound. You'll also hear drum sounds (my work 😎) which are pure FM apart from a little filtering used as EQ's. All in all this jam isn't very 'FM sounding'. It can do that in spades but the morphing, filters and effects etc means it capable of so much more. So much more!

There is a lot to discuss about the XFM which I'll talk about more as I upload more videos. But in short it's a really good synth with a lot of power, a lot of options and an incredibly unique tone that you'd struggle to create elsewhere. Yes obviously Sonicware are paying me, but I'd just bought this I'd be equally impressed with what it can do, honestly!"

Volca Sample, Modular, NTS-1 & Liven 8Bit Warps - 576i Acid - Jamuary 17th 2021

ChrisLody

"The Liven 8Bit Warps in this video was kindly supplied by Sonicware

Today I decided to take a break from the sound design job i've been hired to do (yes, really :) to actually make some music.

So for this Jamuary jam I thought it was about time I explored the Liven 8Bits Warps potential to make lofi acid, and a strange lofi acid it makes too :D It's got almost all the right ingredients, a resonant Low Pass filter, a sequencer with pitch slides of a sort (they're actually pitch sweeps but they do the job), and velocity in the place of accents. The only thing it's missing is a filter envelope so the 'Parameter Lock' function fills in for that here which is automation. Values recorded far from each other will slide in a linear fashion rather than jump so some filter sweeps can be made. Plus twiddle the cutoff while the automation plays and it will jump around some more. Also adding Bit Crusher makes it take on a vocal quality that I love. The reverb I've used on it is it's built in reverb

Elsewhere I have a one wire patch on the Korg Volca Modular playing through ensemble, delay and reverb on the NTS-1 for a sort of string sound. The Korg Volca Sample is loaded up with Korg X5 drum samples including a sleigh bell that I threw in for some reason

Today's projected random footage is from my own family and includes cars, horses, planes and some shots of our burned down family business for good measure. Keep an eye out of my VW Beetle. Looks kind of okay from that side but it was completely burned out inside.

This was a bit of a nightmare jam btw, I must have tried about 8-10 times to get it right but I kept blocking the projector or things were out of focus etc, even on this one the reverb is too high at the beginning, ah well, it'll do."

Korg NTS-1 & Liven 8Bit Warps - Boating Lake Ambient - Jamuary 10th 2021

ChrisLody

"The Liven 8Bit Warps in this video was kindly supplied by Sonicware

I'm super late with Jamuary and I suspect I'll be a little busy this year with other music based duties, but I'll try to join in where I can

This jam came about after experimenting with the midi out on the Liven 8Bit warps which sequence external devices, it also accepts audio from external devices though a stereo 3.5mm socket so it seems like a pretty good match for the Korg NTS-1 seeing as it has no sequencer

The 8Bit Warps sends sync, note and CC data from any knob or recorded knob movement, though I couldn't really find any midi CC's that matched up well with the Korg NTS-1 (cutoff for example is a different midi CC) so I stuck to adding a bit of variety by hand to the notes sent from the 8Bit Warps sequencer

The patch playing on the NTS-1 is 'Milk Bottle' from my recent NTS-1 Megademo video. The rest of the audio is synthesized on the 8Bit Warps then recorded and played back from it's built in audio loopers.

The video is some found footage of a boating lake I found on some mini DV tapes in an auction lot"

Polymetric Techno - Sonicware Liven 8Bit Warps Demo

ChrisLody

"The Liven 8Bit Warps in this video was supplied by Sonicware

So here's something a bit more techno that I've jammed out on the Liven 8Bit Warps. I learned 3 things about it while I was making this. 1. It's damn good at polymeters, 2. It's good at synthesizing clap sound, 3. I discovered a method of making analog sounding kicks

The Liven 8Bit Warps is equip with a sequencer that can have up to 128 steps per pattern set out in 16 steps and 8 pages. That in it's self makes it a bit of a monster sequencer wise but it also has a looper that records audio fed into it from the sequencer which is then played back in sync, but brilliantly there is nothing to stop you having these loops being a different length to the main sequence. So basically it's supports polymeters :) It is also capable of poly rhythms because the note length of each sequence can also have dotted and triplet notes assigned to it. I tried to use both in this jam but it sounded a bit messy! So I'll save polyrhythms for another video

I made the clap sounds pretty much by accident. I was aiming for a sharp snare sound made with the FM engine which is easy enough to achieve, but then I dialed in some rapid flanger and this clap sound emerged. It was better than the sound I was aiming for so that stayed :)

For the kick sound I discovered that a fully DC offset custom waveform fed into the highpass filter with maximum resonance and a cutoff setting of around 1 makes some absolutely lovely analog kick sounds. A click is produced by the DC offset acting like an exciter and the peak of the filter acts like a resonator. You can still use velocity to control the volume of the DC click so I've programmed some ghost notes in this 4/4 drum pattern to give it movement. The way these are synthesized is in stark contrast to the crunchy 8 bit drums it can also make. Expect a tutorial on all that soon"

Ambient IDM - Sonicware Liven 8Bit Warps Demo

ChrisLody

"This jam explores the filters quite a lot on the 8Bit Warps. It has resonant Low pass, High pass and Bandpass types and this jam uses all three of them. There's Low pass on the drum/percussion sounds and bass sounds, High pass on the melody part and Band pass on the pad like sound. The filters are best of thought of as effects rather than normal subtractive synthesis filters, they are monophonic per part and can't be controlled by an envelope, though there is a control to route the onboard LFO to it, though it has a fixed triangle shape and no tempo sync.

But they can be meticulously programmed per step using the Parameter Lock feature so every step of a pattern can have it's own cutoff and resonance settings. It's also possible to record the knob movements in real-time which is how I created the shifting Band pass effect on the pad, so there's plenty of scope for sound design here. Team that up with making evolving tones using the wave-table or FM synthesis methods and it sounds like nothing else. Good stuff

This demo was made using one pass of the Liven 8Bit warps without any other external equipment used, except to capture the performance."

Sonicware Liven 8 Bit Warps - Incredibly Dark Cinematic Pad

ChrisLody

"I feel very lucky that the lovely people over at Sonicware have sent me a Liven 8Bit Warp to write some promotional material with. I'm still exploring what it can do but I've been very impressed so far. It's available here: https://sonicware.jp/

So here I'm exploring the FM engine to make pad sounds, a man can it do the dirtiest pad sounds! It has only a few controls for the FM engine, 6 in total if you don't count the common controls for envelope etc, but that still packs in the unusual ability to control the modulators oscillator frequency with an LFO, that's what you're hearing as the tone shifts around slowly as I play.

The only reverb used here is the built in 'INF' reverb which is quite bright so that helps the top end shine. To my ear this almost ends up sounding organic in nature, which is pretty special considering it's one of the least analog piece of equipment I could have built this pad sound on."

Sonicware Liven 8 Bit Warps - Chiptune Jam

ChrisLody

"I'm very excited that the lovely people over at Sonicware were nice enough to send me a Liven 8 Bit Warps for free so I can make them some promotional material with it. I've spent a few days playing around with it and I've been really impressed with what I've seen so far.

At it's heart the Liven 8 Bit Warps is a wavetable synthesizer and sequencer designed to emulate the sound chips in old 8 bit computer and consoles like the Nintendo NES and Gameboy. All it's oscillators are built from tiny wavetables on just 32 samples long so they have a really gritty sound, they are even editable through the front panel by hand.

There are 4 different synth engines including an FM mode which is how I have made the drums for this track, with some harsh modulation and plenty of programming.

It has another trick up it's sleeve too which is a 4 track audio looper meaning I can load a pattern, record it into the looper and play it back along with other loops and/or the live pattern loaded into the sequencer. So plenty to build whole tracks, I have much more to explore too!"