Future Retro XS

credo · 2013-09-13T13:17:02.000Z

I have the FR XS standing close to my MD and MnM. I bought it a few months ago and haven’t really used it so much yet. I do love the flexibility of the layout and the really mean sound of it.

So, I’m curious if there are any others out there with a FR XS. How do you integrate it in the Elektron studio setup? What are it’s main duties in your production workflow?

kuroichi · 2013-09-13T22:39:48.000Z

I used to use my MDUW to sequence it, while feeding samples from the MD through it.

vasculator · 2013-09-15T16:50:37.000Z

i have one that i sequence from an OT. the key to that synth seems to be watching the mixer levels. they overdrive (very nicely) after about halfway giving it the ‘mean’ sound. i actually sold my A4 and get the XS and i’m very happy with the sound of it. especially the square.

Barfunkel · 2013-09-16T07:20:11.000Z

I had one for about 2 years. Didn’t really gel with it, and it didn’t compliment the Monomachine I had very well. IMO, it’s sound is too hard (and yes, I did lower the oscillator volumes), but I do understand that for other people it might be exactly what they need.

Now I have the A4 and it absolutely destroys the XS in every possible way. 4 tracks, FX and sequencer for the same price? I’d choose the A4 any day of the week.

speak_onion · 2013-09-17T17:29:15.000Z

I also use an XS with the OT, and I really like it. I often sample the XS and layer it with itself. The big weakness of the XS is its LFO (narrow range of rate, rate isn’t modulatable, not many ways to modulate LFO depth), so to get interesting modulation, I often crank down oscillator B into the LF range. This leaves only oscillator A as a sound source, but that plus the multi-mode filter makes it easy to create layers that fit together in a sampler (OT or a softsampler).

It’s also just so damn good at percussion, probably because of the nice mixer saturation and fast envelopes.

vasculator · 2013-09-17T20:55:26.000Z

""speak_onion"":

I also use an XS with the OT, and I really like it. I often sample the XS and layer it with itself. The big weakness of the XS is its LFO (narrow range of rate, rate isn’t modulatable, not many ways to modulate LFO depth), so to get interesting modulation, I often crank down oscillator B into the LF range. This leaves only oscillator A as a sound source, but that plus the multi-mode filter makes it easy to create layers that fit together in a sampler (OT or a softsampler).

It’s also just so damn good at percussion, probably because of the nice mixer saturation and fast envelopes.

nice! that’s a very good trick. i also wish osc A had a sine like osc B.