Agreed. This is my workflow as well.
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I put in my preorder, so we shall see. Iāve been really interested in the last couple of Livens because I feel like they present the configuration of synth parameters in really interesting ways. The concepts of the synth engines here or in the Ambient Ćø are refreshing to me. Iāve spent a lot of time making drones and the synthesis model on the Ambient Ćø captures a lot of my philosophy on them. On the Evoke Iām looking forward to trying the backtide modulation. Sometimes seeing something presented in a different way expands your creativity even if you could have achieved a similar result another way.
Having had my hands on these guys for short demos a couple of times, they are definitely built to a price, but I think thatās part of the innovation, if you will. You can go out on a limb and get more people to go along with you if the price of admission isnāt too high. By way of counterexample, I got to play the Kodamo Mask a while back and it is super high quality and sounds amazing, but I have to think harder about whether thatās going to be satisfying to me over the long term vs buying something thatās more of a known quantity because it is an expensive full-size keyboard.
Iāve seen a lot of used E-MU product in the shops around here. It moves a bit slowly, but it does move. I think there has been a bit of a rompler backlash - if youāre into synthesis and not, say, playing wedding gigs, you probably want to design your own sounds. Plus thereās a zillion VSTs and soundfonts and things filling the rompler gap. You can buy soundfonts/NI stuff of the E-MU stuff online pretty easily and the hardware sounds good but is a bit of a liability in the way that older machines can be. I had one die on me while I was demoing it, which made me more realistic about investing in them.
My suggestion for the next Liven would be a new take on those koto synths you see around. Thereās already a family resemblance in the form factor.
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found this demo from someone new, i like the sounds in here. still pretty moody and soundtracky but feels like you get a bit more of a taste of the synthier sounds.
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I love the sounds coming out of these boxes but itās one brand where I wish they made a VST where you could just buy the different engines that resonated with you. I donāt want 7 cheap-ish feeling boxes that all have the same layout. Seems wasteful for anything but live performance. Make a generic mid/high quality one as a controller and let us load engines if you insist on dedicated hardware.
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Sonicware mirrors E-MU not in build or legacy, but in strategic intent: a modular, genre-specific product line tailored to a defined user group. Same structural logic, recontextualized for a different era and economy.
Regardless of how one feels about the build quality, I think Sonicware deserves credit for offering a surprisingly wide sonic range across devices ā few companies today cover that many distinct musical aesthetics in such a compact lineup.
And honestly, if you can look past the hardware feel or interface quirks, a couple of these boxes have real cult potential within their sonic niche ā but that often gets drowned out by endless comparisons to other gear or plugins.
I still use my E-MU Command Station with multiple ROMs (Orbit 3, Xtreme Lead, ā¦), and I wouldnāt trade it for anything. A true sleeper for deep sound design. And yet many people saw (and still see) it as an ugly-looking box.
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havent gotten a chance to check this out fully yet but from the quick skim i did it seems as if this is the demo ive been waiting for. lots of notes on the process in the video description
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these are available at Perfect Circuit now, i cancelled my sonicware order and got one coming from Perfect Circuit. hoping to have it around before the holiday weekend
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mines been shipped, hoping those snails carrying the mail make it up here before the weekend, i want to give it a real trial run at some parks on the 4th. see if it can hang
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Could be, or maybe the guy always wanted to make grooveboxes and has to do what he can to make production cost effective. The company exists since 2004, but the ELZ-1 was released in 2018, so Idk, maybe weāre a bit harsh here.
And when you said āto target gaps in the marketā, I immediately thought of gaps in a hardware setup which inexpensive grooveboxes like these can fill very well. 
I read an interview with him where he discussed that he worked for a big Japanese synth company writing synth algorithms for a long time before releasing any Sonicware products and the Liven design concept is very specifically to make useful live performance synths available at a low price and that it was challenging to make the form factor good enough while still meeting their price point target. For a better built instrument that can do most of the tricks of the various livens he has the ELZ_1 play and between it and the Cydrums you could have two distinct extremely versatile and unique and powerful synthesizers for 1k even if you pay full price on their site. He has said that his ultimate goal is to build a truly new feeling synth. I can definitely say that the process of finding sounds and making music on all the sonicware stuff I own feels different from other similar sounding products in a fun and interesting and immediate way and it seems that was very clearly the goal.
I did request on the site that a ELZ_1 play version gets made in either a digi style groovebox format or a standalone desktop module because itās a very special synth and Iād love it to be smaller and easier to get into my HW setup.
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I own the CyDrums and it definitely feels different from the Elektrons and other machines I have. Some people seem to dismiss the UI as counter-intuitive. I personally find it refreshing to explore new paths on the unconventional UI. It misses several features found on most machines (e.g. a regular LFO on the CyDrums) but this forces me to challenge my beaten approaches, which can lead to interesting results.
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Yes it does.
Tickles my ear for sure.
Has that nice late 80s early 90s sound to it.
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Iāve requested an LFO option but also since the midi CC implementation is there, I think you could use its internal sequencer with the envelope and velocity/AT modulators and send a couple of LFOs to different CCs with a digitakt (or any other sequencer with LFO to CC options) as well if you really needed to. Iāve not even cracked the surface of what the velocity and aftertouch mods are capable of with those nice pads though, itās a different way to play than Iām used to just as with the expressive roll buttons.
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Yes, the MIDI implementation is very deep! A LFO could easily be achieved with another machine (I had the M8 in mind). But I like such portable machines to be self-contained.
Re aftertouch and velocity, I have been experimenting with them quite a lot lately. As you point out, itās another approach to modulation - which I like.
(But we should get on with this conversation in the dedicated thread 
)
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My Evoke has shipped. Super excited to dive in!
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Did those ordering grab the PSU as well? Iām so tempted to pre-order this one!
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I did order the PSU. The Evoke has landedā¦but Iām on vacation. Looking forward to returning home to this one.
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You get in the June or July pre-order? Not that it matters with them so close I guess!
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I was in the June preorder, Iām happily surprised at how quickly it came!
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im planning on going batteries only so i didnt pick up a PSU.
@cLAss85 im jealous! thats some quick shipping! mine has been hanging out in santa clarita for a day D:
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