Sonicware Liven Texture Lab

The Lounge Other Gear
#21

Matte reverb FTW.

3 Likes
#22

Was ist das?

1 Like
#23

You can turn down or up the Shimmer reverb, and it has basically different ā€œspaceā€ reverbs.

The grainular EFX designer is particularly interesting. Can build your own emitter basically.

#24

Thereā€™s a free plugin that does that, cant remember its name. Goes down the octaves instead of up.

Still sounds like total bollocks though.

#25

Some do sound goodā€¦ Korgā€™s ā€œSubmarineā€ algorithm and the Mercury 7 pedal are great.

3 Likes
#26

it only feels more racist every year that passes.

This is the first Liven Product that has really appealed to me. Looking forward to seeing more demos of how people use it!

#27

I think thatā€™s their strategy. Release multiple versions of the same hardware with slightly different software.

I do like what they are doing. The xfm and lofi are pretty good. The beats was meh. Iā€™m maybe not being fair to it, but I didnā€™t like it.

I was hoping theyā€™d release a pure effects box to lift up some of the effects limitations within the other boxes. This comes close.

1 Like
#28

I like it. Not a shimmer fan at all but the fact you can dial it out is good. For the price and form factor, itā€™s very cool. And it has a few more tricks up its sleeve than previous Livens and some upgrades, as well. Sonicware seem like a company that are learning and improving as they grow and I expect great things from them in the future. Waiting on price and specs for Tempera but this goes on the list.

1 Like
#29

Tempera is 600 Euro + Vatā€¦ too pricey IMHO

2 Likes
#30

is best in show for me. has good sound output dac and is basic sampler also is not only granular. also effect unit. very good for me if it price as lofi and xfm.

#31

Preordered! I love all my Sonicware gear. They are underrated.

2 Likes
#32

I was hoping that the whole array of keys could be a keyboard, but it seems you only have a piano roll and then control how emitters apply with the rest of the grid. Iā€™ll still watch the Tempera.

#33

This looks/sounds fantastic for that price. Runs on batteries too, I think I might have to get one of these to sit on the sofa/out in a field/by the sea.

3 Likes
#34

A silly joke :slight_smile:

1 Like
#35

This is why I like them. I leave my Elektron gear at home and take the Livens on the road. Less expensive if they get damaged or stolen.

1 Like
#36

I havenā€™t been able to watch anything about the new microfreak granular capabilities yet, but was curious if anyone else had and had any thoughts on how they compare to the texture lab. I think the texture lab looks really interesting, but Iā€™m wondering if Iā€™d end up getting more use out of the mf

1 Like
#37

I think the Liven is very focused on granular alone. The granular specific settings are more separated on the Liven and you have a built in Shimmer reverb.

2 Likes
#38

Perfect circuit has them in stock if anyoneā€™s interested. I picked one up but havenā€™t gotten a chance to try it yet.

3 Likes
#39

I received my Texture Lab yesterday and unpacked it today for a first playaround.

First impression: Iā€™m surprised how deep this thing is. It feels like a toy and 6 sec sample length limit is definitely a bit of a bummer, but then thereā€™s also lots to like. Pitching samples up and down sounds surprisingly smooth, Iā€™ve recorded some vocals and played chords with them (within the nearest octave to source), sounds quite nice.

The filter(s) sound nice too, certainly better than I expected. Reverb is also cool, I like the hall algo so far.

The sequencer seems deeper than I expected it to be, and the UI, while crammed, is fairly ok to navigate (SHIFT + knobs for secondary knob functions, FUNC + Buttons for secondary button functions).

Havenā€™t had the time to explore the granular functionality thoroughly yet, but first impressions from playing the presets and messing around with the granular controls are positive.

So far, considering what Iā€™m getting here for 279ā‚¬, Iā€™m positively surprised.

6 Likes
#40

Iā€™ve just received mine. The term lab is well suited, as itā€™s a world of granular wierdness. Iā€™ve been feeding it different samples and enjoying making patches. I like the styling and for the price thereā€™s a whole new world of sound. Very explorative and serendipitous. Itā€™s nice to have real time hardware control over granular synthesis, but the design is quirky. Iā€™ve thought Iā€™ve saved things, but have not, or saved them in the wrong place.
All in all Iā€™m pretty gruntled and plan on using it for pads, effects and texture with a Syntakt.

6 Likes