Both of your comments have gotten me quite excited. I’m due to receive mine tomorrow, and I actually ordered the Lemondrop to use side-by-side for a fair comparison. I was a bit wary about the somewhat short duration of clips of the Texture Lab, but good to hear this isn’t an issue for you. Will post my thought in here when I’m done testing 
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Would love to hear how you compare it to the Lemondrop, I have to say the more I play with it the more I really like it. I read that it sounds lofi, but that’s more due to the low pass filter than its actual sound quality, with the filter wide open it sounds pristine enough…My wife loved what she heard from it today, so there’s something to it for sure.
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I’d also be interested to hear how the user experience compares with the lemon drop. Spent more quality time with the Texture Lab today sampling in busy old rompler patches and stuff from a Streichfett, an old rompler, bits of my own music, hangdrum, tambura, harps and random stuff from YouTube.
I used to use an old music program called Audio Mulch, which this reminds me of in hardware form, only more advanced and embedded in dedicated hardware. It’s the first polyphonic granular synth I’ve used and I’m really enjoying being able to pitch and layer particle streams. It’s all a bit rough and ready, chaotic, yet beautiful if you want it to be. Fun!
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I have this and a lemon drop. They both sound amazing! They’re completely different workflows so it’s hard to compare, but I really enjoy both so far!
For what it’s worth I had a GR-1 and didn’t really gel with it at all.
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Congrats on the first post! Took a few years but you got there. 
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does the sequencer receive midi-clock in efx-mode?
Then it could pass for a lo-budget, but programmable, Microcosm maybe?
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Yes, it does receive clock in EFX mode and run or record sequences as you’d expect.
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I wonder if you could control it with a midi track on SmplTrek that would be interesting.
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It has an in built sequencer, but it’s basic, certainly a mile away from the Elektron way. There is extensive midi cc implementation. I’ve sequenced notes from the ST and mapped automation to it which works well.
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Alright, so I promised a short reply about the Sonicware compared to the Lemondrop. They’re both very immediate, but I ended up returning the Sonicware. I’ll list my thoughts here:
Lemondrop thoughts:
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Size is better, and the small footprint is a feature to me. I was initially weary about the controls, but they are very easy to scroll through, and I don’t think the lack of knob-per-function is an issue here at all. Also the touch screen doesn’t seem to bother me at all - it’s easy to hit and I have relatively big hands.
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The sound is, to my ears, more interesting. Maybe it’s the combination of three layers (two granulators and one fixed wavetable synth) or maybe it’s the actual sound quality.
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Sample length is much longer, and can lead to more interesting sounds when using modulating through LFOs and envelopes.
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The colour is aboslutely horrendous, and I wish they would make it in a colour that doesn’t seem like it was meant to attract bugs in warmth of a July evening sitting outside. Jesus. What were they thinking??
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Since it handles long samples and up to four voices, it also serves itself as a regular sampler. You can record mono synths and layer them, and for this thing alone the extra price tag makes it worth it to me.
Sonicware thoughts:
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There are a lot of knobs - this is wonderful. It really does lend itself to noodling around. I got caught off guard a few times, and hadn’t turned on record in my DAW only to find that sweet sequence had slipped through my fingers. It’s easy to dial in crazy sounds on this thing, and for this exact purpose I could actually see myself keeping it.
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There’s a lot more features overall. The sequencer is quite nice, but I sequence from elsewhere. I like the idea that the Sonicware is a self-contained box with keyboard, sequencer, lots of controls etc. It’s a sweet deal if you’re going to sit in the couch (but the Lemondrop with a powerbank is equally nice to me)
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The lack of USB-power is quite annoying to me. I used rechargeable batteries, and it worked fine, but come on. Also the lack of a PSU in the price is annoying. I missed this when I ordered, so I’m a bit biased maybe, since I was a bit pissed off when it arrived and I had to buy batteries heh. An ordinary Volca charger works great, though.
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The UI is well layed out, and the philosophy of two secondary function buttons work really well in my opinion. Good job, Sonicware.
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Six seconds of sampling is a bit of a lackluster to me. It’s very sparse, but lends itself to very experimental sounds - again, this is not really a minus at all, if you’re into making an orange out of an elephant then this is it!
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The lack of a screen is something I really missed.
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The price difference quickly evens out between this and the Lemondrop when you take into account that the PSU is missing. I have several powerbanks (which work for the Lemondrop) but I didn’t have rechargeable AA batteries. So I had to purchase those, and I don’t see myself using them with much other devices honestly.
All in all I think both a great devices, but I ran with the Lemondrop and paired it with a Launchkey Mini as they can both run from the same powerbank. It’s an easy hack to offer more controls as well, and it ends up with the same footprint as the Sonicware when lying in the couch
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Thanks for the comparison! 
I use a ripcord to power my Liven (a Lofi 12) via a powerbank and it works great.
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Oh that’s nice to hear. I actually wrote directly to MyVolt (the company that makes the Ripcords) and asked which one they would recommend, and they weren’t exactly sure that it would work with any of their products. Could you be bothered to post the exact model you’re using so others could benefit from this?
I use this one, 9V centre positive (I think it was maybe bought originally for the Micrkorg) with a barrel adaptor.
I use the same Ripcord and adaptor with my Volca Modular.
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You could also buy from Songbird FX, their birdcords tend to be more reliable than Ripcords.
You‘d have to get one of either of these (if you have a powerbank with USB-C that supports PD, I‘d go with the PD cable):
Or
And then one of these adapters to match the Sonicware‘s 4.75mm x 1.7mm centre-positive plug:
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Wonderful tip, thanks!
For someone who does not like shimmer reverb and organ sounding ambient pads (which it seems is how granular often sounds to me) I am quite interested in this one, any owners care to comment on its ability at non ambient sounds and more glitch stuff, especially rhythmic and weirdo vocal processing? Also any examples of it being used as fx in “non church organ ambient shimmer” way?
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Yes! Man you’ve nailed it. Ive never got on with granular and couldn’t ever pinpoint why, but thats it, organ sounding. Eurgg. Shimmer, bluergh.
Yeah I think I can count the number of songs with organ I like on 1 finger 
As for ambient shimmer pads 
indeed.
Now you’ve got me thinking about songs one can play on the organ with one finger.
The long tonal sounds happen when you blend at good density, but you can get plucky, strumming, percussive, etc. sounds by adjusting timing and density on the right samples.
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