Torso Electronics S-4 (sculpting sampler)

I think they will come when sync is there.

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Oh right, I forgot sync isn’t working yet.

Even cheaper, I have never seen so many used OT MK2’s for sale in classifieds over here.

However, I don’t think there’s much of an overlap between the OT and the S4, and IMHO people who are after what the S-4 appears to do quite well would probably find an OT to be too complicated.

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Ditto. Got the DT2 coming tomorrow. I think the pair of them will work wonderfully together from the get go, and both will grow and develop over time.
Spitballing but I have a suspicion scenes will ultimately allow morphing between snapshots… cross fader style.

Spent another hour with s4 this morning:

It’s very hard to not make stunning loops on this. But it’s also hard to eq everything / get some dynamics. If they add more mod lanes and env follower this should be a good start. Adding an EQ on the mix lanes would be brilliant too.

It would be amazing if the audio monitoring / input could be post effects or its own mix section with sends, that way you have even more lanes of samples and input devices.

Currently there is bleed in the L&R inputs if you make them mono and monitor them on two different tracks. Torso has said that’s a bug and will be a quick fix.

I am hopeful performance mode is recordable encoder movements, scene mode is locked states, and temp mode is like in t1 - non destructive knob moves which can instantly be reset to save state.

Trying to decide what the best sequencer will be for this. Op1 works well but it’s only 1 midi track. Might snake a t1 again and call it a day. Would be rad if somehow torso saved sequencing state data from the t1 in the s4 so you can recall t1 sequences when you change projects in the S4.

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First contact

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Now, this looks good. Black, almost no logos, dimmed blue lights, no Midi bullshit, Batman approves. How do you like it?

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Loving it so far. Even in this obviously stunted state. I’m looking forward to getting all those half finished bits into this combo, sampling sounds back and forth between the machines and seeing what emerges.

I’d agree with other posters about the filter part though. The morphing resonator section. It doesn’t seem to have much range. Hopefully this will be expanded / finessed with updates.

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Cool, thank you and - enjoy!:sun_with_face:

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Looks like I’ll be getting my wish! -

Looking forward to the vid on that.

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Had a quick scan of the manual - it seems like there’s no way to sample, trim/edit, name, time-stretch (if needed) and save sample files recorded from the inputs, unless I’m missing something - only a way to record the master output mix to a generically-named file with no editing. Is this how it works? Feels like basic sampling, editing, naming and saving would go a long way here - unless I’m missing something basic (which I hope I am).

I had a play with the S4 at Schneidersladen last week while waiting for my pre-order (batch 2 grrr) to arrive.

My feeling after playing with it is:

  1. It’s not finished. Plain and simple. It’s in development and we all get to be part of it developing and blooming into its full potential (hopefullly). I don’t mind that but it needs to be said.

  2. It’s properly a sample mangler first, at least from my interaction with it. And as such, I’m excited about this box. I didn’t love the sounds I made on it, but I love its workflow and focus on speed, simplicity (yet also wickedness) and immediacy in the shaping of sound. I think it’s the spiritual cousin of the OT (in its sample mangler function), but with its own twist. I’m excited about a sampler focusing on sampling as a starting point for sound design actually! (Most samplers promise this but let’s face it, the fewest offer the workflow to match that promise)

  3. I think 899€ is steep for what it is. Only way I can accept the price is based on the fact that Torso is a small, grassroots company that’s doing their best to deliver something special.

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Are there any tutorials online on how to use it?

That video makes this look like a ton of fun, even a bit like a groovebox with the multiple tracks and way to make rhythmic patterns sequences from static material across 4 tracks. Pair this with some sort of sequencer or keyboard (or even a phone or tablet) and you’d get lost for hours!

I’m very intrigued. It’s not cheap but it looks like a premium build and clearly pretty deep and versatile.

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Not tutorials, but this guy has a couple of demos pairing the S4 with different gear.

https://youtube.com/@abregegere?si=EMaQcEM6S1IvzZVq

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thanks i saw those, but indeed not really a tutorial. guess I have to RTFM

I can’t see any crop / trim / truncate info in the manual, but it looks like the workflow is up you record to ā€œtapeā€, set start and end points, and save to the library, then pull from the library into the sampler engine. So presumably you could sample eight notes in one take and then save eight different samples with the associated start / end points. Maybe it just references one master audio file with varying non-destructive metadata? In which case truncating wouldn’t necessarily be too much of an issue, but if it’s saving the whole file every time then being able to trim would be nice.

As long as the sampling workflow isn’t too onerous this is definitely on my radar - four eight-voice samplers in one box, with the option to swap them out for audio /granular tracks or effects processors? In those terms it sounds like a bargain, even if it’s another piece of gear screaming for the OT’s input section (USB audio helps there, I suppose).

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Beyond the obvious trickery this box can do, this for me is the unsung feature of the S-4. It seems modern samplers are mostly monophonic these days for some odd reason. So to have a 4 voice, 8 poly sampler is very welcomed. And then all the extras of course!

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torso electronics — heute um 11:01 Uhr

First S-4 OS Update is out

Get it at Support Find the update instructions in the manual. Remember not to unzip the update file before transferring to the S-4.

Changes in S-4 OS v1.0.1

May 23, 2024

Enhancements

  • MOSAIC: Increased grain size

Bugfixes

  • S-4 won’t turn on in some cases
  • TAPE: Recorded audio plays too fast
  • Crash when saving project with punctuation
  • Brightness adjusting wraps when pressing select or pressing encoder
  • Track inputs bleed
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