Torso S-4 Users Thread

The Lounge Other Gear
21

Am I allowed to post a couple of questions?
In case…does the Scene save Mix levels and Macro values?
So far it looks like it doesn’t (second day with my unit)
Thanks!

22

Not really using scenes, but I kind of remember that mix and perform are global

23

Yeah they are, but I thought about Macro assignments not their values, that in my opinion would be a good Scene use

24

Oh sorry, maybe I misunderstood…

The better would be to have the choice par pattern of Mix and Perform macro assignments & values being global or not. I see benefits on both. Sometimes would be nice to have it global to all scenes, and other times just to have different mix and macros values par scene. I hope someone using more scenes than me give his opinion.

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26

I see the benefits like you for both.
Then first use I’m doing of Scenes is to create variations to a soundscape. Sometimes is just fine tweaking Track parameters to have small or big variations. But when I need bold and/or unexpected results, I really would need the use of Macros per Scene.

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27

Did anyones main encoder get worse after the latest update? Mine was more or less ok before, but now after the update it’s super twitchy…

28

Video from a fellow Italian synthesist. Lovely stuff.
I’d like to also suggest his recent Jamuary video streak, with a different setup on each day

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29

Pseudo chorus: tuning set to free, assign sine or ramp modulator to about 2-5% bi-directional tuning destination. Modulator spread setting to 50%. Speed and amount to taste mimicking chorus sound to taste

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30

New update for S4 ( most bugs fixes )

Changes in S4 OS v2.1.4

March 5, 2026

Bug Fixes

  • DISC: Fixed an issue that caused an audible click when starting a recording.
  • DISC: Fixed an issue where a short silence or glitch could occur when stopping a recording.
  • TAPE: Fixed clicks in recordings.
  • DISC: Fixed an issue where loading samples from an external USB drive could cause waveform display lag.
  • TAPE: Fixed an issue where certain mono samples were played back with distortion.
  • DEFORM: Fixed an issue where CRUSH did not update correctly when changing Scenes.
  • DISC, TAPE: Fixed sample name text overflow in the GUI.

Enhancements

  • DISC: The device is now reset after stopping a recording (parameters and modulation), keeping only TEMPO MODE (SYNC, STRETCH or FREE), XFADE and SOS, improving resampling workflow.
  • TAPE: The loaded sample name is now displayed.

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

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31

This might be hardware issue, I would contact torso asap as suggested by torso on Discord.

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32

FM synth with SCW.
Using lfos as modulators and a single-cycle waveform as carrier

The idea is based on modulating the frequency (i.e. playback speed) of a scw, a sine wave in this case, with a high-rate lfo. With the available lfos one can make a 4-op fm, single-carrier algorithm. Cross-modulation of the lfos can be used for feedback (use lfo to modulate its own rate) or target another modulator.

Here I used 2 modulators close to the highest rate, one s&h to the highest resolution and a slower lfo for modulation of other parameters. It gets wilder when RING is brought in—used high wave rate, about 75% on the amount, high detune and TILT.

Some observations:

  • The rate of the lfos only reaches 50Hz, but FOLD can push the modulation rate some more;

  • Glide on the second DISC page can reduce some unpleasant clicks, in this case it was more effective than FADE;

  • Automation of LENGTH reduction can yield interesting results, accentuating the fm;

  • I used one of the lfos to modulate PITCH on RING with a high decay and it crashed(?), all sound stopped and that track wouldn’t produce sound again. Copying to another track and reducing the wet level or decay on RING solved this.

Would be interesting to try the same technique with the POLY device.

9 Likes
33

I have a Boss Slicer, but I was thinking that it shoud be easy to build a nice slicer with the s4. Digital random steps into Amp. Can‘t test at the moment.

Is anyone build a nice slicer as an effect for external stuff?

1 Like
34

Confirming you can do all kinds of fun slicer effects on the S-4 with mods. I just thought of a fun one I haven’t tried yet, but since you can use the envelope of another track as a MOD source, in theory you could prepare a set of WAVs that is just a bunch of short peaks at interesting rhythmic intervals and use these on another track or external input. Everything from euclidian trance gates to “bouncing ball”

If you made these “slicer WAVs” thoughtfully you could even pack a bunch of different ones into the same file, just 1 bar of these spikes, and another bar of these other spikes, then use the START on the DISC player they are loaded into to switch between them.

Why stop there, you could modulate that DISC START … I love the S-4 so much!

Thank you for posting this idea/question, I have so many fun ideas to explore this weekend now

9 Likes
35

Not sure how the boss slicer works, but on the s-4 (disc/tape) you could e.g. send c#1 notes on ch16 to toggle recording on ch1, then send these bits to the next track etc.

Personally i haven’t managed to trigger anything with midi notes but that’s either a bug or user error.

1 Like
36

Part of that might be the whole “which MIDI Note# is considered middle C” debacle. It was for me, until I settled on which one of the 3 ‘standards’ Torso was adhering to.

it could also be the lingering errors under MIDI Notes in the CC Mapping and MIDI Note Reference section of the online manual.

37

Thanks so much for that, i was in contact with torso and they never mentioned that, seems like sth that should be mentioned in the manual. it does work indeed. for reference it’s c#3 for digitone.

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38

This is ingenious! Thank you for the inspiration!

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40

:exploding_head: Dayummmmm!

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42

OS v2.2.0 is out of beta, download below:

Changelog is here (changes, e.g. to MOSAIC device, are also already in documentation)

Changes in S4 OS v2.2.0

June 3, 2026

Features

  • MOSAIC: Device update
    • New granular engine
    • Buffer can be locked
      • No new audio is written to buffer
      • SOS parameter is disabled
    • Buffer is saved in project, and all Scenes use the same buffer
    • New RAND AMP parameter
    • New SPRAY parameter modes “WARP” and “WARP MONO” replaces WARP parameter.
    • New SCAN parameter controls position of the read head relative to the write head, with different modes:
      • STRETCH: Read head moves slower than write head to give a stretch effect
      • POSITION: Read head is at a fixed position within buffer
      • DELAY SYNC: Read head is behind write head, to create a delay effect. Delay time is synced, and division mode follow that of the RATE parameter.
      • DELAY FREE: Same as DELAY SYNC, but delay time is in seconds
    • FEEDBACK parameter replaces SOS, with two modes for different behaviour:
      • GRAIN OUTPUT: The device output is fed back into into buffer input.
      • SOS: Legacy behaviour. Controls how much of the existing buffer is kept when new audio is written.
    • RAND PITCH parameter replaces DETUNE, with parameter modes for different detuning options:
      • DETUNE: Legacy detune parameter
      • RANDOM: Random pitch within scale in stereo
      • Random Mono: Random pitch within scale in mono
    • New RAND REV parameter. Adds probability of playing a grain backwards
    • Config option MOSAIC RUNNING controls whether MOSAIC will generate audio when not playing.

Enhancements

  • CONFIG: New default where MODULATORS RUNNING is set to WHEN PLAYING and follows the same logic as MOSAIC RUNNING.
  • NEW PROJECT: Transport is reset if creating a new project while no external gear is syncing.
  • DISC: Scale is now kept after end recording
  • DISC/TAPE: MONITOR setting is now saved in project and scene
  • DISC: Now loads with quantized length in sync mode
    • Recordings made in DISC with SYNC MODE was slightly off in length. This resulted in clicks around loop points
    • Un-synced library samples (length not on grid + no bpm in file name) was not loaded properly in SYNC MODE

Bugfixes

  • ADSR modulator is now triggered by the track’s assigned MIDI channel
  • DISC: Fixed an issue with CPU load when not playing that caused GUI lag
  • DISC: Fixed an issue where saving sample cleared loop controls
  • DISC: Fixed a waveform view glitch near file end
  • MOSAIC: Fixed an issue where PATTERN was overwritten by PITCH MODULATION
  • MOSAIC: Removed PATTERN modulation indication on PITCH
  • DISC: Fixed an issue where the previous waveform briefly flashed before the new recording was shown
  • DISC/TAPE: Sync was lost when loading project while playing
  • MOSAIC: Fixed an issue where granular would come out of sync after using RAND RATE
  • MOSAIC: Fixed an issue where clipping would occur when using SOS
  • Fixed an issue where TEMP got stuck when TEMP was latched while saving project

Known issues

  • MIDI sync Incoming MIDI clock can be unstable. For best performance with external sync, use DISC and press play on the sync master.
9 Likes
43

nice a new update.i will wait on updating mine.