How to use the SONICWARE Liven XFM as a Virtual Analog Synth

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How to use the Sonicware Liven XFM as a subtractive synth
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If you have the desire to use the Liven XFM as a multitimbral virtual analog synth, I've created 50 waveform presets to help you with that. 3 are to get the XFM to sound like oscillators in sync mode, the others are permutations of Saw, Square, Triangle etc across the different operators. I've come up with a file naming system that tries to show how they are set up including showing the waveforms used and 10 different Decay and Sustain presets, so there's a readme file about that too. Go grab them from 'Sysex files etc/Sonicware/Liven XFM' here:
www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/32jz5c...
Full Disclosure: I occasionally take on freelance work at Sonicware on an hourly rate producing synth & sample sound design, beta testing, checking English text, video manuals etc. This video wasn't paid for directly but as a result of my work with Sonicware it is marked as Paid Promotion
I'm sure I'll be exploring the XFM much more through tutorials like this as there is lots to explore. But if you find the thought of programming FM synth sounds a bit too complex you can kind of skip over that and just use what you know about subtractive synthesis on the XFM.
We can use the feedback on each operator to create Saw, Square, Triangle and Noise on each of them, use the 8 stage envelopes as ADSR envelopes, set up our filter with it's own envelope, set the operators at intervals and even access Pulse Width Modulation. Loads to play with :)
Here is the interval cheat sheet I mention in the video:
www.dropbox.com/sh/l6c592egul...
00:00 Intro
01:07 Example analog synth diagram
02:00 XFM 'virtual analog' diagram
03:47 Super Saw example sound
- setting mixer levels, changing the waveforms, detuning waveforms, changing envelopes per 'oscillator'
- tweaking attack and release from pattern edit, changing tone, adding filter with envelope, adding pitch and filter lfo
09:48 Example square sound
- copy sounds, changing waveform to square
10:50 Using the envelope as an ADSR
11:50 Changing pitch by octave and semitone
13:17 Example Pulse and PWM sounds
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3 июл 2024

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Комментарии : 79

@ChrisLodyMusic 4 месяца назад

If you have the desire to use the Liven XFM as a multitimbral virtual analog synth, I've created 50 waveform presets to help you with that. 3 are to get the XFM to sound like oscillators in sync mode, the others are permutations of Saw, Square, Triangle etc across the different operators. I've come up with a file naming system that tries to show how they are set up including showing the waveforms used and 10 different Decay and Sustain presets, so there's a readme file about that too. Go grab them from 'Sysex files etc/Sonicware/Liven XFM' here: www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/32jz5c7smgu4k9jx6kev1/h?rlkey=s4lbkmvjpk10t2daq0kfne3ty&dl=0

@blazrodic 2 года назад

Memorable Nick Batt moment there at 15:30 "And that's our pulsewidth modulation." :)

@ChrisLodyMusic 2 года назад

I was wondering how long it would take someone to mention Nick Batt 😄

@SyncdAlien 3 года назад

Very detailed and interesting tutorial, thank you.

@ChrisLodyMusic 3 года назад

You're welcome, glad to know you liked it 😁

@midiwhale 5 месяцев назад

Chris, That seems quite clever - creating a TWEAK of one sound, so that we can LFO "transform" between them in XLFO mode. i.e. your example of Square to Pulse to get pulse width modulation - even in FM ;-) I can't think of anything else right now, but I'm sure there's some other great applications hiding ;-)

@ChrisLodyMusic 5 месяцев назад

Thank you. You can use the X-LFO like an 'everything LFO' to modulate between any number of tweaks between two sounds so it quite powerful for that

@minimal.camera Год назад

Excellent video, very helpful, thank you!

@bikegarrett 2 года назад

Thank you so much for explaining all this stuff so clearly I just received my unit yesterday and haven't been able to put it down yet watching along with your videos has helped hugely thanks Chris Lody

@ChrisLodyMusic 2 года назад

You're welcome. I'm glad to hear you're enjoying the XFM 😁

@alitna 7 месяцев назад

Incredible what sounds this machine can make! Great tutorial!

@ChrisLodyMusic 7 месяцев назад

Thank you. Yes it's really quite capable 😁

@159awi 10 месяцев назад

Great video! Thanks for the tips. I'm really liking the XFM!

@ChrisLodyMusic 10 месяцев назад

No problem, glad you're having fun with it 😁

@nigelh2 2 года назад

A most excellent presentation complete with diagrams!

@ChrisLodyMusic 2 года назад

Thank you. I love a good diagram 😄

@harryg6013 10 месяцев назад

Since you asked, yes this video is extremely helpful, thank you so much! I'll receive a used Liven XFM next week and am preparing to create fantastic sounds... :)

@ChrisLodyMusic 10 месяцев назад

Awesome glad to help. Hope you have fun with it 😁

@thehowlingterror 2 года назад

Great videos Chris. Much appreciated.

@ChrisLodyMusic 2 года назад

Thanks, you're welcome 😁

@blazrodic 2 года назад

Enlightening! Thanks!

@ChrisLodyMusic 2 года назад

You're welcome 😁

@KarzenX 2 года назад

Super flexible and flavorful little box.

@ChrisLodyMusic 2 года назад

Yeah it's useful for all sorts of stuff. Thanks for watching 😁

@ramseydoon8277 Год назад

More pulse width modulation tutorials and techniques and tips, please! Thanks for all the effort and expertise, Mr. Lody!

@ChrisLodyMusic Год назад

I'm sure I'll make some more XFM videos at some point next year. I'm currently working on Liven Lofi-12 videos

@richardjames9976 3 года назад

Your videos convinced me to get this for my dawless setup. The info from your vids are greatly appreciated.

@ChrisLodyMusic 3 года назад

Thank you 😁 I really hope you enjoy the XFM, I'm still enjoying experimenting with it

@avrilcadabra 3 года назад

Excellent, I will have to make some trance. will try that on PWM on my other FM gear too

@ChrisLodyMusic 3 года назад

Ha yet, it's begging for some trance now 😄 I'd be interested to see how you get on trying this elsewhere. I guess it'll work but I've not actually tried it on any other gear, came up with this trick especially for the XFM 😎

@ChrisLodyMusic 2 года назад

I am working on an accessibility addendum document for this tutorial that includes a description of all the controls in pattern edit mode and sound edit mode. You can find here: bit.ly/3xGlIga

@modulblok-e3168 2 года назад

Thanks for this video 👍and bay the way you have a cat???🐱 or was it a fmx sound 🤔

@ChrisLodyMusic 2 года назад

There are 3 cats in the house actually so it's likely you heard one of those. I can't remember if any of them made noise while I was recording but the chances are pretty high 😄

@modulblok-e3168 2 года назад

@@ChrisLodyMusic it was a cat sound🙂, i have 7 in around the house🙄

@waggon321 2 года назад

This thing is amazing!

@ChrisLodyMusic 2 года назад

Yeah they weren't mucking about when they designed this thing, loads to play with 😁

@edgeof60 3 года назад

Oh crap, now I may have to order one. I've managed to coax some nice rich atmospheric drones from the 8bit Warps but it seems like this box may be even more capable, especially with these virtual analog techniques. Thoughts on this? Love the whiteboard btw, there's nothing more analog than a whiteboard!

@ChrisLodyMusic 3 года назад

Ha yes, proper old school white board diagrams are the way ✏️ The XFM is definitely more powerful and has a much deeper set of functions that take a bit longer to learn than the 8bit Warps. Both great machines though 👌

@bryanscarboddi1210 8 месяцев назад

@@ChrisLodyMusicSo the 8bit would be better for beginners than the xfm🤷‍♂️🤑

@ChrisLodyMusic 8 месяцев назад

Yes I would say that's definitely correct. The 8Bit Warps has had an update recently that added some much needed features, but it's still much simpler to use than the XFM

@bryanscarboddi1210 8 месяцев назад

@@ChrisLodyMusic 👉🙏😁

@validcore 2 года назад

Nice sounds and thorough teaching. I have this one and the 8bit warps and beats and bass on the way. What's your favorite of the 3?

@ChrisLodyMusic 2 года назад

Awesome 👌 Difficult to say. I had the same question a lot when the XFM launched but they're all quite different. I'm very impressed with the depth of the bass engine in the B&B and the great selection of samples for drums but the XFM had the polyphony advantage for pitched stuff so they all have their strengths

@Dongleboob 3 года назад

Another great video. Thanks. I only skimmed though your more detailed tutorial on the Xfm for now. I was lucky to get on the 1st round and am waiting for it to ship. I'm more intrigued about that overlay you have. Do that come standard with the Xfm, or is it something you've made?

@ChrisLodyMusic 3 года назад

Thanks very much 😁 The overlay comes with the XFM and is used for deep editing the core FM sounds if you want to. You can use the device without doing that at all if you prefer, but personally I love getting right in there and building patches from scratch

@Dongleboob 3 года назад

@@ChrisLodyMusic Awesome. I'm glad the overlay cones with it. I think this is gunna be a very deep machine that will have me scratching my head, but will also have me smiling and grooving!

@ChrisLodyMusic 3 года назад

Well I do my best to explain all the features. I'm sure there'll be more tutorials like this

@AllaMortify 3 года назад

Is it worth ordering one of these at the moment though considering the disruption to production due to Covid-19? The website indicates that they are manufactured primarily in Malaysia before being sent to Japan for QA etc and that restrictions in Malaysia have slowed production by as much as 60%. Looking at current state of both Malaysia and Japan in terms of Covid cases, that seems unlikely to change as both are reporting sharply rising numbers (as is everywhere else mind you). If Covid is affecting the ability to complete orders from the first batch that much, what hope is there for buying into the 5th or 6th batch at the moment? Don't get me wrong, the Liven XFM looks awesome, but doesn't seem likely I'd be seeing one in the flesh for a long time.

@ChrisLodyMusic 3 года назад

It's a difficult one for sure. It depends on how badly you want one I suppose. The 8bit Warps actually launched during the start of the pandemic too and there's stock available for those now. Just to put things in perspective though, i ordered a Bastl Kastle Drum on the 4th of May from Gear4Music here in the UK which is due to arrive on the 21st of July. That launched a while ago and I wasn't given a reason why it was delayed so I think between covid and the global chip shortage is screwing everything up. Some other stuff I ordered in at the same time arrived straight away so it's a total lottery

@Gwyn94 2 года назад

I see a few used ones floating around Reverb. Maybe try that?

@ME-ru4hv 2 года назад

great white boarding for freehand lol 2:55 wow

@ChrisLodyMusic 2 года назад

Thanks, took a few goes before it got it right tbh. Shame my handwriting it terrible though 😅

@modulblok-e3168 Год назад

I hear a miau 🐱👍🏼

@ChrisLodyMusic Год назад

Ha yes there are always cats around me here 😸

@modulblok-e3168 Год назад

@@ChrisLodyMusic 2:53 🐱

@NoxBoxdy 3 года назад

I just wanna use the xfm as an xfm... :-(... Quit teasing me with these videos until I get mine darnit! Lol 😆

@ChrisLodyMusic 3 года назад

Yeah it's a shame about the delays but hopefully it'll be with you soon as the first batch is shipping now. Which batch did you buy from?

@NoxBoxdy 3 года назад

@@ChrisLodyMusic The first... I was one of the first pre orders.

@ChrisLodyMusic 3 года назад

Should be with you pretty soon then 😅🤞

@NoxBoxdy 3 года назад

@@ChrisLodyMusic Xcellent Finally Mine soon.. See what I did there? Lol. Another great informative video btw, Chris.

@ChrisLodyMusic 3 года назад

@@NoxBoxdy Glad to see your XFM arrived! Just managed to click on the link before RU-vid automatically removed that comment. Wish I knew how to stop that happening or undo it 🤷‍♂️

@dinogoldie9716 2 года назад

Can the XFM be used to create dubsteppy formant growls? (e.g. like this: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-L6ZKPmFOUQc.html)?

@ChrisLodyMusic 2 года назад

Good question, tough one too tbh! I've never tried to replicate that kind of sound design exactly but the general consensus online is that it uses a combination of wavetable synthesis, formant filters and vocoding none of which the XFM can do. But I have had some success making less polished growls. I'll likely make a full tutorial on this now, but your best bet on the XFM is to use the bit crusher combined with a filter with a high resonant value, then sweep the cutoff around. A decent patch to try this with is the MVOX patch we talked about before, but it only creates different vowel sounds with different velocity levels so what's really needed is a pair of vowel like patches to morph between. I'll definitely have a go at that now you've got me thinking about it 😄 Try some other patches with bit crusher and filter sweeps in the meantime

@ChrisLodyMusic 2 года назад

I used the same technique using the 8bit Warps by automating the cutoff on this track although to make more of a lead sound, but if you imagine that pitched down and not moving in pitch so much it's in the same ballpark ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-09ZjcHWz5-E.html

@dinogoldie9716 2 года назад

@@ChrisLodyMusic I found this video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-NVqwLoVo1uw.html where the guy does it with two Yamaha FM synths. Not sure how viable it is with the XFM because I think it requires multiple filters but still....

@ChrisLodyMusic 2 года назад

Yeah the EX5 sound uses 2 filters so we can't sensibly do that without layering up tracks or using a filter type in the FX section. Does sound nice though. The method used for the Reface is interesting and there's nothing there we can't do on the XFM, but I'll try to make it sound nicer than that 😄 Good info in the video description wiki link about specific frequency spikes for vowel synthesis so that will be useful, I'll have a good crack at it

@ChrisLodyMusic 2 года назад

@@dinogoldie9716 .....been experimenting with the XFM while I watched TV tonight, turns out it can make some great formant growls 😁 this tutorial is a bit rambling but learned what I need to know. It can make these kind of noises 👌 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4PVQdYqe8xo.html