Sonicware’s Liven Lofi-12 groovebox takes you back to the gritty days of old-school ‘80s samplers
Sonicware has added Lofi-12 to its Liven range of grooveboxes. The Lofi-12 is designed to emulate the sound of old-school samplers.
Promising to “turn everything lo-fi,” this has a 16-bit/12kHz/24kHz sampling engine and a 12-bit sampler mode that’s inspired by ‘80s and ‘90s hardware such as the Akai SP-1200. So, if you’re after that crunchy vintage sampler sound, you should be covered.
Each of the 128 sample slots offers up to four seconds of mono sampling at 12kHz or two seconds at 24kHz. You can trim stand and end points, adjust the pitch, reverse the playback, filter, use LFO modulation and more.
Samples are automatically mapped to the Liven Lofi-12’s keyboard so that they can be played at different pitches. You also get 80 suitably gritty lo-fi sounds to get you started.
In addition, there’s a 4-track 64-step sequencer; you can switch sounds for each phrase or step so that you can combine multiple sounds in a single song. You can save up to 64 patterns, sub-divide steps and use parameter locking to record knob tweaks into your patterns. There’s also a Laidback knob that can be used to delay the start of the selected sound when you’re creating those off-kilter ‘drunk beats’.
11 types of track effects are joined by six reverbs on the master output. Cassette tape and vinyl simulators can be applied at this stage, as well.
Audio I/O comes on 3.5mm jacks, and there’s also MIDI and sync I/O. The Lofi-12 has a built-in speaker and can be powered either by six AA batteries or an AC adapter (not supplied).
Find out more on the Sonicware website. The Liven Lofi-12 costs $239 and is available now.
Spektro Audio has introduced CV Toolkit 3.0, a major update to the standalone Mac and Windows software for generating CV & Gate signals, for controlling modular and analog gear.
What’s new in CV Toolkit 3.0:
New Design – The new design featured in CV Toolkit 3 gives it a new modern look, while maintaining a minimalistic and easy to use interface. Sections such as the side bar, module headers, and Utility Rack have been re-designed to reduce clutter, improve readability and offer a more fluid experience.
Snapshots – The new Snapshots feature lets you quickly save and recall the state of all 12 slots as a snapshot and each Layout can store up to 8 layouts. Snapshots can be saved and recalled instantly via the 8 buttons available in the Snapshots section. You can use Snapshots to save different sections of a performance, different music ideas, or different variations of a patch, all based on the same combination of modules.
Quick Route – The new Quick Route feature in CV Toolkit 3 offers a new way of routing signals between slots. To use Quick Route, first open the slot loader by pressing the letter M on your keyboard. The new arrow on the top left corner corresponds to that slot’s output. To route it to an input of a different module, simply click on the arrow to activate Quick Route and select one of the inputs of a different module. When you route a signal using Quick Route, CV Toolkit automatically updates the Routing Matrix to reflect that new connection.
Status Board – The new Status Board lets you monitor signals on the Gate Bus and check when CV Toolkit receives MIDI, MIDI Clock and OSC messages.
MIDI Generation – CV Toolkit 3 includes 2 new ways of generating MIDI messages. With these 2 new methods of generating MIDI messages, you can now use CV Toolkit as a powerful MIDI sequencer to play other virtual instruments in your DAW and other MIDI instruments in your setup:
MIDI notes can now be generated using the new MIDI Note module, available in the standard factory pack.
To generate a MIDI note, route a CV signal from another module into the MIDI Note’s input, as well as a gate signal via the Gate Bus.
The MIDI Note module will quantize the incoming signal and generate a MIDI note whenever it receives a gate signal from the gate bus.
The velocity of the generated MIDI note can be set manually or modulated via CV.
As for MIDI CC messages, CV Toolkit 3 can now generate CC messages based on the eight outputs of the Routing Matrix.
This means that, combined with the CV to MIDI CC converters available in the Utility Rack, CV Toolkit can now generate up to 12 simultaneous CC messages.
Oscilloscope – The Utility Rack now features a new combined oscilloscope that lets you quickly visualize signals routed to the RACK 1 through 4 inputs on the Routing Matrix.
Notes Module – The new 3.0 version also includes new improvements to the Notes module. The Smart Tuner now works in Quantize mode and, while in Quantizer mode, the Notes module can output quantized pitches to the Pitch Bus. This means you can now use the Notes module to control the pitch of other modules such as the Morphing VCO.
CV Toolkit 3 also includes native support for Apple Silicon, major performance improvements to Layouts and Themes, and more.
CV Toolkit is available now for $19.99. Upgrading pricing is also available.
