Sonic LAB Erica Synths LXR-02 Drum Machine Review
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- Опубліковано 25 лип 2024
- @midierror takes a look at the @EricaSynths LXR-02 Digital drum machine. A 6 track drum synthesizer and sequencer with built in FX, automation and plenty of other features.
Available now via www.Ericasynths.lv priced at 490 Euros.
Exclusive LXR-02 Audio and other content on Patreon
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#soniclab
#ericasynths #lxr02
00:00 Intro
01:56 Connections and overview
03:50 Sound Interlude
4:15 Voice Mode and the kick
09:40 Routing and FX
10:50 Sounds interlue
11:22 Sequencing
12:25 Interlude
12:50 more voices + building a pattern
14:50 Perfomance mode and automation
16:40 Probability
17:56 LFO and modulation
20:40 Interlude
21:05 More performance functions
23:00 Interlude
23:40 Memories and Morphing
26:05 conclusions
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Thank you for the awesome review! Been looking for a machine just like this
I hope you enjoy the video! Worth noting that all the sounds and patterns here are my own - no factory content or presets used.
Sounds great, dude.
Kudos to bringing more to the demo than a house beat. A+++.
Yea I appreciate that and I it was a great video. I've seen so many demo's on here and everything I hear from this thing just sounds a mess, It's one trick pony. A volca drum and an fx unit at a fraction of the price does the same if not more. In my opinion. Thanks for the review :-)
Sounds great and I like the workflow. The up-sliders are a great additions It Makes you realise how ahead of the game elektron were with the Machinedrum.
Best review and breakdown of this synth. Thank you so much
Mine should be arriving in the next week and I can't wait to get my hands on it!
I love how this black box sound ❤️
Great review. Well done!
Thank you, it's a pleasure to work with Nick and co
Thanks for the review Chris.
You're welcome!
Thanks for the demo, really interesting sounds and presence - and less than half the price of some other synthesised drum machines too!
Have the 01... never loved the buttons on the first version - this new build looks way better... but my V1 has cv outs option which I think is nice to have.
Great and powerful synth drum !
I own the first one and imao it's the more analog'ish digital drum machine !
That LXR 02 have some serious new features... Neeeeeed !
I also have the original, will give it to my daughter and grab the revamped LXR
Hi, thanks for the upload. As a previous owner of the original LXR i was just wondering about the substep and pattern functions. Are they available on the new version? Especially the pattern function is great for live performances. Also on the previous unit you could load in your own (mono) drumsamples, so maybe this feature will be added in a later firmware.
Thank you!
Just received mine today and its a sprightly little monster - so much fun. Listen to the people who actually own them. This is the drum machine I've wished someone would make for a very long time. Lightning fast, all the right features. Almost all my eurorack drum modules are analog - this is the perfect anti-hero. Looking forward to using the Trig31 or VCMC for eurorack integration. That said, the onboard sequencer and menu system works great for me - and I always avoid any euro modules with menus at all so it really is saying something. Toot toot - its good! Seems like theres a lot of insta reacts to the price without understanding how much is under the hood here and how intuitive and playable everything is. Check out the Richard Divine demo also if theres any lingering doubt.
Of course it's going to sound great coming from Devine's studio. He's a master of his craft with sound processors and other sonic tools that cost more than my home (exaggeration but you get the point 😆). It's going to sound genius from him however the one demo I saw from him was just him playing the presets. I'm sure it's a fantastic piece of gear i just haven't heard anything that's sold me on it. The drums sound a bit hard, dark, and over driven for me.
@@Decoy303 re: devine - of course definitely. I think the main issue with perception of this unit is whether its "oven ready". If you want to use it straight out of the box it might be unsatisfying in some ways sound-wise - which makes sense. I'm all about treating it in my modular system with the 4 assignable outs - and my god, the external sound mangling combined with all the in box features that make it so fast to use just crushes it for me. So for anyone who wants to treat it more like a raw sound source to process - you shall be greatly rewarded. If you want oven ready sounds its going to hit hard in some areas while also being idiosyncratic sound-wise in ways you may or may not like. Thats my experience. People were being rough on this when it first came out so I just wanted to give it a fair shake from someone who had pre-ordered it and actually was playing with it, as I was loving it for my use case.
interesting drum machine it's like having aspects from the model cycles and the model samples
also a bit like the roland tr8s with it's acb and FM engine, plus sample wavs
i agree with your TR8s analogy though do not personally see any particular similarities to the Model:Samples.
@@scottarmstrong8585 the model cycles has drum synth engines
model samples has 'samples' .. which this drum machine also has.. though not user loadable..only presets
@@cresshead They might add it later down the line maybe? OR maybe a totally sample based unit with similar features as this id buy both
It is dirtier than the cycles, I have both and the cycles has been made redundant, mainly down the the god-awful snare on the cycles…it has about as much power as an ants fart.
Thanks for showing this nice tool to us. A comb filter would be a good addition. Maybe you can get close with short delays, can you send LFO to delay free rate and stuff like that? Or P-lock the delay.
Lfo can be sent to delay time, range, tone or feedback.
You're welcome, I'm a huge comb filter fan too. Not enough of them about! I just checked the machine and you can send the LFO to FX parameters
@@midierror great news. thanks guys.
Wicked piece of kit
Received mine today, sounds really great, and pretty intuitive to operate - huge sonic potential (which is furthermore easily accessible) compared to other devices out there.
I second this opinion
Can triggering the sound and tweaking it without creating a pattern be addressed in a firmware upgrade?
The amount of tweaking you can do is stupendous-- lots of great synth-style features for a drum machine, but morphing between kits is something even some pricey synths can't even pull off (lookin' at you, Delta CEP A). Seriously considering pulling the trigger on this one.
It’s like the PolyBrute morph but for drums 😂
Ordered mine last night, btw. First drum machine! 🤘
@@scottishpig I do have the Volca Drum and the Roland MC-101 but this is a whole ‘nother beast (beats? 😉)
@@scottishpig what do you think of it a year later??
@@AaronFerenc Has it been that long already!? The built in effects are disappointing, and the SD card is put in in such a way that I'm afraid to remove it in fear of scratching up the instrument. That said, I love it and use it all the time. Synth-style sound editing and automation are both intuitive and fun-- so much so that I rarely use kits or save anything... just dial in and lay out voices, then record some automations and fade it all in and out in a recording. Amazing instrument!-- Four and a half stars.
Ive been looking for a more modern version of the KORG ES-1 . I guess this would be a great candidate?
The mixing of the 2 kits is definitely great. I play a dreadbox and once you twist it you can save it then twist that so on and so on. These kind of features led to very creative sessions.
Thanks so much for this! It really makes me want to look into this. Can it get those 909ish analog kick/snare things you think?
From listening to it I’d say probably not. Maybe more on the 808 spectrum though
May I ask what 64 steps mean ? Is this equivalent to bars in some way ? 4/4 for example, so you get 16 bars of one sequence before it repeats ? I assume it’s 64 steps per drum type ? Many thanks for the video.
So far I love mine. Perfect for dark industrial sounding beats and creating unique unconventional percussion sounds
There's definitely a bit of an early Cabaret Voltaire vibe happening on some of those demos
im sold on this. this is next on my list
Did you ever try the Korg ER-1? This looks like a modernised version of it.
After much Umming and Ahhing on my part, I at last decided to get an LXR02. I've only had it a week and I'm still very much at the reading/memorising the manual stage but here's my first impressions:
PROS: Solid build and good feel. Amazing sound design possibilities - and you can play each drum voice as a chromatic monosynth from an external controller. The drum voices lie somewhere between the Volca Drum and the Model Cycles/Syntakt.
CONS: Button layout makes no sense. The developers should have used the same UI for loading/saving projects/kits/songs as the patterns mode (i.e. using the steps and bar buttons). I look forward to the implementation of
"Performance mode" because, at present, it's kinda empty/crap. There's no stepjump or live stutter control. The live "roll" feature is gridlocked to 16 steps per measure (there is a flamm feature in step record though).
This would be the perfect combo with alpha base. A db01. A sherman and a digitone. Techno for yrs.
Anyone else having external sync issues?
Mine does not sync probably with Ableton/Logic X.
No problems using other gear to sync up.
I thought it looked similar to the Sonic Potions machine, good to see it reach a wider audience.
It is "the Sonic Potions machine". Considering the price and the specific nature of this unit in comparison to the many hardware drum machines released over the last few years i wonder how wide the (purchasing) audience for this particular machine will be.
Its a niche market and definitely not for rhe masses if you like endless tweaking and building your own kits its heaven compared to most devices out there its a 100% drum synth with control on every aspect of your sounds the range of sounds is endless but it has its own identity you either love it or hate it. I for one loved it at first hearing
Really like the sounds coming from this box. A little out of my budget unfortunately, but this with a DFAM I would be in heaven.
Try a Volca Drum, cheap as chips, digital whackiness
@@andyq9669 Since I already have a lot of Volca's that's probably what I will get since it's more affordable. But from the demos I've seen on UA-cam it lacks some of the crunchiness this and the DFAM have.
@@foxglove9 the interface is a bit fiddly too, but you can get some fantastic sounds out of it.
@@foxglove9 hi, I can only confirm what andy is saying about the volca drum. highly recommend this machine esp. considering the price. unique, characterful with high creative potential. i have several (analog) drummachines. the drum is outstanding and giving me so much fun. i also like the fiddlyness that literally forces you to deal with the sound. and yeah, most of the youtube videos (i have seen) are more or less disappointing, or just didn´t match my personal taste ;-) - but yeah, for sure the lxr-02 is more professional than the volca. cheers, herb
the automations are great, or motion recordings, but can you set up a different parameter setting by step?
If u own a Elektron Monomachine, this is a great groovebox for pairing up with them imo... The LXR has a very similar Sonic nature to it & Machinedrums digital synthesis algorithms... So it's a much cheaper modern day alternative for also considering, if u are a fan or favor the Sonic nature of those 1st gen Elektron grooveboxs. It's also how the lxr originally became popular enough for people to consider buying enough of the OG LXR's as diy kits to build yourself... To now being something Erica & Sonic Potions are doing with the LXR-02 edition, it's because folks had realised they were worth soldering up & buying cheap initially... & the results of the diy job was folks had something else to play with that was a mini-monomachine/micro-machinedrum. It's another 6 tracks of fun to go with my Monomachine & besides the added extra fx implementations for the plus sides of Monomachines... I can lean that to make very similar drums to my LXR-02... or lean the LXR-02 to make monosynth sounds etc that are so much like the Monomachine too. Get one if u like the vibe of the 1st gen Elektrons or own a 1st gen. Much like Model Cycles, this is a great box that is a fair price... but it will stick with u if u get to know it well & still sounds great in with grooveboxs twice the price.
Thanks for the insight!
This is on my list !!!
trying to decide between this and the original lxr
Geez, this thing sounds a lot better than what I heard in another review. I have no interest in techno, but it seems very appropriate for ambient glitch and making loops to feed another system.
That's nice to hear, these are all my sounds, no factory content or presets in the entire video!
I hear 80's and early 90's industrial music from this thing. However it sounds an awful lot like the Volca Drum with its Wave Guide activated.
@@midierror cool well where can we get them?...
Yeah they should take your advice RE: different colors for play/record.
Feels like this was inspired by Sonic Charge Microtonic drum plugin, always thought it'd make a good hardware unit
I'd love a hardware Microtonic. Not sure if the LXR was inspired by Microtonic though as Sonic Potions designed the sound engines of this machine many years ago. Can't find when the LXR first came out, would be interesting to know.
Isn’t one of the TE pocket operators basically uTonic?
@@AllThatsGone I guess it is, never clicked
I wish this was a Eurorack module…
Take my money. Perfect for the industrial to ambient artist... Connect the clock to an Erica Synths Black Sequencer and away we go..
Great review , I love this little machine , their is some small glitches in it when slaved , but their minor ie if the machines screen is sleeping and one tried to pattern change itl will give a little hick up , things like that , but again it’ll catch up midi wise . It’s morph save kit is stellar and the ability to get dark sounds is superb.
Oof...how bad is it? I'm getting this for a live rig so it's kinnda essential that midi slave and pattern changes work properly... :/
Initial click thrus of this synth on youtube I wondered why it was so expensive. But watching this all the way though...fuckin 'ell it sounds so tough. Digital drum synths are the sickest.
How does this compare with the Moog DFAM?
They’re extremely different machines, not really an apples to apples comparison
It hasnt FX reverb?
Is there an envelope on the click? That could be the only deal breaker
The knob also looked very sensitive when you were knocked the seq length out and had trouble putting it back to 16. Tricky to do live perhaps
Good question, it just has volume and frequency on the click layer.
If you want that ratcheted repeat sound it’s on snare/hi hats it on eg, then repeat amount.
Had it for about 5 days now. It sounds really good for crunchy Industrial and Techno sounds, although I feel this will be better paired with a 2nd drum machine to have added complexity. Unfortunately, that might be a turn-off to some given the premium price-point the LXR-02 is. It's definitely got a lot of experimentation and fun factor though.
I'd pair with a Volca Drum.
Is it really that expensive for a drum machine? I know it’s like double the price of the model cycles, but the Model series products also feel super cheap. And they don’t have analog clock in/out/reset. I’m kind of mad that so many drum machines don’t have analog clock nowadays, actually.
I feel like this would pair very well with a dfam.
So, no reverb? 😩
I wish it had individual instrument outs
It has four assignable outs for the 6 sounds so you can be reasonably well spread out
Is there a mode to play designed sounds chromatically…….Sample import would be Gr8
Yes you can play any voice chromatically with an external keyboard or program notes per step without a keyboard
@@tysoncarlson170 SWEET!!!! this is ballistic 🤯
hello! all the sound from the video are coming at the Lxr ? Thanks
Sounds like a Volca Drum to me just with easier tweaks let parameters.
Was about to say the same... sounds really similar to Volca Drum, but workflow looks more intuitive and greater control over parameters. Not sure if it's worth the extra money though, although I do like that there's volume faders
@@rorz999 It's worth it. I've got both and the Erica is milles better in sound plus features! Volcas feel like toys in comparison...
Tbh, it sounds a lot like my Volca Drum.
Thanks for the video. I was so excited when I heard this machine was on the horizon but now (and sorry to go against the flow of opinion) I'm bored with it already. Work flow appears cumbersome, just 16 steps per pattern (really is that correct?) every demo so far features such a limited sound palette (which on paper shouldn't be the case).
I was hoping it would have everything the Nord Drum lacked, mainly the sequencer but it doesn't appear to be the case. This sounds very similar to the Waldorf Attack vst if you ask me. I'm so glad i didn't immediately rush out and purchase one based on the hype. It is way overpriced in my opinion.
I do think it would work great in conjunction with something like the Roland TR8S but then you're spending over a grand on just percussion sounds. With a Volca and some additional fx you would be spending around 75% less than the cost of The LXR-02 and achieving pretty much the same result.
£200 less and I may be tempted. I'm pretty sure the second hand market will be awash with these in a few months anyway. No offence meant people just my opinion. Thanks again for the video.
has 64 steps / pattern: www.sonic-potions.com/lxr02 with subdivisions it can be 128 sounds to get in there
👍I LOVE ! 💙⚪❤
I'm a big Sonic State reviews fan and can put down several purchases here. LXR-02 looks and sounds fantastic for FM percussion, though personally I'm trying not to buy more gear for a few years. It is tempting though, at an "almost" impulse buy price. Does anyone else like to use 2 drum machines, to get more variation in a track? This could work with my Roland MC-505.....
I always use two drum machines, a Yamaha RX-5 and a RD-6. Mostly for layering but also polyrhythms, etc. Something about an analog kick/snare layered add so much oomph.
@@huntergalloway3944 That sounds a great combination - love Yamaha gear. Do you think an LXR-02 will take your music in a new direction? To me, trying to convince myself it is not necessary, most of the sounds are covered by other gear I already own!
First! Been hoping you'd review this thing!
Congrats!
Good to know I'm not alone in thinking this thing costs more than it's worth. Being a fan of FM drums and mostly using Volca Drum and Model:Cyles myself for most of my music of the past couple years it's certainly "up my alley." But for 6 hundo I'd rather get a Tracker or the "new" 32-bit RC-505 or basically anything else...
It’s hard to resist percussive digital goodness.
Proper digital drum synth, sounds like the machinedrums cousin from the ghetto.
Very much like a more beefed-up volca drum
Comments on here for the negative are pretty narrow minded, thing sounds way better than a cycles. Bought this immediately and it is the cats meow for crunchy low fi and glitchy drums and its harder than anything out there.
i have both. the cycles has a better sequencer especially since it has boolean logic *and* chance, but the LXR-02 allows you to freely assign all 6 LFOs to which ever voice/voices you want (if elektron wants to steal this idea fine by me). the former has a nutty interface while the latter has a very intuitive interface. each has its strong sounds... i do think i prefer the LXR-02 overall though and each voice type has unique properties that i'm exploiting to do things no other machine i have can do. and the morphing thing is so cool-- you can even save an in-between morph to a new kit.
oh and the euclidean generator is very easy and useful for quickly populating tracks to edit.
You do realise that "sounds way better" is a subjective judgment, don't you?
@@noelcosgrave113 of course, just like how the lxr aint too pretty sounding i suppose. I had a model samples for a bit and really didnt like the way the buttons felt, only thing i bought for music i returned.
@@noelcosgrave113 why the hell would you even bother to post this comment? idiot.
Sounds like the Volca drum machine...designed for techno...
It sure can make a lot of noise.
"About the same size as a Moog Werkstatt"' ? An odd comparison as many folk may never have seen a Werkstatt outside of the internet. Perhaps a Volca size comparison would have been more fitting as thats how many of us measure small synths these days.
... yeh it's a similar size to your average gold ingot you have laying around your house!! :)
Yes, but one nice thing about the internet, is that those people can look up the dimensions with the very same internet. I measure small synths in TR-606 units, because it's something that works for me.
@@Michael_Smith-Red_No.5 Apparently gold ingots are more accurate.
Not an odd comparison at all. Maybe next time you can make a video and use whatever you want to use as a size comparison.
@@ZenMountain Ah, okay. I will begin the task of creating a video comparing the size of a Korg MS-10 to an (average) Capybara as soon as i am able to secure the necessary resources.
double foxes with a scoop of dog
Sounds very metallic, white noise and FM'ish.. First one sounded better for this type of sound.
Very "metallic, white noise and FM'ish" is what i have heard from online demos so far too. The sound reminds me of the Volca Drum quite a bit.
Cold sweat ran at the back of DFAM.
Rather reminiscent to a Volca
I wonder if, in thirty years time Behringer will consider this drum machine worthy of their "sincerest form of flattery". Or would they just knock out a cheapo Casio SK1-alike and make everything you put into it sound, err... a bit like this?
It sounds disastrous.
JAJAJAJAJAJAJAA....JAJAJAJAJAJAAA....QUE GRACIOSA....
Surely an Elektron Cycles(or even a Sample)would be just as good for half the price!
I own both. Believe me or not but the LXR has much more quality sound.
They are really no comparison. The LXR can do way more has a better overall character. I own the 01 version and the Cycles, which I am looking to sell.
LOL why would anyone buy this after Sonic Potions abandoned the LXR 1 when it had several critical bugs that were reported by users, but ignored? It was never reliable enough to use in a live performance. From everything I have seen, this "new" LXR-02 is the original 2014 machine with a different layout. Have they even fixed the bugs? This thing is ridiculously overpriced, it's not 2014 anymore! It's like someone trying to sell an old monophonic Shruthi for $400 when I can buy a new dual polyphonic Micromonsta 2 for $300. Who is the market for this? People who don't know what they're buying?
meh ...
What an awful sounding device. 579€ ? Hey AudioPilz can you hear me? This is instant bad gear.
lol. if he's reading this, sonic potions left us with an unfinished LXR and then released the LXR 2. How about finishing the first one?
It'll be that expensive?! I had the first lxr and also disliked the sound as well as the editing, lots of pages...
so overpriced i agree. even 300 is expensive for it. you can do all this on drum computer on ipad.
300$ would me the maximum I’d pay for a like this. Maybe I’m spoiled by Arturias drum machine prices. It’s a shame because I actually really dig it. I’d loveeeee a bigger, more flexible Volca Drum, but not at 600$.
Model cycles does the the same thing but even better.
Nah. Pass.
looks like it's realy hard to program. thats why it's sucks.
Sounds neat, do wish it were battery powered, would be a great thing to noodle with on the couch or on lunch breaks, bit annoying to bring a cable around.