I am in love with this synth. I finally learned it all, thru my family distracting me. I made it to getting the looping section down. Now it's just about making music. They pack so much in to these. I integrated it with my op 1 and KO ep 133. 😮
Thanks. Yes I thought I'd try and show it used in a few different ways as I went through. There's still a few things I didn't have time to share like building up 4 layers of detuned versions of the same pattern, but I'll maybe cover that later
Thanks very much for this, just got my 8 bit Warps a couple of weeks ago and I admit to be a little overwhelmed by its capabilities. Looking forward to more tutorials.
No problem. Yes there will be more tutorials for this. As well as the drum synthesis and pitch sweep functions I mentioned in the description I've been asked to cover the parameter lock function too so those will all get recorded when I get time
Another great one Chris 👍 I really like the looper on 8bit Warps, I wish the tracks could be set to internal or external individually rather than being fixed to 3 internal and 1 external, that would be very handy. I would love to see the looper reappear on some future Livens too, it is a great function fairly unique to the 8bit Warps, but I reckon if they did a new Liven with a looper it would be cool to be able to save loops and also have them work with tempo changes either by timestretch or repitching, could be a lot of fun for weird experimental looping. Anyway, thanks again for all your great video tutorials and overall interesting channel 🙏
Thank you 😁 I'm guessing but I think it will be unlikely to return to the Livens just because they don't have enough flash memory to save the recordings which is a shame. It is a feature that is present on the upcoming "ELZ_1 play" though including being able to overdub and save to SD card, that looks like a very nice bit of gear 👌
Yes I'm working towards that one as it'll use all the information from the other tutorials I've made including the next one which will be about how parameters locks work
I played a po 12 through this the other day and pressed some buttons. I switched off the 8 bit and then on and it stayed in the memory. Don't know how I achieved it. Was it a bug or does the warps have a one slot memory. Any ideas. Maybe in a firmware up date they'll do a one slot save with the internal loops also. Either way it's an awesome device. 👍
@@modulblok-e3168 it happened once and was a while ago and it’s still in my cupboard. The xfm has been more used. I think it was a bug. They play well together though. Just couldn’t work how i saved those loops once. Didn’t work the second time owe well. Aha.
@@lbarnett748ah ok. Thank you(looper) ,,, i try to lern the 3 livens xfm 8bit db with po sub po rithem volka keays suport at ones was and is sometimes hard but i love them,,,, dont know xfm or 8bit i love more 🤣
Slightly frustrating that it doesn't store recorded audio. That kinda kills it for a performance tool. wouldn't have added much to the price to add an EPROM.
@@ChrisLodyMusic Maybe they'll do a 'pro' version (seems all the rage at the moment) that has a few more doodads on it. I'd imagine one of the tinkerers will figure out a mod at some point. If it held samples or had a way to dump them as a 'performance' to an app (through the audio output like the volca sample?) that would make it far more useful.
Yeah I wouldn't be surprised if they did something like that. Their first instrument the ELZ_1 was a more their 'pro' kind of product, all milled aluminium and oled screen 👌 Early days for Sonicware so it'll be interesting where they go from here
No its 5 tracks total, 1 real-time, 3 recorded loops from the internal sounds and 1 recorded loop from external sounds. I tried running it back into itself to resample the output but that just leads to feedback so it can't be extended beyond that as far as I can work out
I've been trying to focus on deeper explanations of functions because there's already a good overview tutorial on this channel 👉ua-cam.com/video/V08AbRyZHMw/v-deo.html
Sadly not. Recording to that channel will always overwrite rather than overdub. I've even tried to run audio back into it as a way to get around this but it always results in feedback
Have the looper controls changed during firmware revisions following this video? I can't get the looper to work exactly the way it appears to in this video. To start record on my unit it's func+looper track and that starts recording instantly. I don't know how to arm a looper track so it only starts recording once the sequencer starts playing (so I let the sequence play through a couple times before hitting func+bank 1-3). To mute a looper track I just hit the specific looper track button (no need for "shift") then it's two taps of that looper track button to unmute it.
I just checked to make sure and I can't find any difference with the controls. I didn't think to make this tutorial accessible at the time though so maybe that's the issue. The looper mode button is rubber button 5, the four loop tracks are activated using buttons 13 to 16, the looper menu is key 6, the looper mode volume and pan knobs are the top 4 knobs. So switch to looper mode and press button 13 once for example and it will then arm looper track 1 and wait until your pattern is played. When you press play it counts through the number of steps set in the looper menu while recording the audio, as soon as the number of steps is recorded the realtime pattern will still be playing but muted and the audio will be playing back from loop track one. Once a looper track one contains audio, pressing button 13 cycles through stop mode, play+pause mode which waits to sync with patterns and immediate play mode. I didn't quite say it in the video but muting and un-muting the pattern is achieved using shift+play. Hope that helps!
Very helpful. Is there a way to chain multiples of the same pattern and then another into a looper track without having to time it as its playing? For example, if you wanted a chain with pattern PO65-PO65-PO65-PO66, would you have to time the switch to PO-66 for the last bar of the chain in realitme as you're recording the loop? In chain mode (when I double click PTN and it turns orange) I can select the patterns in a chain in the order I click on them, but if click on the same pattern multiple times it turns on and off instead of adding mutliples of itself to the chain. Is there a hidden menu I'm missing to specify how many iterations of a pattern will play in the chain before the next one plays?
Also, is the maximum total looper arrangement length 128 steps? I was hoping to arrange songs on this like an Elektron Model:Cycles or a Korg Electribe 2, but it seems like this only gives you 8 bars to arrange in full 5-track looper mode, and more geared toward live preformance. Still a cool machine, but figuring out its limitations.
The only way to have the same pattern to play one after another is to copy the pattern into the next slot along so that when it's chained they plan one after another. Later Livens still work like this but they have added a feature to loop the pattern chain. I'm not sure about the maximum length of the looper but yes I think 128 steps is the limit
It's well worth playing around with. You can do some pretty cool sound design things like layering up detuned versions the same sounds to get huge sounding chords
@@ChrisLodyMusic🤷♂️ Tbh I'm happy enough it has an extensive automation capability, and quite a few memory slots to save sequence/automation variations for a song.
I don’t get it at all. Where did all these patterns or recordings you looped come from? So you make a pattern first, save it, then loop the pattern? Can’t you just play the damn patterns together as they are? I don’t get it…
Well this is by no means meant to be a complete tutorial for the 8Bit Warps, there are plenty of other tutorials for the basics so I didn’t want to cover that all here too. The patterns were created by me just for the video, but you can do this with any patterns. The 8Bit Warps can only play 1 pattern at once unless you use the looper.
This device is a gift that just keeps on giving. What a joy
I'm a beginner.
I'm from Ukraine. Became the owner of this instrument. Its sound became decisive. Subscribed. Will be studying. Thanks !
Thanks very much. I hope you really enjoy your Liven 😁
@@ChrisLodyMusic
Of course like it! These are the sounds of my youth!
I am in love with this synth. I finally learned it all, thru my family distracting me. I made it to getting the looping section down. Now it's just about making music. They pack so much in to these. I integrated it with my op 1 and KO ep 133. 😮
Ooh nice little setup that. My missus has an OP-1 and loves it too 😁
Nice work Chris , good thinking with the pattern chaining. This was definitely what everyone wanted
Thanks. Yes I thought I'd try and show it used in a few different ways as I went through. There's still a few things I didn't have time to share like building up 4 layers of detuned versions of the same pattern, but I'll maybe cover that later
Thanks very much for this, just got my 8 bit Warps a couple of weeks ago and I admit to be a little overwhelmed by its capabilities. Looking forward to more tutorials.
No problem. Yes there will be more tutorials for this. As well as the drum synthesis and pitch sweep functions I mentioned in the description I've been asked to cover the parameter lock function too so those will all get recorded when I get time
Dude this was super helpful! Thank you, what a great device! I need to get more familiar with mine for sure.
No worries. Yes it's a really powerful feature, especially when you start plugging in external gear
WOW. Can NOT wait to scroo about with THIS! Thanks man!
You're welcome, have fun 😁
Another great one Chris 👍 I really like the looper on 8bit Warps, I wish the tracks could be set to internal or external individually rather than being fixed to 3 internal and 1 external, that would be very handy. I would love to see the looper reappear on some future Livens too, it is a great function fairly unique to the 8bit Warps, but I reckon if they did a new Liven with a looper it would be cool to be able to save loops and also have them work with tempo changes either by timestretch or repitching, could be a lot of fun for weird experimental looping. Anyway, thanks again for all your great video tutorials and overall interesting channel 🙏
Thank you 😁 I'm guessing but I think it will be unlikely to return to the Livens just because they don't have enough flash memory to save the recordings which is a shame. It is a feature that is present on the upcoming "ELZ_1 play" though including being able to overdub and save to SD card, that looks like a very nice bit of gear 👌
Hey! Baught a Liven today and can't wait for it to arrive. Thank you so much for making these videos.
No problem. There's a few more tutorials on the way, but if there's anything you need to see let me know
Would it be possible to make a video showing how to make drum sounds?
Yes I'm working towards that one as it'll use all the information from the other tutorials I've made including the next one which will be about how parameters locks work
Finger man! At it again!
😂 You noticed the smiley face on the finger then 😁 might make another appearance that I reckon
Thank you! Another very handy tutorial!
Thank you, you're welcome 😁
Thank you for this video
You're welcome 😁
which buttons to press to make loop plz thanks just a simple a,b,c 1 sentance would be great
I can't explain it much simpler than this video to be honest
I played a po 12 through this the other day and pressed some buttons. I switched off the 8 bit and then on and it stayed in the memory. Don't know how I achieved it. Was it a bug or does the warps have a one slot memory. Any ideas. Maybe in a firmware up date they'll do a one slot save with the internal loops also. Either way it's an awesome device. 👍
Oh that's odd. As far as I'm aware turning it off should erase the loops. But maybe they do stay in memory for a short time, I've not explored that
@@ChrisLodyMusic I hope it wasn't a bug lol. But It could of been. I'll keep ya posted if I sust anything out too. 👍
@@lbarnett748 how you do that ?
@@modulblok-e3168 it happened once and was a while ago and it’s still in my cupboard. The xfm has been more used. I think it was a bug. They play well together though. Just couldn’t work how i saved those loops once. Didn’t work the second time owe well. Aha.
@@lbarnett748ah ok. Thank you(looper) ,,, i try to lern the 3 livens xfm 8bit db with po sub po rithem volka keays suport at ones was and is sometimes hard but i love them,,,, dont know xfm or 8bit i love more 🤣
Slightly frustrating that it doesn't store recorded audio. That kinda kills it for a performance tool.
wouldn't have added much to the price to add an EPROM.
Yeah I imagine that's why they decided to switch to 4 real-time tracks on the XFM which I think is more useful
@@ChrisLodyMusic Maybe they'll do a 'pro' version (seems all the rage at the moment) that has a few more doodads on it. I'd imagine one of the tinkerers will figure out a mod at some point. If it held samples or had a way to dump them as a 'performance' to an app (through the audio output like the volca sample?) that would make it far more useful.
Yeah I wouldn't be surprised if they did something like that. Their first instrument the ELZ_1 was a more their 'pro' kind of product, all milled aluminium and oled screen 👌 Early days for Sonicware so it'll be interesting where they go from here
So you can basically have 8 tracks? Run through the track patterns, and switch to a looper with 4 more tracks?
No its 5 tracks total, 1 real-time, 3 recorded loops from the internal sounds and 1 recorded loop from external sounds. I tried running it back into itself to resample the output but that just leads to feedback so it can't be extended beyond that as far as I can work out
Could you do a video ovefview of all the buttons and their primary and secondary functions?
I've been trying to focus on deeper explanations of functions because there's already a good overview tutorial on this channel 👉ua-cam.com/video/V08AbRyZHMw/v-deo.html
Can you layer sound on the fourth channel? Like record one thing and then continue to loop layers from an external source?
Sadly not. Recording to that channel will always overwrite rather than overdub. I've even tried to run audio back into it as a way to get around this but it always results in feedback
Have the looper controls changed during firmware revisions following this video? I can't get the looper to work exactly the way it appears to in this video. To start record on my unit it's func+looper track and that starts recording instantly. I don't know how to arm a looper track so it only starts recording once the sequencer starts playing (so I let the sequence play through a couple times before hitting func+bank 1-3). To mute a looper track I just hit the specific looper track button (no need for "shift") then it's two taps of that looper track button to unmute it.
I just checked to make sure and I can't find any difference with the controls. I didn't think to make this tutorial accessible at the time though so maybe that's the issue. The looper mode button is rubber button 5, the four loop tracks are activated using buttons 13 to 16, the looper menu is key 6, the looper mode volume and pan knobs are the top 4 knobs. So switch to looper mode and press button 13 once for example and it will then arm looper track 1 and wait until your pattern is played. When you press play it counts through the number of steps set in the looper menu while recording the audio, as soon as the number of steps is recorded the realtime pattern will still be playing but muted and the audio will be playing back from loop track one. Once a looper track one contains audio, pressing button 13 cycles through stop mode, play+pause mode which waits to sync with patterns and immediate play mode. I didn't quite say it in the video but muting and un-muting the pattern is achieved using shift+play. Hope that helps!
@@ChrisLodyMusic Many thanks - especially for the last few sentences (those were the details I couldn't get right).
@@dinogoldie9716 You're welcome, have fun 😁
So very helpful, thank you! Liked and subscribed...
Awesome thanks for watching 😁
@ChrisLody : So once you have "song loops" you want to keep, what's the workflow? External audio capture ?
Yes that's correct. Once you switch the 8Bit Warps off they are erased
does it come with an EDIT SHEET that goes on TOP ? or no ? ...
Not for the 8Bit Warps, it doesn't require one. The other Livens use them though
good stuff, mate! thanks!
No problem 👍
Very helpful. Is there a way to chain multiples of the same pattern and then another into a looper track without having to time it as its playing? For example, if you wanted a chain with pattern PO65-PO65-PO65-PO66, would you have to time the switch to PO-66 for the last bar of the chain in realitme as you're recording the loop? In chain mode (when I double click PTN and it turns orange) I can select the patterns in a chain in the order I click on them, but if click on the same pattern multiple times it turns on and off instead of adding mutliples of itself to the chain. Is there a hidden menu I'm missing to specify how many iterations of a pattern will play in the chain before the next one plays?
Also, is the maximum total looper arrangement length 128 steps? I was hoping to arrange songs on this like an Elektron Model:Cycles or a Korg Electribe 2, but it seems like this only gives you 8 bars to arrange in full 5-track looper mode, and more geared toward live preformance. Still a cool machine, but figuring out its limitations.
I guess as a workaround, you could copy the part 3x into 3 separate identical parts and then chain the copies...
The only way to have the same pattern to play one after another is to copy the pattern into the next slot along so that when it's chained they plan one after another. Later Livens still work like this but they have added a feature to loop the pattern chain. I'm not sure about the maximum length of the looper but yes I think 128 steps is the limit
Thanks!
No problem 👍
I don't use the looper, but it's cool it has one if I ever need it. 👍
It's well worth playing around with. You can do some pretty cool sound design things like layering up detuned versions the same sounds to get huge sounding chords
@@ChrisLodyMusic For sure. quick and easy too. just right there waiting to start taking snapshots, then ready for dicing too.
@@ChrisLodyMusic Too bad it doesn't have memory reserved for saving looper sculptures to the PTN slot along with the MEM...
True, just enough memory to save one of each of the loops would have been nice but I guess flash memory must be expensive
@@ChrisLodyMusic🤷♂️ Tbh I'm happy enough it has an extensive automation capability, and quite a few memory slots to save sequence/automation variations for a song.
Great tutorial! One question - does it allow for unlimited overdubs?
Thank you. No unfortunately not. If you record onto a track that already contains audio it will be overwritten
Ok would have been nice. Thanks for the clarification :)
P069 - nice.
I don’t get it at all. Where did all these patterns or recordings you looped come from? So you make a pattern first, save it, then loop the pattern? Can’t you just play the damn patterns together as they are? I don’t get it…
Well this is by no means meant to be a complete tutorial for the 8Bit Warps, there are plenty of other tutorials for the basics so I didn’t want to cover that all here too. The patterns were created by me just for the video, but you can do this with any patterns. The 8Bit Warps can only play 1 pattern at once unless you use the looper.
Okay.... now I'm not as disappointed that this thing is not multitimbral.
Thanks. It would be nice though. The Liven XFM is multitimbral though which is good 😁
Thank you for this video