Liven MEGA SYNTHESIS - Tutorial Part 1 - Pattern Editing Deep Dive
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- Опубліковано 25 чер 2024
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More about the Sonicware Liven MEGA Synthesis:
Sonicware's Website: sonicware.jp/pages/liven-mega...
Trailer: • LIVEN "MEGA SYNTHESIS"...
Yuzo Koshiro's Patterns: • Yuzo Koshiro Preset Pa...
My quick overview video: • Liven MEGA SYNTHESIS -...
My accessibility quick guide: www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/clen3z...
So as promised here is my Sonicware Liven MEGA Synthesis deep dive video. This video will look at pattern editing including everything that's available to make your own music. The next video will focus on the FM sound editing overlay so will cover how to make your own sounds
Sonicware and I have both noted how many customers have bought the Liven MEGA Synthesis who have never bought an instrument before, so I've done my best to make this video as beginner friendly as possible which is why this video is quite long. If you're more experienced please use the chapter markers so skip through to relevant sections.
0:00 Teaser Bit
0:17 Intro
General layout & overview
Powering up
Playing a pattern
Function button
Muting the speaker
Knob latch feature
3:33 Loading Patterns
Queuing patterns
Pattern chaining
4:57 Pattern Pages Buttons
6:09 Pattern and Track Contents
6:59 Track Types
FM tracks
PSG tracks
PCM tracks
Track polyphony
Muting tracks
Mute modes
9:01 Creating a Pattern From Scratch
Loading an empty pattern
Selecting FM sounds
FM sound banks
Playing the keys
Attack
Release & Gate
Voice modes
Arpeggio types
Mono glide
Legato glide
13:12 Directly Entering Notes
Clearing tracks
Octave knob
Clearing notes
Velocity
14:40 Track 1 - FM Pad
Live recording
Tied notes
Metronome settings
Track length
Saving a pattern
Transposing the pattern
Clearing a pattern
17:28 Track 2 - FM Lead
Sweep controls - LFO mode
Sweep curve -LFO shapes
Sweep controls - Envelope mode
Step recording
Removing individual notes
Entering long notes
Entering sweeping notes
Auto step
Per step note length
Adding swing
22:22 Adding FX
FX send knob
FX types and settings
Send FX vs. insert FX
24:00 Track 3 - FM Bass
FM legacy modes
Realtime recording bass
25:08 Track 4 - Square Wave Layer
PSG sound options - Bank knob
Attack and release differences
PSG adjustment options - Sound knob
27:20 Track 6 - Sampled drums
Loading a drum kit
PCM 4 bit mode
Programming some kicks
Lengthen and duplicate track
Adding more drums
Changing kits
30:20 PCM Voices Modes
Slicing a sample with Drum mode Voice adjust
Shot mode
31:02 Recording Samples
Recording options
Auto level threshold
Sampling quality
Connecting an external sample source
Load an empty sample
Entering sampling mode
Checking the level
Recording a sample
Saving a sample
33:35 Parameter Locking
Realtime recording
Clearing parameter locks
Manually entering
35:19 Track 5 - Background Pulse & Square
Sound locking
Recording a pulse sound
Recording a square sound on the same track
36:40 Note Trigger Probability
Lowering playback probability
37:47 Playback Modes
Random sequence mode
Random step length
Stutter sequence mode
39:27 Misc Settings
FM edit mode
Copy & Paste
BPM mode
Clock menu
Midi channel menu
Midi menu
PCM data menu
Pattern data menu
System menu
Line in menu
#ChrisLody #MEGAsynthesis #SonicwareLiven
Incredible tutorial. Making it easy to dive in before I go on to reading the whole manual. Thank you for all your time on this!
Glad to help, have fun 😁
The step sequencing on the Livens is still my favorite of all time. I’m constantly looking for other boxes that allow ties and auto step, they really nailed it. Thank you for another lovely tutorial! 💞
Yes it's very impressive what they've managed to squeeze in, plus they keep adding things like the new mute mode. I've had a lot of fun sequencing external gear with them too 😁
Do all the live s have the same?
My first intro to the world of synthesizers. Well, playing them at least. Thanks so much for your videos, incredibly helpful.
I’ve been waiting all week for this video 🙌🏾
same :)
So excited for mine! Great Tutorial!
Great work again Chris! Thanks for these tutorials! I have learned so much about the Sonicware devices from you!
Thank you, glad to help 😁
Thank you for making this video, it was interesting to check out just before the arrival of this lovely little synth and now a week later watching it again with a good handfull of hours playing around rewatching it really helps understanding the device the right way.
Keep up the awesome work!
Thank you 😁 Glad to hear you're enjoying it 👍
I pre-ordered the Mega Synthesis even though I've never used this kind of device (I have some knowledge in music and can play a little piano), but I was too excited not to get one! So, this kind of video is a blessing, thank you very much!
Glad to help. Both Sonicware and I noticed lots of people were interested that had never bought an instrument before, so we decided the tutorials should be as beginner friendly as possible 😁
Very good tutorial, thanks Chris. I ordered this a few weeks ago and I'm so excited to receive and try it.
Nice one, I'm glad to help and hope you have fun 😁
Thank you, that was great! I can't wait for mine to arrive.
Thank you, hope you have fun with it 😁
Ordered mine yesterday. Was eyeing the super midi pak for a while until I seen this. This is exactly what I needed.
Nice one, hope you have fun with it. The Super Midi Pak looks interesting too, though I don't have a SNES any more
Thank you for the lesson. I learned how to use mine in one night .
This was super helpful. It was a great visual that I need as reading manuals can be a little difficult. THANK YOU~~~ :)
Glad to help, I hope you're having fun with it 😁
This just popped up on my Facebook , and I really want one. I’ve never used anything like this before but love the 8bit
🙄 Fine Chris. *Throws hands up in the air* You convinced me. I bought one. Ok! I'll be back in February to rewatch this.
(Real talk thanks for making these, these tutorials are extremely well made and I appreciate you. I'm from Boston, were not allowed to be nice outside of parenthesis)
Ha sorry about that 😄 Hope you have fun with it. Btw I'm from Boston, Lincolnshire and it's much the same here!
@@ChrisLodyMusic hah what are the chances!
There's no doubt in my mind this synth is gonna be a blast. I just wanted to see it in action a little closer, so Chris Lody to the rescue.
Well, this just sold me on it. Great tutorial! I'm looking forward to seeing more whilst I wait for the February batch to ship... :D
Thanks very much. It's nice to see this selling well too, hopefully Sonicware will start offering bigger batches 😄
@@ChrisLodyMusic After a few delays my "early February" unit finally arrived this week - and I'm straight back here to try and remember everything I've forgotten whilst waiting.
@HadynLander Sorry to hear you've had to wait, there's been a few delays with Sonicware's manufacturing recently. Hope you have fun with it now it's arrived!
Retro game composer's dream retro game come true! 😄
It certainly is 😁
LOL Damn it Chris you just sold me another Liven 😂 Great demo and lovely sounds 👌✊🔥 Hope these turn up in UK stockist soon!
Sorry about that 😄 Yes they will be stocked in the UK eventually including Amazon so should be pretty easy to get hold of
I just got mine in the mail yesterday! It's definitely ticking all the nostalgia boxes! It has some odd limitations, but in a way I find the restrictions actually deter me from getting lost in a sound design wormhole, and helps me focus on just making music. I'm not upset at all that I have to stop playback to delve into FM sound editing. The parameter locking is truly remarkable. Being able to cycle through 4 or 5 different sounds on a single FM track, really allows for fully fleshed out music composition. And the polyphony limitation, actually encourages better composition (ie. call & response). One feature, which would be awesome in a future update🤞, is automation recording. If I could record the motion of an fx knob, or sweep, attack/decay, etc., in realtime, this would be a monster for making techno, or any other contemporary electronica genre. Even if that's not possible, its still an excellent portable idea station, that I can use to create chiptunes, to chop up on my MPC later. Well done Sonicware!👏👏
Glad to hear you're enjoying it, it's one of my favourite Sonicware products too!
You can realtime record knobs already by using the 'prm rec' function (Func+PRM Lock) though you can only record things that are per track (grey knobs apart from Octave) so the black FX knobs aren't included. But you can automate the ->FX knob (FX send). The FM engine follows the original chip it's based on closely which can't alter a sound once it begun to play apart from it's pitch so that's one of the main reasons it feels a bit restrictive when using automation.
Lots of people have requested being able to adjust sounds while the sequence plays so hopefully that's something that's added in an update
@@ChrisLodyMusic Oh! that's good news! I still have a lot to learn about this machine! too bad about the black fx knobs...those were the ones I really wanted to mess with😏at least the fx send & lfo/sweep knobs can be automated though!
Thank you so much. Im not sure what I do..but it involves a lot of messing up. Appreciate your vids!
Glad to help. Messing up is genuinely a good way to learn I think, just explore and see what works 😁
I think they're onto a bit of a winner with this one. Thanks for the ever-useful on-ramp Chris
Yes it's been selling well. It seems to have attracted quite a few beginners so I've tried to make this tutorial as friendly as possible
@@ChrisLodyMusic I only got in on the 3rd wave...was checking local UK stockists, didn't realise it was direct only at the mo! Always good to get a refresher in the basics tbh, especially in theLiven formats, and so few demoes cater to people new to synthesis...we forget how much of a barrier that is! So double thanks on that front
Yep, they will be in the UK including Amazon, but I'm not sure when. Yes hopefully this will make sense to beginners 😄
Great job, man! Thank you for putting this together. I’m rusty with the Livens so I appreciate it!
Really liking this synth. It’s one of my favorite aspects from my favorite consoles put into portable synth form!
You're quite welcome. Yeah it's something I've been wanting for years tbh!
Excellent tutorial! Can't wait to receive mine in a couple weeks, literally my dream synth! I grabbed a MegaFM but I still have no idea what I'm doing with it, I just wanna make funky jams with presets and a sequencer 😅 assuming it's possible to record in changing the octave pitch to get that sweet pitch bend in?
Oh nice, I'd like a MegaFM too 😁 I'll be doing my best to explain FM synthesis on the Liven MEGA so that should help you to understand both. Automating the octave knob wont change the pitch mid note unfortunately, but you can always use the LFO and\or Legato to do that kind of thing
CHRIS, thanks so much for this tutorial. I just got mine this week ( been sick with covid) so haven't had a chance to dive in. BUt I have a question. WILL sonicware update the other livens so that when we mute a tracks' recorded data we can still play the sound like you now can on this one? particularly the xfm and the lofi 12? thanks so much
Glad to help. Yes I hope they do that too. They have added features from new Livens to older models before so fingers crossed 🤞
So dope! Thanks for the content!
Do you have a favorite in the Liven series?
Kind of, it depends what I need at the time. The Lofi-12 and MEGA are level for having a nice rounded set of tools and being easy to use with the XFM slightly behind because it's a bit tougher to operate. The Texture Lab is top in terms of experimental sounds but the XFM is good at that too. They all have their merits, but those are the ones that I gravitate towards mostly
@@ChrisLodyMusic thanks, Chris! I think those were the ones that I was gravitating towards the most. Greatly appreciate the answer and all of the amazing content!
A great tutorial with some very useful tips! I got mine set up, am having a little trouble getting around the step sequencer having never used one before so it’s getting in the way of my song ideas 😢and I’m no keyboard player either but I know my way around the piano roll 😅so a midi to iPad adapter is on order. Could I make my melodies, chords and such in Cubasis and just record them into the Mega Synthesis?
Well if the step sequencer isn't your style you can set up multiple tracks in a DAW like cubasis with channels that match the different tracks on the Liven. By default tracks 1-6 are setup as midi channels 1-6, so if your tracks are transmitting these channels you can control these with a piano roll
Thanks for yet another great overview. I was already at fever pitch for the arrival of my Elz-1 Play and Lofi-XT then Sonicware goes and drops this must-have chiptune groovebox to compound my GAS. And there I was, only a couple months ago, asking Sonicware to streamline the UI and add square LFOs to the Liven 8bit Warps. This is several orders of magnitude better than that.
Thank you 😁 I think they're smashing it at the moment too. Certainly this, the elz_1 play and Lofi-XT have a greater focus on the interface which is nice to see. By the way I'll type up a list for accessibility soon, it's fairly simple this one
As promised here is the accessibility quick guide. I kept it fairly simple as a lot of info is listed well in the manual this time, but I added the content of some menus because they're not. I'll add the FM edit level when I get that tutorial done www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/clen3znifi2ubr3xi0ng8/SONICWARE-Liven-MEGA-Synthesis-Accessibility-Guide.docx?rlkey=89wjo2fecrwo9j2wsy2xg657j&dl=0
The manual is here btw: www.sonicware.co.jp/DL/LIVEN_MegaSynthesis/DOC/MEGA-SYNTHESIS_manual_en_r2.pdf
@@ChrisLodyMusic Many thanks. Very helpful. Gonna study this after lunch.
Thanks again for this guide. Extremely useful. One thing: What is the secondary function of step 16 (your guide only appears to go up to step15).
@@dinogoldie9716 No problem. Func+Step 16 is knob latch. I checked the document and it seems to be there, but let me know if you need to double check anything else
If I set the note length for one of a pattern's tracks to 1/.8 or 1/.16, can I alter that track's length so it syncs up with the metronome and the other tracks in that pattern? Or do all tracks need to be dotted 8ths/16ths to be in sync? (it's been 30 years since GCSE music).
Yes, but dotted notes don't line up well with a 4/4 grid in this scenario. Dotted notes are worth one and a half the value of their vanilla counterparts. So you could have one track with 36 steps at 1/16 and another track with 24 steps (2/3rds of 36) set to 1/.16 and they should play the same length. I quite like letting things turn into a shambling mess up rhythms falling over each other outside of this though 😄
Thanks for the great video. Are you using a PSU? On the sonicware website, a PSU is added to the order, but the terminal will probably be Japanese. I would need a European one. is there any substitute? Thank you.
Yes I am. The Liven range uses the same power spec and connectors as the Volca range so it's best to look for a Volca power supply. They're pretty easy to find on Amazon etc
I've received my unit. On the manual they say we can add fx on each track, but it seems to be the same fx for all tracks. I thought we could add reverb on track 1 and for instance crash on track 2. Sadly it doesn't make it.
That's right there is one effect unit per pattern. You can determine the send amount per track on the delay and reverb or switch the effect on and off per track for the other effects. The original hardware had no effects unit at all so it's still a big plus compared to that
Thanks so much for the tutorial! I've been following along with my MEGA I received yesterday (loving it so far!) One thing I haven't been able to figure out is how to "exit" a setting after I've made changes. For example, I pressed "func + system" to change the battery type (I'm using rechargeable). After I scrolled the value knob to make the changes, I couldn't figure out how to exit the menu. For the moment, toggling the speaker on/off has been my work around. Any tips? Thank you!!
Oh yes I didn't think to explain that. Just keep pressing Func + System for the system menu until you pop out the other back to the pattern name or number (P2.01 for example for Bank 2 Pattern 1). Glad you're enjoying it 😁
Excellent - Thank you! @@ChrisLodyMusic
Thanks for the video! Do you know what the icon of the first FX knob is? And what meaning both FX icons represent?
They are left slightly vague as varies by FX type. If you watch the section from 22:22, that shows the list of FX with the settings for each FX type
@@ChrisLodyMusic Thank you. While I can see the right icon is a lab flask, I really can't see what the left icon should be...
@@wonderwheel80s It's a reference to Sonic the Hedgehog, it's one of his sneakers to represent speed 😄
@@ChrisLodyMusic Now I see it! Thank you sir!
Is there a way to globally change swing for all six tracks at once? Is there a way to fix all steps in a track to the same velocity without manually altering the setting on a step-by-step basis?
No sorry the swing will always be per track.
Regarding velocity, you can record on the internal keyboard which will always be set to the same velocity due the that being controlled via a knob. Or your other option is to copy and tweak the voice preset to adjust the amount of per operator velocity using the overlay. There's no way to edit velocity after recording unfortunately
Is there a way of linking the filter FX to the sweep/lfo? Is there a way of making the pitch sweep steppy (a la the 8bit Warps)?
No to both of those unfortunately, sorry about that.
Btw I'm working on the Lofi-12 XT guide at the moment, it's taking a bit longer than I expected but I'll have something useable ready soon
@@ChrisLodyMusic That's good to hear. The Liven Megha Synthesis has really captured my attention lately so I've only had a cursory noodle with the ELZ-1 Play and have barely looked at my Lofi XT as of yet. tbh, if sonicware documentation simply named controls (rather than using icons/symbols), I'd be instantly able to crack on and wouldn't be bothering you for this info. Thanks for all your help.
Is the difference between orange and red on the page 1/3, 2/4 buttons more distinct than it appears in this video?
It is yes. My camera struggles with that a bit. I imagine a colour blind user would too though
Is the duplicate function at 28:42 supposed to be available on the xfm by any chance?
It is on some other Livens, but I don't think the XFM is included yet. Sonicware have a habit of updating their older gear with new features like this so hopefully it will happen at some point 🤞
@@ChrisLodyMusic it’s a good habit to have.😃
It would be interesting to see comparison between Elektron Syntakt (or Digitakt) and Liven sequencer.
Unfortunately that's not something I have access to but maybe you can find a deep dive of one of those elsewhere on UA-cam
They're very similar. If you're used to working with one, they translate quite well. Copy/paste of different steps, tracks, patterns. P- locks recorded live or by-step. Ekektron boxes have gotten a really nice song mode through firmware updates that Livens don't have (although SmplTrek's is even better imo....). Liven chaining of patterns outside of song mode is better than Elektron's bc you don't have to keep holding down the 1st or some subsequent patterns button while you make the chain. That's everything I can think of that's significant. If you have any specific questions feel free to ask.
This looks like a lot of fun for the price.
Yes they've managed to pack in the features on this one 👌
My melody is more than 256 steps! Have I hit a limitation or is there a way to get around it?
Well you can record your melody across 2 patterns and use pattern chaining to play them back in a loop. Either that or you can control it as a sound module using midi. Which reminds me, I need to answer your other question...
i have two questions...
1. is there a way to create drum kits out of different percussion sounds that are on the machine?
2. is there a way to record a 6 second sample of 6 sounds, 1 per second, and use that as a drum kit?
im really just curious if we're able to customize a drum kit using sounds in the machine. also, whats the best process to record a 6 sounds to use as a drum kit, if that works?
Hi.
1. You could do, but you'd have to record the audio out of the MEGA onto something external and then sample them back in again using evenly spaced samples. Some of the other Livens have a 'resample' function which would have made it possible to make the kit on the machine, but it's missing here for whatever reason.
2. Yes you can make the kits in almost any audio editor that will snap the samples to a grid, but I prefer to use a DAW like Reaper. Reaper is a very powerful bit of software so this is barely scratching of what it can do but it is free to try. You'll be able to turn on snap and the default tempo is 120bpm so the grid will match up to 6 seconds well. You don't have to use just 6 drum sounds over 6 seconds by the way, by using the 'ADJ' setting in the Drum mode on the MEGA you can change the length of a single slice so you can have up to 16 chops across you 6 seconds. It works the same way on other Livens which I show in this video: ua-cam.com/video/lwb2UwTPfc8/v-deo.htmlsi=Vd5uSsI5oMmZ4q0m&t=60
Anyone know if there is a way to adjust velocity of a step after a pattern has already been recorded? Not seeing this in the manual.
There isn't a way to adjust that after the note is recorded, but you can remove individual notes from a sequence then add them back in. Save before you do this as there's no undo. To do this turn on Rec, go though the sequence with the step button until you find the note you want to remove and make a note of how long it is if necessary. With the step where the note starts selected, play the same note on the keyboard, this will remove it from the sequence. Then adjust your velocity and enter the note again, you can enter a tie note if your note was longer than one step
Thank you. I've since discovered that we can change the velocity of steps using parameter locks also. These tutorials you do are much appreciated!
Hi Chris
I wonder how I'll have to do to record my creations on the Mega Synthesis with my laptop. The MS doesn't have USB and my laptop doesn't have Midi and line in ports. So I guess I'll have to use "something" between them but I don't know what :) Thx for your help 👍
Yes you'll need an audio interface, there are lots to choose from. You can get one that does just audio and then a separate usb to midi cable, but you'd best off getting one that has both audio and midi. You can get ones with lots of different audio inputs if you want to record lots of things at once but for just recording the Liven, controlling it via midi and installing firmware updates something like the Arturia MiniFuse would be a good option www.thomann.de/gb/arturia_minifuse_2_black.htm
You'll need some software too. Again there's a lot to choose from and a lot of good stuff is free. If you want something simple that just records audio try Audacity which is free, if you want to jump into audio and midi with something much more capable try Cockos Reaper. It's not free but you have an unlimited trial period that just nags you for a few secinds when you load it
@@ChrisLodyMusic You wrote about updating firmwares, it's done with via midi ports ? (I don't know if it's possible with audio jacks ?) For recordings, the Liven is plugged both with in/out midi and line out on the Arturia or only midi ? (Very sorry, I know nothing about midi devices...) Thanks
@emilegravier8758 Yes on the Livens the update is performed using the midi connections because it doesn't have usb. Midi is just digital data so it can be used this way, but mostly it's used for sending note information, like telling a device to start a particular note at a particular time etc.
For recording the output you would only need the audio in connections on the audio interface. But the beauty is you can do both and and midi together. So if you wanted to you can send midi from a track in Reaper to the Liven and then capture the audio back into Reaper on an audio track.
By the way, there are rare cases where firmware updates are performed by audio, Korg Volcas work like this. It works the same way as old 80s 8 bit computer used to load programs from cassettes
@@ChrisLodyMusic Okay :) And to use the audio connections, since the Liven has a one 3.5mm output and the Minifuse 2 has two 6.3mm inputs, I have to use a stereo 3.5mm jack "Liven-side" but is it better, "Minifuse2-side", to use one single stereo 6.3mm jack on one input, or two (Left + Right) 6.3 jacks, each one on one input ? I would say the first one because I use a single input and the balance can be modified on the software...
@@emilegravier8758 each of the inputs on the audio interface are mono so you'll need a cable like this that splits 3.5mm stereo to 2x mono 1/4" connections: amzn.eu/d/75LqhRA
That way you'll be able to create a stereo recording from the Livens output
But how do you save custom patches?
That's covered in part 2: ua-cam.com/video/hEST9XFctXc/v-deo.html
Does it have song mode?
Not really. It has the ability to chain patterns, but it's not something you can save
Does this have the same synth engine as the 8bit warps?
No they're very different to each other. The closest comparison is between the 8 Bit Warps engines and the PSG tracks on the MEGA, but the 8 Bit Warps engines are very unique, I made a video about that actually: ua-cam.com/video/2iyDjNP7rAY/v-deo.html
Here's an overview of the difference between them:
So the 8bit Warps is a synth that emulates the simple wavetable abilities of early 8bit machines with editable waveforms and a 4 track audio looper. The MEGA is inspired by the 16-bit console era and therefore gives you full access to editing an emulation of the YM2612 chip's 4-op FM synthesis capabilities & it's ability to play samples. Plus it adds on simple square, pulse and noise sounds found in the SN76489. It uses a 6 track sequencer so you can have FM, chip-tune style sounds and lofi sampling all at once
So the main difference is the synthesis type which is more complex on the Liven MEGA, also the MEGA has more options because it includes sampling and more polyphony. The 8bit Warps uses an audio looper whereas the MEGA is multitimbral with multiple tracks playing different sounds.
@@ChrisLodyMusic Great response. Thanks, Chris
Other manufacturers have hard time with Sonicware synths with all those features that, in my opinion, should be natural in all gear. One problem that I have (or had) was some bugs/glithes/errors in sound (in 8bit - dramatic one's). Hope to Sonicware solve those in next firmware updates. Sadly I have sold 8bit - I just got mad at this one glitch that could broke my speakers... or ears :( This kind of issues just cant't happen. I am pretty happy with Lofi-12 tho. Howeaver, I kind of miss that chip-tune sound. Maybee Mega Synthesis can fill that void :)
That's strange, I've not seen any glitches like you described. They have updated the 8 Bit Warps quite a bit (now v3.0) so I'm fairly confident that would have been fixed by now. The MEGA is a hell of a lot more impressive spec wise though
@@ChrisLodyMusic When "sweap" is active with "legato" on "mono mode" there is horible loud sound/hiss that apears randomly when playing. Watch your ears!
@@gru_day Oh okay I'll try that and let Sonicware know if there's an issue
@gru_day I just check the 8 Bit and I couldn't replicate that bug so it must have been patched at some point. It will alias when the pitch goes very high, but that's normal
Can it sequence external instruments?
Yes, each of the 6 tracks will output midi on different midi channels
@@ChrisLodyMusic For the sequencer it self - worth the price.
I wonder if it can transfer MIDI CC parameter locks also.
Ok... it can :)
Yes it can 😁 Shame you can't customise the CC numbers, but still very useful
Just curious, why did you dance around saying the name of the console, legal reasons?
Yes this is an official video for Sonicware so they want to use it on their website etc. Using S*** etc would be a trademark issue. I won't need to avoid those names when the videos aren't for them
But the Mega Drive has 6 FM channels… why does this only have 3?
It's important not to confuse channels, tracks and voices of polyphony. The YM2612 has 6 channels for 6 voices of polyphony. The Liven MEGA also has 6 voices of polyphony controlled using 3 tracks. Admittedly this means it can't play 6 different sounds on its 6 voices like the original hardware potentially can, but Sonicware aren't going for a perfect copy but rather ease of use. Given that most soundtrack used some channels to play the same sound for chords, using channel 6 for samples reduced the FM polyphony to 5 voices (the PCM channel is separate on the MEGA with more polyphony), a channel was often sacrifised just to play echos (not necessary on the MEGA as we have delay) and sound fx on games also reduced polyphony so we're often written to use even less voices, then i think the system chosen on the MEGA is a good one.
Thanks for explaining your choices 🙂 I’m a user of Deflemask, so aware of the channel/polyphony limitations on the original hardware.
interesting I think this is the only liven that doesn't have shift function for the knobs
Yes it's the first one, no Shift button on the overlay either. Certainly makes it a slicker experience 👌