Superbooth 23: You can always rely on Sonicware to ‘Liven’ up a show with a groovy new box (or even a groovebox), and at Superbooth that box is the Liven Texture Lab.
This is the fifth product in the Liven range, and builds on the success of the likes of the Lofi-12, 8bit Warps and XFM.
Billed as a granular synth and effector, Texture Lab is a 4-voice polyphonic instrument that can record 32 samples of up to six seconds each. It then slices the samples into grains that range from 1ms to 1 second in length. These can then be transformed and reconstructed using the granular synthesis parameters, which are accessible via 10 knobs.
There are also two modulation sources (LFOs), an envelope generator and a filter, along with six flavours of reverb. The Shimmer parameter enables you to layer reverb upon reverb in octave steps, to create huge spaces.
As well as being able to process your samples, Texture Lab can also work as a real-time effector of sounds coming through the stereo line input. Here, you have the option to freeze the sound for up to six seconds to add granulated effects.
On top of this, there’s a 128-step sequencer that will be familiar to those who’ve used other Liven devices. The Parameter Lock feature that you can record knob movements into your patterns (up to 128 of them), and you can sub-divide steps down to 32nd notes.
We suspect that Texture Lab will appeal most to those who want to work with their own audio, but it also comes with a whole bunch of presets from famous sound designers.
Find out more on the Sonicware website. The Liven Texture Lab will be shipping from 30 May (9 June in non-European countries) priced at €239/€239 (European customers are currently eligible for a €40 discount).
