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XLN Audio XO’s intriguing new ‘constellation’ interface groups your drum samples by similarity
XLN Audio XO
“A revolutionary new way of exploring
sounds and creating beats”, XO is a wildly
inventive new drum machine from the
makers of Addictive Drums that identifies
and groups all your one-shot drum samples
(along with the 8500 or so that come with it)
by similarity to one another in a rather
beautiful and fully zoomable ‘constellation’
interface. Dragging your mouse pointer
aroundtriggerseachsoundasit passesover
theirrepresentativedots,andwhenyouhit
upononethatyoulike,youcanloadit into
one of eight kit piece slots. The whole kit can
then be worked into a beat within the
Playground, which incorporates sequencing,
effects, groove manipulation, randomisation
and more. When your beat is ready for
deployment, it and/or its constituent one-
shots are exported (as audio and/or MIDI)
via drag and drop.
With its innovative interface and
workflow, XO certainly has us intrigued. It’s
outnow,priced€180,and we’ll let you know
whatwemakeofit innext issue’s review.
xlnaudio.comEventideInstant
FlangerMkII
HotontheheelsofInstantPhaserMkII
(News, 267) comes Eventide’s emulation
of their own classic 1975 rackmount digital
flanger, as most famously used on Bowie’s
Ashes To Ashes. Instant Phaser MkII’s
Shallow, Deep and Wide modes offer three
different flanging styles, with modulation of
Rob Papen RP-Reverse
As the name suggests, Rob Papen’s new
plugin effect for PC and Mac captures and
reverses an incoming audio signal, with
recording triggered manually, automatically
when the input exceeds threshold, or in Host
mode, under which it happens repeatedly
and periodically after a tempo-synced Hold
time. The length of the reversed section is
synced to host, too, at a range of note
values, and separate level controls for the
Dry and Reverse signals enable mixing. The
reversed signal can be processed with the
onboard envelope, analogue modelled high-
and low-pass/comb filters and distortion,
and an LFO is assignable to modulate
volume, pan and both filters. It all comes
together in a plugin that looks to be easy to
control, but is potentially mind-bending in
itsexperimentalpossibilities.
YoucangetRP-Reverse now for £34.
timespace.comthe comb effect provided by an LFO and/or
envelope follower (with optional sidechain
input), or handled manually via the big
central knob. The Bounce control emulates
the effect of a tape machine capstan
attempting to right itself after release of the
reel, “to add a real world groove to your
tracks”, and the Low Cut filter is useful for
attenuating the low end.
It’s great to see Eventide continuing to
bring their still-relevant vintage effects to a
new audience in software form, and we look
forwardtocheckingInstantFlanger MkII
out.It’soutnowfor$129.
eventideaudio.comFigure and Take return
Figure and Take – a pair of iOS apps that
were originally developed by
Propellerhead Software but left with the
now-defunct Allihoopa social music-
making platform – are back in the hands of
the Reason developer.
To recap, Figure is a simple but effective
groove-making tool, while Take is great for
super-fast audio recording. Updates are
promised for both free apps.
propellerheads.comAuxy 5.
Auxy is a great iOS music app in its own
right, but the v5.4 update makes it a useful
scratchpad for Ableton Live owners, too.
You can now export your Auxy creations in
Live format, with tracks arriving in the
desktop DAW in both MIDI and audio
formats for total flexibility.
You can download Auxy for free, but
you’ll need to pay a subscription charge of
$4.99 a month if you want access to the full
sound library.
auxy.coFAC Bandit
Fred Anton Corvest – or FAC, to give him
his company name – has dropped Bandit, a
multiband AUv3 effect processor.
This has a DJ-style band isolator with
crossover control, with each of the three
bands processed by its own effect
(saturator, lofi or ring modulator). Their
outputs are then combined to produce the
final effect, for a sound design tool that can
be used in a considered or drastic manner.
fredantoncorvest.comApp watch
We report on the latest
developments in phone
and tablet music making
July 2019 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 11