Sonicwares

Sonicware is back with another quirky standalone synthesizer in its fairly crowded Liven line. The Liven Texture Lab was in Berlin and features a near-identical layout to some of the other Liven products, with that iconic case and button configuration, but that’s where the similarities end. At its heart, Texture Lab is a granular synthesizer, which is when a waveform is sliced and sliced (and sliced) into extremely small pieces, which are called grains. The engine manipulates these grains in various ways to create unique…

You know that lofi beats have taken over when companies are designing entire instruments around them. Sonicware has introduced the Liven Lofi-12, a groovebox devoted to producing subdued tracks. The machine centers around a 16-bit, 12/24kHz sampling engine with a 12-bit sampler mode that gives any sound that "genuine" lofi vibe. You can't just recreate the effect with a bit crusher or similar tools, the company claims. You'll also find a "laid-back" knob to introduce a delay, as well as 11 track and eight master effects…