Sonicware LIVEN XFM

My only criticism would be to say this synth does not play well with external effects. To get it to play through a Zoom MS70-CD-R, I have to use the headphone out with the preamp set to “soft”. At first I thought my synth was not working properly.

The build construction is not perfect, there are some minor flaws on the front panel where the screws meet the front plate from behind and there are some mould lines on some of the knobs. The paint on the rubber buttons isn’t perfect. It’s not comparable quality control to something like Korg or Roland.

However with the bad parts out of the way let’s focus on the good. Firstly the midi sequencing potential of this unit would make it a financially viable option as a controller alone.

The FM synth engine is absolutely one of the most powerful on the market owing to the fact that it allows you to create your own algorithms- no limits! You can make any or all operators feed back and place them in any order.

The sub bass is so clean and pure, truly speaker shaking beauty. The audio output is crisp in the high end and smooth in the lows.

The onboard effects are no better or worse than any other built in effects. Then inclusion of insert effects is great. Unlike many onboard effects units, you get two separate controls for each effect which is great.

You can save unlimited parameter locks on every step for each of the four tracks- the sequencing potential here is almost limitless.

The final icing on the cake is the 3 special XFM engines, where two patches can be blended in various ways to create truly new sonic possibilities.

You may think 4 operators and 6 voices isn’t a lot, but with every tool at your disposal on this amazing groove box, you’ll be lost with the possibilities available to you.

For anyone looking for something a little different from the main stream, for people who loved the arturia microfreak for instance, I highly, highly recommend this supremely creative little box.

It now occupies the centre of my synth set up, dedicating one channel to controlling a separate synth externally (who’s audio is routed into the line input of the XFM).

Not only can it produce wild and crazy audio that you won’t hear anywhere else, it offers one of the most powerful and expansive FM engines to date for recreating all of your favourite classic FM sounds. There isn’t anything this box of joy can’t handle (except separate pitch envelopes for each operator).

Highly, highly recommended for sonic adventurous or anyone needing a powerful sequencing “brain” for their DAW-less set up.

This Sonicware Liven synth brings an interesting take to FM synthesis by giving you the chance to morph and combine two four operator synth engines together. Sure, the workflow is an acquired taste, but after a few day-long sessions of programming things just seem to fall in place.
The sound is fairly dirty, which is what is expected of Livens. However, for the price you just can’t find anything similar with four separate tracks, six voices of polyphony, Elektron-style locking on the sequencer and more.
I do not regret my purchase.

It's a 6 voice, 4 operator synth on which you can modulate the operators any way you want, meaning that you can create some amazing sounds. However, the rest isn't that inspiring for me. Filter is so-so. Onboard effects are not great, especially the reverb. And I'm not a huge fan of its sequencer, so I use Digitakt for that.

I would give it a much higher rating if the edit mode supported MIDI CC for making changes, instead of sysex dumps, as that would make it awesome for live tweaking with external gear.

If you really need a portable FM groovebox under 300 EUR, this is probably it, but maybe saving up for a Digitone would be a better idea.