Sonicware LoFi-12 XT

Word on the streets, this LoFi-12 XT is deep and dank. Boasting 12 bit mode and frequencies of 12kHz, 24kHz and 48kHz and 40 seconds per sample. It is already being shipped and people have good things so far.

https://sonicware.jp/pages/lofi12xt

Latest update now available making this machine tighter than before

version 1.1

Ver.1.1.156 System firmware [DOWNLOAD]
(Update: Jun-13 2024)

Please read this Firmware Update Guide before updating.

What’s new in version 1.1

Improvements and Fixes to the SND features:
- Pressing func + A knob now displays the sample slots, allowing for selecting a sample (push A knob or OK to apply, CLR to cancel).
- Adjusting func + B knob will now snap changes in pitch to semitone units.
- In the SLICE screen, the OK button can be used to create a slice point, and the D-pad left / right buttons can be used to select a slice point.
- Single-cycle waveforms are now displayed correctly.
- Other minor problems including the MONO voice mode have been fixed and improved.

Improvements and Fixes to the Sample Assignment features into the Sample Slots:
- The preview is no longer played continuously, but you can preview it again by pressing the D-pad left button.
- The TAG SEARCH displays the TAG icon and the name of the current folder.
- The selection state for BROWSE / TAG SEARCH is now remembered along with the current folder.
- Fixed problems and enhanced the speed of the FILE NAME SEARCH.
- Other minor problems including the FILE DATABASE have been fixed and improved.

Improvements and Fixes to the Patterns:
- Selected pattern numbers now pop up in the PATTERN SELECT / SAVE screen.
- Fixes and improvements have been made for pattern switching.
- “Muting selected tracks at once” function has been eliminated, instead allowing track selection with func + TRACK PAD even in MUTE mode.
- Fixed other minor sequencer-related problems (incl. Parameter locking, Swing, Transpose, Pressure parameters, Copy and clear track data).

Improvements and Fixes to the SONG features:
- The PTN number and name will pop up when selecting a pattern in SONG EDIT (this will also pop up when switching patterns during playback).
- SONG EDIT allows playback from a specific row number (move cursor and press PLAY).

Improvements and Fixes to MIX TAPE functions:
- When the MIX TAPE is set to ENABLE, the TAPE icon is displayed, then lights up and animates during background recording (Speaker / Headphones / Internal Mic icons are no longer displayed).


For LIVEN Lofi-12 users
Completed a converter to LIVEN Lofi-12 Sample files (.syx) to WAV files!
Exported sample files from LIVEN Lofi-12 can now be converted to WAV files, so you can easily use them on Lofi-12 XT and other applications.
See the Utility tab.

Do you own one ? if so what do you feel about it ?

chilom wrote:Do you own one ? if so what do you feel about it ?

Yes, I bought the black one directly from Sonicware in Japan and came with the black case.

It took a few hours to learn it, I haven't used the machine to its full potential yet, but I keep finding new things that up the possibilities that its a lot deeper than meets the eye. Workflow is smooth and kinda zen like. Comes across like a Korg ESX, Digitakt and MPC all in a dirty little package, not so Roland SPish. I like that every track can be in 12 Bit Mode independently, so if tracks 3 and 4 are drums, you go into the Sound mode and activate it on or off and leave the rest of the tracks at 16 bit. And yes, the sound is crunchy and bone snappin'. The screen is small and can be hard to read at times but it gets manageable as you progress and know where everything is at. Navigation is really simple with the parameter pads which makes it super smooth to edit tracks and samples. There is no timestretch, which I like because for what I do, its Tempo knob is really a master-pitch for me. Win win.

thanks for the review. interesting

You're welcome. So much was going to be said but I was so tired last night. Here's what I missed:

I have fatter knobs on my unit and make the XT experience more comfortable but the stock knobs are real small as a Volca Sample. If your hands were fine using the VS, you'll be familiar here but they were too small for my large hands. The new knobs is much smoother and accurate. Other than that, the knobs are genius. For instance, when chopping, I can move the cursor to set my start and end points and with the same knobs, I can click them and zoom in on a waveform and get precise chops. Once you practice using the knobs correctly, you'll be chopping and zooming in and out as if it were a touchscreen, its that intuitive. The LoFi-12 XT is a different sampler so don't expect features of other samplers to be cloned here except for the basics, it has its own flow, own language and is very fitting for the Sonicware image that they are carving.

Its not a song creator like its big brother the Smpltrek which has 300 seconds of sample time per sample slot, the XT (with 40 seconds per sample slot) is more of a groovebox and with depth. The sequencer takes after the MPC with sequences being the building blocks in a song arrangement. Song mode too where you chain it all. I get Digitakt vibes with its parameter locks and how the screen animates the waveforms. All the editing is in real time as the beat plays, nice for live gigs but like I say, practice the correct use of those knobs and you'll be untouchable on stage.

Awesome, thanks for the additional details. Insightful.
Are you using the built-in Mic ? is the quality good ?
I see it as on-the-go mini sampler, to capture ideas quickly (ie: during holidays with kids and all...).

chilom wrote:Awesome, thanks for the additional details. Insightful.
Are you using the built-in Mic ? is the quality good ?
I see it as on-the-go mini sampler, to capture ideas quickly (ie: during holidays with kids and all...).

Its as decent as the Roland SP404A mic if thats a good comparison. With its lofi frequency ranges, my voice sounds like audio from an old movie, of course, you can massage it in the XT but will always be lofi.

Ultra portable indeed! I am using it with just my android via USB, sampling youtube and recording to Caustic. Speaker is decent but I prefer headphones or portable speaker. XT runs on 6 AA batteries

EDIT:Heads up, the USB on the XT is 2.0, a 3.0 will not fit.

thanks you. appreciated

LOFI-12 XT VS. SP404 MK2

Ok, I've come down to a mini bout between these two titans. I had the MK2 since Nov.2021 and the XT since May 2024. Saying that, the little time I had with the XT proved to be the better experience and better workflow than the MK2.

First off, after a while on the 404, XT's little screen made me laugh in a good way. It did felt SPish but in yellow OLED and an inch smaller, like an SP Gameboy. For my myopia eyes, I do prefer the larger SP screen. The small letters on the XT seem to blur away. Solution was to put the XT at a certain height from the table to my eyes with a 30° degree tilt. Now its clear. That or get my glasses which I already lost. Not to say that you can't read the screen, because you can and features are easy to identify to not get lost, but it is a tiny screen.

I really do like sampling on the XT. You can sample to the pads and/or to the SD card that you can feed it an afternoon of material, disconnect it and create stuff all night with batteries and its internal speaker. Though not as streamlined as MPC-Live2 speaker but its way better quality sound than the Volca and PO33ko speaker.

I will say it "CHOPPING IS SUPERIOR ON THE XT!!!" Yup, SP is garbage in comparison with its limited control knobs. All XT control knobs turn full 360° giving it the advantage here. SP knob turning is so tedious with its hard left or hard right that mistakes and unwanted parts are inevitable because once you reached the limit of that knob, you have to leave the chop screen and adjust the knob back, I always hated that. XT knobs are so well thought out that you can zoom and chop with ease as if it were a touchscreen of an MPC. Chopping is nondestructive so you can add or subtract to a chop and will not interfere with the other chops. I do suggest to install fatter knobs on the XT, your fingers will thank you. No number chopping which I'd prefer and it is by waveform but totally relies on your ears! Times I thought I could brush the cursor up to the waveform and get the chop exact, really sounded off, so I had to listen for that sweet spot and chop by ear.

Sequencing is kinda wonky at the moment after the 1.1.5 update. Its off at the first bar but comes back in time after the first pass. So the SP wins in this department. However, once it is working, the XT's sequencing can rival the Digitakt mk1 with its parameter locks and slice features. Up to 64 steps or in real time. Each pattern is a building block to a song.

Navigation? XT hands down wins. No menu diving at all, everything is on the panel for real-time access to features whether the sequencer is playing or not. And thats another plus of the XT; being able to edit samples and patterns in realtime without pausing the music. You can mutate sounds on the fly making it a creative live tool not just studio.

Final verdict: I get a better, smoother workflow with the XT than on the SP. Those looking for a cheaper alternative to the Digitakt mk1, look no further, Sonicware got you. Its lofi processor is tasteful and crunchy. Not an SP1200 clone in its tone but you will get plenty of mileage. Incredible groovebox and the direction Roland should've took before releasing the MK2, because now the SP feels like new features in an obsolete box.

LoFi-12 XT wins.

I almost backed the lofi 12, but I’m trying to slim down the studio. maybe once I sell some more gear, I’ll pick one up. Thanks bro for the review. I’m keeping my eyes open on that thing.