I really disagree. LXR is more VA in synth method with its classic waveforms and has a very raw sound where Syntakt uses algorithmic (FM) machines which seem more tamed/polished.
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and if I did not have a Virus or Rytm, the LXR would be a buy for me. But I have what I need and on no gear purchase this year and hopefully next year as well.
Couldn’t disagree more. Love both of them, but they are different beasts. The Syntakt is a polished sweet spot UX dream, wearing a monocle and a pocket watch and coughing politely into its handkerchief and then privately examining what it coughed up (not TB), whereas the LXR is the Big Bang and rips the time space continuum and gives you TB.
Edit: in other words, what @Soarer said.
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Plus it morphs!
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If you’re looking to do something other than just drums, here’s something I did with only the LXR-02 and an Empress Reverb.
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that was excellent!
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I haven’t used the LXR live since the set I linked but that’s only because I had gotten a Syntakt and wanted to use that for a show instead. I’ve only had one ‘full effort’ show since the one linked. I do still have the LXR and I imagine I’ll use it again at some point but I think my next set will be just Digitakt and Micromonsta 2, a fun, simple setup I’ve used to fully improvise a couple of other longer sets in the meantime.
About composition and improv in the set I linked: I set up like a DJ. Octatrack was mainly mixer and effects but I did have two sequenced sample tracks and all vocal samples were also on the Octa. They were not sequenced though, I just tapped them in in the moment, as needed. Left hand ‘deck’ was Blackbox and the one on the right was LXR. For a 30 minute set I’ll usually make 4-6 patterns that seem to vaguely go together on each side. Then I practice messing around with them going back and forth and bringing the various elements in and out and just build up a bit of structure as I practice. I usually output through a Bluebox as it has compression, can record, and has a headphone output in case the monitoring in the venue is shitty. I mention the Bluebox here because it also has a clock. So I watch the clock and knowing I have 30 minutes in which to git 'er done I change up tracks, patterns, and fiddle with effects when the time seems right. Having practiced it a billion times I get a bit of a feel but nothing is truly locked in to the second or anything. I pretty much wing it. Most effects and things like step repeats and all that are just handled on the fly. I was a scratchy hip hop DJ for years so all of this seems pretty chill compared to the amount of labor and memorization required to keep a busy vinyl set going. Instead of a whole ton of other people’s music and lots of scratching I just have maybe up to a dozen of my own compositions and some pretty much on-rails noodling to deal with. I won’t be so cocky as to declare it easy since I’m fairly new to this type of thing but it’s definitely pretty simple.
I hope that made sense. Words are difficult.
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hello! could you explain in detail how you switch whales using midi?
it can be very useful for me! tnx
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Not sure what you mean by whales.
To switch kit you need to send CC #32 with a value of 0, and then CC #0 with a value of the kit#.
If you use max for live, I made this device for the LXR.
CF_LXR.amxd (8.4 KB)
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Anyone got any rumours about new firmware?
I’m going through my stuff and wonder if it could become a stable thing.
Hardware is top notch, but random bugs hitting hard.
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What do you feel are the most problematic issues after v1.6?
Sometimes after pattern change one channel or all of them suddenly don’t produce sound.
Reboot fixes this, but this is very very very annoying.
Next thing is: if I assign tracks to different outs than main l/r (and keep exactly that scheme across all kits), sometimes it forgets how i assigned it. So I better use only main l/r at all. I have an octatrack too, and it would be a purrrrrrfect companion to it.
I can’t reproduce those issues, its totally random. Sometimes those things won’t happen through a whole session, sometimes it’s like today I’ll show ya!
If I could reproduce such things I could file a bug report or something, but so it’s just a good sample fodder producer to me. I hestitate to sell it because of this (karma…).
I literally fiddle and record, but I wont perform on it! But I would, if I could trust it.
I have it since it was released to public, and hope for stability fixes.
I even tried a different power wart just to put that possible problem away.
Please ignore my faulty spelling, it’s not my default language 
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I have an OG LXR with the Brendan Clarke firmware. It also exhibits some similar issues - hard to pin down exactly what triggers it and what the outcomes are but feel it’s like this:
Send Program Change over midi or USB -> some kind of bit reduction type glitching sometimes happens to some voices. Only way to fix seems to be to power cycle.
I suspect that it might be something to do with the sample wavs being loaded in a buggy way when switching to a different kit.
I get the feeling that it only happens when I change kits whilst the voices are playing but I could be wrong! Perhaps the limited memory is getting overloaded from the new samples from a new kit being loaded at the same time as other samples are playing back?
Agree it’s too buggy to rely on live if using program changes.
I don’t think it does the output forgetting bug though.
I’m not sure if this has ever been suggested here, but I just submitted a suggestion to Erica Synths asking if they could implement a “one shot” feature for the LFOs (specifically for the 2 Saw Down shapes). I use that shape a lot to do things like control the amount of FM volume or overall volume but always have to make sure that the speed isn’t so fast that the effect retriggers. Has anyone else wanted a feature like this?
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Yes I have requested that too for the LFO envelope. The current way does not allow for fast filter envelope decays since the envelope will repeat then. So I think it’s needed.
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Something just dawned on me - since you have access to all parameters for each of the 6 sounds in the 2 automation destination menus, does this mean you could actually set 12 values per step for 1 sound if you wanted to? I’ll have to test this out…
Also, here’s an unlisted video I made a little while ago for a couple of friends who challenged me to try to make a DAWless jam from scratch. It’s 10 min long and might be a bit boring as I try to come up with a groove. But it shows a bit of a mellower side to the LXR-02 as I avoid using the levels of distortion you see in other videos.
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This is why I opted for the OG LXR with the Brendan Clarke firmware which does give one shot LFOs and a load of other great extras!
http://brendanclarke.com/files/LXR/Readme%20-%20firmware%20additions%20to%20v.36.txt
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I can’t understand why there isn’t more firmware updates with this machine.
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Since getting mine it’s had more firmware updates than any other drum machine I’ve ever owned.
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