Lemondrop and Fireball assessment | Engadget

Those macros may also be managed utilizing the touchscreen when it is in X/Y mode. Frankly, for one thing of this dimension, it’s mainly the best solution to work together with it. It’s immensely satisfying and straightforward to dramatically alter the sound of a patch just by sliding your finger across the display screen. When you’re on this mode the 2 knobs change the default level of the macros on the X/Y axis, so you possibly can push all of it the way in which to the underside left of the display screen, then faucet the highest proper to create intense rhythmic pulses.

Pairing X/Y mode with an exterior MIDI controller offers you a surprisingly hands-on instrument. But, if you wish to simply play the gadgets themselves, you possibly can. There’s a grid mode the place you possibly can faucet out notes, and you’ll lock it to a scale to keep away from making too many errors. Now, this isn’t precisely the best or most fulfilling solution to play a synth, however it will get the job finished. I’ve discovered it significantly helpful for sampling notes and chords from the Fireball to my PO-33, or enjoying a drone on the Lemondrop (utilizing the maintain perform) and utilizing the X/Y to create evolving soundscapes.

The largest knock in opposition to the Nanoboxes on the {hardware} entrance is the dearth of battery energy. Yes, USB batteries are almost ubiquitous at this level, however it could be nice to have the choice of powering them with a few AAs. Between audio, MIDI and energy, there’s an terrible lot of cables popping out of the again of what’s ostensibly one thing moveable.

Software

The two devices share rather a lot in frequent underneath the hood as nicely. The UI is basically the identical. They each have a pair of major sound sources (two wavetable oscillators or two granulators), plus a 3rd easy oscillator that may assist thicken up a sound utilizing noticed, sq., triangle or sine waves. They each have two envelopes, two LFOs and a modulation sequencer, plus two morphable filters (low move, excessive move, bandpass and notch) that may be routed in collection or parallel. Lastly, they each have two results slots, one for modulation (refrain, flanger / distortion, or phaser) and one for time (delay or reverb).

This means mainly that each professional for the Lemondrop additionally applies to the Fireball (with one notable exception we’ll get to later), and each con for the Fireball additionally applies to the Lemondrop. For instance, whereas the consequences are stable, and having pingpong delay on board is a welcome contact, they’re not going to win any awards. I’ll say that the reverb is actually wonderful, although. Cranking it to full will get you some pretty, barely unnatural atmosphere. And, when mixed with the distortion, it ends in some attractive digital howls which are excellent for scoring the surrealist ending of an arthouse horror movie.

The two envelopes and LFOs are extraordinarily helpful for shaping your sound. They can create movement or manipulate the oscillators to always shift the tone. And many parameters can have as much as three modulation sources for critical unpredictability. But not every part is usually a modulation vacation spot. Oddly, too, some locations can solely use a selected set of modulation sources. So in the event you wished to make use of the LFO 2 to modulate the speed of the flanger – robust.

Similarly, the modulation sequencer is nice for creating complicated patterns, however it could solely be used with a number of completely different locations. Thankfully, a kind of locations is oscillator pitch, and it may be quantized. That offers you entry to a rudimentary sequencer, or makeshift arpeggiator with out the necessity for added gear. You may even use the sequencer to regulate only a single oscillator, providing you with a observe sample performed in opposition to a bass observe.

I can also’t assist however want there was a centralized UI for controlling the modulation routing. Right now, if you wish to see what macro X is controlling you must dig via all of the parameters one after the other and go into the modulation submenu for it, and simply kinda maintain monitor as you go.

In common, designing patches requires an honest quantity of menu diving. That’s not shocking given the dimensions of the devices. And credit score to 1010music for designing an interface that by no means feels too cumbersome. That mentioned, I do often discover myself forgetting the place explicit choices are situated.

Sound