I know FM synthesis, and I even know how to program original FM sounds: I bought a DX-7 in 1986, followed by a DX-100 in 1988. This reminds me a LOT of the DX-100 I used to own. Before getting this, I got the Liven Ambient 0, so my learning curve was already halfway in the rear-view mirror. Every Sonicware synth is a little different, but they also have a lot in common. Anyway, the sounds brought back tons of nostalgia, and it has some new tricks up its sleeve. The only downside is there are limited voices available, so don't think you'll be doing a full-blown TX-816 masterpiece with the XFM. But hey, for $239? It's a no brainer.

A lot of bang for the buck with this instrument. I have high end synths but got this for my Grandson who is 8. I couldn’t believe the sound and capability coming from this little synth, and I didn’t need to instruct him about how to operate it, it’s intuitive. Great price!

This looked like a very interesting synth. I enjoy figuring out how to use technical gadgets and I was excited to tweak an additive synthesizer. Sadly, this device is very poorly designed and is so unintuitive and so non user friendly, after 3-4 hours of sitting with it I couldn't get it to do anything interesting. What really sealed the deal to return it was the realization that it just simply sounds bad. Sure, the internal speaker is a joke, but even with headphones or plugged into monitor speakers, I found the sounds very low quality and unpleasant to listen to.After returning this synth, I bought a Roland J-6 and a T-8 and the experience and sound is night and day different.

This item arrived in a nice package and it looks very impressive, however the actual buttons that serve as "keys" felt flimsy and just did not appear sturdy enough to hold up over time.

great

This little jewel has so many bells and whistles! It is simply amazing how many features are packed into this little FM synth and sequencer. I may never learn them all, there are so many. I'm having a lot of fun with it and find it one of the best values in subtle out there currently. I own several Roland units, including an old Juno and a JD-Xi, also fun {but triple the price), and even an old Yamaha Tx and Nord Stage 2. Those are all very cool, butt this i can hold on my lap in my easy chair and tweak for hours and hours into the night, with just a set of earbuds. So easy and portable, but still FX and dozens of features with hundreds of presets and unlimited possibilities to generate your own sounds and grooves. I can't recommend this enough, it's truly AMAZING!

Good

This thing is magical, the sequencer and work flow is so hands on and fun. I even prefer it to the Digitone. It's capable of anything, smooth beautiful organic instruments, harsh noise, fat throbbing bass.Be wary I believe there was some quality control issues as I had several of these and a few sounded very low fi, not in a good way. But when I buy a new one they sound fantastic very clear and powerful and even with a lot of sounds it doesn't get mushy. Perhaps this is why they kept the polyphony so low. Still you could write an album with this alone. Get a sampler and maybe one other little synth for variation and you are capable of nearly anything.I really respect Sonicware and think they're just what the industry needs. I've tried pretty much every groovebox sequencer thing on the market and this is one of my favourites. I just love the keyboard and hands on portable nature there isn't anything else like it.

LIVEN XFM is like having 4 DX7's with an Elektron sequencer in a box that's more portable than a laptop. The output distorts nicely at high volumes too, perfect for anyone making more extreme music. Love it.

A fantastic FM synth / groovebox in a tidy form factor. I/O is well catered for with full size midi and audio in and out. The speaker is super useful and can be switched off when using the line out connection.Uses several engines of a simplified form of FM synthesis. Can make searing leads, mellow pads and glitchy bass sounds and everything in between, including drum and percussion sounds. Using 4 tracks you can come up with some great lo-fi and smooth grooves.Really impressed so far and highly recommend for the money especially.

まずとっても安い。この機能で20kならとりあえず買っとけばって感じ。Volca FM2と迷ったけど音色編集のやりやすさ、発音数、シーケンサーもこっちのが使い安い。Volcaを選ぶ理由は大きさくらいかな。事前に音色を作ってスタックしといて、普段はそれらを混ぜて演奏するってコンセプトはすごく理にかなってると思う。細かい製作の楽しさも味わえるし、演奏の即効性も楽しめる。思ったより音質がよく聞こえる。youtubeでデモ聞いてる時はあまりピンとくる音がなくて不安だった。FMっぽい冷たい音も出せるし、アナログちっくな温かい音も意外といける。エフェクトもたくさんあるし意外と音も良い。UIも、若い企業の割に結構練られてて、多機能なのにいじりやすい。特に情報量が少ないモニターが意外とわかりやすいのに驚いた。ドットの使い方とか。触ってて楽しい楽器。なのにこの値段。すごい時代だな。ここから、参考として現バージョン(Ver.2.0.43)の個人的に気になる所も書きますが、注意として、性能は値段とトレードオフな事を念頭に置く必要がある。例えば誰も文句がないシンセが存在するとしたら、それは誰も買えないくらい高いはず。この製品はまず、性能と値段のバランスが素晴らしい、ということがセールスポイントなので、それを壊してまで改善を望んでいるわけではない。もう一つ、私はシンセ設計者としてもこの楽器のプレーヤーとしても素人なので、見当違いや見落とし、実現不可な事を言っている可能性も大いにある。デザインプロモーション動画含めて、視覚的な物が何もかも全体的に古い。なんか恥ずかしい。もどかしい。素晴らしいシンセが見た目を理由にバカにされるのは腹がたつ。新しいサンプラーのPVも外人に馬鹿にされてた。クソムカつく。ポテンショメータほとんどのつまみが可変抵抗だけど、複数機能を持っているため、一度数値の所まで戻す必要がある。見やすいディスプレイがあるからエンコーダーのほうが良かったと思う。エンコーダーのが高いのかな？シフトとファンクション２つのボタンに分ける必要はなかったと思う。たまに混乱する。エフェクトさすがに全体で一つは少なく感じる。すべての楽器にリバーブは必須だと考えているので、実質リバーブか、ディレイしか使ってない。なのに他のエフェクトも結構好きな音だから悩ましい。コピペ超つかうけど、シフトと近くて押しづらい。タイがなんかうまくいかない。なんで？　俺が間違ってる？パラロック音色確認パラロック、サウンドロック超便利だけど、設定して再生するまで音色を聞けないから勘とトライアンドエラーで設定するしかない。聞く方法あるのかな？最後にまったくの初心者の方へFMはちょっと難し目のシンセです。もっとメジャーなメーカーならサードパーティパッチも多いしチュートリアルもあるから困らないかもしれませんが、Sonicwareはまだマイナーなメーカーです。プリセットは驚くほどたくさん入ってますし、それらを混ぜることで気楽に楽しむことも可能です。それでも、FM部分を使わないなら8bitの方がシンプルだし幸せになれるかもしれません。

You need the provided overlay to use edit mode. Other than that it seems like a really capable little groovebox.Heck of a learning curve though.