XLN Audio - XO - Improvement, Pros, Cons

[WatchTheGuitar]

I would love if XO Space has two tabs on its top area: One-Shots and Loops. That way, there will be different "spaces" to navigate one-shots and loops.

Even if they just implement the space/search functionality and stop without adding any other functionality for loops, I would be more than happy. I just want something (XO!) that makes loops as easily accessible as one-shots. We all have not just gathered one-shots but loops too, right?

How do you see it working with loops?

In XO currently the AI can categorise one shots loosely by doing FFT on one shots and examining the transients and frequency so bass drums will generally be lower than snares, closed hi-hats shorter and higher pitched etc.

Unless you have lots of loops that are just bass drums or just snares then you’ll have maybe BPM, time signature and a whole lot of looser defined things like ‘how acoustic / how distorted’ to categorise them and that’s just drum loops and the whole thing gets even trickier with melodic content too.

For me, I’d prefer the next functionality added to focus on allowing adding more drum tracks with different step lengths for non-Euclidean polyrhythms, longer sequences, chaining sequences together in a song type structure and some way to define round robins and to identify round robin samples from the same sampled drum or percussion instrument to aid putting those together quickly. Number one for me would be a probability engine to enable pseudo-random things like chances a drum plays and chances that a sequence plays. Then the cream on top would be making all that stuff tweakable parameters that can be called via MIDI.

None I mentioned, other than the round robin stuff, is pie in the sky and functionality already found in plugins like Arturia’s Spark, Xils Lab StiX, UVI Drum Designer or Sugar Bytes DrumComputer and those add stuff I’m not personally missing, but others could find useful such as a hybrid sample and wave based drum engine where you can define 808 sub sine waves for instance.

Right now XO is a really good starting point for building a drum part, but not a place to finish them.

[LoveEnigma18]

I m looking for a way to add my loops/midi file directly into X0. And manage them from there. is there a way to do this?

I just want something (XO!) that makes loops as easily accessible as one-shots.

For this purpose I bought Geist. I also have IL Slicex but Geist is much much better option. There is also nice New Sonic Arts VICE for great manipulation with loops.

Sorry, but looks like there is some misunderstanding. I am also a FL Studio user by the way and have access to Slicex. Even though I don't have Geist, I would agree about it being the better for what it does.

But when I mention loops, for at least starters, I only want something that makes thousands of loops lying in folders easily searchable, just like how XO does with one-shots.

So, basically, I want XO to have a separate/dedicated space where longer/loop samples can be quickly scanned for auditioning and then dragged as an audio file directly to the FL Studio Playlist, for example.

This is just a simple, personal wish without going too deep into the possibilities.

[LoveEnigma18]

I would love if XO Space has two tabs on its top area: One-Shots and Loops. That way, there will be different "spaces" to navigate one-shots and loops.

Even if they just implement the space/search functionality and stop without adding any other functionality for loops, I would be more than happy. I just want something (XO!) that makes loops as easily accessible as one-shots. We all have not just gathered one-shots but loops too, right?

How do you see it working with loops?

In XO currently the AI can categorise one shots loosely by doing FFT on one shots and examining the transients and frequency so bass drums will generally be lower than snares, closed hi-hats shorter and higher pitched etc.

Unless you have lots of loops that are just bass drums or just snares then you’ll have maybe BPM, time signature and a whole lot of looser defined things like ‘how acoustic / how distorted’ to categorise them and that’s just drum loops and the whole thing gets even trickier with melodic content too.

For me, I’d prefer the next functionality added to focus on allowing adding more drum tracks with different step lengths for non-Euclidean polyrhythms, longer sequences, chaining sequences together in a song type structure and some way to define round robins and to identify round robin samples from the same sampled drum or percussion instrument to aid putting those together quickly. Number one for me would be a probability engine to enable pseudo-random things like chances a drum plays and chances that a sequence plays. Then the cream on top would be making all that stuff tweakable parameters that can be called via MIDI.

Until then XO is a really good starting point for building a drum part, but not a place to finish them.

Please see my reply/post above for what I want XO to do with loops.

By loops, they could be anything: any sort of drum loops, synth loops, guitar loops, anything greater than probably 2-3 seconds.

I am only looking for a mechanism to browse "loops" like "one-shots" using XO space. Then, just drag the loop into your DAW for further usage/manipulation.

What you mention would all be great to have, but I am happy even without it. IMO, too many things can sometimes make the intended purpose lose its charm. I consider XO as just a helper in the process of making beats.

[WatchTheGuitar]

Please see my reply/post above for what I want XO to do with loops.

By loops, they could be anything: any sort of drum loops, synth loops, guitar loops, anything greater than probably 2-3 seconds.

I am only looking for a mechanism to browse "loops" like "one-shots" using XO space. Then, just drag the loop into your DAW for further usage/manipulation.

But, like I said the X and Y coordinates in the Space are based on common factors which helps with knowing bass drums on left, hats and cymbals on the right, so how would that work with loops to avoid each blob in Space that represents a loop object being completely different from the next?

Otherwise, what you want already exists - on Windows it’s called Explorer and Chooser on Macs.

I’m a developer myself and woolly requirements are anathema to me and they won’t get what you want if you don’t define what you want.

[machinesworking]

Please see my reply/post above for what I want XO to do with loops.

By loops, they could be anything: any sort of drum loops, synth loops, guitar loops, anything greater than probably 2-3 seconds.

I am only looking for a mechanism to browse "loops" like "one-shots" using XO space. Then, just drag the loop into your DAW for further usage/manipulation.

But, like I said the X and Y coordinates in the Space are based on common factors which helps with knowing bass drums on left, hats and cymbals on the right, so how would that work with loops to avoid each blob in Space that represents a loop object being completely different from the next?

Otherwise, what you want already exists - on Windows it’s called Explorer and Chooser on Macs.

I’m a developer myself and woolly requirements are anathema to me and they won’t get what you want if you don’t define what you want.

Sononym and the new add on in beta to Audio Finder both use AI just like XO but incorporate the typical tagging system that other audio librarians use, without relying on the name of the file only like they do.

I'm waiting around for the beta to get finished in Audio Finder, but if you're on Windows or want the finished product now, then Sononym is already fantastic. The drawback to these two compared to XO is they're both stand alone applications and do not sync to tempo, but Sononym does a great job, using the same sort of list of comparable loops by AI, and a tagging system that allows you to sort out what you want etc.

I don't think a cloud system works for loops, but search by tags does, and obviously if you have a loop already picked and want close relatives etc.

[JiggSaw]

I would love if XO Space has two tabs on its top area: One-Shots and Loops. That way, there will be different "spaces" to navigate one-shots and loops.

Even if they just implement the space/search functionality and stop without adding any other functionality for loops, I would be more than happy. I just want something (XO!) that makes loops as easily accessible as one-shots. We all have not just gathered one-shots but loops too, right?

How do you see it working with loops?

In XO currently the AI can categorise one shots loosely by doing FFT on one shots and examining the transients and frequency so bass drums will generally be lower than snares, closed hi-hats shorter and higher pitched etc.

Unless you have lots of loops that are just bass drums or just snares then you’ll have maybe BPM, time signature and a whole lot of looser defined things like ‘how acoustic / how distorted’ to categorise them and that’s just drum loops and the whole thing gets even trickier with melodic content too.

For me, I’d prefer the next functionality added to focus on allowing adding more drum tracks with different step lengths for non-Euclidean polyrhythms, longer sequences, chaining sequences together in a song type structure and some way to define round robins and to identify round robin samples from the same sampled drum or percussion instrument to aid putting those together quickly. Number one for me would be a probability engine to enable pseudo-random things like chances a drum plays and chances that a sequence plays. Then the cream on top would be making all that stuff tweakable parameters that can be called via MIDI.

Until then XO is a really good starting point for building a drum part, but not a place to finish them.

Please see my reply/post above for what I want XO to do with loops.

By loops, they could be anything: any sort of drum loops, synth loops, guitar loops, anything greater than probably 2-3 seconds.

I am only looking for a mechanism to browse "loops" like "one-shots" using XO space. Then, just drag the loop into your DAW for further usage/manipulation.

What you mention would all be great to have, but I am happy even without it. IMO, too many things can sometimes make the intended purpose lose its charm. I consider XO as just a helper in the process of making beats.

If you're looking to just browse and audition loops, you can just use Loopcloud.

[noiseboyuk]

My feature request - to have folders in the search window.

It would be great to add, say, all the Native Instruments expansions individually, it would be a terrific way to drill down to a specific curated sample set for exploration. But in Komplete CE there's 74 of them, which is of course hugely unweildy. However if I could set up a folder structure - eg NI Expansions / EDM - it would be a joy, a fantastic way of working.

Is there a best way to get a feature request to XLN?

[machinesworking]

My feature request - to have folders in the search window.

It would be great to add, say, all the Native Instruments expansions individually, it would be a terrific way to drill down to a specific curated sample set for exploration. But in Komplete CE there's 74 of them, which is of course hugely unweildy. However if I could set up a folder structure - eg NI Expansions / EDM - it would be a joy, a fantastic way of working.

Is there a best way to get a feature request to XLN?

I don't know if there's a best way, but you can add folders individually, plus the search function does exactly what you want. I type in Resonent Blaze and only the sounds from that sample library are in the cloud. This was a great revelation to me because I certainly didn't want to add in all of NI's various libraries as separate folders so I created a folder labeled NI with symbolic links to all of the relevant NI content.

[noiseboyuk]

I don't know if there's a best way, but you can add folders individually, plus the search function does exactly what you want. I type in Resonent Blaze and only the sounds from that sample library are in the cloud. This was a great revelation to me because I certainly didn't want to add in all of NI's various libraries as separate folders so I created a folder labeled NI with symbolic links to all of the relevant NI content.

DOH! Of COURSE it does! I shoulda realised that - one of the best things about it is to type 808 and everything comes up 808, so this works great. I'm putting expansion samples into broad folders for a quick and dirty search, then I type the name (or even part of the name) if I want to audition a specific expansion. Thanks!

[WatchTheGuitar]

I don't know if there's a best way, but you can add folders individually, plus the search function does exactly what you want. I type in Resonent Blaze and only the sounds from that sample library are in the cloud. This was a great revelation to me because I certainly didn't want to add in all of NI's various libraries as separate folders so I created a folder labeled NI with symbolic links to all of the relevant NI content.

DOH! Of COURSE it does! I shoulda realised that - one of the best things about it is to type 808 and everything comes up 808, so this works great. I'm putting expansion samples into broad folders for a quick and dirty search, then I type the name (or even part of the name) if I want to audition a specific expansion. Thanks!

Plus you can drag a folder from explorer or finder directly onto the space and it only shows samples in that folder and recursively any subfolders it contains.

[noiseboyuk]

Plus you can drag a folder from explorer or finder directly onto the space and it only shows samples in that folder and recursively any subfolders it contains.

You mean on a folder that is not already in the library? If I try that on (say) a subfolder of a library I've already added, I get an error telling me that it can't be done as its already there.

[WatchTheGuitar]

Plus you can drag a folder from explorer or finder directly onto the space and it only shows samples in that folder and recursively any subfolders it contains.

You mean on a folder that is not already in the library? If I try that on (say) a subfolder of a library I've already added, I get an error telling me that it can't be done as its already there.

No, sorry, folders whose contents you already scanned.
Like I have the full Samples From Mars and ask XO to scan that in as one monolithic folder, but if I want to filter to only see samples in Space from a specific MPC I can drag that specific MPC subfolder on to Space and it shows only the MPC samples.

[machinesworking]

Plus you can drag a folder from explorer or finder directly onto the space and it only shows samples in that folder and recursively any subfolders it contains.

You mean on a folder that is not already in the library? If I try that on (say) a subfolder of a library I've already added, I get an error telling me that it can't be done as its already there.

No, sorry, folders whose contents you already scanned.
Like I have the full Samples From Mars and ask XO to scan that in as one monolithic folder, but if I want to filter to only see samples in Space from a specific MPC I can drag that specific MPC subfolder on to Space and it shows only the MPC samples.

I have to say, the AI in XO is so good, I don’t really get why they limited slots to 8 sounds? Being able to quickly search your libraries make me think about adding more drum sounds to a song not less! The FX processin in the sounds is good enough to want to use XO, but the 8 slot limitation has me dragging to native drum container plug ins in the DAWs I use.

[WatchTheGuitar]

I have to say, the AI in XO is so good, I don’t really get why they limited slots to 8 sounds? Being able to quickly search your libraries make me think about adding more drum sounds to a song not less! The FX processin in the sounds is good enough to want to use XO, but the 8 slot limitation has me dragging to native drum container plug ins in the DAWs I use.

Or just add another instance of XO...

[machinesworking]

I have to say, the AI in XO is so good, I don’t really get why they limited slots to 8 sounds? Being able to quickly search your libraries make me think about adding more drum sounds to a song not less! The FX processin in the sounds is good enough to want to use XO, but the 8 slot limitation has me dragging to native drum container plug ins in the DAWs I use.

Or just add another instance of XO...

Sure, but at that point I’m much more inclined to just use XO as an in host AI engine and load up Bitwig, DP‘s etc. native drum plug in and drag the sounds over, less of a CPU hit. Definitely doesn’t make using XO’s sequencer easier. It’s a minor concern, but it is sort of odd.