KVR Audio

Andreya_Autumn · Post by **Andreya_Autumn** » Thu Feb 05, 2026 11:21 pm

Thanks! Possibilities we already have plenty.

Andreya_Autumn · Post by **Andreya_Autumn** » Thu Feb 05, 2026 11:25 pm

Anyway, for those who were interested in the bass and drum patches from the demo tune I just wanted to say those are up in the factory-content repo now!

We still haven't set up a neat automatic download but you can press the <>code button and select download zip from there.

Also, we've fixed a good number of buglets and made a few other improvements already. If you're using the beta build I recommend checking for updates often.

Lastly, it turns out one thing that's good about going to beta without any documentation is that the questions we get paint a very clear picture of what is and is not self-explanatory about the UI. That can be super useful info for us, so if you have any questions - especially of the "how do you do X" variety - really don't hesitate, send em our way.

Cheers!

kneebone77 · Post by **kneebone77** » Fri Feb 06, 2026 5:38 am

Because I love almost all things Sampler I have been lurking and checking on this project for a while now...
Much thanks and congradulations to the Surge Team for getting things to this point!
The Future of this sampler undoubtedly bright. Keep it up guys!

andony · Post by **andony** » Fri Feb 06, 2026 5:52 pm

I gave the latest beta a try and so far I liked what I saw there. Maybe not the skin , heh , but I like the layout. It´s intuitive enough for my tiny brain. But please consider adding a drum mode with drum pads to this bad boy (something like Poise) and a skin to match Surge´s look in the future. Instant Battery/Kontakt killer. Minus the bloat haha.

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Fri Feb 06, 2026 6:37 pm

There won't be skinning, just color theming. If you click the SC logo in top right you will see some UI color theme options.

Drum pad view is not gonna be in 1.0, it's probably gonna take a while, as we need to answer a lot of UI and UX questions for that. And again our intention is not to "kill" anything else out there.

audiojunkie · Post by **audiojunkie** » Fri Feb 06, 2026 8:03 pm

EvilDragon wrote: Fri Feb 06, 2026 6:37 pm There won't be skinning, just color theming. If you click the SC logo in top right you will see some UI color theme options.

Drum pad view is not gonna be in 1.0, it's probably go a take a while, as we need to answer a lot of UI and UX questions for that. And again our intention is not to "kill" anything else out there.

Just my thoughts on the subject: I think when it comes to drum usage, multiple outputs would be more important than displaying pictures of the finger-drumming pads. I don't think a virtual keyboard is necessary either. The most essential part is the mapping screen with the visual of the zones/regions and velocity layers. Everything else can be done with external hardware or the midi sequencer.

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Fri Feb 06, 2026 9:50 pm

We already have multiple outputs.

But I do agree that for certain workflows it definitely helps to see the drum pads. And also, Shortcircuit 2 did have that mode...

audiojunkie · Post by **audiojunkie** » Fri Feb 06, 2026 10:54 pm

EvilDragon wrote: Fri Feb 06, 2026 9:50 pm We already have multiple outputs.

But I do agree that for certain workflows it definitely helps to see the drum pads. And also, Shortcircuit 2 did have that mode...

Yeah, I know that multiple outputs are there. I was just saying that as long as there are multiple outputs, you can do drums just fine now--even without any visible drumpads or keyboards.

Andreya_Autumn · Post by **Andreya_Autumn** » Sat Feb 07, 2026 4:34 pm

My hunch is that people like a drum pad view is mostly because it's a more focused UI. Other kinds of instruments can easily make use of many octaves worth of keys but the full MIDI range is overkill for drums, where it's kinda rare to use more than 8-16 individual sounds or so.

But I totally agree it works well now! I've used SCXT for drums on lots of tracks by now. You zoom in on the mapping pane it's really not so bad. Incidentally, the latest build has some improvements to the zoom in/out mousewheel gestures.

In my opinion I would say the lowest-hanging fruit for improving drum workflow actually is the ability to show all zones in the mapping pane regardless of selection. Right now zones are hidden unless at least one zone from the group is selected. So once you separate your kick/snares/hats etc into separate groups you lose the overview of the kit. We've talked about making that behavior switchable.

Andreya_Autumn · Post by **Andreya_Autumn** » Sat Feb 07, 2026 6:46 pm

HELLO FOLKS. If you installer a beta build this morning, you'll want to re-download and install again in 20 minutes or so. There was a silly edge case in there that could crash in some situations. Will be fixed in the next build which should be up soon.

Andreya_Autumn · Post by **Andreya_Autumn** » Sat Feb 07, 2026 7:30 pm

Updated the op with some FAQ.

kippertoffee · Post by **kippertoffee** » Sun Feb 08, 2026 9:41 pm

So happy to see this! I did a bit of beta testing on SC1 back in the day.

Andreya_Autumn · Post by **Andreya_Autumn** » Mon Feb 09, 2026 11:31 am

EDIT: Oops

Andreya_Autumn · Post by **Andreya_Autumn** » Mon Feb 09, 2026 11:32 am

Added a note about groups and zones to the OP.

Or I will now. I accidentally pressed reply instead of edit so it all showed up here lol

ik_ik_ik · Post by **ik_ik_ik** » Mon Feb 09, 2026 3:38 pm

Amazing work SST! So good to see SC XT shaping up after dipping into the alpha briefly a while ago. SC 1 in energyXT was a huge part of my music making early 2000s and SC XT brings back that magic in spades. Framing it as a sample-initiated synth is spot on <3 I remember working with Claes to fix some tricky timing issues in SC 1. I also remember it seemed impossible to get free running LFOs and that looks like it is still the case in SC XT. Pretty sure the SONGPOS Trigger in LFO and GLFO isn't doing what it sounds like it should (I suspect the Triggers are work in progress) and there isn't a genuinely free running LFO mode like in Surge. Also noticed that macros that are automated don't refresh on the parts view but they do on the group and zone view; actually not just automated, there's something generally not working with the refresh of macros on the parts view. Can't wait to see this spread its wings!

Shortcircuit XT is in Beta!