Lucifer

I've been so inspired by Lucifer recently that I had to review it, and I'm really surprised I'm the first. It seems Lucifer has slipped under the radar and is known well by only a few, though a lucky few they are

Most people who check out Lucifer must be put off by the fact that they are not sure what it does, I think... so let me explain

Lucifer is a REAL TIME audio mangling effect, which has low CPU overhead and is best controlled with a midi keyboard to get maximum control. Lucifer reads the audio on the channel it is inserted on into a "buffer", and then you can work magic with the audio in the buffer. Let's say Lucifer has captured 1 beat of audio in the buffer, then it can:
- repeat that one beat of audio for however long you like
- change the LENGTH of the repeating audio in the buffer, so 1 beat can become 1/2 beat, and 1/4 beat (right up to 1/1024 for extreme buffer glitchy effects!)
- reverse the audio in the buffer, or make is sound like scratching
- gate/stutter the incoming audio
- create fake time stretching effects
- create feedback on the buffer so it sounds like it's building in intensity
- turn on the Hyper knob to make Lucifer really bug out!
- give the audio some bounce and groove

What's more, you can draw graphs which affect pan/vol/scratch/distort/cut/res over a user-set certain period of time, eg 2 bars. And there's an INCARN mode which allows you to rearrange your audio (also with graphs)

And, Lucifer also has a pitch shifting mode controlled by the midi keyboard for further sonic madness

In short, Lucifer is the ultimate real time midi-controlled audio mangler (where mangling is anything from stutter effects, reversing, bouncing, feedback, filter effects, pan effects, groove effects, etc). It's definitely like nothing else out there!

User interface: 7/10
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At first glance (and 2nd and 3rd), Lucifer does look confusing, so that's why I gave it 7/10. The deeper you get, the more it begins to make sense, but I feel a score of 7/10 for UI is appropriate as many people may be turned off by their first impressions of Lucifer. Stick with it, because it's not hard to use once you understand

Sound: 10/10
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As I said before, Lucifer is the ultimate real time midi controller audio mangler. It sounds awesome, and can take all the hard work of creating a whole range of effects which not so long ago would have had to be done in your host program by hand... ouch!

It also has Smooth, Attack and Release controls so you can tweak the rough edges off your output if you need to, but generally the output of Lucifer is quite smooth, and I rarely hear any clicks - which is amazing considering the processing which is occuring! Any rare clicks can be removed with smooth, attack, release etc. I generally leave Smooth set to maximum (it's set to that by default anyway) so I rarely hear anything coming out of Lucifer that sounds like an offensive click

Features: 10/10
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It's definitely not a one-trick pony, and it has more features than you would expect. There's alot of power under the hood, as they say...

With it, you can create beat-repeating build ups, reverse your audio on the fly, imitate old time stretching effects in real time, and generally mangle your audio in real time in pretty much whatever way you want! A DJ or live performer's wet dream.. but I see plenty of potential in the studio as well

Documentation: 9/10
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Well written and comprehensive (60 pages). I definitely recommend you read the manual while playing with Lucifer or you could get frustrated and write Lucifer off as a waste of time. Read the manual and you'll be able to get maximum return out of this cool and powerful effect

Presets: N/A
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There aren't presets as such, but click on A B C D buttons

Customer Support: 10/10
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There have already been updates since it was released late last year, and the support here on KVR in the Devine Machine forum is superb. Steve (aka bitcrusher) is a nice guy! He's never condescending if you ask simple newbie questions ;)

Value for money: 10/10
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I bought it cheap off someone here on KVR, but the normal price is only $66.66 anyway, a bargain of evil genius! Yes, Lucifer is great value for money, especially considering there is nothing out there that I know of that does what Lucifer does (and, with such low CPU overhead, and such great results with minimal effort)

Stability: 9/10
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CPU use is very low, and Lucifer hasn't crashed on me yet.


Summary
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Lucifer is a low cost, CPU efficient, powerful real time midi controller audio mangler, which every DJ or live electronic perfomer should own. But, use it in the studio as well and you've opened up a whole world of inspiration. A modern day classic ;) A must have for electronic music, but don't let that stop you trying it with other music genres.