Buckle up for an up-beat journey to space, where we will discover an innovative way to sort and categorize our never-ending and always-growing catalog of sounds, loops, and one-shots!
Today, we will explore XO, a unique beat-making playground from XLN audio that can help you find your groove and get the most out of your sample library.
What is XO?
Think of XO as a universe of sounds where all your one-shot drum samples are stored and sorted by similarity. You can travel through this universe and seamlessly sweep through your sounds to listen to them.
And there is more. XO comes with a playful and intuitive sequencer that enables you to create, tweak, and fine-tune your sounds with essential effects and creative modifiers.
Who Should Get XO
If you have a lot of samples and are looking for a way to utilize them efficiently, or if you are aspiring for creative and out-of-the-box drum beats, then XO is a plugin you should consider. Click here to get it right away!
Space
Space is one of the main sections of the plugin. It is a zoomable and scrollable interface that displays every sample as a dot. These dots are color coded according to the instrument type — red for kicks, blue for snares, and yellow for hi-hat.
The interface is designed in a way that allows you to sweep quickly around until you find a sound you like, then zoom in and drag across other samples nearby to check out similar alternatives.
It also allows you to search and filter your results by name, type, sample Length, and core frequency.
Edit
XO Sequencer
This section lets you edit samples and create your beats in a nice 8-track sequencer that features
- A and B patterns with AB or AAAB cycling.
- Velocity control
- 14 per-channel and global groove presets with variable depth
- Up to a 16th-note of nudge backwards or forwards per channel
- Rolls of up to four repeats.
XO Presets
In addition to displaying and sorting the samples on your hard drives, XO offers a library of more than 8000 richly varied and excellent one-shot drum and percussion samples.
XO Sample Combiner
The Sample Combiner allows you to quickly change between 15 similar samples for each track without going back to the Space page. It automates the creation of different patterns in a way that helps you produce a big chucnk of high quality durm beats as quickly as possible.
XO - Exporting
In addition to the ability to export raw or processed single shots as WAV or MIDI, XO lets you export your stems individually. You can drag and drop them straight into your DAW or into your operating system. This neat feature makes XO fit your workflow smoothly and seamlessly.
Conclusion
XO is a tool that transforms the mundane process of exploring even the most oceanic collection of one-shots into a joyous voyage of discovery. Additionally, its sequencer provides an effective platform for designing beats and drum sounds.
This tool allows you to explore, create, tweak and play. And it will take your drum beats to the next level! Check out this tutorial from Hashim to learn more about this fantastic plugin from XLN audio.
Are you an artist who is aspiring to make music that sounds out of this world? Mello wants to hear from you! Contact us today, and let us work on it together.
