XLN Audio Life

[Carlos Iglesias]

New product from the Swedes with an introductory offer. Xln Life

[Canopus]

 

[Vst0nE]

nice one but too expensive, unison drum monkey competition ?

Edited December 5, 2023 by Vst0nE

[Bruno de Souza Lino]

I don't see anything in this app which is worth even the discounted asking price.

[telecode 101]

interesting concept but kind of expensive. i dont get these companies putting out  > $100 products on the market in this really bad economy.

[Fleer]

Interesting but I wish it wasn’t another beat slice machine. Would have preferred a more novel approach to field recordings. Love the link with video, though. 

[Gang5]

Wait six months and it will be free with purchase on Plugin Boutique...

[TheSteven]

I hear a lot of sour graping...
Not my cup of tea but a lot people will eat this up.
 

Edited December 5, 2023 by TheSteven

[Bruno de Souza Lino]

50 minutes ago, TheSteven said:

I hear a lot of sour graping...
Not my cup of tea but a lot people will eat this up.
 

My main grip with it is there's nothing in this app you can't already get in existing plugins already in the market for less money. The way it looks, it's the usual "let's make a product which already exists, slap some AI BS somewhere, charge 3 times more then sell it at a discounted price which is what we'll think people will actually want the product to cost on a FOMO inducing sale."

 

[TheSteven]

7 hours ago, Vst0nE said:

nice one but too expensive, unison drum monkey competition ?

and Drum Monkey, which is on sale ($100 off) for $297 is cheaper?
Makes $109 for XLN Life look like a bargain.

3 hours ago, Bruno de Souza Lino said:

My main grip with it is there's nothing in this app you can't already get in existing plugins already in the market for less money. The way it looks, it's the usual "let's make a product which already exists, slap some AI BS somewhere, charge 3 times more then sell it at a discounted price which is what we'll think people will actually want the product to cost on a FOMO inducing sale."

Valid points/concerns...

On the other hand little of what is introduced in the audio market is truly new or unique.
If you have links to cheaper products that already exist please link them.
I'm not saying this as a rebuke or a show me the money thing just that a lot of people who read this thread may not be aware of such alternatives and would appreciate the information.

Regarding XLN Life:
The ability to painlessly use your mobile device as a field recorder IMHO is brilliant. 
It appears (from the video) to have some of XLN XO sound recognition in terms categorizing sounds for looping (i.e. this could be used as a kick, snare, etc.).
We're probably going to get flooded with homemade percussion sample libraries. 

 

[Bruno de Souza Lino]

5 hours ago, TheSteven said:

The ability to painlessly use your mobile device as a field recorder IMHO is brilliant. 

What's so painful about opening the Sound Recorder app which should come with your phone's app collection by default and hitting record? Unless this product somehow turns your phone into a magic field recorder with better mics, you're just paying to have free functionality present in essentially every single phone in the market either by default or using some third party app.

5 hours ago, TheSteven said:

If you have links to cheaper products that already exist please link them.

Apart from the XO thing and the automatic generation part, this plugin creates slices of your audio files based off their transients and allows you to play them individually as samples. The only plugin which comes to my mind atm is Image-Line's Slicex, which is part of FL Studio. Momentum from Big Fish Audio has similar functionality with effects which can be set per slice.

[TheSteven]

2 hours ago, Bruno de Souza Lino said:

What's so painful about opening the Sound Recorder app which should come with your phone's app collection by default and hitting record? 

Having to email it (transfer it) to my computer, downloading/saving it, then finding it (if at a later date) and loading it into my slicer.
Like 2 steps as opposed to maybe 4 or more.  And recordings are saved on XLN's cloud (good/bad thing depending on opinion) for easy future retrieval from any computer you're working on.
I have my H2 recorder for remote sounds that require a higher fidelity but the phone option is nice.

2 hours ago, Bruno de Souza Lino said:

Apart from the XO thing and the automatic generation part, this plugin creates slices of your audio files based off their transients and allows you to play them individually as samples. The only plugin which comes to my mind atm is Image-Line's Slicex, which is part of FL Studio. Momentum from Big Fish Audio has similar functionality with effects which can be set per slice.

You say "Apart from the XO thing and the automatic generation part" as if it's a minor thing, but IMHO that's where the gold is - it's what gives the whole process any real worth.  
Both SliceX and Momentum by Big Fish (which is free, see link) can slice loops and manipulate slices (pitch, duration, fx, etc.) but without you manipulating the slices you got nothing other than the original loop.  I'm not saying these tools are worthless it just that it takes work to make anything useful.   

I have on multiple occasions recorded and made my own sample instruments and rarely do it anymore because frankly it's a PITA and in most cases the novelty has worn thin by the time the 'instrument' is ready for use. Re: XLN Life -I'm going to have to demo it; If XLN Life can remove the tedium to any significant degree from that equation then in my mind it's a no brainer at the asking price.

But as always YMMV.

Note:  I'm not a sample mangler guy - I'd rather get my sounds from my guitars, synths, and drum libraries where you have velocity layers & round-robins, etc..
However if your cup of tea is slicing & mangling loops then more power to you.
I am not trying to talk anyone into buying XLN Life (though I may have talked myself into at least demoing it) but don't think it deserves the negativity it was receiving.

Edited December 6, 2023 by TheSteven

[kitekrazy1]

41 minutes ago, TheSteven said:

I have on multiple occasions recorded and made my own sample instruments and rarely do it anymore because frankly it's a PITA and in most cases the novelty has worn thin by the time the 'instrument' is ready for use.

 That was me around 2004 when there was Gigastudio, Kontakt, VSampler, Reason's NNXT. 

[TheSteven]

JRR Shop  $90.72 with code GROUP

[Sander Verstraten]

Hope this doesn't give AudioModern any ideas for a price point around €50.....

[Bruno de Souza Lino]

5 hours ago, TheSteven said:

Having to email it (transfer it) to my computer, downloading/saving it, then finding it (if at a later date) and loading it into my slicer.

5 hours ago, TheSteven said:

Like 2 steps as opposed to maybe 4 or more.

5 hours ago, TheSteven said:

I have my H2 recorder for remote sounds that require a higher fidelity but the phone option is nice.

So, that's a hassle if you have to do it from your phone but doing the exact same "4 or more" steps using the H2 is fine?

 

5 hours ago, TheSteven said:

I have on multiple occasions recorded and made my own sample instruments and rarely do it anymore because frankly it's a PITA and in most cases the novelty has worn thin by the time the 'instrument' is ready for use. Re: XLN Life -I'm going to have to demo it; If XLN Life can remove the tedium to any significant degree from that equation then in my mind it's a no brainer at the asking price.

It might for percussion loops and the like, but that's all it does.

[TheSteven]

56 minutes ago, Bruno de Souza Lino said:

So, that's a hassle if you have to do it from your phone but doing the exact same "4 or more" steps using the H2 is fine?

Yes definitely, I hate exporting audio from my phone.  The value (for me) in using my phone as an audio recorder is just the convenience of always being with me (i.e. being there when opportunity or inspiration strikes) - I don't usually carry my H2 around unless I planned ahead on using it.
Importing from H2 is easier - pop the SD card into laptop then I can do whatever I want. 
But with the dedicated phone app transferring data looks like it would be even easier. 

56 minutes ago, Bruno de Souza Lino said:

It might for percussion loops and the like, but that's all it does.

You need to review the specs/videos.
You can drag/drop/export samples, stems or MIDI from the VST.

Maybe you're referring that it's more geared for recording percussion oriented material - yes it is, but that's kind of been the dimension of the discussion on this thread and the comparisons with other apps.  This isn't tool I'm going to use to capture something like a piano with multiple samples per note and multiple captures at different velocities.
 

Edited December 6, 2023 by TheSteven