My First Steps With The Torso S-4 🤩

I received today the S-4 Sculpting Sampler from Torso Electronics. I was lucky enough to get on the first batch :) In this video, I just present my very first jam with the device. I will of course spend more time with it, and create more refined videos (I hope to make a tutorial video, or maybe a few of them).
My impressions so far (eight hours in, that is...): this device has a lot to offer, and is really designed as an instrument, with more than just basic EDM beats in mind. The possibilities seem really vast, from granular polyphonic synth, to beat mangler and effect processor, to tape looper, to four-track mixer, to USB audio interfave (10 in, 10 out, it does work). More later; I hope you'll enjoy this for now :)
Recorded with the Zoom R4 multitrack recorder (shown in video). Lightly mixed and mastered in ProTools.
If you have questions about any of the devices or techniques used here, let me know in the comments and I'll be happy to answer, or even make a dedicated video if there is enough interest. And more generally, if you liked this video and would like to see more content like this, please leave a like, a comment, and/or subscribe to this channel. Your support means a lot :)
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated in any way with Torso Electronics, nor did I get any compensation for this video. I bought this device full price, with my own funds, and the opinions expressed here and in the video are solely mine.
--
More videos on the Torso S-4: • Torso S-4
--
Torso Electronics S-4 🔥 torsoelectronics.com/products... ‪@torsoelectronics‬
Zoom R4 👽 zoomcorp.com/en/us/digital-mi...

[@Clemens38000]

Best/clearest S4 demo I have seen so far!

[@abregegere]

Thank you!

[@internalreality]

SWEET JESUS this machine is absolutely CRAZY...its going to be a fine addition to my Elektron Digitone...a dream ambient setup

[@abregegere]

Yea it is really great for generating soundscapes :)

[@olafsigursons]

you can do the exact same thing with Ableton and more. Is Ableton crazy?

[@abregegere]

@@olafsigursons yes, in theory you can do everything with Ableton. But I found myself much more creative with actual hardware than with a mouse and keyboard. It is more (to me) like creating your own musical instrument, with a physical interface. Again, something that in theory you could accomplish with Ableton and the right MIDI-controller setup. It just never really worked for me.

[@profitsandloss]

What about this is insane? This does nothing that a Digitakt can’t do. In fact, Digitakt has midi sync, which this does not. I have never seen a demo of this half baked garbage that sounded remotely musical. I sent mine back within a day.

[@Koko161081]

@@profitsandlossdaddy, chill!

[@JCW-il9ko]

Absolutely sublime! Really looking forward to getting my hands on one of these!

[@abregegere]

Thank you, and you should!

[@CiabaMusic]

Reeeeally cool, can't wait to get mine (2nd batcher) I particularly enjoyed the start point modulation of tbe drum loop, so cool and usable! I took the liberty to share the video within the Torso discord channel

[@abregegere]

Glad you liked the video, and thank you for sharing on the Discord (I’ll have to look into that :)

[@kaitlyn__L]

I’ve seen that trick used in trackers to give extra movement to pads, but not with drum loops!

[@ari-elm]

Beautiful

[@abregegere]

Thank you!

[@duncan-rmi]

sat here with s4 #11 & a yamaha reface cp, & all my other gear switched off. three hours have gone by. this machine is what I've been waiting for. all the things I wished that the electrix repeater could do, + the microcosm, + the bastl thyme, + a bunch of other things. can't wait for the next fw with midi-sync & so forth. this thing's brilliant.

[@abregegere]

Agreed :)

[@duncan-rmi]

I'm especially loving the way you can get the four lots of frippertronics to drift out of sync with each other.

[@johnthorne3401]

No midi sync? 😳

[@abregegere]

@@johnthorne3401 not at this point. But this is *very* early (first version of the firmware), so hopefully this will be fixed fast 🤞

[@duncan-rmi]

not yet, no. "coming soon."

[@HousePlant_Ambient]

Definitely on my wishlist

[@abregegere]

Thanks for watching!

[@Limbic1000]

already the first 3 minutes are so gooood

[@abregegere]

Thank you!

[@verynicepersonmusic]

Sounds great! Is this the natural sound from the torso? Or you processed the audio with effects or panning? 🤙

[@abregegere]

Thank you! I only mastered in ProTools (using Music Hack's Master Plan). Everything else (reverb, delay, panning) is from the Torso.

[@Somnambule]

Great ambient machine, nice work! Greetings 🖖👽

[@abregegere]

Thank you!

[@noveltycrusade]

What a wild gadget

[@abregegere]

Indeed :)

[@user-fi4yd2kf6g]

So what exactly is this magic that happens at 1:50? This is brilliant and very organic! How do you like Torso so far?

[@abregegere]

The Resonant frequencies of the filter can be quantized to a scale. That’s what I did at 1:50 :). I do love the S-4. There are still a lot of features missing (MIDI sync comes to mind…), but I trust Torso to make good on them.

[@user-fi4yd2kf6g]

Brilliant, love it! Awesome device. Hope you enjoy it!

[@G0nz0uk]

This is just stunning! Please make another like this from nothing again. I think it would go well with my Digitone and Novation Peak.

[@abregegere]

Thank you!

[@TandisJenhudson]

Lovely! Does the file browser allow you to preview WAVs or do you have to load the WAV first?

[@abregegere]

No. But that’s high on the list of feature requests :) Generally, there are still quite a lot of missing features (MIDI sync comes to mind), but hopefully they will be addressed in the first firmware updates.

[@kisho2679]

how does recording external audio input work for live sampling/ looping?

[@abregegere]

You have two mono line inputs (or one stereo). You also have a microphone, with adjustable gain, on the device.

[@mchest7000]

nice! are you powering s-4 from powerbank?

[@abregegere]

Yes I was using a ripcord USB adapter plugged into a powerbank. it seems to work well except for the high noise level I got on the S-4 microphone (not 100% sure, but I think it was related to- maybe not enough power from the powerbank?). I hope that helps!

[@Metamerist625]

please do share more experiments with this device, it is most intruiging. I don't know whether to get this or the Digitakt 2.

[@abregegere]

Thank you! I am planning on posting more videos as I keep exploring the device (second one is coming out today)

[@chrl_nrys]

Hey, what's the polyphony count for playing the tracks via midi? can they respond to velocity or anything like that?

[@abregegere]

The POLY engine (that's the polyphonic sampler engine) allows for 8 voice polyphony. I don't know if that's per track, or shared across all 4 tracks (I'll have to test that :). And yes, there is velocity control. I hope that helps!

[@nutritionontape]

Outstanding. I'm curious, does it easily pitch sounds down? I would assume so

[@abregegere]

Yes, you can pitch down (up to three octaves I think?). And it can be paired with speed (i.e., pitch down = slow down), or decoupled (i.e. time stretch).

[@nutritionontape]

@@abregegere Excellent. I love how granular synths sound when higher sounds are pitched down. Kinda gritty and ghostly

[@jerusalemsyndrome140]

​@@abregegereCan it do timestretch and reverse? I'm a person who likes jungle drum breaks

[@abregegere]

@@jerusalemsyndrome140 Yes it does. there is a "reverse" switch, and you can decouple speed and pitch in the Tape engine (=timestretch)

[@jonwtr]

Interesting demo. (Exported a bit too much of your timeline, the extra noise at the end, 17:04 😂, reminds me of the hidden tracks on cd's. I thought the video was just done, and started looking for the source 😅)

[@abregegere]

Thank you for the feedback. Yes, there is a bit of an (accidental)Easter egg at the end :)

[@gammakeraulophon]

Hey.. just to let you know you uploaded this video way too quiet. A lot of people watch YT on their phones.. my phone is at max volume... but your vid is noticeably very quiet compared with all other content i generally listen to...

[@abregegere]

Okay thank you for letting me know!

[@P-S-T]

Definitely not to quiet on my iPad. My volume is on 10 % of max and I can hear everything loud and clear.