News » Manifest Audio Launch X-FX: Nine M4L Audio Effects

Manifest Audio Launch X-FX: Nine M4L Audio Effects

Building on their integrated ecosystem of powerful MIDI generators, X-FX expands on the Berlin outfit’s established workflow utilities with their first foray into audio effects.

Uniquely Interconnected

An innovative bundle of nine Max for Live audio effects, X-FX have been designed to enable harmonic coherence and provide novel approaches to signal processing.

Rather than just the familiar time-based controls featured on similar effects, X-FX can also be controlled by MIDI note dial – or played via MIDI input using their recently-released X-Relay utility – while remaining constrained to 69 scales in any key.

Including tuned comb filtration, flexible frequency modulation, extreme delay, digital decimation, resonant filtration, and harmonisation, X-FX can be harnessed in a variety of creative ways. The scale and key of any X-FX device can be set by an instance of the included Global Hub utility, allowing you to easily explore diatonic musical expressions of otherwise untuned effects while maintaining a streamlined workflow.

Resonant notch filtration set to two octaves below the specified MIDI input relay.

To play tuned effects via MIDI, just place the bundled X-Relay utility on any MIDI source track, switch it to Relay mode, and select a conduit. Then set your target X-FX to Relay mode, receiving on the same conduit. Now you can play your effects via MIDI within the selected scale and key, with optional transposition; you can even flip the incoming MIDI to invert notes for instant counterpoint.

Alternatively, you can experiment with Manifest Audio’s intricate base rate and multiplier combinations for complex host-synchronised delay or reverb times.

X-Delay with a rather long 7 whole note triplet delay time.

Utility effects such as X-Connect and X-Divide allow for new routing possibilities, while the deceptively innovative X-FM can harness any audio input in your Live set as an FM source. Flexible parameter modulation is provided via the included Mod Squad bundle, with over seventy presets and racks showcasing how they fit together.

X-FM modulating track signal with an external input source routed via the drop-down choosers with interpolation engaged.

Creative Dynamics

Beyond the scaled tuning on offer, unique input and output processing further distinguish X-FX from seemingly similar offerings.

The input threshold included on all X-FX allows you to selectively apply processing only to signals above (or, optionally, below) a specified amplitude, making it easy to delay, reverberate, or tame signals only above certain peaks. Alternatively, you can switch to crossover mode to only apply effects when the input signal is above (or, again, optionally below) a specified frequency.

Harmonization applied to peaks above -64 dB with two harmonic shifts added in a D Kumoi scale, pinned locally.

Interpolation Station

At the output stage, all X-FX include a unique interpolate mode that works with the input threshold to only trigger the current wet effect amount when signal exceeds the specified threshold, resulting in truly dynamic processing that approaches something like an “auto-remix” function. Optional output limiting ensures you can experiment safely with extreme settings while minimising potential damage to ears (or speakers).

Meshing seamlessly with their Global Hub and X-Relay utilities, X-FX expands upon Manifest Audio’s integrated musical ecosystem, opening new levels of musical interaction and exploration in the process. Combining it with Pattern Engine or X-Translate unfolds responsive soundscapes in real-time. The possibilities might actually be endless.