Svante Stadler and Rikard Jönsson recently founded Forever 89 and released the sample-modeling drum machine Visco as their first product. And what can I say—this is really an innovative and inspiring method of hands-on sound design.

Forever 89 Visco lets you work with drum samples (not only!) like a synth plugin, so you can morph between various samples and alter them using a graphical user interface that looks incredibly fascinating and user-friendly.

Its central feature is the blob, a flexible 2D grid representation of your sound. You have total control over how you use the crossfader, hand, eraser tool, and other tools, which resemble those in contemporary UI design software, to grasp, pull, push, and blend your sound.

Indeed you can blend the characteristics of two sounds into one!

How does it work? Your own samples are loaded and examined, and an approximate version of the original sound is produced; the original is then discarded. A few details are missing, so it doesn’t sound 1:1, but I’m sure that updates will gradually lessen the sample deviations. Please don’t get me wrong, even in this early version of Forever 89 Visco, this is already an impressive replica.

Here are some additional specifications: global and per-part controls for transform, timescale, frequency, contrast, and density; an 8-part, 32-voice drum engine. Additionally, there is an 8-track sequencer with drag-and-drop note event and length dragging, swing, and time/velocity variations. Numerous options and an assignable grid are present on the modulation page. Pan, stereo width, two sends, clipping distortion, per-track filter, and mixer In addition, send and master effects such as tape simulator, transformer amp, tempo delay, chorus, diffusers, reverbs (plate, room, spring), stereo fuzz, and various compressors (including upward) are used. You see – lots to explore!

Some experimental features allow you to quickly create new sounds by flipping your samples both vertically and horizontally. Smudging or pulling the blob yields more experimental results that are ideal for sound design.

An application example: You occupy the snare slot with 2 snares. To do this, move the slider at the top to the left and drag & drop the “normal sounding snare”, then move the slider to the right and add e.g. a massive, huge, and powerful snare. Then, you have a choice between two snares. The seamless morphing feature is amazing because it goes beyond simply layering your two snares and adjusting the volume of each layer. You really can blend the timbres of any two sounds. A lot happens here under the hood! For me, the morph slider is the most incredible feature of Visco!

Especially when it comes to automation options, the whole morphing thing is even better. Just think of a huge drop in your music and morph between a simple and complex sound – perfect for the tension. It gets more exciting when you not only import drums but also synth sounds, vocals, etc. There are no limits to your imagination.

Since the whole thing can sound very organic due to the modulations, e.g. very busy drum loops are possible, which can be added to static loops to breathe life into them or give your mix an organic feel. 

On the left side of the grid, some bizarre features allow you to mirror the sound or blob. For instance, you can make a shaker-like sound out of a deep percussion sound. It’s difficult to put into words; you really must hear it. There are intriguing modifiers for each of the eight slots on the right (Timescale, Frequency, Contrast, etc.). The bottom buttons control all of the channels simultaneously, and the bottom left of the screen provides a brief explanation of what each one does. For an update, I wish I had a sequencer with 36 steps. By the way, Visco has an unlimited free demo, so there is no reason not to install this unique tool!

Final Verdict

In my opinion, Forever 89 Visco is the Synplant2 of drum machines, and it has some similarities to the Zynaptiq Morph. With this tool, samples can be altered in ways that were previously impractical. It really intrigues me a lot. A Swiss knife for sound design and strongly advised!

Visit my BLOG for other vst recommendations, production tips and more!

Cheers,
Oliver Schmitt aka Sounds of Revolution (SOR)