A drawable LFO: instead of picking from stock waveforms, you draw the shape you hear in your head. Try it right here. The tour below is scrawLFO cut down to fit a web page, moving a small synth: turn your sound on and press Play.

VST3 and Max for Live device for Ableton Live.
Scrawl it, shape it, hear it.

Buy scrawLFO · €20

What is it?

scrawLFO is a drawable LFO by kalikoDSP a Max for Live device for Ableton Live 12, and a VST3 for other DAWs, where it drives any synth or effect that responds to MIDI CC.

Most LFOs hand you a menu: sine, triangle, square, random. scrawLFO provides you with tools to create and draw the shape you actually want and let it drive your sound.

Each engine has two modes. As an LFO, draw with the Pencil, paint steps or place points. As a Scrawl, draw a shape on the XY pad and it loops with your timing.

Grid snap, mirroring and 45 shapes help you draw. Roll the Dice for a fresh drawing, Morph to nudge it, or add Drift for variation on every pass. 96 factory presets get you started, and you can save and share your own.

Four colour-coded engines run concurrently. In Ableton, each drives up to eight parameters; in other DAWs, each sends its own MIDI CC. Lock them to tempo or let them run free.

Within a few strokes, a static pad starts breathing, a loop starts conversing with itself, and your sound is transformed. Altered, recast, but always musical and usable.

Features

Two ways to draw: an LFO waveform editor (Pencil, Step and Points tools, 19 waveform templates) and a Scrawl XY pad that records your gesture for up to 60 seconds96 factory presets across both modes, plus your ownDrawing aids: grid snap, mirror, 45 stamp shapes, flip, reverse and smoothDice for a new random drawing, Morph to nudge the current one, Drift for variation on every passFour independent engines running simultaneously, colour-coded in amber, sky blue, pink and greenUp to 8 targets per engine in Max for Live; in VST3 hosts, each engine's CC can drive as many devices as your DAW allowsDark and light skinsTempo sync, free-run and retrigger modes

A Scrawl drawn on the XY pad, then reshaped with Shapes, the Dice, Morph, the loop window and Loop Length, playing all the while
Scrawl: draw on the XY pad, stamp Shapes, roll the Dice, Morph, and set the loop
An LFO waveform drawn with the Pencil, then reshaped with Templates, the Step tool, the Dice, Morph, the loop window and Loop Length, playing all the while
LFO: draw with the Pencil, load Templates, paint Steps, roll the Dice, Morph, and set the loop

System requirements

RequirementMax for LiveVST3
DAWAbleton Live 12 Suite, or Live 12 Standard with the Max for Live add-onTested in Bitwig Studio, Cubase, FL Studio, REAPER and Studio Pro; other hosts that accept MIDI out of a VST3 may work
Not supportedLive Intro, Live Lite, Live 11 and earlier, other DAWsAbleton Live (use the Max for Live version), Logic Pro (no Audio Unit), Reason (takes no MIDI out of VST3)
FormatMax for Live devices: scrawLFO MIDI and scrawLFO AudioVST3 MIDI effect (sends MIDI CC, no audio)
Max versionMax 9 (built and tested in Max 9.1.5, the version that comes with Live 12.4); no separate Max install neededNot required
macOSmacOS 11 or later; Apple Silicon or IntelmacOS 11 or later; Apple Silicon or Intel
WindowsNot supported yet (Mac only for now)Not supported yet (Mac only for now)
InstallationIts own disk-image installer (scrawLFO for Ableton Live); puts both devices in your Live User LibraryIts own disk-image installer (scrawLFO VST3); puts scrawLFO in /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3
Disk spaceAbout 38 MB (the two devices and their own copy of the VST3)About 31 MB

Get in touch

Questions, press, or early access: hello@kalikodsp.com