I’ve been a big fan and ardent user of UVI Falcon for quite a few years. (Actually since before it was called that!) It’s hands down the most flexible, modular, limitless sound design tool available for general use. It’s all over my album (and plenty of other tracks) in various guises. Just recently I got a Torso T-1 sequencer for use with my Elektron boxes but I had a feeling UVI Falcon and Torso T-1 would make an amazing pairing too.
TL;DR: I was right.
I made a video recently to show off the pairing. Since Falcon allows you to operate a theoretically unlimited number of patches at once (CPU single thread is the limit), it’s possible to set up an amazing sound palette for live performance. You can choose the MIDI channel for any patch (or set of patches), meaning you can essentially use one instance of Falcon to hold your drum machine, your bass, your arps… Your imagination is the limit.
How it works
The T-1 is a 16-track polyphonic sequencer, so one way to use it with Falcon is to set up a set of 16 Parts as a Multi. You can allocate these Parts however you like.
I like to use 8 Parts on MIDI channels 1-8 with programs focused on drums. Any of these programs can be whatever you like — samplers, FM drums, slices, you name it. And of course you can layer within a program however you like. Then I use 8 more Parts on MIDI channels 9-16 for tonal sounds — bass, arpeggiators, polysynths, and so on. Obviously any of these could be more on the digital side or mellow analog… hard or soft… noisy or clean… whatever I want. It’s literally an infinite palette.
The T-1 also will do CC control, and I can map those controls into infinitely powerful macros on the Multi. I may add an additional controller with pad triggers to shift sounds within the same Multi, so I could choose different Parts to shift in and out of the Multi. That would mean the possibility of just jamming with a single Multi for hours live — while shifting sounds constantly.
Taking it on the road
The video includes a semi-lame bit of live jamming that pairs UVI Falcon and Torso T-1. Whatever, I did it on short notice. But imagine the possibilities for a simplified kit on the road. You can literally throw your T-1, maybe one other small controller like an ESI XJam, and your laptop in a normal sized backpack. Now you’ve got an infinite canvas to make or perform however you like! What an amazing time to be alive.
I’m convinced there are approximately zero challenges Falcon isn’t up to solving. Have fun, Falconeers!