The original DIY LXR is documented by a June 2013 kit report and the v0.91 manual dated 28 June 2013. A community compilation followed on 1 May 2014; firmware version records trace further changes without consistently dating them.
A drum machine built on the bench
Julian Schmidt’s original Sonic Potions LXR began as an electronics kit: solder the parts, assemble the controls and build a six-voice digital drum synthesizer. The case was a separate purchase. Building one could become a project in its own right. Reviewing a later kit in 2015, Phil Moffa reported ten to twelve hours of work, help from the forum and an acrylic case that needed repair. His account puts actual bench work behind the DIY label.
About Sonic Potions ↗ Sonic Potions LXR DIY Drum Box / Groovebox ↗ Sonic Potions - LXR ↗
Six engines, seven tracks
Three drum voices shape pitched percussion; a snare/clap voice mixes noise with a pitched oscillator; an FM cymbal/clap voice supplies a different synthesis path. The sixth engine makes the hi-hats. Closed and open hats have separate sequencer tracks and decay settings, but share that engine: a closed hit cuts off the open hat. Seven tracks therefore play six voices, with the hat interaction built into the pattern.
The sequencer is a set of decisions
Select a track and place hits across the sixteen-button row. Each main step contains eight substeps, opening space for rolls and flams between the visible beats. Velocity, pitch and probability change how the hits play; two automation slots per step can change sound parameters. An inactive main step silences its substeps too. Eight parameter-selector buttons, four editing knobs and a separate encoder give access to the voices without replacing the step row.
Built to leave the box
The LXR’s four line outputs can work as four mono channels or two stereo pairs. Routing sounds to them lets a player separate parts for a mixer or effects, although six voices do not mean six physical outputs. An SD card holds kits and patterns; DIN and USB MIDI connect the instrument to other equipment. These connections turn a completed kit into part of a larger rig.
LXR Owners Manual v0.91 ↗ LXR Assembly Instructions ↗ STM32F407 AudioMainboard schematics ↗
A machine that kept changing in public
The factory change log shows the instrument acquiring new functions. Version 0.25 added WAV import from the SD card; 0.33 incorporated pattern rotation and expanded saving options from contributor rudeog; 0.35 added a two-pole low-pass filter. The later entries lack release dates, but their version numbers keep the additions distinct from the first kit. This was software development on the original LXR, not a reason to assign the later Erica Synths LXR-02’s features to it.
The community built the legacy
On 1 May 2014, the Sonic Potions community released Live And Direct. Organiser Möbius described live performances using the LXR as the only instrument, with external effects allowed. The forum discussion makes those effects concrete: Tebbes used a mini Kaoss Pad, while Möbius sent one output through an Alesis PHLNGR and another to a mixer delay. The compilation brings the builders’ instrument into performed music, with processing left in the picture rather than mistaken for another LXR voice.
LXR Compilation - Live And Direct ↗ LXR Compilation - Live And Direct ↗
In the market
Explore 1 period price record
- 25 June 2013 post; revised 26 June 2021 · EUR 280
Reported early electronics-kit price on subsequently revised period post. Electronics kit; enclosure separate; shipping and power-supply terms unverified
Recording and working accounts
Explore 3 source accounts
- Various Artists / Sonic Potions forum community — LXR Compilation - Live And Direct
Organiser identifies LXR-only instrumental performances with external effects permitted.
- Ash Fox / Boreal — Boreal production practice
Ash Fox says he invested in a Sonic Potions LXR and expanded it with a Bastl controller.
- Druid State / Lukas Sliva — Druid State
Lukas Sliva identifies a Sonic Potions LXR among the hardware used to create Druid State.
Explore later working accounts and records
Lukas Sliva lists an LXR among the instruments on Druid State, without naming its hardware version or assigning it to individual tracks. That places the album in the wider LXR story; it does not identify an original DIY machine.
Later working lives
Original kit and wider LXR-family accounts.
Ash Fox / Boreal / Boreal production practice
Ash Fox says he invested in a Sonic Potions LXR and expanded it with a Bastl controller.
Read Ash Fox / Boreal and the Sonic Potions LXR ↗
Druid State / Lukas Sliva / Druid State
Lukas Sliva identifies a Sonic Potions LXR among the hardware used to create Druid State.
Read Druid State / Druid State ↗Sources
- About Sonic Potions
- LXR firmware repository
- LXR Owners Manual v0.91
- LXR Assembly Instructions
- STM32F407 AudioMainboard schematics
- Sonic Potions LXR DIY Drum Box / Groovebox
- Sonic Potions - LXR
- LXR Compilation - Live And Direct
- LXR Compilation - Live And Direct
- Sonic Potions: LXR-02 and DIY LXR V1 news
- LXR factory firmware change log
- LXR code licence
The visual archive
Further visual evidence.
Sources for images shown earlier (3)
- LXR Owners Manual v0.91 — original front panel ↗
- Ash Fox interview — Wolves in the Throne Room 2021 ↗
- Druid State / Lukas Sliva — Druid State ↗
2021-10-20 · Druid State / Lukas Sliva / release artwork via Bandcamp · Official Bandcamp release-page artwork (Open Graph image)
Additional visual sources (4)
Original publications and related image sources.
- LXR Assembly Instructions ↗
Undated revised guide · Sonic Potions · Opening revision warning and assembly guide - STM32F407 AudioMainboard schematics ↗
First sheet dated 18 April 2013, revision 0.2 · Julian Schmidt / Sonic Potions · Sheet 1 of 3: STM32F407 AudioMainboard MCU - Live And Direct compilation artwork ↗
1 May 2014 release · Archive source · Archive JPEG attachment - LXR firmware change log, through v0.37 ↗
v0.1–0.37 · Sonic Potions / contributors · Version headings and individual change entries