Movy turns your Ableton Move into a 16-track Elektron-style groovebox

Movy by DimaDake is a new sequencer module for the Schwung framework that turns the Ableton Move into a 16-track groovebox

The Ableton Move community has been on fire over the last few weeks. Just yesterday, I reported that a developer made a fully synthesized TR-606 (based on the AudioKit Pro code) and a TR-909 available for the Schwung environment.

Now, DimaDake has released Movy, another module for the Move Schwung that turns it into a 16-track groovebox.

DimaDake Movy

Ableton Move is a groovebox from the creators of Ableton Live, but its official firmware is limited to four tracks. The firmware shadow layer Schwung, however, opened the door to new instruments, effects, features, and even more tracks. 

Movy, by developer DimaDake, is a new sequencer module that runs on the Schwung framework. Its creator was heavily inspired by Elektron’s Digitakt sampler and groovebox.

At its core is a sequencer engine that expands the original firmware’s stock 4-track limit to up to 16 independent tracks within the Schwung shadow layer. Until now, you had to use the internal four tracks to sequence the instrument in Schwung. 

Movy fills that gap and gives you a powerful sequencer right in the environment. That’s not all. It also gives you a dedicated parameter UI for any Schwung module.

Once you pick one, it lays out the parameters on a custom interface with eight knobs, arc knobs, enum lists, and auto-detected ADSR envelope graphics. Yes, it’s obvious where these are inspired by. It looks like someone implanted an Elektron device into the Move.

The Sequencer

Of course, Movy’s highlight is the sequencer, with clips, session view, live + step recording, and automation. There are 16 tracks: 1-4 are Schwung tracks, and tracks 5-16 host their own module chain inside Movy, summed to one stereo output.

The 16 tracks are arranged as four groups of four: in Session view, the +/− buttons move between groups, and the step buttons pick a track.

The menu is heavily inspired by Elektron devices, and so is the sequencer. Each track features a powerful Elektron-style sequencer with:

• live and step recording 
• capture function 
• non-destructive quantization 
• step probability for evolving patterns 
• parameter locks
• controlled randomness to individual steps 
• undo/redo 
• scales
• and more

There are also custom modules and FX which grant access to extra sound generators (like Mr. Drums and Aphex) and custom audio/MIDI effects mapped directly to the hardware knobs.

First Impression

It must be said clearly: Movy is still very much in development and in an early stage. Much is unfinished, and there are bugs. But what already works is impressive.

If everything works perfectly after that, this could become the groovebox for anyone who wants to work with an Elektron but can’t afford one. I find what the community is putting into the Schwung framework fascinating.

This is certainly one of the most exciting projects because it essentially transforms the Move into a new instrument with 16 tracks, etc. With all these possibilities, I wonder who’s still interested in the official firmware updates. They look rather outdated compared to these. 

Movy by dake is available now as a free download from GitHub. 

More information here: GitHub

Ableton Move is available from my partner

Thomann

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