Gaz has become a really good reviewer, he is really thorough and even cares on making UX critiques. Sometimes he has those pauses which give the feeling he's overthinking what he has to say, but in the end the reviews are flawless.
I'm not sure if you guys heard, but isotonik has released an editor for the circuit that let's you create your own patches and edit what the knobs do. It really expands the possibilities with this box.
I've never heard of "Isotonik". where can I find/download the editor you were speaking of. I literally *JUST* bought a Novation Circuit and that shizznit sounds awesome and a a great option to have at your fingertips. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and jam on.
I'm not super great at music, but I love playing around and having fun. Gaz is a great reviewer, because he really does show the strengths of a product as they relate to someone like me. He's having fun, and he shows how you can have fun too.
Revisiting OG circuit reviews now that these units are coming up pretty cheap secondhand.... the device has gone through a lot of changes over the years so there is a lot to catch up on.
i bought one and also found the record light confusing.... i coloured the top in with a black permanent marker and it only lights up from the sides. problem solved
In case anyone doesn't know, Isotonik makes a free full blown editor for Circuit that turns it into quite a monster little synth. Full control over every single internal parameter of both synth engines (though not drums unfortunately). It's free and runs either standalone or as a Max4Live device. It's pretty wicked.
24:04 That's gotta be the most hilarious joke sonicstate has ever made (unless it's a reoccurring thing and I'm just seeing it now for the first time).
Hey guys.. I am a new Circuit owner (today) but am having some problems. For one, I cannot get any sound when I plug the Circuit into my Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 Audio device. I plug it in the exact same way as my Electribe 2 and that unit works fine, but the Circuit does not. Why is this? If I plug it straight into my KRK speakers then it works fine! Also, how do I factory reset the device? It was second hand and when I press play, nothing happens at all.. but when I used a demo machine in the shop it played demo tracks. Any help would be much appreciated.
Novation: I recomend always having a musical decay/release combo macro on the same place, and also osc pitch. The 9th filter knob should be selectable as individual or master. Ive been using 8 macros on every synth since the option came with Ableton. Over the years ive updated and tweaked my template. All synth macros starts with pitch, and ends with a musical decay/release combo. Its importent for the workflow to have at least pitch, filter and decay/release always at the same place imo. Usually I have lfo related parameters on macro5 and 6, osc pitch on macro1, I have filter on m2, but this unit could use the 9th knob for that. So perhaps osc scann etc on m2, fm etc on m3 and m4, m7 is open for anything, and decay/release combo always on macro8. Over the years I found this to be optimal. Now if we could run it as software from Ableton Live & Bitwig, using the hardware as controller, and also be able to run these DAW racks in the same system id be all over it. Push is to big for me.
+Kim Svendsen There's an editor right know which gives you control over the hole synt engin for making you're own patches which you can save to the circuit and for every sound you can make you're own assignments for the macroknobs, if you like the preset sounds you could just use it to change the macros ;)
It is difficult to wrap my mind around: SNG OSC SEQ ENV are becoming things of the past. I think a lot of the new conventions are helping to bring about new music. What the early synthesizer did with knob, these things are using lights and grid. Love it.
Is pattern length for the drums restricted to "16 beats" or in fact 16 steps? The review says 16 beats (4 bars) but if it's only 16 steps, that's only 1 bar. Me confused.
I find it quite lame that all these newer boxes like this only have two outputs... Very limiting come mix time. Who wants drums on the same tracks as synths?
Ian Galloway yeah, non traditional for sure, but there is a mixer within, with FX. There are people who have released entire albums created with this. Not your usual polished sound, but not bad either. I think the idea here, is that I can write an entire song on my lap with headphones. Between this and the Mono Circuit, there are some ideas here which are truly interesting. I would never buy either, but I feel like there could be a really innovative product in the works. Some ideas that Novation can take and expand upon. A lot of us want the power of the DAW, but don’t want to sit at a computer. Sadly, I feel like iPad has stolen all of the thunder and a product like I’m describing won’t happen.
Gaz should be well happy now Novation basically fixed every small complaint he had :) Thinking about picking one up as well now there's a synth editor.
Hi Gaz, nice review. Could you please mention in the future if a machine works with recharable batteries? It's sadly not always the case. Normal batteries are the most expensive and environment unfriendly way to power a gadget. thx
Any chance of updates to the drum pattern limitations to allow for other time signatures? 4/4 is fine for some things, but I write in multiple time signatures.
If anyone loves Propellerhead's Figure for iOS and Android, my guess is they will love this. Pretty much a hardware version of the mobile application. Many of the same limitations, many of the same features, all things I personally love.
Hello there. I am a beginner keyboard player (learning on an old Yamaha CS2x) and really enjoying it. I'm now interesting in a fun little machine to create beats or patterns, then play my keyboard over it. I like the look of the circuit and the volca sample. Has anyone used both? and if so, what do they prefer and why? Thank you :)
Ahh cheers. Yeah i ended up getting the circuit around September time. A neat little machine, and suits my current needs nicely :) glad i went for it, as i find the likes of Ableton and other DAWs a bit tricky and time consuming to use at the moment. Uploaded a few little vids on my channel if you'd like to see. Ta.
Note: You can play any kind of Drum within Drum 1, and also any combination thereof, as long as you press Record, then go Shift + Drum 1. Any thing you hit during Record will be recorded, and you could use any number of Drum sounds for each time point on the sequencer.
Good review Gaz! This looks like a decent, cheaper alternative to the modern Electribes. I have a new Electribe Sampler and I've noticed people like to talk trash about it and the E2 but for its price it is actually quite good. I think they were expecting them to be the Elektron boxes and the DS Tempest rolled into one for $400 and that is simply not the case. OR they haven't played it. It's a jack-of-all trades but master of none situation. But I feel like the price is just right. This Circuit seems to have pros and cons (like the electribes) but at the end of the day it depends on the type of musician and what they choose to do with it that matters. If anyone is interested, I made a short video on my yt channel for the recent Korg video contest showcasing how fun the Electribe Sampler can be while performing. Also, my cat remixes Beethoven's 5th using cat meows. Yeah.
i don't believe the Macro's are "random" at all.. you just didnt bother to read .. about the existing patches and their relative knob assignments .. This is the kind of thing you can easily fix with a BRAIN update :D
LED coloured LEDs (2:20) hehe ^^ Seriously, very nice review/test, though i feel like there's several points that could be said more about. That's more a positive statement for the device than negative for the video - using say 1 hour could be seen as excessive. Had one in my hands last week, and agree it's very nicely built. But i found the pads surprisingly small, also compared to LaunchPads; you can actually tell next to the LP Pro in this video that the LP has bigger pads, eventhough initial reports stated the Circuit should have the exact same pads as the LP Pro. To me it seemed like they'd be extremely fiddly to play something with, and require a lot more practice than slightly bigger pads would. But that's down to taste, skill and fatness of fingers. For fast and easy editing the macro controls are not a bad idea at all, no doubt inspiration lifted straight from Ableton, along the design and workflow from LaunchPad. Clever, very recognisable and easy to get into for many people. But as touched upon, the fact that they don't line up and there's no deep editing is a massive oversight as the Novation VA engine is very complex, expressive and capable. On the note of "expressive" it's also a considerable flaw that there's no aftertouch, nor any responsiveness to it from external sources. I also feel that 64 synth sounds and 64 drum sounds are extremely underwhelming, even if the macros cleverly make them cover far more territory than would be expected. Overall i'd say they get way too little mileage out of a great synth engine because of some unnecessary selfimposed limitations. The comparison to the Electribes, namely the current synth-based version, is unavoidable. The new Electribes have taken quite a lot of criticism, i think mostly because the addition of polyphony have made the sequencing more fiddly compared to the older EMX-1 model. A few other details are also more fiddly, but the synth engine and a number of other features are vastly improved. The Electribes synth engine lifted from the KingKorg is infact 1 of the very best VA engines ever made (imho), and while it's way too complex for the groovebox interface, Korg have been very clever in combining parameters and reducing the less necessary ones - much more so than the Circuits 8 macros. No doubt the Circuit have a number of strong features. It is fast and intuitive, and the DJ style filter is a very nice touch. But to me the Electribe is the obvious choice, it has so many more options, sounds and effects.
+Ned Rush Was drinking whiskey and watching this, when that came up on screen...LOL'd and almost had whiskey coming out my nose. It burns. Would actually buy the track just for burning my nasal cavity.
Over the past month it's become my traveling composer tool. Great on flights and in hotel rooms, no longer need to bring my personal laptop on trips. The sounds are great for ballparking or maybe a live hardware jam with friends. When I get home I can toss midi info to my computer or directly to outboard gear and dial in the sounds I really want
I think it would be cool if Novation could make all their products work together without any sort of interfacing. It would be awesome to be able to hook this thing up to a Launchkey (and have it work properly).
Hi great vid I've just bought a circuit and its only working through the inbuilt speaker and headphones when I try it through my active speakers all I get is static have I been ripped off or am i doing something wrong my Roland mc505 works fine through them
Hi! I have a question: Why are the sequencer concepts in these tye of instruments getting reduced and reduced to the point of absurdity these days? Akai MPCs, Roland MCs, Yamaha RM1X or QYs... these were all really powerful MIDI recording stations. What we get nowadays is... idk... 16 step loopers or something like that. Companies started taking away the possibility of adding triplets to a four fourth beat by letting you choose between different scales instead of combining these scales in a sequence. With the Circuit you're limited to four fourths. I mean the synths can have a last step setting but the drums can't, so for anything other than four fourth you have to leave the drums which are four of a total of six parts completely out... and the worst thing to me is... nobody seems to really care! I'm worried about this development man, I really am...
***** Yes, I'm glad they finally added a last step feature to the drum parts which makes the Circuit a lot more usable now in my opinion. Well done Novation! :)
LousyFacelift We are in a cycle. By the millennium we had all the multi timbral and polyphony we needed, built in the chassis of tanks. In order to sell us more they have to take something away first. Just look at the analogue resurgence, slowly but surely we’ll be getting 16+ voice multi timbral synths again!
Donal Finn great as a midi clock and sequencer, internal sounds are a bit rubbish nowadays but with a bit of creative thinking and editing you can get some interesting sounds out of it,I’ve used mine stand alone to create full songs
Videos have to be the way forward for quick start and in depth user guides. How long would I need with a manual to suss this out. But iam knocking on a bit
Howard Forton if by Moog you mean Model D then fair enough. But that wasn't invented in the days of screens and shift functions. But, really, Circuit is not difficult to use.
+Herr Absurd no. It's a preview with korg representatives. A review by sonic state is them alone talking about 'their own thoughts' on the product. Cheers.
Good review but I'm very disappointed nothing at all is covered about the midi output and external sequencing capabilities - that's a key interest for me in this thing. Also it would have been nice if the review had beaten the black friday shopping frenzy - i'm sure it would have helped some people in possible purchase decisions with other older devices being discounted in some shops. That midi input note filtering sounds horrid - also the inability to copy sound settings from one session to another is a big limitation for such a seemingly simple but deep synth engine in this. I assume you also cannot copy patterns or at least tracks from one session to another, though presumably you can duplicate the entire things at least. I think this thing needs an editor with deeper synth access and custom macro assignments (maybe with curves to control the ratio's of various controls macro'd to each knob), and also it needs some firmware updates to improve a few things and hopefully an option to turn off that incoming midi note filter. Also I'd like to see Novation have some sort of bridging support in the editor that would let you link up to their Launchpads and LaunchControls via usb and the computer running the editor for deeper control, maybe additional patch access, and so on. Good call on referencing the Electribe comparison, indeed the workflow wins hugely on the Circuit, but Electribe isn't hiding everything behind macros - but also it's got only 4 bar patterns vs the 8 in Circuit. I think the two would be an excellent pair.
+kassie2k4 Its not a deep synth engine. Its actually a very cut down one (of the Nova) hence the macros and other limitations. In my view products are never good when they are deliberately hobbled from the off.
Herr Absurd deep was the wrong word, i was trying to be a bit kinder to it and if you see my comments on other Circuit videos i think in general it sounds pretty crap, but here it sounds a bit more dynamic than usual - in any case I think it *could* sound reliably good if the user could create their own patches and macros and save those... I think the choices Novation have included, though perhaps wide in their characteristics you can get out of them per patch, are of very limited use for actual songs and make the Circuit sound much like a toy, and a $330 device should sound better than that.
kassie2k4 I agree with that. It does sound crappy to my ears as well and I find it of limited use for songs. In advertising Novation have played up that you can make"a tune" in 3 minutes and then in another 3 minutes another one. But this is rubbish. Its a superficial idea creator then.
+kassie2k4 The standalone sequencing abilities are by far my favorite feature of my circuit. I use mine a lot when I travel (battery life somewhere between 20-24 hours), the sounds aren't great, but I they're fine for composing tracks/ideas of jamming with friends. I think another way to look at the circuit is a alternative to the beatstep pro that happens to have on board sounds so that you don't need to sit at your daw or studio all the time.
non standard midi connector via a breakout adapter...just like korg electribe, yamaha reface and arturia beatstep pro...all these adapters are NON standard...you can't use a yamaha adapter on a korg or a arturia...they all look the same but all don't work....this means it's an impossible buy for me on ANY of these devices as in 5 years time when they drop the product..where will you get a replacement adapter if you lose one or break it..??.DEAD product at birth. NO SALE you may as well just say it doesn't have Midi.
+cresshead I have made may own DIY adapters for the beatstep pro is very fairly easy using a stereo plug cable and a stadard midi cable, you just have to cut them ,and figure out wich cable on the stereo plug goes into which cable on de midi cabe
maybe it's an age thing, but this looks almost incomprehensible. If they had fitted a simple backlit LCD to show what is actually going on it would make more sense to me. Otherwise this is just a toy that makes noise.
what makes it "bad" for studio..makes it "great" for stage..you can make a "beat" of any dance/electronic genre in seconds, as well continue a session/set in real time. Get this if you want a "top 10 of all time" groovebox. ...get a Novation keyboard if you want to build patches/sound design...
This is probably the best product demo I've yet to see. Awesome man.
Gaz has become a really good reviewer, he is really thorough and even cares on making UX critiques. Sometimes he has those pauses which give the feeling he's overthinking what he has to say, but in the end the reviews are flawless.
I'm not sure if you guys heard, but isotonik has released an editor for the circuit that let's you create your own patches and edit what the knobs do. It really expands the possibilities with this box.
I've never heard of "Isotonik". where can I find/download the editor you were speaking of. I literally *JUST* bought a Novation Circuit and that shizznit sounds awesome and a a great option to have at your fingertips. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and jam on.
Fab. Loving the shirt. Looking cool dude!! I always enjoy your reviews and listening to you thoughts 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
well done. I loved this. Loved your attitude about the endless posibilites due to unmarked parameters
This is the best review I have seen. excellent overview.
Gaz, YOU DID IT!! Great overview and you're looking very fly I must say!
For a Welsh Bristolian :)
The second I see Gaz doing the demo, I know I'm going to need it
Gaz makes me happy. Such a nice guy
The man is a real sweetheart :3
and unlike a good many YT synth aficionados - not even a HINT of 'little bit on the spectrum'
I'm not super great at music, but I love playing around and having fun. Gaz is a great reviewer, because he really does show the strengths of a product as they relate to someone like me. He's having fun, and he shows how you can have fun too.
Revisiting OG circuit reviews now that these units are coming up pretty cheap secondhand.... the device has gone through a lot of changes over the years so there is a lot to catch up on.
i bought one and also found the record light confusing.... i coloured the top in with a black permanent marker and it only lights up from the sides. problem solved
All the major reviwers should do new review now with the updates.
Love the humour, surprised my attention span made it, which is obvious credit to Gaz, more Gaz reviews please
Great video :) excellent overview of what this can do :)
Gaz with the rockstar pose right after intro music
+MegaCrasherMusic hahahah that's too dope to not be real.
+Uprightest He's such a marketing thing.
^___^
i can't un see that
In case anyone doesn't know, Isotonik makes a free full blown editor for Circuit that turns it into quite a monster little synth. Full control over every single internal parameter of both synth engines (though not drums unfortunately). It's free and runs either standalone or as a Max4Live device. It's pretty wicked.
24:04 That's gotta be the most hilarious joke sonicstate has ever made (unless it's a reoccurring thing and I'm just seeing it now for the first time).
superhyped for monday when I get my Circuit :D thanks for that great overview!
Great review I'll be buying one tomorrow!
The shirt that is... sod the Novation.
😂😂😂
Hey guys.. I am a new Circuit owner (today) but am having some problems. For one, I cannot get any sound when I plug the Circuit into my Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 Audio device. I plug it in the exact same way as my Electribe 2 and that unit works fine, but the Circuit does not. Why is this? If I plug it straight into my KRK speakers then it works fine! Also, how do I factory reset the device? It was second hand and when I press play, nothing happens at all.. but when I used a demo machine in the shop it played demo tracks.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Novation: I recomend always having a musical decay/release combo macro on the same place, and also osc pitch. The 9th filter knob should be selectable as individual or master. Ive been using 8 macros on every synth since the option came with Ableton. Over the years ive updated and tweaked my template. All synth macros starts with pitch, and ends with a musical decay/release combo. Its importent for the workflow to have at least pitch, filter and decay/release always at the same place imo. Usually I have lfo related parameters on macro5 and 6, osc pitch on macro1, I have filter on m2, but this unit could use the 9th knob for that. So perhaps osc scann etc on m2, fm etc on m3 and m4, m7 is open for anything, and decay/release combo always on macro8. Over the years I found this to be optimal. Now if we could run it as software from Ableton Live & Bitwig, using the hardware as controller, and also be able to run these DAW racks in the same system id be all over it. Push is to big for me.
+Kim Svendsen There's an editor right know which gives you control over the hole synt engin for making you're own patches which you can save to the circuit and for every sound you can make you're own assignments for the macroknobs, if you like the preset sounds you could just use it to change the macros ;)
I love the Gaz demos!
Thank you Gus, I have the same issues and joy with circuit as you describe...I hope the next firmware will address at least a few issues
Gaz! Nailed it !
Very comprehensive review!
My goodness, what was that gorgeous patch at 20:22? Synth 2, patch 13. Only heard it for a second but that was lovely
It is difficult to wrap my mind around: SNG OSC SEQ ENV are becoming things of the past. I think a lot of the new conventions are helping to bring about new music. What the early synthesizer did with knob, these things are using lights and grid. Love it.
Is pattern length for the drums restricted to "16 beats" or in fact 16 steps? The review says 16 beats (4 bars) but if it's only 16 steps, that's only 1 bar. Me confused.
16 steps, but patterns can be chained.
I seriously want one or two of these.
Another review of this I've given up on. Not because of Gaz - big fan - but this must be the only bit of kit this year I haven't had GAS for.
novation just added sample import plus a synth editor too
Excellent review, thanks!
"buy this track" ... no link?
I find it quite lame that all these newer boxes like this only have two outputs... Very limiting come mix time. Who wants drums on the same tracks as synths?
Ian Galloway yeah, non traditional for sure, but there is a mixer within, with FX. There are people who have released entire albums created with this. Not your usual polished sound, but not bad either. I think the idea here, is that I can write an entire song on my lap with headphones.
Between this and the Mono Circuit, there are some ideas here which are truly interesting. I would never buy either, but I feel like there could be a really innovative product in the works. Some ideas that Novation can take and expand upon. A lot of us want the power of the DAW, but don’t want to sit at a computer. Sadly, I feel like iPad has stolen all of the thunder and a product like I’m describing won’t happen.
mute and record twice?
Not very good for performance
Gaz should be well happy now Novation basically fixed every small complaint he had :) Thinking about picking one up as well now there's a synth editor.
Seems like a lot of fun. I'd have liked to Gaz sequence an external synth with it though.
You can't stop Gaz's hair--you can only hope to contain it.
Hi Gaz, nice review. Could you please mention in the future if a machine works with recharable batteries? It's sadly not always the case. Normal batteries are the most expensive and environment unfriendly way to power a gadget. thx
I absolutely love when Gaz Williams does gear reviews. Bravo Gaz!
great review Gaz!
Great review, really enjoyed it. Thank you :)
Any chance of updates to the drum pattern limitations to allow for other time signatures? 4/4 is fine for some things, but I write in multiple time signatures.
If anyone loves Propellerhead's Figure for iOS and Android, my guess is they will love this. Pretty much a hardware version of the mobile application. Many of the same limitations, many of the same features, all things I personally love.
Hello there. I am a beginner keyboard player (learning on an old Yamaha CS2x) and really enjoying it. I'm now interesting in a fun little machine to create beats or patterns, then play my keyboard over it. I like the look of the circuit and the volca sample. Has anyone used both? and if so, what do they prefer and why? Thank you :)
Ahh cheers. Yeah i ended up getting the circuit around September time. A neat little machine, and suits my current needs nicely :) glad i went for it, as i find the likes of Ableton and other DAWs a bit tricky and time consuming to use at the moment. Uploaded a few little vids on my channel if you'd like to see. Ta.
Hi, is there a way to make the recording pattern longer? Setting the time of the record like four times longer or so?
I'm sold
Thanks Gaz ! Nice Vidy !
Note: You can play any kind of Drum within Drum 1, and also any combination thereof, as long as you press Record, then go Shift + Drum 1. Any thing you hit during Record will be recorded, and you could use any number of Drum sounds for each time point on the sequencer.
really good review thanks very much!
So Nick and Gaz, another review ? :) . It's now a totally new machine with the sample import feature :)
Good review Gaz! This looks like a decent, cheaper alternative to the modern Electribes. I have a new Electribe Sampler and I've noticed people like to talk trash about it and the E2 but for its price it is actually quite good. I think they were expecting them to be the Elektron boxes and the DS Tempest rolled into one for $400 and that is simply not the case. OR they haven't played it. It's a jack-of-all trades but master of none situation. But I feel like the price is just right. This Circuit seems to have pros and cons (like the electribes) but at the end of the day it depends on the type of musician and what they choose to do with it that matters.
If anyone is interested, I made a short video on my yt channel for the recent Korg video contest showcasing how fun the Electribe Sampler can be while performing. Also, my cat remixes Beethoven's 5th using cat meows. Yeah.
i don't believe the Macro's are "random" at all.. you just didnt bother to read .. about the existing patches and their relative knob assignments ..
This is the kind of thing you can easily fix with a BRAIN update :D
go fuck yourself
LED coloured LEDs (2:20) hehe ^^
Seriously, very nice review/test, though i feel like there's several points that could be said more about. That's more a positive statement for the device than negative for the video - using say 1 hour could be seen as excessive.
Had one in my hands last week, and agree it's very nicely built. But i found the pads surprisingly small, also compared to LaunchPads; you can actually tell next to the LP Pro in this video that the LP has bigger pads, eventhough initial reports stated the Circuit should have the exact same pads as the LP Pro. To me it seemed like they'd be extremely fiddly to play something with, and require a lot more practice than slightly bigger pads would. But that's down to taste, skill and fatness of fingers.
For fast and easy editing the macro controls are not a bad idea at all, no doubt inspiration lifted straight from Ableton, along the design and workflow from LaunchPad. Clever, very recognisable and easy to get into for many people.
But as touched upon, the fact that they don't line up and there's no deep editing is a massive oversight as the Novation VA engine is very complex, expressive and capable. On the note of "expressive" it's also a considerable flaw that there's no aftertouch, nor any responsiveness to it from external sources.
I also feel that 64 synth sounds and 64 drum sounds are extremely underwhelming, even if the macros cleverly make them cover far more territory than would be expected. Overall i'd say they get way too little mileage out of a great synth engine because of some unnecessary selfimposed limitations.
The comparison to the Electribes, namely the current synth-based version, is unavoidable. The new Electribes have taken quite a lot of criticism, i think mostly because the addition of polyphony have made the sequencing more fiddly compared to the older EMX-1 model. A few other details are also more fiddly, but the synth engine and a number of other features are vastly improved. The Electribes synth engine lifted from the KingKorg is infact 1 of the very best VA engines ever made (imho), and while it's way too complex for the groovebox interface, Korg have been very clever in combining parameters and reducing the less necessary ones - much more so than the Circuits 8 macros.
No doubt the Circuit have a number of strong features. It is fast and intuitive, and the DJ style filter is a very nice touch. But to me the Electribe is the obvious choice, it has so many more options, sounds and effects.
Lol @ Buy This Track
+Ned Rush BLEEP-BLEEP-BLOOP-blopp.....[silence] "Buy This Track"
XD I love sonicstate.
+Ned Rush That was awesome, I almost spit out my beer when I saw that.
+Ned Rush
Was drinking whiskey and watching this, when that came up on screen...LOL'd and almost had whiskey coming out my nose. It burns. Would actually buy the track just for burning my nasal cavity.
+Ned Rush I was drinking time stamps and had all kinds of numbers coming out of my nose..
mudgeforce5 oh wow ur old enuf to drink thats so kewl
Hell yeah Gaz review!
very entertaining review, thanks!
Cool, cool. But does it work as a polyphonic midi sequencer for external gear as well?
+jarsamo No.
+jarsamo yes, i use mine to sequence my dsi tetra as well as my mini nova.
+jarsamo Yes
Holy crap. I may have to buy it to sequence my Blofeld and System-1.
Over the past month it's become my traveling composer tool. Great on flights and in hotel rooms, no longer need to bring my personal laptop on trips. The sounds are great for ballparking or maybe a live hardware jam with friends. When I get home I can toss midi info to my computer or directly to outboard gear and dial in the sounds I really want
Very cool little box. However they could have easily fitted a 1 inch oled for feedback on the encoders or patches etc. and keep everything else as is.
I think it would be cool if Novation could make all their products work together without any sort of interfacing. It would be awesome to be able to hook this thing up to a Launchkey (and have it work properly).
Hi great vid I've just bought a circuit and its only working through the inbuilt speaker and headphones when I try it through my active speakers all I get is static have I been ripped off or am i doing something wrong my Roland mc505 works fine through them
Gaz is the best!
I see Gaz did some gardening just before demoing this thing ; )
Hi! I have a question: Why are the sequencer concepts in these tye of instruments getting reduced and reduced to the point of absurdity these days? Akai MPCs, Roland MCs, Yamaha RM1X or QYs... these were all really powerful MIDI recording stations. What we get nowadays is... idk... 16 step loopers or something like that. Companies started taking away the possibility of adding triplets to a four fourth beat by letting you choose between different scales instead of combining these scales in a sequence. With the Circuit you're limited to four fourths. I mean the synths can have a last step setting but the drums can't, so for anything other than four fourth you have to leave the drums which are four of a total of six parts completely out... and the worst thing to me is... nobody seems to really care! I'm worried about this development man, I really am...
Donal Finn Yes, it's a great machine.
***** Yes, I'm glad they finally added a last step feature to the drum parts which makes the Circuit a lot more usable now in my opinion. Well done Novation! :)
LousyFacelift We are in a cycle. By the millennium we had all the multi timbral and polyphony we needed, built in the chassis of tanks. In order to sell us more they have to take something away first. Just look at the analogue resurgence, slowly but surely we’ll be getting 16+ voice multi timbral synths again!
Donal Finn great as a midi clock and sequencer, internal sounds are a bit rubbish nowadays but with a bit of creative thinking and editing you can get some interesting sounds out of it,I’ve used mine stand alone to create full songs
Does it come with a pair of sunglasses
Thx for a follow video on this!
Up*
that is a proper shirt Gaz
After 8 years i will put my hands on this device. I am curious what the fuzz is about.
This is the funniest thing ever.
Hail Son of Partridge.
Synth engines
Is it from the nova range?
Hey could anyone explain me how nudge w
Videos have to be the way forward for quick start and in depth user guides. How long would I need with a manual to suss this out. But iam knocking on a bit
+Howard Forton Its about as simple as it gets for hardware. If you can't use this you're a potato.
+Herr Absurd lol. Not as simple as my moog. But then iam old school. 👍🏼👍🏼
Howard Forton if by Moog you mean Model D then fair enough. But that wasn't invented in the days of screens and shift functions. But, really, Circuit is not difficult to use.
I have no idea how to use this stuff.
Robert S if you get one it will probably be asked to inderstand
Cheers Gaz. :-)
How is the synth editor that you can download?
It's fine. Gets the job done. The synth engines are surprisingly powerful.
You guys should update the review. The recent software update added a TON of big stuff. I wasn't in love with it until it could play my own samples.
Great review/demo. I'm with Elektron personally, but I enjoy watching grown men turn into kids over boxes with blinking LEDs :)
Ooooweee, Gaz got on his fancy shirt, ya'll. Look out, ladies.
This thing is pretty insane. And I don’t mean that in a positive way.
Is this standalone
Andrew Crump yes, and battery powered!
Wold like to nudge notes up and down too!
Was Gaz ever in Crème brûlée?
Top one Gaz , you star
Bit proggy at 6.17 gaz 😍. At last! ....a multicoloured pads thingy that you can actually make something resembling music on😱😆
we like you. do more reviews.
the flashing lights? Me cats will destroy it but I'm still getting one...
You should make a video of your cat freaking out jumping on all the flashing pad-lights, making cat music........It'd get like ten million views! XD
How is this not more than a plink plonk, blip blap machine?
Whats wrong with blips and blobs lol
Electribe 2 review please!! =) get Korg to watch it too!
+NeoLudditevisons Sonicstate did an Electribe 2 review back when it came out. Search their channel.
AHEM! no that was a preview....
NeoLudditevisons I recall one with a Korg demonstrator and one with Mistabishi that was about 20 minutes long. Covered everything.
+Herr Absurd no. It's a preview with korg representatives. A review by sonic state is them alone talking about 'their own thoughts' on the product. Cheers.
Good, because we didn't have enough colored light pad matrix instruments.
Good review but I'm very disappointed nothing at all is covered about the midi output and external sequencing capabilities - that's a key interest for me in this thing. Also it would have been nice if the review had beaten the black friday shopping frenzy - i'm sure it would have helped some people in possible purchase decisions with other older devices being discounted in some shops. That midi input note filtering sounds horrid - also the inability to copy sound settings from one session to another is a big limitation for such a seemingly simple but deep synth engine in this. I assume you also cannot copy patterns or at least tracks from one session to another, though presumably you can duplicate the entire things at least. I think this thing needs an editor with deeper synth access and custom macro assignments (maybe with curves to control the ratio's of various controls macro'd to each knob), and also it needs some firmware updates to improve a few things and hopefully an option to turn off that incoming midi note filter. Also I'd like to see Novation have some sort of bridging support in the editor that would let you link up to their Launchpads and LaunchControls via usb and the computer running the editor for deeper control, maybe additional patch access, and so on.
Good call on referencing the Electribe comparison, indeed the workflow wins hugely on the Circuit, but Electribe isn't hiding everything behind macros - but also it's got only 4 bar patterns vs the 8 in Circuit. I think the two would be an excellent pair.
+kassie2k4 Its not a deep synth engine. Its actually a very cut down one (of the Nova) hence the macros and other limitations. In my view products are never good when they are deliberately hobbled from the off.
Herr Absurd deep was the wrong word, i was trying to be a bit kinder to it and if you see my comments on other Circuit videos i think in general it sounds pretty crap, but here it sounds a bit more dynamic than usual - in any case I think it *could* sound reliably good if the user could create their own patches and macros and save those... I think the choices Novation have included, though perhaps wide in their characteristics you can get out of them per patch, are of very limited use for actual songs and make the Circuit sound much like a toy, and a $330 device should sound better than that.
kassie2k4 I agree with that. It does sound crappy to my ears as well and I find it of limited use for songs. In advertising Novation have played up that you can make"a tune" in 3 minutes and then in another 3 minutes another one. But this is rubbish. Its a superficial idea creator then.
+kassie2k4 The standalone sequencing abilities are by far my favorite feature of my circuit. I use mine a lot when I travel (battery life somewhere between 20-24 hours), the sounds aren't great, but I they're fine for composing tracks/ideas of jamming with friends. I think another way to look at the circuit is a alternative to the beatstep pro that happens to have on board sounds so that you don't need to sit at your daw or studio all the time.
indeed and i'm a circuit owner myself now! bless novation
After owning a Yamaha RM1X for almost a decade that i bought in the late 90's this would be a total let down, there's progression for ya 👍
"Doesn't sequence incoming midi"? That seems like a big drawback?
Unloud sound presets in synths, but good and useful sampler on the box.For sampling is good but instrument.
classy Gaz
Is a Korg Electribe worth 70 pounds more than this? ABSOLUTELY. Circuit has too many silly limitations.
+Herr Absurd electribe 2 sucks too :)
+Towly263 "sucks";. Ah yes, good ol' fashioned opinions. ;D it "sucks" compared to what? And why?
compared to my old emx i sold :,( i sold the new one after 1 month and saved money for the machines i love now. elektrons ;)
+Towly263 talk is cheap bro. show us the vids of you using them.
+Herr Absurd that´s why i still got my RM1x with a blofeld as sound driver! :)
non standard midi connector via a breakout adapter...just like korg electribe, yamaha reface and arturia beatstep pro...all these adapters are NON standard...you can't use a yamaha adapter on a korg or a arturia...they all look the same but all don't work....this means it's an impossible buy for me on ANY of these devices as in 5 years time when they drop the product..where will you get a replacement adapter if you lose one or break it..??.DEAD product at birth. NO SALE you may as well just say it doesn't have Midi.
+cresshead I have made may own DIY adapters for the beatstep pro is very fairly easy using a stereo plug cable and a stadard midi cable, you just have to cut them ,and figure out wich cable on the stereo plug goes into which cable on de midi cabe
maybe for live it is great but for production it is just like anything else .
price is cool .
for the money the fun and immediacy i think its good...
maybe it's an age thing, but this looks almost incomprehensible. If they had fitted a simple backlit LCD to show what is actually going on it would make more sense to me. Otherwise this is just a toy that makes noise.
Nova macro synth ? Mmm
what makes it "bad" for studio..makes it "great" for stage..you can make a "beat" of any dance/electronic genre in seconds, as well continue a session/set in real time.
Get this if you want a "top 10 of all time" groovebox.
...get a Novation keyboard if you want to build patches/sound design...