Soooooo I accidentally bought a Circuit.....

Bribery · March 14, 2017, 1:08pm

Been eyeing these off for a while now, as I wanted a standalone step/xox style beatmaker for long jams to be a nice companion to my OP. Deciding between circuit and Volca sample, but the Circuit won out as it can be a standalone midi sampler really easily.

Found one for a steal locally, couldn’t say no… I actually bought it primarily as an extra synth, as the internal nova engines seem really good (with an editor) - and it would be cheaper than buying a mininova anyway, which is kind of bizarre when you think about it…

Liking it a lot so far, even though the 16th note minimum is terrrrrrrible for me - hopefully they’ll update it to allow 32nds or do micro-nudging, as it seems they’ve been good with updates so far and it’s been a user request for a while. Can’t get “loose” sounding hip hop drums at all with 16th minimums, need way more lean than that. But, that’s what my OP is for, and I knew that before buying…

I did find one neat trick by accident as I’d ran out of inputs I plugged it thru the mic input of my SP-505 (calling @ludicrouSpeed) and when the circuit volume is cranked to halfway it realllllllly gels the sound together and grits it up a LOT when pushed. Otherwise the main output was a bit too clean for me. Thru the SP it’s dooooope. Gritty and shitty. Just how I like it.

Will have to do some demos soon as I explore it some more. Anyone with any tips or general thoughts at all? One thing I’d like to find out (not much on web) is if someone can hack it into a standalone midi mode and use it like a launchpad with knobs… that would be a wild package then!

ludicrouSpeed · March 14, 2017, 2:55pm

Sounds pretty fun

How you gonna use it w/ op1? Midi sync, tape on op, sequence on circuit?

So, midi sampler = sampler triggerable via midi?

Bribery · March 14, 2017, 8:29pm

So far not really sure how I’ll integrate with OP1, as live setup with the two I feel would favour one or the other: OP1 for looser, swingier, jammier stuff, Circuit for straighter down the line stuff. Apparently they don’t sync via the 1/8 midi out from the circuit which SUCKS, but I haven’t tried it yet.

Also haven’t tried sequencing sounds on the SP via the Circuit, but it’s definitely something I’m going to try in the next few days!

Kegeratorz · March 14, 2017, 9:01pm

I got one about a month ago, it’s OK. To be fair I got it to go with my MPC500 but I just can’t put the 500 down long enough to really play with it. I got a great price off eBay so I’ll wait for a rainy day to dive in and really give it a shot. The uploading of samples through USB is a great update feature and really why I pulled the trigger.

pselodux · March 14, 2017, 10:23pm

They’re very nice instruments. I bought one last year but sadly it hasn’t seen much use apart from just standalone noodling on the couch (which it is really good for). Having said that, I just started using a nord lead + octatrack setup so I think I’ll be able to integrate it into that, for lush verb pads etc.

This was a fun experiment, one of these days I’ll refine the patch…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxhhtU-SYhU

Bribery · March 15, 2017, 11:15am

Maaaaaaan that’s really impressive just on one channel! Would you mind sharing your method? It seemed like multiple different synth parts with p-locks used, yeah?

ludicrouSpeed · March 15, 2017, 3:04pm

So far not really sure how I'll integrate with OP1, as live setup with the two I feel would favour one or the other: OP1 for looser, swingier, jammier stuff, Circuit for straighter down the line stuff. Apparently they don't sync via the 1/8 midi out from the circuit which SUCKS, but I haven't tried it yet.

Also haven't tried sequencing sounds on the SP via the Circuit, but it's definitely something I'm going to try in the next few days!

I wonder if they would sync via a kenton usb host?

Cool, so that’s what you meant by MIDI sampler…

pselodux · March 15, 2017, 10:36pm

Maaaaaaan that's really impressive just on one channel! Would you mind sharing your method? It seemed like multiple different synth parts with p-locks used, yeah?

thanks! It’s basically just extreme levels of macro control on one part; I’ll have to dig into the patch again at some point, but it does make use of the multiple oscillators to get things like the snare. It was a bit of a pain to program, since the Circuit only allows plocks to be added while the sequencer is stopped, which means it can’t be more spontaneous.

Of course, if Novation allow for “patch flip” like they do sample flip, then my video would be made redundant, but it was a fun exercise nonetheless

I’ve attached the patch if you want to have a play. Macro controls are as follows:

1: at 0, enable melodic sound osc 2; 1–127 is for bassdrum/percussion osc 1, with varying amounts of pitch envelope modulation 2: Noise level, for snare 3: Cutoff for noise/osc 2 4: Resonance and filter envelope amount for noise/osc 2 5: Amplitude decay/release 6: Wave index for osc 2—analog tri/saw preset 7: Ring mod amount 8: Chorus level

jjbbllkk · March 16, 2017, 12:53am

They're very nice instruments. I bought one last year but sadly it hasn't seen much use apart from just standalone noodling on the couch (which it is really good for). Having said that, I just started using a nord lead + octatrack setup so I think I'll be able to integrate it into that, for lush verb pads etc.

This was a fun experiment, one of these days I'll refine the patch..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxhhtU-SYhU

This is fucking wizardy. Really, really nice job.

Kegeratorz · March 16, 2017, 11:03pm

I was snowed in for the past few days and thanks to this thread I started messing around. The Circuit is a lot of fun, nice sketch pad for melodies and especially bass lines. It definitely has potential. It’s a nice accompaniment with my MPC and guitar.

Bribery · March 17, 2017, 9:16am

I’m really digging this thing - despite not being able to really make it swing. Tried driving it from my SP505 but can’t get it to control the drums yet - gotta work on it some more. Only problem is I don’t like the sound of it unless it’s cranking thru the input of the 505 and dirtying up… The regular output is super super clean.

Attached my Nord Lead to it to play some patches - I’m really surprised by how nice the synth engine is! There’s a lot of range in there. Have to grab an editor and make some patches.

ps thanks for the insight @<a href=“https://www.operator-1.com/index.php?p=/profile/1724/pselodux” class=“Username” style=“margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: bold; font-size: 15px; font-family: “lucida grande”, “Lucida Sans Unicode”, tahoma, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(1, 115, 198); background-color: rgb(252, 252, 255);”>pselodux , I’ll have to try that patch!

pselodux · March 17, 2017, 11:21am

I'm really digging this thing - despite not being able to really make it swing. Tried driving it from my SP505 but can't get it to control the drums yet - gotta work on it some more. Only problem is I don't like the sound of it unless it's cranking thru the input of the 505 and dirtying up... The regular output is super super clean.

Attached my Nord Lead to it to play some patches - I'm really surprised by how nice the synth engine is! There's a lot of range in there. Have to grab an editor and make some patches.

ps thanks for the insight @pselodux , I'll have to try that patch!

yeah give it a shot and let me know if you end up tweaking it, I’d love to see some enhancements

I was actually thinking of connecting my circuit as master for my nord lead (the other way around to your setup I guess?), which I just got last week. Having said that though, the octatrack is a pretty damn good sequencer for nords

Bribery · March 21, 2017, 7:43am

Quick update on this: grabbed the free editor from Isotonik, and I’m reallllllly impressed with the synth engines in this. Can get some really really interesting sounds. Still a bit disappointed by the lack of 32nds, but the dual synth makes up for that. I was going to buy a Mininova or Micron before getting this (which was cheaper than both) so I reckon I won!

highly recommended just as a synth module