This is looking kind of interesting considering it seems they fixed and improved quite a few things that were issues for me with the original, and the lack of those things were a great part of why I decided to “move on” from the original. Also saving and loading projects to/from microSD …
And the two new models together are looking more and more beastly, especially if they updated the synth engine to have a bit more of a competitive VA sound.
Yeah, I didn’t have problems with the engine’s flow and features. It was that seemingly outdated VA sound that I started not getting on with more and more. I have a MicroMonsta 2 that does the 2x6 voice VA thing incredibly well, and it’s like night and day compared to the original Circuit, at least to my ears.
Exactly, as you said the first Circuit has outdated VA sounds, and the thing is that the Circuit’s workflow is so inspirational and immediate, but with these mediocre sounds everyone is getting bored very soon.
I don’t know much about the original circuit tbh, was never really on my radar but I’m listening to some digiphex patches on utube here n some of them sound pretty good (some not no much but)
I also had 2 original circuits, while understanding the complaints about its sound, it has a very deep synth engine and there are many awesome patches! It can sound pretty rough and gnarly, once you dig deep…
OG circuit does not sound bad, as you can see here:
the issue is that you have to go to your computer and program the synth there, I hope that new circuit will have some more detailed options to sculpt your sound more directly on the device.
I was lucky and saw the video, it showed the 2 independent midi tracks that are added… pretty cool. As mentioned above it has audio in and you can sidechain the Audio in and route to the fx also… the knobs send customisable cc messages in this mode. Nice addition! It was called part 3 of a series… so once revealed there will be lots of info and tests… maybe novation is waiting because they want it to be available immediately and there has been delays because of the pandemic…
It also seems that you can now have more projects in the device (guessing from the pictures)
The macros are now labelled with cutoff and so on, so it should be more coherent between patches. Maybe with shift you have 8 macros available in addition…
They were smart to update the buttons, and general visual refinements.
I know it’s what comes out of the output jacks that matters most, but it looks a lot less cheap now, and more like a screenless push2.
Midi tracks with CC make a 0-coast a great partner. Bringing in something a bit more lively and weird benefits the more polished sound of the Circuit. For this reason, the Sp-1200 From Mars would also make a great pack for the sample tracks.
Plus the audio inputs means whatever you sequence you can mix in and treat with FX, as well. Lots of nice touches to the capabilities that keep a total setup small and portable. Good work, Novation.
Really, the most important feature of the Circuit was its price/feature ratio. It’s perfectly tuned so that I buy it, don’t use it, sell it, then decide maybe I do have a use for it, buy a new one, give up and sell, over and over. I think I’ve owned 3 Circuits. I currently own none.
The most tempting thing about the Tracks is that Li-ion battery. But if that adds ~100 to the price, I’m not sure it will have that same “Why not?” draw. Or maybe it will and I’ll just be less likely to sell it again, after? ¯\(ツ)/¯
You’re right about the price/feature ratio. It’s in that impulse buy zone. The spot that a lot of shops will let you pay it off for $67/mo for 6 months.
I’d love to know just how many CC#s per MIDI track it can automate. If it’s at least 4 , with probability as well, that’s pretty powerful for a $399 box.
From the video and the Design philosophy for the encoders, I would bet that there are 8, one per encoder. Also you could choose from several templates, at least that’s what I saw in the video (templates could also be the whole midi Settings for that track, like midi channel)
Seems like a well balanced evolution of the device… I always thought the two sidechain tracks on the og circuit were a waste…
Holy macaroni!
Touché my good sir!
This could’ve been me!
I’ve had a total of three Circuits (yet!) and I was scavenging for my fourth when I found out every single one is sold out in the EU and hopefully Novation drops the new ones, well…within a good timeframe?
if they don’t get this right after all of the videos where Ricky Tinez calmly, articulately, and plainly explained what he thought could be improved on the digitakt’s workflow then people will be disappointed.
