As I was not interested in tracks I never read the manual and assumed the sequencer had more or less the same operation as the OG.
Because rhythm is a sampler and overall I liked the standalone workflow of the OG I had a look and there are some improvements that I must admit, made me get my wallet ready.
Scale per track and adjusting pattern start and end points on one page is fkn brilliant and on that interface is sure to be super tactile. Nothing I have used since monome grid and mlrv type apps ever really pulled this off elegantly for performance purposes.
I don’t expect polyphony and I don’t think stereo sampling is possible due to the way they’ve circuited the outs or something? I asked about separating the click from them before and they told me something about that.
disturbing trend these days, devs are building out important capabilities that we used to have back in the forever time so they can tell their user base, wish we could but it’s physically not possible
heck you can’t even resample on the Polyend Tracker Sampler because it’s not physically possible. I guess the only thing seemingly desirable from the forever-time-ago-times is the paltry sample time and storage amounts, but the capability of stereo sampling or resampling nahh, the present and the future needs no such things
Those old devices are still available, many are quite cheap(eg Yamaha A3000 for example )
I have one in my rack, it’s big and inconvenient and hasn’t been turned on for a decade.
I’m talking about the beat machines though, they all have stereo sampling capability and stereo playback capability… why do we need to go back to the future for these things, and what is the purpose of this mono renaissance ?
seems like a lot of trouble to go through after putting on both L & R inputs, sampling capability etc… and to after all of that just end up telling your user base ‘would if we could but because we physically made it impossible you can’t’… I know it sounds salty but that’s only because I’m havin fish n chips for lunch today
I don’t think the stereo sampling thing is that big of a deal to be honest. Not gonna stop me from making it sound good. For me, limiting it monophonic tracks, limiting the number of tracks and sampling time are harder to ignore.
This could never be my only box but as a fun performance tool to distill existing work and content to perform with, I think it’s a winner.
Thanks
Had a deep dive into the manual tonight and put in a preorder from moog audio in canada. Hopefully late july shipping
Despite the mono limitations this will fulfill a huge need for me as well right now. With clever workarounds some serious stereo action will be possible, and not just with the panning tracks and stereo effects. This thing could get very experimental
(Opened my drawer earlier to fire up some cr78 action on my volca sample and realized i’d sold it last week)
*side note i’ve bought and sold 3 volca samples before lol…
Anyways reading the manual opened my mind up to so many possibilities with this machine. Definitely a volca killer!
So much to love as well; small size, internal battery, solid and (imo) beautiful form factor (no polyend tracker or anything), but still can’t wait to dig in and become a “power user”
I just received a shipping notification. It’s arriving on Tuesday. Oh boy I can hardly wait!
I read the manual too in the mean time. It’s a pretty solid box for the price.
But I’ve also played with my MPC 1000 JJOS and while I was bitching about the 32 notes polyphony years ago… comparing it to today’s samplers (Digitakt, Octatrack, Circuit, Polyend, OPZ, etc)… it still runs laps around them.
And I recently converted it to USB-C battery with the modularsound.io kit… it’s a blast to use.
My plan is to use them both, and use the Circuit on the go.
Just got my dispatch notification by Thomann…I guess it will arrive tommorow. Unfortunately too many plans this weekend I hope I can sneak away some time and make some beats on the balcony
I got mine last night. I haven’t made a full beat yet so these are my very first impressions.
The good:
I like the build. It’s pretty solid but even thinner and lighter than I thought it would be, which is great. The grey also looks nicer in person. I was running it with my tablet and had sound coming in, as well. I didn’t hear any ground noise so this is looking good as the travel set up, so far.
I figured the UI would take some getting used to but so far it’s been surprisingly straightforward. I was able to pretty easily switch between keyboard and slice mode and put some stuff in the sequencer just going off of what I remember from watching demos and looking at the thing itself. The sample editing is very basic but knob per function like the Model: Samples.
The bad:
The reviewers really weren’t kidding about the load times. I loaded a pack with about 100 seconds worth of drum sounds and breaks. It took about 7 minutes to transfer. Components is pretty straightforward at least and you don’t need to do anything once it’s transferring. It’s just kind of a drag though.
The meh:
The sequencer isn’t an Elektron sequencer. It’s also good enough to make me miss it, whereas I wouldn’t even think about it with something like a 404, which I think has a sequencer as a fun joke.
First thing that bothered me was the low resolution. You’ve only got 6 microsteps. I knew this going into it but it bothered me more than I thought it would. I also miss the swing and quantization per track like the Model: Samples and the scale and length per track like all of the Elektron boxes.
That said, I’ve got some work arounds in mind for some things. I figured I’d use drum chains to save sample slots so I can use the start point of a sample to adjust the microtiming. And while adjusting things per step isn’t as straightforward as on an Elektron box, it’s there and it’s doable.
I’m going to spend more time with it today, probably outside. Overall, I think I like it. I think part of my reaction is that I have a mind meld with my Digitakt and just am not there with this yet. And I haven’t really messed around with sampling and resampling. I was doing set up kind of stuff and not the more fun stuff. Let alone trying the cool stuff like sampling into a slot that’s already in the sequencer and chopped up like Calc was doing.
It has scale and length per track. It’s in the manual. I could definitely see the resolution of the seq being a drag.
How are save times vs. load times?
That’s good to know. All I saw was 16 vs 32 steps but I’m just feeling it out rather than approaching it systematically. I don’t think the resolution’s going to be as big of a deal once I get used to adjusting sample start to compensate. It works pretty well.
Save times are longer than I’d like for the longer samples I tried recording. Not crazy though I didn’t really notice any lag for shorter stuff. And even with longer stuff, it’s nothing like sending a pack.
Received mine yesterday. First impression is good but I need more time with it. I love the portability because having an integrated battery and usb-c charging feels so much better than using AA batteries or sketchy power converter cables with chinese powerbanks and whatnot
BUT there is already one thing what really annoys me (and maybe some Circuit sequencer veterans can help me out): How do I undo a live recording of notes? Right now, I am deleting the notes one by one by deactivating the steps which takes forever and completely kills the flow. With an Elektron, I would FN+No to instantly reload the pattern to the state before my recording. With a DAW I would just CTRL-Z my last take. Is there a fast way to o this on the Circuit that doesnt interrupt a lot?
I hope I can sneak away some time and make some beats on the balcony 
