I’ve been experimenting again with audio recording into clips, so much potential there if a few things were added:
You can (brilliantly) drop an audio clip on the timeline and set its length using the pads, so for example you could have a clip of 16 bars play for 24 bars, BUT sadly there is no facility to change the start point, so if you wanted say just the last 8 bars of your 16 bar recording to repeat it doesn’t seem to be possible, at least AFAICT.
If it had this then it could be a gamechanger for me.
It’s not possible to change the start at this point. I know it’s an often mentioned request.
It surprises me that it hasn’t been implemented as yet, as they’re generally superb at making changes that help their users. It would open up a lot of options. I’d love to be able to apply an lfo on the start time for glitchy stuff.
How do you guys think the synth engine compares? I got the Boards of Deluge packs and love them, they’re wide and lush and easily hold their own compared to much out there. It’s the snappier, more envelope sensitive stuff where I think it’s not always up to par. I like its low end, tho. It’s no Moog thunder, but I can appreciate the polite quality of it, makes it fit better in a mix.
Envelopes need a LOT of work. The ranges for the A, D, and R stages are just weird. Attack doesn’t go long enough, most of the usable range of Decay is from about 0-20. Actually Release isn’t too bad.
This links into another oddity with the Deluge - the paramter range of 0-50 is a bit daft. There’s already a well-established MIDI range of 0-127. It’s not even that the internal values are 0-50 - it’s just an abstraction to scale massive internal numbers (you can see this if you look at the XML files for synth patches etc.). Obviously I complain about it at every given opportunity.
All true, but I do think the Deluge stands out as far as pads, creamy leads and generally stuff that demands polyphony, goes. I like the filters too, I go for the Drive when I want character and I use the 24 / 12db with the EQ when I just want to adjust what’s already working.
I think one of the synth’s powers is its ability to layer patches through the sequencer without voice stealing. I use the Prophet 12 in the same way, and it really comes into its own when you approach it like that.
Yeah the envelopes are plain weird, I think that maybe they should have a few types - there are 2 spare grid shortcuts above each envelope - maybe these could be used to select type, legacy (for compatibility), percussive for snappy bass/drum synthesis, long for pads etc.
Also I find the mod matrix quite limited, 9 times out of 10 something I want to modulate isn’t possible, which makes me tend to avoid using the synth engine as much.
A few more filter types would be nice too, compared to say the electribe 2 the Deluge filters are a bit limited, and the electribe 2 is a different price point, yet can do better filters than the Deluge.
LFO rates also could be improved, don’t go fast or slow enough for me, and they don’t track.
Having said all this, what is there wrt to the other stuff is quite nice, using samples, FM, VA, etc and the shortcuts system is pretty easy to learn, I definitely agree that Deluge is capable of some nice sounds, with a few improvements though it could be a great synth.
Oh sure, I’m not taking anything away from the features, which are amazing, that you describe. Just a general comment about envelopes because they are a source of frustration for me. And the 0-50 parameter range. Did I mention that?
But I totally agree. That feels very much like an engineer’s decision. There’s some idea behind which I’m sure is very clever, but the rest of us just don’t get it, no matter
Common theme isn’t it? If there’s one thing about the Deluge development thus far is that there are a bunch of little things that are easy fixes (let me just say I’ve worked in audio programming for a long, long time before anyone replies with an eye roll ) that seem to get ignored at the cost of adding new features. It’s their product and I won’t presume to speak for what is good for them but I certainly would tidy all those up first before adding more complication.
Yes it is a bit strange that sometimes things which stand out as obvious flaws get overlooked in the quest for more features.
I don’t mean to sound like an arsehole, but I think that perhaps the way the beta test is done and perhaps the experience levels of some of the beta testers mean that this type of stuff didn’t get flagged early on by enough people maybe?
I have done a lot of beta testing and in my experience a lot of beta testers just keep asking for more features (and sometimes frankly ridiculous stuff) without testing what is already there. Of course feature requests are a part of beta testing as well, but I think that functional improvements are just as important, if not more so.
I’m possibly making some inaccurate assumptions though, but since I don’t do FB I have no idea if this is partly true or not.
Sometimes devs need to say no, or you can end up with a product which feels disjointed, or inconsistent in operation, I think that sometimes the Deluge can feel a bit like this.
I think Synthstrom is very aware of this and their take on the Deluge is that it’s a holistic instrument. Compare to the Akais, which still don’t stream. For such a machine, that’s just downright plain bad. Or the MC-707, with its nanosecond sampling time - and yet it has SD card reading and writing capabilities.
The Deluge approaches things with an overall idea of what music making within a portable hardware unit should be like, and layers its platform accordingly.
With that said, I’d assume that at some point, they’d go “Platform’s done for now. Time to work on the details.”
Something quite simple that I discovered today. Because of the fixed scales, try creating an instrument with a arpeggio and hold chords with the Launch/Audition keys. Then while holding the notes, use the Up/Down rotary control to transpose what you’re playing. It transposes the chords in scale! Simple thing but such a lovely sort of accident really.
Past week or so I have been focusing on the Deluge, trying to get my head around the audio recording, using a few different approaches depending on the audio, I think I have found a fairly nice workflow with it.
Rather than being concerned about what it can’t do and getting a bit frustrated as I did in the past, I decided mainly to use it as a clips player, any heavy audio manipulation can be handled by the Octatrack and then recorded as audio into the Deluge. However I have also found that by using a few workarounds the Deluge can do some quite interesting audio manipulation on its own, albeit without quite the finesse and precision of the Octatrack, but that’s ok by me.
The Octatrack and Deluge make a great team, they seem to cover each others weaknesses well and I think that for me they are a viable alternative to a DAW.
again 
) that seem to get ignored at the cost of adding new features. It’s their product and I won’t presume to speak for what is good for them but I certainly would tidy all those up first before adding more complication.
