Novation Circuit Tracks: Groovebox Sequencer With Synth Tracks, MIDI Tracks And Drum Tracks Electronic Music Making

Product Information

NAMM 2024: Trivium’s Alex Bent announces signature Axis bass drum pedal, “I’m super-stoked to have my own pedal with Axis. The Circuit Tracks adds two tracks dedicated to external MIDI sequencing, with customisable CC control from the knobs. In fact, those two synth tracks – and the drum tracks – all output MIDI too, so you could happily drive multiple polyphonic instruments from Circuit Tracks in a live setup. There is a family of them and when they are all run together you get more hands on capabilities then any daw for jamming. You have a couple of options once they are loaded to make them a bit louder - track mixer, which IIRC defaults to about 4/5ths max level, and velocity - I tend to set my kicks at max velocity for main hits, and the track level at max too - I suspect this is how the factory stuff sounds louder, but I have not checked.

Circuit Tracks’ two polyphonic synth engines let you experiment, expand your creative capabilities and define your sonic palette. It prides itself on screenless ability however it can use the Components browser based or standalone app to explore the synth engine on screen, load samples, create patches, generate MIDI templates and backup projects.There’s a built‑in mixer, with reverb and delay effects and side‑chain compression, plus a master filter which is great for transitions. Plenty of I/O (nice fat standard MIDI connectors, independent audio inputs to match the MIDI channels, etc. Now Novation has released Circuit Tracks, which despite the new name – which is intended to differentiate it from the underrated Circuit Mono Station and forthcoming Circuit Rhythm – is a straight sequel to that original groovebox. The Circuit’s greatest asset is its immediacy: you can just pick it up and play with it anywhere, even more so now that it can run from USB power or its own internal battery.

The unit itself covers the same surface area, but has transformed from a chunky box, to a light, sleek wedge. Overall these things are what I think it would have been easy for Novation to add, but still they didn’t. Each synth is equipped with a resonant multi-mode filter with a drive control, three routable ADSR envelopes and two LFOs, plus chorus/phaser, EQ and distortion effects.The pads’ RGB control is taken full advantage of by Novation, with different colors corresponding with different tracks, menus, and settings. In the studio I primarily used my Circuit as a sequencer for other synths, stealing the two polyphonics tracks from the inbuilt sound engines. Novation Circuit Tracks is an all-in-one studio unit that includes everything you would need to design, create and perform your music.

Two refined polyphonic digital synth tracks let users expand their sonic capabilities, and they can load samples, then shape them to perfection across four drums tracks. I like the decision to move the headphone output to the back — although a front‑facing jack seems to make sense on paper, in reality it gets in the way when the unit is on your lap, or is sitting behind a keyboard. The all-in-one studio unit allows for flexible setup connectivity thanks to the full-size five-pin MIDI in, out, thru and analogue sync out. Designed for electronic and dance music producers, it lets creativity thrive so creators can lose themselves in the seamless workflow of the hands-on sequencer. The Circuit Tracks, like its predecessor, is based around its dual Nova synthesizer engines that come with a distinct digital sound.

Components is Novation’s “online companion”, letting users create their own patches, load up samples, save templates, back up projects, and more. Knob Layout: While the Circuit’s sequencer and all-around workflow can be fantastic for beatmaking, the macro-based knob layout can be a challenge for live situations. While there is always the option to plug in another synth, rival grooveboxes do have the Circuit well-beat here with more tracks, more voice allocation options, and/or looper recording sections. Never stop creating - Insert a microSD card to save thousands of synth patches, samples and projects.