Bad Gear - The Beginner

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Bad Gear - The Beginner

Welcome to Bad Gear, the show about the world’s most-hated audio tools. People go DAWless for a reason: swap out the mind-numbing computer screens for the luxury of a pocket calculator display, embrace the limitations of whatever crappy CPU was cheapest during the kickstarter campaign and never get ripped off by Spotify because nobody will listen to your bleeps and bloops anyway.

Today we are going to talk about Circuit Tracks. This 2021 groovebox and barely upgraded successor to the OG Novation Circuit took this philosophy to the extremes: gateway drug price tag, completely screenless UI and a workflow so minimalist it perfectly fits the lifestyle of a generation that will never be able to afford a home.

Thanks to Klangfarbe for lending me one of their floor models:

Novation Circuit Tracks
Novation Circuit
Novation Circuit Rhythm
Novation Circuit Mono Station

Chapters:
00:00 Intro tune
01:06 Overview Novation Circuit Tracks vs. Rhythm
01:26 More Comparisons ( Novation Circuit Tracks vs. Original )
01:32 Front Panel Controls
02:07 Sample Memory
02:24 Structure, Drum Sample Players
02:46 Novation Mininova Style Synths
03:06 Software Editor, Novation Components
03:39 Midi Tracks
03:51 Sequencer
03:56 Sample Flip , Velocity, Gate,...
04:32 Extended Pattern Length, Scenes, Scales
05:15 FX Section ( Reverb , Delay , Compressor , Sidechain Effect )
05:35 What else??? ( Rear Panel, Internal Battery , Thanks)
05:56 Hate
06:17 Jam 1 ( Techno )
07:12 Jam 2 ( Electro )
08:12 Finale ( Indie Trance )
08:40 Verdict

[eaman]

As someone who works all day in an elevator pressing pads and listening to repetitive elevator music when I get home and I want to relax I only use my DAW with big display and mouse + keyboard.

[stephpicher]

"whatever crappy CPU was cheapest during the kickstarter campaign" :D gold!

[synthsoniq]

The Circuit Tracks is the centerpiece of my studio for pattern-based music. I use it to drive four external synths via MIDI and I input notes with a MIDI keyboard. You can pre-chain the patterns before you hit record and it will record your keyboard playing continuously across all the patterns unquantized. Combine four tracks of that, all routed back into the device via the audio inputs, processed with the effects, over the four drum tracks, and you can lay down some pretty great musical ideas without ever having to touch a computer.

[stevenfinlay]

These reviews are utterly classic. Laugh out loud pause and read memes, memories of classic synths we all got so excited over and the reality that no one will listen to our bleeps and bloops anyway. You voice our entire subculture. I love it.

[rayderrich]

Novation makes by far the most friendly and inspiring small grid controllers to enable musicans instead of slowing them down with hard choices. I love this video and love Novation.

[arcadeuk]

The Circuit has to be the fastest single-box UI to actually create some music in a matter of minute

[stevewright]

a combo of Circuit Tracks, Rhythm and a mc 101 has helped me to really ENJOY making music again, sure there are loads of limitations, but forcing yourself to really think about how to achieve a thing pushes you forward and is so rewarding.

[alistairsheehyhutton]

By far the best control of velocity and note length of any groove box I've seen. Which is a big quality of life consideration.

[michawongar]

there are 8 patterns per channel, there are 4 more per channel after pressing the down arrow ;)

[donkeyavenger]

This is one of my favorite pieces of gear. It's so easy to get an idea sketched out on it and offers enough to make some okay jams in a single box if you want to flesh it out. The dual midi channels are a great addition as well.

[EastFive-ye]

Circuit is incredible. The OG is what got me started 7 years ago. Tracks a significant upgrade, MIDI channels extremely useful and pair perfectly with Micromonsta. The sequencer is extraordinary and incredibly underrated.I have much more ‘professional’ gear MPC One, Digitone and Digitakt. Yet I almost always choose Circuit. Ease of use and inspiration, this is what this is about. Stock sounds okish but there are incredible sound packs out there for all genres and they showcase how powerful the Nova engines are, even by today’s standards. OG was a classic for good reasons. Circuit is at centerpiece of 80 percent of my songs. Not sure what more one could ask for, the price is worth for the sequencing part alone.

[djkanyon]

This one is an underrated gem. Fine lads at Novation just stripped everything groovebox never needed - pianos and violins and millions of settings, and filled it to the brim with everything that brings the groove. The only machine of nowadays that i can call a GROOVebox, not just a synth with pads (like etc).

[matthewadunlap]

Perfect timing for us to compare to the Move

[dc]

Bad Gear needs to team up with a brewery, and make Bad Beer - The World's Most Hated Audio Booze. It's going to tick all the, "I'm getting too old for this s**t!" boxes.

[cointoaster]

The dawless jammer vs the jamless drawer meme hits right in the feels. Ouch

[greganderson]

4:52 Dorian on the Delorean? Lol! Florian you've outdone yourself this time!

[iesDude]

Sold my Deluge for a Circuit Tracks and a Roland MC-101 with no regret, the Circuit Tracks is amazing!

[ItsNova]

It's still one of the only "dawless" things I like. I feel like so much other equipment makes you spend so much time in menus that id rather just make those edits with a computer. The menuless design is a ton of fun to play and actually *can* speed up your workflow instead of slowing it down.

[discmusic]

One of the most underrated grooveboxes. It has much greater depth than it appears at first and surprisingly versatile once you load in custom synth patches and samples.

[milk_bath]

Would love a “pro” version of the Circuit.