@winrow3745 - agreed, I think the Circuit sequencer is a work of genius design and synth engine definitely has serious limits because it’s ancient.
The Ableton Move is so great but it doesn’t have the performance ability. I think the Circuit’s big soft sequencer buttons and snap-to-grid recording is the secret to building a loop on the fly. The Move’s clicky x0x buttons at the bottom and unquantized recording make it a great sketchpad groovebox but it can’t beat the Circuit for improvised loops.
I’m starting to think in two subcategories of groovebox now: all-in-one composition vs live jam
Composition users don’t mind stopping and starting the sequencer, diving deep into settings, and doing significant sound design. Live jam users want to build the track while it’s playing without any friction.
So we get 500+ reply threads about the greatest grooveboxes, but really there are two different use cases that are somewhat mutually exclusive. Adding compositional depth usually clutters the UI and adds friction. Making the groovebox performance oriented means hiding deeper control behind menus.
When I found out you couldn’t live sequence on the older Roland MC models and Yamaha rm1x I was baffled. So the OG grooveboxes were designed for composition. I think Korg accidentally created the second category of groovebox with the original Electribe line that was very simple and performative, but the live editing of melodic stuff was still very crappy on those.
I think Elektron deserves the most credit for creating serious live-performance oriented grooveboxes. The live sequencing and p-locking concept essentially created new genres of music and performance.
But still, I lean even further into the simple end (@ciaba). The Deluge is the only groovebox UI more genius than the Circuit line. It’s fast and easy to sequence with a lot of clever design choices. It has p-locking. The grid makes melodic sequencing visibly comprehensible and live drum editing is way faster than what any single-lane drum sequencer can do.
Unfortunately I also think the Deluge has the weakest synth engine of all the modern high-end grooveboxes.
Just my opinions. In my view the two greatest live-improvisation groovebox UI designs ever made are shackled to the two weakest synth engines.
Thanks for reading my essay