Deluge or Polyend Seq or

The Lounge Other Gear
#1

Hi all.

I have a Digitakt, love it. Sounds great, but although the sequencing is fun it’s not working for me. I think I need a bigger overview of what’s going on. But I don’t want to sell the DT, because it’s fun and sounds great.

So I was thinking of getting an external sequencer to drive it, and other gear as it arrives. This leads me to the Deluge or Polyend - because of the large grids.

Thinking how I work, I like the xox style but also with trig conditions. I would like a song mode. I want to, at least I think I want to see more than one sample/sound on the grid. I am very unlikely to use the synths in the Deluge if I went that way, I’d sequence other specific instruments instead.

I dunno, I’m hung up on where to go. I don’t have anywhere near me that sells this gear. I know I want to stay away from a laptop, and keep things as simple as I can.

I guess this is an open discussion, what do you all do to sequence?

#2

I love my deluge and use the synth way more often than I thought I will.

As is works of the grid for up to 6h on its battery, it’s great to have some projects without external gear on it.

#3

A 350$ iPad with a nice midi controller could probably take you further than most hardware sequencers…In my case, I decided to sequence less and play more…:grin:

Polyend looks nice btw…:ok_hand:

#4

It is not going to be helpful at all :slight_smile: but… Renoise? :slight_smile: Ok, I leave…

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#5

I am quite sure, he already has a computer with a DAW, so no need to buy a iPad with one :stuck_out_tongue:

Deluge vs Polyend:

I didn’t tried the Polyend yet. Why I choose the Deluge:
I looked at other stuff and tried a lot of other stuff:

  • DAW on Mac (best features, cheaper because available, tons of possibilities. Hate to use mouse/touchpad/screen because thats my dayjob)
  • DT/DN - Love the Electron Sequencer and what you can do, but it took me way to long to build sequences. Either scrolling through notes by hand or use an external keyboad and have to reset velocity all the time… No Song-Mode
  • Same with Pyramid. It seems to be the perfect MIDI Sequencer, but you have to dial in all the notes by hand or record them, and I am a too bad keyboad player
  • AKAI Force - Really big. And way to DAW on a Computer like. Hated all the menu-diving and Touchscreen-Usage. Loved to be able to record, hated that there is no way to record longer tacks than some bars. Missed Song-Mode
  • Polyend. Most of the tracks I built in the past had more than 8 tracks.

I bought the Deluge second hand, that made it easy to get access to it, because shipping and customs from NZ raises the price a lot. There are some features in the deluge, that I knew are there, but didn’t pay much attention to in my decision making and love to have right now:

  • Internal Sound Engine: Reviews talked quite bad about internal Synths. I think the engine is not bad! Besides normal VA and FM you can load Samples into both OSCs. From Single Cycle to long full Samples and than do whatever the engine is able to to with it. I love it
  • Portability: It has a rechargeable battery built in. Together with the internal engine, you can be creative wherever you like. Unplug it, take it with you. with 20x30cm size it fits into every backpack!
  • Sampling. I am not really a sampling and sample-chopping guy. I use samples as sounds in the OSCs and as kits from drums, percussions and FX and was happy with it. Until I found out, that I can have Audio-Tracks. I can have tracks that contain one or more samples as long as I want. Now I can record vocals, Guitar and whatever and am not restricted to patterns and sequencer-lengths. Love it! That was the last part that I used the DAW for (or dropped real instruments/vox at all in the past)

I wish the Deluge had a better display, but that is a very minor issue. As more or less every feature is accessed via the 128 pads, menu diving is not needed a lot. Only browsing for samples on your SD card and configuring Programm and Bankswitches for MIDI takes me into reading the display. For that, 4 LED Digits is doable but sucks! Finding the correct sample is a pain if you don’t know exactly what and where you are looking for. As everything is stored on the SD Card, you can help by renaming stuff to find it easily.

A last point: As everything is stored on the SD card, you can backup without having to send hundreds of Sysex Files over MIDI :stuck_out_tongue:

5 Likes
#6

Deluge is great. I’ve tried em all…sans Cirklon…and Deluge is great…some annoying issues like with all gear bit it’s a super cool unit. Destroys the polyend in arranging and song mode.

#7

I used to own the Seq. it’s overwhelming positives are in how fast it makes composition - it’s spectacularly easy to use. It’s also a beautiful thing, if that matters. Build quality is exceptional. However, it quickly becomes limiting; the pattern chaining implementation is a little clunky, so if you’re wanting to compose anything beyond loops I’d suggest caution. You also rapidly run out of tracks too if you want to use chords (unless you pick from the set menu of chords contained).

I did really like it, but eventually I sold mine and bought my Octatrack, and I couldn’t be happier with that decision. They’re barely comparable to be honest - OT is light years ahead in terms of capability.

1 Like
#8

I use the Deluge quite often, for smaller things.
It’s sequencer is very good, the option with samples and the inbuilt synth is a really great powerhorse.
But It lacks on overview. If the project gets bigger you need to scroll that grid. Coloring the tracks wont’ help if you are in a bigger session.
If you have a lot of tracks and open up a project 2-3 weeks later you won’t have a clue what is what, because you can’t put names on those tracks. You need to investigate each of them what is what. I wished they had put a simple small screen on it, not only that small lcd like.
For me this is a serious problem.
I changed the way I use it: I put a drone into the input, and program a synth that uses the line in signal as oscillator. Quite funny with those filter and fx and envelopes.
Well, in fact I use it as polyphonic mayhem synth, but not as arranger anymore.

Take a look at the Squarp Pyramid (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5FZSKcsLxI) too. It’s screen is tiny, but you can tag names on clips.
Octatrack as sequencer is nice, but imho no. For small setups and performing it’s great, but I if you need to arrange something serious you better get a dedicated sequencer or use a daw.

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#9

You can’t really compare laptop with daw to an Ipad imho…Borderlands, Patterning,Fugue Machine, TC11 to name a few…Even aparillo feels better just because of way you play with it…Closer to hardware than any push/maschine to me… :slight_smile:

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#10

This is mostly personal preference I think. I don’t like touching on a screen to change settings. I like knobs and buttons to turn and press.

I have to agree on the overview-think for deluge. Rechecking a track after some time is a nightmare at first. I need at least one play of the song with a lot of muting to see, what rows and color does what. But i need to check back on DN/DT projects also. And like I know, that the kick on my DT is on 1 and my Bass is on Track 4 of my DN, I know, that in a Song, the first row is drums, the second bass, than comes chords, Pads, Arps, Lead. If you keep yourself organised, its doable. Giving a Track a name would sure help, but as there is no display per row, it would just be a little better.

At the end: there is no perfect machine that fits every single wish you have. You need to find the one you like best and make it the perfect machine for yourself.

2 Likes
#11

Yes, a common schema in digitone or digitakt projects helps, on the Deluge too.

#12

After reading all this I think I’ll stick to the piano :grinning:

I don’t like screens, my day is filled with them. I like tactile feedback. I think I’ll play with the Digitakt as it’s own instrument for a bit, and re-look at this in a few months. Thanks all.

2 Likes
#13

The yet to be released Oxi One is also in this space (large grids). Any others ? I’m tempted by the deluge, but interested in competitors.