Hello, I’m deciding if purchase a Novation Circuit for my OT, or it would be better a Volca Keys/Sample combo, so I’m pretty interested into hear from your experience in term of fun with those.
I would only use them as sound modules (maybe I turn on their sequencer just to sample them, example, using the Keys Flux). I want to control everything from my OT midi tracks, rhythm, melodies, switching patches etc.
Do you have some experience with any of those machines as sound modules?
(Don’t suggest I should take an A4, I tried it and I didn’t like it)
In my opinion it’s better to get something ‘distinct’ to use with the Octatrack. Volca Keys or FM would be pretty good IMO. The circuit is nice and can be very useful, but you already have the OT. I have an OT plus 0-Coast and will probably add an Analog Keys. Then I’m done.
Volcas are cheap, good when you’re new to synthesis.
Can’t say about Circuit, seems appropriate for starters as well but I’m not sure you’d learn a lot with this. And I don’t see it as an OT companion, as sample player OT is much more powerful…
Whereas in this regard a couple of Volcas have the right number of CC ^^
I think it’s better to have a simple synth that deals with the synthesis that OT misses.
You might also consider a Waldorf (Blofeld or Pulse) or a Nord drum, if you’re more beat oriented.
Don’t hesitate to buy yourself some second hand synths, you can always resell without loosing much money…
Haven’t used Circuit but I love Volca keys. Very cool lofi kind of sound. Killer ‘shitty’ delay. Fun sequencer with automation. Often reminds me of Radiophonic Workshop kind of vibe.
Volca Sample sounds great too. Nice character. Haven’t used mine as much as I should have. There’s a retrokit midi cable that allows you to make the midi channels play nice via OT (korg made it so it one midi channel per track, which is cool in some ways but sucks if you just want to use one OT midi track and treat Volca Sample like a drum machine on one channel.) i keep meaning to buy that cable…
Circuit looks pretty cool but IMHO if it’s to be used with OT and not portable sketch pad etc I’d rather have the sound and knobs of the volcas.
+1 for Blofeld ! Above my Ot.
With SL you can load samples.
16 parts Multitimbral. You can layer sounds on the same midi channels, velocity layers, keyboard split…
Up to 25 voices with 72 oscillators.
Much more powerful than Circuit and Volca toys.
Too bad if you don’t use Circuit sequencer. Only 2 synths and mono samples (no pan I think).
Good midi implementation.
I use a Event Processor between Ot and Blo and I can send a program change for desired note.
I have access to a 128 sound kit on one Ot midi track.
Sounds are changed immediately, without artefacts.
Bugs me a little when people still call Volcas toys… Anything that ends up on finished tracks/records is equally valid as any other tool. And they’re way more fun to tweak than Blofeld and also offer a totally different sound.
Fair point on the Blofield being a good alternative candidate tho. Had one and liked it but was an early production unit and the encoders started to flake out. Wouldn’t mind another at some point altho I don’t mind ITB and from memory seems like I’m able to get very similar sounds with waldorf Largo Vst. I forget whether they’re the same engine. No good for OTB tho…
Thanks for your replies. I tried the Blofeld in the past, but I didn’t liked it either, for the same reason that the A4, I prefer having only one machine where I have to multipage, and that is the OT. Enough menu diving.
The idea of purchasing the Volca Keys with the Volca Sample, is that they gave me a lot of controls and a lot of extra channels (I always need 2 more tracks with the OT). Boths for 200€ in some shops.
The idea of purchasing the Novation Circuit is because it’s an easy patch player with some inmediate controls (a lot more with CCs), and it gives me 5 extra channels (6 voices from circuit 1- from OT THRU machine) which cannot be mixed… 250€ in some shops.
Similar options, so that’s why I’m interested how good are those options fully controller from OT MIDI machines.
On the Blofeld you need to do some diving only while preparing your sounds.
Once your modulations are set, the front panel is laaaargely sufficient !!
And if you drive it from OT, then you don’t even have to touch it while playing
Being able to get e.g. 4 different tracks playing from the Blofeld at the same time, each with several voices, makes it a very good complement for OT. Synthesis is deep enough IMO, so that you discover things after one year of using it ^^
I tried. Sorry for Volca toys, it was a fast shorcut.
My 15€ Monotron sounds good !
So you didn’t A4 like menu diving or the sounds, or both ?
Circuit midi implementation is exhaustive but you need to edit the macro. (physical knobs are macros, not specific parameters). I would use its sequencer.
I do not have too much time, so preparing is a prohibited luxury for me
I do not like A4 menu diving, and while it sounds better than the Blofeld, it still doesn’t stick with me. I’m more from the classic Virus A / Supernova digital sound, or the 303 (or any emulation) sound. That’s why I discarded it
I imagine the volca sample channel division had to be done because of the amount of CC controls on the device? Still woulda been nice to support chromatic playing at least then (without the retrokits hack). What pisses me off wrt the volca sample though is that you cannot select the active sample of a track via MIDI, even though there are only 99 sample slots! So you are stuck with your sounds after making 10 “kits” (patterns). The v samp woulda been almost a perfect MIDI remotable sampler otherwise.
The volca keys is aight, although a bit odd sounding and limited on the waveform dept. IIRC there is a mod for it that allows you to bypass the delay circuit in order to improve signal quality.
Then there’s the volca kick. It’s a bit limited in scope but has a 100% comprehensive MIDI spec, so perfect octa food in that regard.
The circuit could also be very cool, it has a novation VA synth inside after all. IIRC you can edit the macro controls to your liking with a computer editor.
I finally went for Circuit (just 230€ new in an online store, couldnt say ‘no’), with the remaining I think I will go for a Volca Keys or FM. I’m more willing to get Keys at 80€, because I’m not good programming FM, it’s cheaper, and I would have more control from the OT (less parameters). And this video inspired me:
Volca Sample at the moment is discarded, replaced by Circuit which will give me the 2-3 additional drum tracks I need.
