Synthstrom Audible Deluge [inc. Open Source development]

Plus One to their communications and customer service. Ian is a community genius.

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If you mention Ian, you have to mention Rohan too. His is a brilliant programmer and takes his job very serious. They both are touring Asia now, promoting the Deluge, and even from there the firmware updates are coming.

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All true. Theyā€™re both stellar people. Gives me back some faith in the world, that sometimes, the good guys really do win.

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After recent serious disappointments with some electronic music devices and their companies (especially those from Sweden :wink: ), meeting Synthstrom means an extraordinary experience. Deluge is a sturdy and reliable device and Synthstrom is a company I can finally trust.

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I own a deluge since june 2018. I just love playing this thing. The 16x8 grid is such a joy to play. So smooth and responsive. And the knobs are as good which make me forget about the lack of velocity/aftertouch. This thing is so versatile and still contantly (so far) evolving. I like to use the 4 cv gates out in kit tracks to draw clock patterns on devices such as volcas, modular synths, pocket operatorsā€¦ Now that I think about it, I can put probability on those gates to bring some randomness to those devices.
The only portable device that I now, that is not a slate of glass, that can be used to actually compose tracks/songs that are not pattern based.
The other day I tried a monotron as an oscillator and played it polyphonically.
And now it does audio looping. Unbelievable. And you can now plug your midi devices directly in the usb port and it powers them.
It fits in a bag and the battery lasts.
I could go like that for hours, this thing got so much up its sleeves.
Next update is suppose to bring midi presets, and with the new qwerty keyboard, will make it so easy to save and recall and make sequence external gear a breeze.

v3.0 is out now!

Download it here.

New features

  • Audio clips (an all-new type of clip, in addition to synth, kit, CV and MIDI)
  • Live looping of audio and instrument / MIDI clips, including easy overdubbing / layering, and automatic tempo setting
  • Audio clip live looping includes option to record additional audio ā€œmarginsā€ either side of loop (from before you even pressed record), to allow a brief crossfade to eliminate click at loop point
  • Auto-extending of clip length during note recording
  • Recording count-in
  • Recording audio or MIDI directly into arrangement tracks
  • Audio thru
  • Alphanumeric keyboard, allowing text-based names of presets and files
  • Deleting of audio and preset files
  • New preset-loading interface, with ā€œcloneā€ function for adding multiple preset instances
  • USB host mode for MIDI devices
  • Ability to switch off automatic sample previewing
  • Expanded MIDI control of functions for pedal control of live looping
  • Further CPU optimizations to allow an even greater number of sounds to be played at once

The Deluge manual has been updated for all new features, so please refer there for detailed instructions.

Loopop has created an excellent walkthrough video on the Deluge to coincide with the V3.0 firmware release. Skip to 30mins to just check out the new features, but watching the whole video offers a nice little refresh over some of the core functionality.

Installation
To install the update, place the .bin file onto your SD card, ensure there are no other .bin files on there, put the card back into your Deluge, and then hold down the shift button while powering on. A spinning animation will display, and the firmware will be permanently installed.

Please take this opportunity to back up the data from your SD card while itā€™s in your computer. Any storage technology can fail, and we want your art to be safe regardless.

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Can not stand this anymore.
Just ordered this wonderbox :smiley:

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By the way iā€™m looking to use multi sampled drumsā€¦ so that I can fingerdrum in keyboard view. how is it possible to implement them ? I be seen someoneā€™s YouTube video but cannot find itā€¦

Haha, the manual is STILL patently TERRIBLE, I had a quick chance to download the new firmware and hoped to give audio clips a try, so right at the start of the manual there is a shortcut to the ā€œAudio Clipsā€ great!

Except it isnā€™t, because it has a couple of pages explaining audio clips and the wonders that they offer, even how to change the start and end points, and how to derive tempo from them.

BUT IT DOES NOT TELL YOU HOW TO CREATE THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE!!! FFS.

In the ā€œAudio Clipsā€ section where youā€™d reasonably expect to be able to find out.

15 minutes later after trying to find out, I give up as I donā€™t have the time now, kind of a bummer.

And worse still, it is still a google doc rather than a pdf. Why?

Edit: Found it, it is in the song view (basics) section, perfectly logical, not :joy:

Edit2: I give up, logical it ainā€™t.

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You can download the manual as PDF under Google Docsā€™s ā€œFileā€ menu.

I think there just gonna rely on synthdawgs rewritten guide: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=422736438349173&set=gm.2440893586230216&type=3&theater&ifg=1

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Yeah, I tried that a few times but it messes all the formatting up.

Yes looking forward to that and the reference app too, I love Synthstrom but not the manual :rofl:

What rate does it sample at?

44.1khz 24bit iirc, but it can accept other formats via sd card.

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ā€œ Once a clip is created, armed (it will be armed by default - see above), and has its MIDI or audio input set (audio input is set to LEFT by default), it will be ready to begin recording as soon as playback is begun with the record button illuminatedā€

Or a much easier and concise, all in one section, like under the record an audio clip heading.

To record a new audio clip in song view, create an audio clip by holding one of the grid pads on an empty track, then press the select encoder, set the input by holding LEARN/INPUT and pressing any grid pad on the clip, you can choose to monitor by selecting a source with a . after its name. Press select again to confirm. Now while sequencer is stopped press the record button, when you press play recording will start, press play again to stop recording.

That would have saved me about 40 minutes of scouring the manual, jumping to different sections!

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The PDF I downloaded doesnā€™t look messed up to me. Iā€™ve attached it:

Deluge-3.pdf (1.2 MB)

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Thanks, yours is better but still missing quite a few of the diagrams, and some of the tables donā€™t look right, for example the instrument parameters table has the column header row with one line on the very bottom of the page then the other half on the top line of the next page. etc.

On complex instruments with lots of hold this and press that good clear documentation is important, I donā€™t want to rage on Synthstrom too much as they definitely arenā€™t the worst, but so far I have not enjoyed trying to decipher how to use the great new features, on the otherwise excellent Deluge.

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If you read the documentation in a linear way you can find itā€™s logical. The author (must be the developer, I think) has a great overall understanding about the device and references stuffs in the documentation back and forth in a descriptive form a lot.
So itā€™s a good reading as a textbook but barely usable as a reference guide, I agree. But hey let the manual be the worst stuff this company produces (and itā€™s the truth) :slight_smile:

Yeah, I am so used to Elektron manuals which are extremely good, that and Iā€™m a super impatient and crotchety old man :rofl:

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