Synthstrom Audible Deluge [inc. Open Source development]

I’m curious about the arranger as well as the new filter (or was that overdrive?) in the 2.0 version.

Anyone wants to share their impression on these?

I’m on 1.4 but looking forward to 2.0 as there seem to be a few things that I thought were possible which are not implemented yet, the main one being able to p-lock sample start point, does anyone who is testing 2.0 know if this is possible yet?

So good to see a small start-up get it right with a great machine

It’s not possible on the 2.0 beta. I expect it will come in a future update as there has been a lot of requests for it.

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Another quick one… oscillators only, no samples. Ignore the mix, it’s not the best. The ability to preload (variations of) songs is amazing, and I believe fx tails won’t be cut off as of version 2.0.

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Having played with it a bit more I definitely think it is a cool little box, it still feels a bit unpolished in many areas, quite a few obvious omissions but at the same time it has some excellent features, it is hard to pin down what it is equivalent to, part Novation Circuit/Tenori On, part Electribe, part Micro Granny, part Octatrack - it seems to take inspiration from a lot of interesting previous devices but adds its own thing as well.

The portability, built in mic and lack of screen are big plus points for me, I have nowhere near scratched the surface of it and it seems to be very flexible, I can think of tons of ways it can be used and it can do many things at the same time, like for example groovebox/electribe, sample mangle, stem playback, modular sequencing and so on.

Operationally it can be a bit clumsy at times, I was expecting it to be a lot more immediate for certain things, I’d like to speak to the developers to suggest some improvements but I think I have probably missed the boat on that, plus I need to wait to see what 2.0 brings in this regard.

But yeah, great little machine overall.

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I don’t think you missed the boat! Synthstrom have been super open to user feedback and I think that’s what feeds the updates! Tell them your thoughts

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Hi, what are your major pain points with it right now?

My major concern is the lack of feedback when doing parameter locks and assigning custom parameters to the existing knobs. I guess i am too used to the Elektron workflow where you can easily tweak automation after and clearly see which parameters are assigned to which knobs. Anyway i’ll wait juste a little to see whats next.

Kindly to deluge owners - Is there a pre count function available so we can record an audio track in time with the current project?

Mainly things like shortening notes requires changing zoom levels, shortening pattern length forces zoom levels which is pretty annoying, no quick entry for legato notes or velocity*, no sample start p-locking, there are a couple of buttons whose function would be better served with more useful shortcuts (“sync-scaling” and “triplets view”) limited divide ratios for LFO, delay time etc (only 4/4 divisions) no individual note nudge, lots of parameters not yet fully working (lots of “can’t” and “soon” messages) no threshold sampling, no sample for x amount of beats, no deleting of samples without computer, individual drum parts which are in the same track can’t have different last step, meaning you have to put each on its own track.

Those are some things I have come up against so far, maybe v2.0 will address some of these though? Some of the issues might just be user error.

But still think it is a great instrument and after all it has only been a year since launch.

*You can easily edit velocity, but there isn’t a instant double tap for maximum velocity shortcut, or even a way to set velocity for all steps, lay out main notes, change velocity lay out ghost notes.

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Not on 1.4 but maybe they added it in 2.0 (hope so!)

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Yeah, velocity defaults to the last touched velocity setting in 2.0. Much better :slight_smile:

You can quantize-resample (hold Rec + press Play) but yeah can’t set the amount of beats to do it for.

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“To create a new track, press any of the 16 main pads on a row that is not currently occupied by an existing track (i.e. does not have its “launch” pad illuminated). You will be placed in track view for your new track, and the next time you return to song view, you will see it next to whatever other tracks already existed.”

From the current manual, page 24 :slight_smile:

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I stand corrected - I was looking in the track section in the first few pages expecting it to be there, so I missed that, most gear does not require you to be in song mode to select a new track, but I think stuff like that should be at the start of the manual really. I’ll correct my post.

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When it comes to p-locks, I think there’s a point worth making here that seems left out from time to time, when it comes to Elektron’s implementation of p-locks and basically the rest of the world.

It’s one thing how this works with the interaction of the instrument. It’s quite another how the instrument relates to the result itself. Especially when it comes to Elektron’s synth engine, within the A4 for example, their p-locks happen in terms of parameters in a vacuum - a trig can be totally unique - but not in terms of transitions between the trigs and how the sound engine handles it.

The kind of musical results that come out from Elektron’s engine when you work with p-locks, especially when you go for the parameter slides feature that’s extremely strong within the A4, you notice that the p-locks relate very much to what goes on before and after the lock itself, as well, which yields usually interesting results at least, but not rarely beautiful and unique outcomes. The subtle fades and transitions between the parameters, the integration and smoothness, makes most other implementations of p-locks still seem like they’re catching up.

I really think this is something worth thinking about when comparing the idea behind p-locks between instruments, not so much how it’s done in the interface, but how the result translates into the actual sound engine. And I don’t think anyone comes close to Elektron there.

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Coming from a background of mod trackers, I find it nice how Elektron’s p-lock system can affect many parameters per step, and I really like the conditional trigs. Microtiming is really nice too. But the step resolution seems coarse, the 64-step pattern length limit seems short, and I really miss being able to actually see the data for a bunch of steps simultaneously. I also miss editing entire ranges of trigs at once, setting a smooth parameter slide precisely without having to enter values one at a time.

The limits haven’t been a significant issue for me, and I enjoy using Elektron devices a lot more than a mod tracker overall, but there are definitely times I miss features I’ve grown accustomed to.

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Indeed - also Elektron has trigless locks, trigless trigs, lockless trigs, lockless locks and of course lockness monster :joy:

Joking aside, coming from Elektron gear to other stuff which has a variant of p-lock shows Elektron got it right and everyone else is still trying to catch up.

Back to the Deluge - it definitely has its own unique and powerful attributes, the sampler and sample playback is something I hope they focus on in future updates, as I think they are really onto something, I could see this becoming its main selling point if they fleshed it out and added a few things, it definitely could have the potential to be a cult classic like SP, OT, MPC, etc.

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Resampling or sampling from an external source can also be triggered by record+audition.

Which is great if you’re resampling from a midi or cv source.
For example, once I have setup my ND2 in a midi kit, pressing record+audition will instantly record that pad.
Once I’m done resampling, turn the track into a kit, assign the samples (audition + load and most likely will take you to the last resampled sound) et voila, from midi track into a kit.

My current flow consist of setting up an empty track for audio input monitoring and keep it there all the time, so it’s ready just in case. I would much prefer a proper audio input monitoring tough.

One thing I forgot to mention about the Deluge which might be of interest to anyone considering one is the nice live aspect of song mode, the launching and muting by groups is very useful, you can set things to happen automatically like mute or launch at next bar or what have you, and you can easily and quickly assign these into groups. You can also do instant launch which is done by holding shift, I think I’d prefer that to be a settable option but overall it is a really simple and fun implementation of a ‘jammable’ structure.

Another nice touch is tracks which reference the same source are mutually exclusive, it caught me out at first though, I’d like the option to be able to set this behaviour on a track basis, for example if you have a midi track sequencing a bassline, and another track with an alternate bassline on the same midi channel then launching one will turn off the other, but for example if you wanted to break down a chord or drum pattern across say 3 tracks you would not want this behaviour.

As I’m on 1.4 this might not be relevant on 2.0 though.

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