Synthstrom Audible Deluge [inc. Open Source development]

This video is something I recorded today with my Deluge. It’s very easy to do ambient music with the Deluge. Different track lengths is easy peasy and quick. Also trig probabilities add a lot to avoid boring repetitions. I also think the Deluge’s built in synth, sampler and FXs are more than enough in quality and quantity, being 1 shared reverb the only limitation. Add portabilty and master recording to the SD card and you are in heaven to record your ambient tracks anywhere in the park, in the bus or a nigth under the stars

1 Like

The beta of 3.0 firmware is out at fb beta tester group :slight_smile:

Team, IT IS HERE!

This is Deluge firmware V3.0.0-beta1. This has been the most difficult software development challenge I’ve committed to yet, and I’ve done it all because I want all of you to have the most powerful music-making tool possible.

Instructions for the new features are coming in one moment, as a sticky post.

Important - any songs or presets saved with V3.0 will not be readable by earlier firmware versions.

4 Likes

Nice! The support of the Deluge is really out of this world. To compare it with the support of the Circuit. The developers love their products and listens to its community. Thanks Synthstrom team!

3 Likes

Seems like quite a big update handling audio audio and looping and more!

It’s hard for me to fully grasp its implementation just from reading the beta notes.

Will hopefully give it a try this evening.

@darenager

You’ll be pleased to know that deleting samples presets etc is now available from the hardware. I’m not sure if you can delete a whole folder or just individual samples, which I guess is more likely. You can also search for files, rename sounds and overwrite files.

The Querty keyboard is also now implemented. Unfortunately I haven’t received my ordered Deluge panel with Querty as yet. I messaged Ian from Synthstrom and he got back to me quite quickly, confirming they will all be sent out before the official release of 3.0.

2 Likes

This update should solve all my minor gripes about the workflow, I can’t get wait to stuck in.

2 Likes

Tried it this morning, just looping vocals using the internal mic and adding drums/synths etc. The beta is already ridiculously good. I’m a decent vocalist so having this kind of stuff so hands-on is lovely, but what surprised me is the amount you can do with the loops after the fact. The pitch shifting and live loop length changes you can do are really musical, plus you can easily copy loops into new song sections and mangle them to produce different ‘versions’ you can switch to on the fly!

With a bit of thinking and some practice, you could do some incredibly awesome stuff with this, but even just improvising completely from scratch is super-fun.

3 Likes

Do somebody know how I can see the firmware version? And where I can see the level of the battery?(if possible)

Damn … i want to love this thing but havent found any demo i like (nothing), the synth engine seems to be really bland and flat. I dont care if its not sounding analog (i really really like the Monomachine for ex) but i guess i need to try it before cause on paper the Deluge is perfect. Also the FX seems limited and not so great, this is not a problem when you have several outputs but this is not the Deluge case.

As a sampler i guess it could be great but again if FX are bad …

EDIT :
I kinda wish the DEV would focus only on certain features like sampling , FX , and sequencing. I guess i prefer more specialized instrument.

2 Likes

Kind of how I feel too. Would be interested to hear people’s favourite vids, especially anything electronic/techno

1 Like

Settings>FIRMware

Open Settings with shift+select knob

@sovietpop I feel pretty much the same. The synths are functional, but not very exciting, and I haven’t heard a single track that’s grabbed me. I mean, everything I hear is pleasant enough, but not very inspired. I do like the Deluge for its quick workflow and portability, and I see keeping it for a long time. Sequencing CV out is pretty useful with my modular oscillators, and I can also use it to convert MIDI to CV, and it’s also useful to me for processing audio via its line in. It’s a much better sketchpad than, say, my OP-Z, whose fundamental sound is even duller so that it’s only useful as an extravagantly priced toy.

2 Likes

Thanks!

Can you recommend a small portable synthesizer to companion the Deluge? Or is adding some external samples enough to make more exciting tracks?

Hello! Here are some examples I made on Deluge (no other gear was used)

https://www.elektronauts.com/uploads/default/original/3X/1/5/15e5ce764a37d7762caf34970ee124290c57abd5.mp3 https://www.elektronauts.com/uploads/default/original/3X/a/4/a45bd47887fee5be00c4c4054dd9b5dd5021477e.mp3 https://www.elektronauts.com/uploads/default/original/3X/4/9/49f9256ce82e79583eaec31197349763dd666e14.mp3

I used Digitakt before… I returned it back to the box.

6 Likes

Sorry… may I answer also? I think you don’t need any… pls. listen to my 3 attached examples from the post above…

1 Like

Deluge seems a bit more like a competitor to the OP-Z as a ‘full production studio’ with synths, lots of hidden functionality, minimal GUI and what not, rather than the Digitakt which to me is moreso a focussed compact multi-track mono sampler, sample and midi sequencer with OB.

Horses for courses, but focus can be good/better too.

As a marketeer would say, it’s all about the USPs baby!

Of course you are allowed to reply :smile:

Thanks for the links, but t.b.h. I think they sound a bit flat, not so much character. I miss a good bass, or was that intended?

What do you mean by “flat”? Do you mean mixing technics like putting drums with small reverb and bass too and giving synth/leads/pads long deep reverb? Or do you mean mastering technics? It is raw record from Deluge, no mastering applied (as I mentioned before only Deluge was used).
Bass in first example… I agree… it should be smth else a bit…
I was on DAWs before (FLStudio, Logic Pro, Bitwig) and I do not see (at least for now) alternatives to a DAW from gear but only AkaiPro Force and Deluge. Maybe Digitakt with Digitone also good…

To reply to what you said above, adding some samples will certainly beef things up as opposed to going all-synths. Even the best of the all-synth tracks just feel warmed over to me in terms of timbres.

@mokomo I don’t think the OP-Z compares at all to the Deluge. The OP-Z is a full production studio, but only in its cheesy realm. As a package, it has the cheesy TE charm and is fun to work on, particularly on the go. It’s price may be close to the Deluge’s, but is misleadingly high. The Deluge is a serious all-round package. The synths portion may not be earth shattering, but definitely beyond the OP-Z.

Also, I don’t experience the Deluge as having hidden functionality. Due to the large number of buttons regularly laid out, all those labelled and logically grouped functions are just a shift-press away. It may not be knob-per-function (which couldn’t be done comfortably in such a small space), but it feels surprisingly close to that. Only a handful of the least used functions require a menu dive, and even those menus feel surprisingly quick on the rare occasion that I use them. Learning curve, yes, but OT-style hidden and arcane, no.

4 Likes

By ‘flat’ I mean indeed, missing reverbs etc. But don’t get me wrong, I like what you made!

Have you received the Deluge yet & played with the synths or are you basing your opinion on what you’ve heard from demos?

If you don’t care for the synths, you don’t care for them, there’s nothing wrong with that.

I only ask because if you haven’t received your Deluge yet, what I would do is wait until you get it, play with it & then decide on what you feel is missing. Maybe you’ll like the sounds YOU make with it, but feel the effects lack, then maybe getting an effects unit would be good. Or if you really don’t like anything you’re making with the synths, then look into a synth to go with it. You might also like some of the synth sounds, but for example don’t like the bass you make with it. Then you can look into getting a synth that can create great bass.

For example, I didn’t really care for any of the synth sounds I heard from the Op-1 demos. But once I got the Op-1 & started designing my own sounds from the synths, I ended up loving the synths.

Oh man that was my first thought when I got the Deluge and the first feature request I put up on their forum. The machine would be great for monome kind of stuff… Sadly I don’t think that kind of functionality is coming anytime soon if ever, since the focus of development seems to be so ‘mainstream orientated’ (aka Deluge being a DAW replacement) that the ‘real nerdy/geeky/elektronauts?’ stuff just won’t get enough votes for development and implementation.

It’s funny though how some Elektron users are complaining about lack of a ‘song mode’, but I for one rather arrange stuff live/on the fly. Things like the ‘arranger’ which got implemented pretty early on is an example of what people want to do with the Deluge.

At least it’s got a great sounding polyphonic multisample engine and probability stuff. The internal synth engines aren’t very interesting to me and rather use a Digitone for that, but that’s something personal.

I think for monome kind of stuff you better check out Norns + a Grid.