I mention "quick" video ..... 20+ min later 💀 Also! If you're planning on subscribing and want more 'Music Tech' related content, then sub to our new tech channel 'Tefty Music Tech' here: th-cam.com/channels/_0rGx4ifn3dufNhicjh06g.html All future technical music related content will be on that channel going forward. All future music 'performance' related content will stay on this channel! Cheers 🙏 Tefty & Meems
Got my Rhythm a month ago and as a person who never touched a physical gear before I think it is a very good device for the beginners. It is simple to make you first steps and there are plenty of things to learn.
Rhythm’s my best friend. The simplicity and work flow. It’s generally the skeletal structure of my setup. Very powerful sequencer. Quick. It definitely starts to feel like an extension of yourself when you get to know it. I love that it’s just a blank slate to fill up and make it whatever you want.
Such a misunderstood little box. I absolutely love it. Can’t put my finger on why it clicks with me much more than an SP unit or an akai, or elektron, I’ve tried all of the above but something about this feels more musical. Lack of screen feeels like a net positive on a sampler. Great vid. Keep em coming
I love everything Novation I touched so far and this Rhythm and the Tracks would be no exception. Thank you so much for demoing it in a very relaxed and musical way. Great video!
Same here. Have a pretty nice synth collection but more than half of it are novation instruments. I don’t know why but somehow I like their workflow. For example the summit , no fancy graphics display but it can do anything I want from a synth. I hope they will continue their current lineup (I was a bit pissed off for discontinuing the mono station. Grrrr)
Iv been playing guitar now for a while and iv really enjoyed using a few loop pedals but now I want to do more and I reckon this will be a great step forward so I’m going to get one! Thanks for the videos, they are so great for learners like me who don’t know what they are doing, how else would we be able to be shown what these instruments are capable of, so thanks and keep em coming 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
The Rhythm is by far my favorite sampler as well, it's the perfect companion to my MPC One. It's few limitations are complemented with the endless flexibility of the MPC. I find the step sequencer, screenless workflow and ease of use to be perfect in a way the MPC can't really compare since the step sequencer in the MPC is very lackluster. And there's nothing like it for the price frankly. One of my workflows is sampling found sound and Foley (with a small mic attached) to the Rhythm then creating unpredictable beats with it is incredibly fast sequencer, it's very inspiring. The mono shortcoming can be offset by paning or using the FX sends as you did, or just recording some tracks separately to the MPC for processing. Then sync with the MPC and play with the synths or record guitar directly, or maybe record the circuit to the MPC and chop that to the pads arrange and go nuts, create something completely different is my jam. It's been a year and a half of this setup with hundreds of projects made on it, some for TV and movie shorts even and for my own enjoyment of course, and frankly nothing else in the market really comes close to de-throning this combo from my studio. TLDR: I love the thing to bits ✌🏽
Hello from Japan. I recently bought a Circuit Rhythm as well. The biggest advantage I feel is that you can select samples by sound. I believe this relates to what you mentioned about the "lack of a display." Right now, I'm struggling with the Grid FX. It would be better if this could be configured directly on the device. Thank you.
Definitely my go to quick idea notepad. Its so fast and simple I have 2 that are synced side by side. Limitations are good , forces you to use the machine to its max potential. Daws and Plugins have people lazy.
I’m getting some nice bangers out of my rhythm. The circuit workflow really steam lines the song building process. Allot more intuitive then most grove boxes out there.
I'm glad someone likes the Circuit Rhythm. I own one, but really never clicked with it at all ... the inability to time stretch combined with how much less intuitive it has been to me than the original Circuit means it's just never found its way into anything, and now I have an SP-404MK2. And they don't have any way to delete a project from Components for some reason(??), so you have to go into the sd card and delete it yourself, which I found ... really strange. But I didn't know that they just gave it some firmware updates until watching this, lol! I'll probably check it out and see if it feels any different :)
@@TeftyMeems I'll be honest, just to update this - I actually went directly back to the circuit, which I wasn't able to sell, and I ended up really liking it anyways. It's much weaker than other things, but ... I dunno. I guess it's all about when you have something, just needed to sit down with it after the update for a few days :)
Hey, thanks for this video, I’ve actually bought one after watching it. I had an MPC Live mk2 but found it overly complicated and sold it. I was using it for its plugins mostly and didn’t sample as much as I thought I would. Since circuit rhythm is basically a blank canvas, I’m way more creative with it and sampling is a joy. I’m actually amazed by its feature set for the price.
The circuits really are wild. The Rhythm is kind of whatever you want it to be. I just like pure drum machines (like the ones from the 80's and 90's) with nothing but drum sounds and very minimal sampling... It does that well. I have friends that use theirs for all kinds of sampling and it works perfect for that. You really can't go wrong with it. The Rhythm also work really well as a quick sequencer (sort of) for external stuff. but the most important thing is they are dirt cheap!
Actually you can change pattern speed in "Pattern settings" page. By default each step is 1/16. You can change it 1/32, 1/16T, 1/8, 1/8T, 1/4 or 1/4T steps. And each step has 6 subdivisions (controlled at "Micro Step" page). So you can change pattern speed to 1/8 and disable quantization while recording (or by manually adjusting micro steps) to have a 1/16 feel
Favorite feature: distortion!!!! The knob is heavy metal. Absolutely brutal, especially combined with the filter and reverb. Least favorite feature? No project chaining. It should be very easy to implement. They already have pattern chains... But I like to make full 4-6 minute tracks on this thing, stop making me babysit the project page. I need the freedom to dance around while jamming. 2.0 had got me revisiting this for sure.
I bought mine while waiting for the SP-404 mk2 to be in stock, thinking I would sell this one after getting the SP. However I've decided to keep both, the Rhythm has something of its own, ease of use, excellent portability, very clever UI. Sample time is a joke, records mono, TOO HOT and distorts mostly everything, and no time stretching! But I still like it a LOT. My fav sampler is still the SP-404 mk2, though.
I have a Hydrasynth Explorer and as you know, it doesn't have a sequencer. I want one of the circuits but I don't know whether I should purchase the Tracks or Rhythm. I have a PO-33 that I love so I was thinking Rhythm but others seem to enjoy tracks. I want something that can play drums as well as other aspects of the song while being able to keep it creative. Which should I purchase?
Awesome video, thanks for featuring this amazing sampler. What would you like to see in an update? I would love different keys in Note sections, longer sampling time, of course poliphony or arp maybe, the recording timing issue you pointed, this has soooo much potential!!!
Good video, breezy and informative. I’ve got one of these and I find myself reaching for it more than any other sampler-battery powered, portable, easy to sample-in, so easy to preview/swap sounds. I agree that PUNCH-IN recording is needed. Perhaps hold the sample button and hit a start and end range on a given track’s step sequence (a la chaining patterns).
If you was to push shift and the clear button that will turn the metronome/click will turn on and off.. Then you can hold the tempo swing button and turn the distortion button/the 5th macro knob to adjust the volume... If you were thinking that there is no click track...
Thanks Ace, but I was actually commenting on the lack of a count in for recording. So if you setup an 8 bar pattern, you have wait for one revolution before you start recording (or just jump in dry 🤣)
I've been interested in a Rhythm for a while but it would need to be a fair bit cheaper and head into impulse buy territory for me to pick up, since I already have an MPC. It seems like it has a sense of playfulness that my MPCs lack a little bit. That said I think you can sample straight to a program pad so I think with effort I could manage. I agree with everything you've said here, they really do seem like great bits of kit. I'd be particularly keen if you could set input recording to trigger on a step a la octatrack style looping just for the utility and fun factor.
I plan on getting one next week either this on the tracks but I'm learning towards this as with the tracks u need to use a computer to put sounds on it I can sample my other gear straight to this ..the tracks seems cool but the two synths tracks doesn't seem like much and the midi tracks seem a bit of a pain
I've been legitimately trying to justify an MPC or Elektron sampler to pair with my Tracks that I'm already addicted to. Then I see videos like this, and how can I - ? I'm new to sampling, but can anyone share what they think on if it's worth it to spend more on a maybe more advanced machine? The Circuit Tracks is already such a good brain and I also am using it with a Hydrasynth Explorer 💖💖💖
I’m thinking on using this sampler on my travels. Does it work standalone? Also if I bring a microphone can I record sounds on it and somehow import them to the sampler later on? (Any links to reviews or tutorials of best way to use this sampler with an external microphone would be helpful thanks) :)
It has a 4h battery and you could also use it with a usb-c battery pack. You can directly plug in your microphone and get samples on, or via the micro SD card.
Just got my Rhythm, very misunderstood! I believe it’s more like a Super PO33 than a SP404 MKII (kinda fits in between those two samplers). I hope Novation adds a compressor to the fx.
How do u set record input levels i see ur macro knob 8 is lit up on the sample rec menu i can figure out how to do it so i can set the levels could u tell me plz...edit iv figured it out I updated my unit and now I have the function to set input for samples
Might need Santa to get me one :) I have the OG Circuit and still love it. Do you have the SP404mk2? I love the easy sampling on that and effects are killer…
The fixed length thing was actually why I sold it. Or at least, it not being on there. So whenever recording acoustic instruments or other stuff, it was very finnicky getting it setup right to fit into the beat
Gotta do it from the device you're sampling. You can go from 0db to -12db on the Circuit in case you need more of a buffer. Also it auto normalizes all sampled audio after recording.
Great video - has helped me finalise my decision that I want one of these to sit next to my Circuit OG 🙂 Incidentally, some of the observations (frustrations) in the video and the comments are addressed in this one minute video from Novation th-cam.com/video/CTARkocWyfA/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=Novation Specifically hot recording levels, sample length, auto-record based on threshold, sample start time, etc. I'm loving the move away from staring at a screen to "get creative". These groove boxes suit my way of writing. DAWless is a little silly to me - it's not like it makes you more of a man or more of a musician just because your setup is a certain way. How you create is what's important. I'm happy to not have to turn on a USB device and *hope* it works the way it did last time I switched it on... and forced updates can bite me. Sorry, went off on one there. Thanks again for the video - very informative and extremely useful with the hands-on demonstration.
I'd agree with you more if the Play allowed for direct sampling. I have the Play and haven't talked about it on the channel yet because of the bugs in the 1.0 software. 1.1 has fixed some of my issues, but the lack of quick sampling is a real bummer for me ( I know, most people will say it's just not what it's intended for ).
@@TeftyMeems I can understand that, fair opinion. For my use cases sampling direct always seemed a bit redundant, it's usually faster just to clip something from an audio interface. The original firmware was definitely buggy as hell though, the live playing mode just didn't work as intended at all.
I mention "quick" video ..... 20+ min later 💀
Also! If you're planning on subscribing and want more 'Music Tech' related content, then sub to our new tech channel 'Tefty Music Tech' here: th-cam.com/channels/_0rGx4ifn3dufNhicjh06g.html
All future technical music related content will be on that channel going forward. All future music 'performance' related content will stay on this channel!
Cheers 🙏
Tefty & Meems
It’s such a healthy break from a screen, gets you listening and enjoying making sounds and music with no stress.
Got my Rhythm a month ago and as a person who never touched a physical gear before I think it is a very good device for the beginners. It is simple to make you first steps and there are plenty of things to learn.
Rhythm’s my best friend. The simplicity and work flow. It’s generally the skeletal structure of my setup. Very powerful sequencer. Quick. It definitely starts to feel like an extension of yourself when you get to know it. I love that it’s just a blank slate to fill up and make it whatever you want.
Such a misunderstood little box. I absolutely love it. Can’t put my finger on why it clicks with me much more than an SP unit or an akai, or elektron, I’ve tried all of the above but something about this feels more musical. Lack of screen feeels like a net positive on a sampler. Great vid. Keep em coming
yeah, it's got a certain thing about it that just works if you follow the workflow.
Same here, glad I got it. I am just jealous of all the flurry of updates Roland devices are getting though...
It's a straight to the point sampler not like an MPC or and sp as they are packed with so much stuff
I love everything Novation I touched so far and this Rhythm and the Tracks would be no exception. Thank you so much for demoing it in a very relaxed and musical way. Great video!
Thanks for watching!
Same here. Have a pretty nice synth collection but more than half of it are novation instruments. I don’t know why but somehow I like their workflow. For example the summit , no fancy graphics display but it can do anything I want from a synth. I hope they will continue their current lineup (I was a bit pissed off for discontinuing the mono station. Grrrr)
Yesss, I’ve been wishing more channels would cover this device. Thank you!
Iv been playing guitar now for a while and iv really enjoyed using a few loop pedals but now I want to do more and I reckon this will be a great step forward so I’m going to get one! Thanks for the videos, they are so great for learners like me who don’t know what they are doing, how else would we be able to be shown what these instruments are capable of, so thanks and keep em coming 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
The Rhythm is by far my favorite sampler as well, it's the perfect companion to my MPC One. It's few limitations are complemented with the endless flexibility of the MPC. I find the step sequencer, screenless workflow and ease of use to be perfect in a way the MPC can't really compare since the step sequencer in the MPC is very lackluster. And there's nothing like it for the price frankly.
One of my workflows is sampling found sound and Foley (with a small mic attached) to the Rhythm then creating unpredictable beats with it is incredibly fast sequencer, it's very inspiring. The mono shortcoming can be offset by paning or using the FX sends as you did, or just recording some tracks separately to the MPC for processing. Then sync with the MPC and play with the synths or record guitar directly, or maybe record the circuit to the MPC and chop that to the pads arrange and go nuts, create something completely different is my jam.
It's been a year and a half of this setup with hundreds of projects made on it, some for TV and movie shorts even and for my own enjoyment of course, and frankly nothing else in the market really comes close to de-throning this combo from my studio.
TLDR: I love the thing to bits ✌🏽
Yep, the MPC step sequencer is a waste of space. I slave my SQ-1 for CV or my MonoStation for MIDI.
What mic do you like using with the CR?
Hello from Japan. I recently bought a Circuit Rhythm as well. The biggest advantage I feel is that you can select samples by sound. I believe this relates to what you mentioned about the "lack of a display." Right now, I'm struggling with the Grid FX. It would be better if this could be configured directly on the device. Thank you.
Definitely my go to quick idea notepad. Its so fast and simple I have 2 that are synced side by side.
Limitations are good , forces you to use the machine to its max potential.
Daws and Plugins have people lazy.
I’m getting some nice bangers out of my rhythm. The circuit workflow really steam lines the song building process. Allot more intuitive then most grove boxes out there.
I'm glad someone likes the Circuit Rhythm. I own one, but really never clicked with it at all ... the inability to time stretch combined with how much less intuitive it has been to me than the original Circuit means it's just never found its way into anything, and now I have an SP-404MK2. And they don't have any way to delete a project from Components for some reason(??), so you have to go into the sd card and delete it yourself, which I found ... really strange.
But I didn't know that they just gave it some firmware updates until watching this, lol! I'll probably check it out and see if it feels any different :)
I'm going to be testing out the 404 and see if I like the workflow. I have a feeling I'll dig it. It's also way more powerful than the Rhythm 🤣
@@TeftyMeems I'll be honest, just to update this - I actually went directly back to the circuit, which I wasn't able to sell, and I ended up really liking it anyways. It's much weaker than other things, but ... I dunno. I guess it's all about when you have something, just needed to sit down with it after the update for a few days :)
Hey, thanks for this video, I’ve actually bought one after watching it. I had an MPC Live mk2 but found it overly complicated and sold it. I was using it for its plugins mostly and didn’t sample as much as I thought I would. Since circuit rhythm is basically a blank canvas, I’m way more creative with it and sampling is a joy. I’m actually amazed by its feature set for the price.
The circuits really are wild. The Rhythm is kind of whatever you want it to be. I just like pure drum machines (like the ones from the 80's and 90's) with nothing but drum sounds and very minimal sampling... It does that well. I have friends that use theirs for all kinds of sampling and it works perfect for that. You really can't go wrong with it. The Rhythm also work really well as a quick sequencer (sort of) for external stuff.
but the most important thing is they are dirt cheap!
Surprised to see this one on your channel! Loved mine. Wish I didnt have to sell most of my gear in 2022 for bills.
Actually you can change pattern speed in "Pattern settings" page. By default each step is 1/16. You can change it 1/32, 1/16T, 1/8, 1/8T, 1/4 or 1/4T steps. And each step has 6 subdivisions (controlled at "Micro Step" page). So you can change pattern speed to 1/8 and disable quantization while recording (or by manually adjusting micro steps) to have a 1/16 feel
Love the rhythm its limited by so fun it has a sound but can made some nice authentic boombap on it
Good music came out of this session. I have a circuit tracks so it was interesting to learn about its sibling. 💙🎶
So what happened to that Tracks video?
Favorite feature: distortion!!!! The knob is heavy metal. Absolutely brutal, especially combined with the filter and reverb. Least favorite feature? No project chaining. It should be very easy to implement. They already have pattern chains... But I like to make full 4-6 minute tracks on this thing, stop making me babysit the project page. I need the freedom to dance around while jamming. 2.0 had got me revisiting this for sure.
I bought mine while waiting for the SP-404 mk2 to be in stock, thinking I would sell this one after getting the SP. However I've decided to keep both, the Rhythm has something of its own, ease of use, excellent portability, very clever UI. Sample time is a joke, records mono, TOO HOT and distorts mostly everything, and no time stretching! But I still like it a LOT. My fav sampler is still the SP-404 mk2, though.
What do you mean by too hot ? When you sample in it distorts ? Or when you push too much the gain inside it and export ?
There is a pad-function to cut 12db, so your input doesn’t distort…
I have a Hydrasynth Explorer and as you know, it doesn't have a sequencer. I want one of the circuits but I don't know whether I should purchase the Tracks or Rhythm. I have a PO-33 that I love so I was thinking Rhythm but others seem to enjoy tracks. I want something that can play drums as well as other aspects of the song while being able to keep it creative. Which should I purchase?
For patterns, set them up as pattern chains, and press 16/32 as it’s playing/recording.
Awesome video, thanks for featuring this amazing sampler. What would you like to see in an update? I would love different keys in Note sections, longer sampling time, of course poliphony or arp maybe, the recording timing issue you pointed, this has soooo much potential!!!
Good video, breezy and informative. I’ve got one of these and I find myself reaching for it more than any other sampler-battery powered, portable, easy to sample-in, so easy to preview/swap sounds. I agree that PUNCH-IN recording is needed. Perhaps hold the sample button and hit a start and end range on a given track’s step sequence (a la chaining patterns).
I had this device and sold it. Now I want it back.
I really love my Circuit Rhythm 📢🎉
If you was to push shift and the clear button that will turn the metronome/click will turn on and off.. Then you can hold the tempo swing button and turn the distortion button/the 5th macro knob to adjust the volume... If you were thinking that there is no click track...
Thanks Ace, but I was actually commenting on the lack of a count in for recording. So if you setup an 8 bar pattern, you have wait for one revolution before you start recording (or just jump in dry 🤣)
9:34 You can use the duplicate button to duplicate the pattern instead of manually going in and pressing the 17-32 button.
This thing would really level up with some polyphony. 2 channels to kinda mimic the Tracks would be plenty right?
Yeah that'd be nice!
I've been interested in a Rhythm for a while but it would need to be a fair bit cheaper and head into impulse buy territory for me to pick up, since I already have an MPC. It seems like it has a sense of playfulness that my MPCs lack a little bit. That said I think you can sample straight to a program pad so I think with effort I could manage. I agree with everything you've said here, they really do seem like great bits of kit. I'd be particularly keen if you could set input recording to trigger on a step a la octatrack style looping just for the utility and fun factor.
+ 1 Loving it... Even if so limited...
I plan on getting one next week either this on the tracks but I'm learning towards this as with the tracks u need to use a computer to put sounds on it I can sample my other gear straight to this ..the tracks seems cool but the two synths tracks doesn't seem like much and the midi tracks seem a bit of a pain
“Add some stereo width” 😭
Iv got a couple of 303 type synths are they are good for melodic leads most people use them just for basslines but they can do alot more
Your channel is brilliant. I have a Force, MP Clive 2 :) and the tracks and rhythm..... out of the latter 2 which do you prefer? Thank you.
I think the samplers often compromise too much with sound quality, the same goes for the SP404Mk2 in my opinion
Dope!!!!
can you control the samples you've recorded using a midi keyboard?
I've been legitimately trying to justify an MPC or Elektron sampler to pair with my Tracks that I'm already addicted to. Then I see videos like this, and how can I - ?
I'm new to sampling, but can anyone share what they think on if it's worth it to spend more on a maybe more advanced machine?
The Circuit Tracks is already such a good brain and I also am using it with a Hydrasynth Explorer 💖💖💖
I’m thinking on using this sampler on my travels. Does it work standalone? Also if I bring a microphone can I record sounds on it and somehow import them to the sampler later on?
(Any links to reviews or tutorials of best way to use this sampler with an external microphone would be helpful thanks) :)
It has a 4h battery and you could also use it with a usb-c battery pack.
You can directly plug in your microphone and get samples on, or via the micro SD card.
Just got my Rhythm, very misunderstood! I believe it’s more like a Super PO33 than a SP404 MKII (kinda fits in between those two samplers). I hope Novation adds a compressor to the fx.
It has an onboard master compressor which is on by default (you can turn it off in settings)
How do u set record input levels i see ur macro knob 8 is lit up on the sample rec menu i can figure out how to do it so i can set the levels could u tell me plz...edit iv figured it out I updated my unit and now I have the function to set input for samples
Might need Santa to get me one :) I have the OG Circuit and still love it. Do you have the SP404mk2? I love the easy sampling on that and effects are killer…
The fixed length thing was actually why I sold it. Or at least, it not being on there. So whenever recording acoustic instruments or other stuff, it was very finnicky getting it setup right to fit into the beat
Now there is the new firmware that fixes this 💪
Could I assign tap tempo to a midi foot switch and change bpm on the fly live ??
so it takes in a stereo sound and samples it as summed mono, is that correct? otherwise, why would there be stereo inputs?
JAJAJAJAAAA...JAJAJAJAJAAA...ANIMO CON ALEGRIAS...VERY GOOD...
How do you control the audio signal you are putting into the sampler? For clipping, level, etc.....
Gotta do it from the device you're sampling. You can go from 0db to -12db on the Circuit in case you need more of a buffer. Also it auto normalizes all sampled audio after recording.
Why mono though?!
I can work with 80-90% machine - I just would need something else to sequence it
good stuff!
when another sample plays next it just cuts off and click sounds, it doesn't blend nicely when you play samples in a sequence..
Great video - has helped me finalise my decision that I want one of these to sit next to my Circuit OG 🙂
Incidentally, some of the observations (frustrations) in the video and the comments are addressed in this one minute video from Novation th-cam.com/video/CTARkocWyfA/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=Novation
Specifically hot recording levels, sample length, auto-record based on threshold, sample start time, etc.
I'm loving the move away from staring at a screen to "get creative". These groove boxes suit my way of writing. DAWless is a little silly to me - it's not like it makes you more of a man or more of a musician just because your setup is a certain way. How you create is what's important. I'm happy to not have to turn on a USB device and *hope* it works the way it did last time I switched it on... and forced updates can bite me.
Sorry, went off on one there. Thanks again for the video - very informative and extremely useful with the hands-on demonstration.
Gavin McInnes does a great review on Circuit Rythm. Ryan was not present though.
The proud boy?
Polyend Play kinda makes this obsolete imo, at least if you're willing to pay double
I'd agree with you more if the Play allowed for direct sampling. I have the Play and haven't talked about it on the channel yet because of the bugs in the 1.0 software. 1.1 has fixed some of my issues, but the lack of quick sampling is a real bummer for me ( I know, most people will say it's just not what it's intended for ).
@@TeftyMeems I can understand that, fair opinion. For my use cases sampling direct always seemed a bit redundant, it's usually faster just to clip something from an audio interface. The original firmware was definitely buggy as hell though, the live playing mode just didn't work as intended at all.
I love it, but it just doesn’t sound good
DOPE!
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