Metro - Trance Jam - Circuit Tracks Only Live Performance

video upload by Yarune Music

"Experience a dawless trance jam created entirely on the Novation Circuit Tracks. This track, titled 'Metro', is a live jam inspired by the rhythm and atmosphere of the Amsterdam and Munich underground systems. Pulsing basslines and clubby trance grooves come together in this one-take performance — no DAW, no edits, just raw electronic music.

I love creating with the Circuit Tracks, letting ideas flow without a screen. This performance is part of my ongoing exploration of dawless production and live electronic jamming.

If you enjoy synth jams, hardware grooves, and live trance performances, hit like and subscribe — I'll promise to create more jams for you! 🎶

Thanks for listening and watching.
— Yarune"

Acperience 1/Hardfloor (Circuit Tracks & Roland T-8 version)

video upload by Guinan

"1992's 'Acperience 1' by the German duo Hardfloor is almost peak 303 acid house. I've used the Novation Circuit Tracks with the ‪@IsotonikStudios‬ soundpack RB 303 by Yves Big City ‪@bigcitymastering‬ to emulate 2 of the 3 TB-303s used. The final pattern comes from the Roland T-8 drum machines emulation synced with the Tracks and feeding into the audio in..

The high string synth note was created on the Tracks and sampled so it could be played back on a drum pad.

Everything you hear was programmed and played live on these two machines and the mixed audio was recorded straight from the Tracks output."

And the original:


video upload by HRDFLR

This might be the best Novation Circuit track yet!

video upload by Guinan

"It started out as a bit of a challenge but in the end turned out better than I hoped.

Everything you hear was programmed on the Tracks synth (and if required, sampled into the Rhythm). Only the drums and vocals are samples from elsewhere and the whole thing is played back on the two machines and recorded (without any extra synths or effects)."

Valley Of The Shadows/Origin Unknown (Circuit Tracks Version)

video upload by Guinan

"'We need Jungle I'm afraid'.....this weeks track is the highly influential jungle track 'Valley Of The Shadows' by Origin Unknown released first in 1993."

"Funnily enough I had this CD for years and didn't have a sampler! (I couldn't lay my hands on it for the video but had a copy in my 'archive'). It was a lot of fun to assemble this very simple track from the ingredients and only a small amount of artistic licence was required to fit it into the Tracks.

As you can hear there are no drum machine samples in this...the 'Drum' section is used entirely to play back samples and loops. The samples were edited and time stretched to work in the track at 160Bpm. The arpeggiated section was prepared as 3 samples (2 of which had the extra pitch shifted repeat of the arpeggio).

Synth 1 - single oscillator sine wave with a touch of distortion to fatten it up
Synth 2 - detuned sine waves on 2 oscillators with heavy phaser effects applied.

Drum 2 - '31 seconds' NASA sample from FM Disk 1, 'Long Dark Tunnel' sample from Youtube.
Drum 3 - 'Think' loop from FM CD, with occasional 2nd variation and chopped 2nd half of loop.
Drum 4 - time stretched and pitch shifted arpeggiated loops from FM CD.

Almost entirely based on sounds from a CD free with the first issue of the magazine, Future Music. It also features a sample from a BBC TV documentary about near-death experiences. Countless tracks from the next few years were based on this one CD as bedroom producers hungrily reused the samples creatively.

(I found it here too - enjoy!
https://archive.org/details/the-futur... )

If you've ever heard it, the '31 Seconds' and 'I felt like I was in a long dark tunnel' samples are especially memorable with the deep sub bass.

This was all programmed and played on a single Circuit Tracks. No additional synths or effects were used."

The guide here tells you step-by-step how to recreate this track. Thanks ‪@newbreakscom5050‬:

CLICK FOR MORE »

Make 'Rhythm' Your 'Slave'!

video upload by Guinan

"How to use your Novation Circuit Rhythm as a 'slave' device to a Novation Circuit Tracks acting as the 'master'. Use your MIDI1 and MIDI2 tracks to sequence sampled instruments or drums on the Circuit Rhythm."

Maniac/Michael Sembello (Circuit Tracks Version)

video upload by Guinan

"Feeling a yearning for a bit of LinnDrum action I loaded up a bunch of samples and it occurred to me to try this song - a bit of a musical 'guilty pleasure' as it has such a distinctive rhythm. I put the song on, donned my legwarmers and had a bit of a 'spin' around the room to the track in my best 'Flashdance' impression. Straight away it became apparent it shouldn't be possible to do it on the Tracks as it has too many tracks. Bass, electric piano chords, arpeggio, melody...and a distinctive 80's guitar solo! Not to be deterred I shrank it down as much as I could and used the layering and extra voices hacks I've talked about elsewhere * and what you hear is the end result.

It was a fun challenge and I hope you enjoy the end result. All you hear was programmed into a single Circuit Tracks and played 'live' just recording the audio outs.

More details for synth nerds

The excellent ‪@CaptainPikant‬ had a great video breaking down how the rhythm track was constructed so I largely followed this guide.

• MANIAC - The most INSANE drum pattern of t... [below]

BPM 155bpm
Synth 1 - mono bass synth
Synth 2 - 'piano'ish patch playing chords, arepeggio and melody lines (at different velocities/ranges)
Drum 1- LM1 bass drum
Drum 2 - LM1 snare and sidestick
Drum 3 - LM1 hihats and combined HH and fake guitar (see below)
Drum 4 - LM1 cowbell and clap

The 'guitar' is faked I'm sorry. My lead guitar skills are not up to this (I did try!) and my friendly local 'shredder' was busy. I used instead the Native Instruments Electric Sunburst plug in instrument to fake a short solo and drenched it in guitar effects. I recorded to 4 bar loops with the hihat pattern duplicated along with them and then triggered the samples at the right moment on the hihat track."

MANIAC - The most INSANE drum pattern of the '80s | Drum Patterns Explained

video upload by Captain Pikant

"The drum pattern of Michael Sembello's 'Maniac' is positively insane. It's what you'd get if you made a Synthwave drum track, decided it wasn't complex enough, glitched it up with a tiny dash of Aphex Twin and then put a second drum track on top of that with over a dozen Tom fills for good measure. Pure '80s maximalism with two of the most iconic drum sounds of that era."

And the original:


video upload by Maniac

Syd and I – Milan Metro (Live at Lumen Labs) | Electronic Music Performance, 2025

video upload by Saul Stokes - Frequensea

Featuring suporting member Saul Stokes aka Frequensea with a Novation Circuit Tracks.

"Syd and I, performing live at Lumen Labs in Berkeley, August 2nd, 2025. Milan Metro should find itself on streaming platforms in the next month. One of the things I have been working with Syd on is to have her perform the song a few times before singing in the studio. This allows her to get comfortable with her voice articulations and lyric memorization prior to studio recording. Currently, I feel like Milan Metro is the most original piece of music we've done so far. A nice yin and yang of a younger life perspective, combined with my lengthy background in instrumental electronic music. I hope you enjoy.

Unfortunately, we had a second GoPro connected to the main mixer outs to record some really nice audio. The battery ran out very quickly, so we're stuck with the GoPro's internal mic. Not terrible, but could have been better.

Our first EP as well as some singles:

📀 Apple Music – / syd-and-i
🎧 Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/artist/03OJQ...
💿 Bandcamp – https://saulstokes.bandcamp.com/album...
📸 Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/syd_and_i/p..."

Circuit Tracks, Peak & J-6 Ambient Jam

video upload by Blossom Bisquits

"Dive into a hypnotic sonic journey with 'Polyrhythmic Meditations,' an immersive ambient synth jam featuring the Novation Circuit Tracks, Novation Peak, and Roland J-6. This session explores vast soundscapes, evolving textures, and deep, resonant harmonies, crafted live with a focus on interweaving polyrhythmic patterns to transport you to a state of serene contemplation. Let the intricate and evolving rhythms and atmospheric pads wash over you, perfect for focus, relaxation, or simply getting lost in sound."

Packs, Projects, Scenes, and Patterns on Circuit Tracks and Circuit Rhythm

video upload by Novation

"In this video, Dylan combines Circuit Tracks and Circuit Rhythm to experiment with a beat, showing you how to pair our Circuit grooveboxes to work together seamlessly. He talks through packs, patterns, launching scenes and organising your projects on both our Circuits. Dylan explains everything you need to know to get creative with your Novation Circuit groovebox and how to get the Tracks and Rhythm working together in sync with each other.

Chapters:
00:00 - Using packs, projects, patterns and scenes on Circuit Tracks and Circuit Rhythm
00:57 - How to connect Circuit Tracks and Circuit Rhythm together
01:43 - Using packs to organise on Circuit Track and on Circuit Rhythm
02:46 - Using projects as sections on Circuit Tracks and on Circuit Rhythm
04:57 - Modifying projects on the fly with Circuit Tracks and Circuit Rhythm
07:06 - Using Circuit Track and Circuit Rhythm together in a DAWless setup
08:05 - Performing a track on Circuit Track and Circuit Rhythm"

https://novationmusic.com

Lady (Hear Me Tonight)/Modjo (Circuit Tracks Version).

video upload by Guinan

"'Lady' by French house group Modjo was released in 2000 and comes very much from the Daft Punk/Ed Banger school of French dance music. It is (like many of Daft Punk's songs) built round the choice of a killer sample - this time 'Soup For One' from disco band Chic. Even 2nd tier Chic songs are fabulous in my book and this track plucks out the few essential seconds of the Chic track and makes a feature of them.

A shout out again to ‪@hansotto8563‬ for suggesting this as a future track - sorry it took so long!

All you hear was programmed and sequenced on the Circuit Tracks and recorded straight from the audio out. This is an edit as I was running out of pattern space. I'll go back and redo it with a combination version with the Circuit Rhythm but for now I hope you enjoy this version.

Synth 1 - bass
Synth 2 - v-sync 'piano'-like patch playing chords and melody.
Drums - 909 samples and 3 edited Chic loops from 'Soup For One'"

Testone/Sweet Exorcist (Circuit Tracks Version)

video upload by Guinan

"This weeks bonus track is another slice of moody 1989 UK Bleep Techno from Sweet Exorcist (actually one half of the electronic punk band Cabaret Voltaire). I was listening to this as I did the LFO song" [posted here - additional posts here]

Sweet Exorcist - Testone (Official Video)

video upload by Abstructure

"Official Video by: Jarvis Cocker"

Getting glitchy with Pattern Mutate on Circuit Tracks

video upload by Novation

"In this video, Dylan takes you inside a spontaneous session on Circuit Tracks, starting with a simple melodic phrase and building it into a full groove with drums, bass, and evolving textures. Along the way, he showcases Pattern Mutation, a creative tool for transforming loops into something fresh and expressive. It’s a hands-on look at how small ideas can grow into dynamic musical moments and be used for creating transitions, perfect for producers looking to break out of repetitive patterns and unlock new inspiration."

Chapters: 00:00 - How to use Pattern Mutate on Circuit Track
00:47 - Making a basic beat on Circuit Tracks
01:45 - Duplicating and mutating Patterns on Circuit Tracks
03:12 - Chaining patterns together on Circuit Tracks
03:48 - Mutating a melodic pattern with Circuit Tracks
05:05 - Making and mutating a bass part on Circuit Tracks
06:46 - Putting all the parts of a track together with Circuit Tracks

https://us.novationmusic.com

LFO/LFO (Circuit Tracks Version)

video upload by Guinan

"This week’s track is a version of the classic 1988 Warp records release ‘LFO’ by the UK Leeds band, LFO. Seen at the time as part of a genre then known as ‘bleep techno’ it was characterised by hard, uncompromising electronic minimalist industrial techno tracks such as this.

I’m hoping I’m not the only one who remembers and loves this track! If you like this try and find 'Testone/Sweet Exorcist' in a similar style - possibly one for a future cover too.

More details for synth nerds

I already had some ‘Speak & Spell’ samples I’d downloaded years ago so this was a great starting point. I had separate samples for the “L”, “F’ and “O” and I thought it would be fun to throw in one of the starting noises the toy makes when switched on. The same toy is featured on Kraftwerk’s ‘Computer World’ album so the sound will be a familiar one.

The main chord sequence comes from a Kawai K1 preset patch. Luckily there is a free fantastic software synth emulation of this keyboard available online so I was able to create a sample for the repeating chords. The emulator can be downloaded from the following page,
https://www.nilsschneider.de/wp/categ...
I’d encourage you to leave a donation for the author if you find this emulator useful.

All of these samples are sequenced alternately on the Drum 4 track.
There is a single repeating rhythm pattern using 909 samples played on Drum 1-3.
Synth 1 plays an FM-sounding bass patch, and Synth 2 is a representation of the staccato bleep sound (a small amount of pitch envelope helps recreate the original sound). Add lots of reverb and voila!"

Says (Version)/Nils Frahm - Circuit Tracks Version.

video upload by Guinan

"I was lucky enough to see Nils Frahm on his latest tour and this is my favourite of his compositions. Whilst listening to the track build on his stack of vintage synths and keyboards (notably a Roland Juno for the main arpeggio) it occurred to me (perhaps over-ambitiously) to have an attempt at seeing how this would sound on the Circuit Tracks.

The track may be familiar to some from the 'Ad Astra' movie soundtrack (might be the best thing about the movie?!). • Says - Nils Frahm Scene Part 2 | Ad Astra ... [below]

This time the limit was definitely not the Circuit hardware but more my own musical ability. Without a score, (and discovering that many of the versions online seem to be semi-improvised) I was left with slowing down the track until I could identify individual notes and program them in in step time….add to that the fact that the track has enormous amounts of tape echo which he manipulates in real-time.

I came to the conclusion that at best I could try and create my own ‘version’ inspired by his original. This should be viewed as a reinterpretation and not a strict cover (and I did put a rhythm track on it too). I’ve since found other Youtubers playing versions of these but they mainly go for very simple arpeggios and I was aiming to try and capture some of the complexity of the other ‘layers’ played.

Imagine this composition then as the simplified version Nils might create for his first Café Del Mar set armed only with a Circuit Tracks…..and after someone had removed his ability to play the piano ;)
I hope some of you like it…I loved attempting this electronica classic and hope you enjoy the end result.

Everything you hear is just the Circuit Tracks. No extra synths or effects."

Says - Nils Frahm Scene Part 2 | Ad Astra (1080p)

video upload by Favorite Scenes

Novation Circuit Rhythm Editor - VST and Standalone Version

video upload by mller30161

Editor Homepage: https://circuit-midi-editor.jimdo.com

"The 'Circuit Rhythm Editor' is a VST / Standalone - Controller for the Novation "Circuit Rhythm" sampler and drum machine.

Editor Features:

It is perfect to integrate the Circuit Rhythm into your DAW.

You can control and mixing the Sessions, change and create new sounds "on the fly".- It provides a simple access to all important parameters.

The Plug-In allows you to set the hardware easily and automated the controller movement from the DAW, they can be stored in your Project.- With the X-Y-Pad any controller can be selected and controlled.

You have an overview of all 8 tracks.

The parameter can be changed on the 'Circuit Rhythm Editor', and stored on Circuit Rhythm Hardware.


The Editor are available for:

PC: As VST2 and Standalone for 32bit and VST2, VST3 and Standalone for 64bit Windows.

MAC: As VST2, VST3, AU and Standalone, compatible with MAC Intel and Silicon."

Pacific State/808 State - (Circuit Tracks Version)

video upload by Guinan

"This week’s track is another favourite Hacienda club track. This time from 1989 by the group 808 State (thanks again to Yves Big City @bigcitymastering for inspiring this series).

The original was actually recorded in January 1988 as a reply to the emerging Chicago House scene ‘Pacific State’ has been released in a number of guises. Sometimes just called ‘Pacific,’ others times being labelled numerically after other Roland machines eg. 707, 202. This version is a bit of an amalgamation of a few versions.

Worth noting too that Gerald Simpson ('A Guy Called Gerald') was originally one of the founding members of 808 State before leaving to start his solo career with 'Voodoo Ray'.

I was inspired to cover this after recently acquiring a copy of the Emulator II library disks (to recreate the Kraftwerk track, 'Tour De France' [posted here].
Among these disks, Disk 22 is entitled ‘Loon Garden’. Cited by many as the original source of the ‘Loon’ bird sample we all know and love, it also features a ‘shakahuchi’ sample familiar to anyone who’s ever heard ‘Sledgehammer’ by Peter Gabriel and is a historic piece of sound design. Once you’ve heard these samples you can’t help but hear them across the whole spectrum of popular music. If anyone knows who originally recorded these original samples (also in the Akai S900 library) please leave a comment?

As I started piecing this together I found this excellent video by @CaptainPikant
• Analyzing PACIFIC STATE - How to make clas... [embedded below]
which elegantly detailed the rhythm patterns used. I simplified these somewhat to fit the drum tracks into just 2 tracks to allow room for Sax and Sound Effects tracks (see below).

There is a small snatch of sampled 'sax' played on Logic sampler to fill in for the original sax solo played by Graham Massey from the band but otherwise everything was programmed and played on the Circuit Tracks. No extra synths or FX were used and the audio is recorded straight out of the stereo outs.

I hope you enjoy this track as much as I did putting it together and check back soon for more.

More details for synth nerds.

The bass patch was programmed into Synth 1 to serve as both bass and melody line. The pad sound on Synth 2 is yet another detuned sawtooth pad with chorus, but rolled off with a 24dB low pass filter to create a sound a bit more like the original Juno (said to have been sampled as a chord into a Casio FZ1 sampler).

The drum sounds are a mixture of various 909,707 and 727 Roland drum machine samples from the Reverb Drum Machines collection (normalised and filtered where required).

The Sax sound was played using the sampler instrument in Logic (and is just a preset). The 3 edited phrases were placed onto Drum pad slots and triggered using Drum 3 when required.

Another sample was a ‘bell’ patch created on the Tracks but sampled as a ‘glissando’ to double up the glissando played on the pad on Synth 2, as a break between sections of the song.

Finally Drum 4 was reserved for water and ‘Loon’ sound effects (plus additional 727 rhythm). Did you know the Loon is actually a Canadian diving aquatic bird somewhat like a duck and not at all exotic!

The tracks were as follows;
125BPM, Swing 59%
Synth 1 – bass and melody
Synth 2 – chorused pad chords
Drum 1 – 707 bass drum
Drum 2 – Hihat, Open Hat, Clap and Ride samples.
Drum 3 – Sampled sax lines (and Tracks synth 'bell' glissando sample in break)
Drum 4 – Sound effects, alternating with 727 percussion sampled bongo and muted conga sounds."

Analyzing PACIFIC STATE - How to make classic 909 Ambient House beats | Drum Patterns Explained

video upload by Captain Pikant

"Join us as we analyze and rebuild the unique rhythm of 808 State's timeless Ambient House classic layer by layer."

0:00 Introduction
0:46 Pattern 1
2:54 Loon
4:27 Pattern 2
5:26 Percussion Layer
6:22 One-Shot Patterns
6:49 End Jam

Digitakt 2 + Circuit Tracks + Novation Peak

video uploads by DJ Roommate

Playlist:

1. Digitakt 2 + Circuit Tracks + Novation Peak - progressive/chill/house

This has been my favorite setup to play live with so far. Subscribe for more electronic jams if you dig it!

Digitakt is on drum duty, Circuit is playing the bass and accent synth, Peak is playing the main chord progression.

2. Digitakt 2 and friends - house/chill jam

Another track from this batch of jams

Digitakt is on drum duty, Circuit is playing the bass and accent synth, Peak is playing the main chord progression.

3. Circuit Tracks and Friends - upbeat house jam

Digitakt 2, Circuit Tracks, and Peak coming together in a tight little setup.

Teardrop/Massive Attack (Circuit Rhythm Version)

video upload by Guinan

"This week’s track is the ever wonderful ‘Teardrop’ by Massive Attack. Time to light a few candles, run a hot bath and get ready to chill out…..

I first attempted a version of this a couple of years ago in Logic after seeing the excellent breakdown by @GyuBeats . See his video here; • MASSIVE ATTACK - Teardrop - How Was It Mad...

Try as I might I still haven’t perfected this, but I thought it would be fun to do a ‘proper’ version using the Novation Circuit Rhythm. I’ve chopped and loaded as many phrases from the accappella version of the track as I could fit in the sample memory of the Rhythm. I think the Liz Fraser vocal is what makes 'Teardrop' so special. You can find the vocal track here (not sure how ‘official’ as it claims to be though)… • Massive Attack - Teardrop Official Acapell...

Everything you hear was programmed into the Circuit Rhythm and played live without any extra effects or synths.

I hope you enjoy my recreation (and on a Circuit Rhythm for a change). Check back soon for more tunes.

More details for synth nerds.

CLICK FOR MORE »

Create your own epic synth patches on Circuit Tracks with Components

video upload by Novation

"Discover Circuit Tracks here - https://bit.ly/_Circuit_Tracks

In this video, Dylan creates synth sounds and patchs with the Circuit Tracks using Components. This video explores just a fraction of what Circuit Track's powerful synth engine can do and the creative possibilities available within the Circuit workflow."

Chapters:
00:00 - Crafting synth sounds with Circuit Tracks
00:32 - Making a Patch in Components with Circuit Tracks
01:18 - Patch browsing and Macro layouts with Circuit Tracks
02:44 - Mapping the hardware Macro knobs on Circuit Tracks
04:25 - Create further mappings on Circuit Tracks
05:22 - Using the Patch in a tune
06:51 - Send Patch to Circuit, record a Pattern
08:17 - Final beat performance on Circuit Tracks


Watch more Circuit Tracks videos ▶

Tour De France/Kraftwerk - (Circuit Tracks & Rhythm Version)

video upload by Guinan

"I was listening to the 50th Anniversary version of the album, ‘Autobahn’ by Kraftwerk and it occurred to me to have a try at one of their tracks.

By far the most danceable of theirs is the 1983 song ‘Tour De France’ with the 2003 Francois Kevorkian mix the best fit for the Circuit Tracks treatment. It also should be noted that the band were complete cycling fanatics even hosting some of their concerts in velodromes!

With the real Tour De France just about to kick off (5th July in Lille) I couldn’t think of a more suitable track, and I want to dedicate this with love to my cycling-loving father-in-law, Bernard.

Having influenced early 80’s electro music such as Afrika Bambaataa’s ‘Planet Rock’ the influences went in the other direction for this track. Hiring the famous New York electro producer Kevorkian to do the remix made for a fantastic combination. Francois was responsible for many of the greatest New York electro productions and remixes.

(a big shout out too to anyone who's here because they love the broom scene from the movie, 'Breakdance' !)

This era of Kraftwerk was notable in introducing sampling to the normally analogue instrumentation they used. For this reason, I’ve drafted in my Circuit Rhythm again in the same way as my recent version of Robert Mile’s ‘Children’. See here;

• Children/Robert Miles - (Novation Circuits... [posted here]

Everything you hear is coming from just these two machines (Circuit Tracks & Rhythm). The Tracks is programmed with the musical parts and is playing the Rhythm on two tracks. There are in addition some rhythm tracks playing on this machine to thicken out the sound. No other synths were used (apart from the sampled instruments mentioned below) and you’re hearing the straight audio direct out from the machines.

I loved the challenge of putting this together (see below for details!)
I hope you enjoy it too and check in soon for more tunes.

CLICK FOR MORE »