Novation Circuit - Valiant

Published on Feb 29, 2020 Payton Carter

"It's been a while since I've played with the Circuit. I downloaded the Team Novation pack, hooked up an external MIDI keyboard, and sat down for a couple hours with the goal of just finishing a song. This is what came out of that session. Make sure to check out the tutorial if you want to see how I made this track.

All audio is coming from the Circuit, recorded straight into the Canon 80D. Mastering with Ozone Element 8."

Novation Circuit - Tutorial - How I made my track, "Valiant"

Published on Feb 29, 2020 Payton Carter

"I've had lots of requests for another tutorial, so I thought I would make one for my track 'Valiant'. This video goes through how I arrange tracks, why polyphonic synth patches are important, and how I perform the final song. If there are other parts of the workflow on the Circuit that you would like to see, let me know!"

Novation Circuit - Mainframe

Payton Carter

"Time to get back to to the Circuit! My Deluge arrives in a week, so I have to get all my unfinished projects recorded before I abandon the Circuit forever. hahaha, jkjkjk. I'll love the Circuit for the rest of my life.

All audio coming from the Circuit, minor post processing with Ozone Elements 9. Filmed on an Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mk2, Canon FD 50mm f1.8."

Novation Circuit - Firewall

Payton Carter

"This jam had some weird issue where the pad synth track was limited to 4 notes of polyphony instead of the usual 6, but only in certain patterns. If you programmed 6, notes would drop out randomly. It didn't happen until I went to record the track, which bummed me out a little. I wasn't able to resolve the problem, so if it seems like some notes are missing, that's why."

Novation Circuit - Tutorial - LFO Deep Dive

Published on Mar 5, 2020 Payton Carter

"If you liked this tutorial, consider checking out my music here! https://paytoncarter.bandcamp.com/

The Nova engine in the Circuit has some wonderfully deep modulation options. In this tutorial, we explore the LFO section of the Components editor and describe all of its parameters, try out some possible modulation options, and create a sweet synth patch!"

Payton Carter Circuit posts

It's Enough // OP-Z ambience with Valhalla Supermassive

Payton Carter

"Get my Circuit pack for free/pay-what-you-want: https://gumroad.com/l/MIDqA

Here's a little track with just the Teenage Engineering OP-Z running through the amazing free effects VST from Valhalla DSP, Supermassive. All dry synth sounds are coming from the OP-Z. I copied the audio in Reaper on four different tracks, each with a different Supermassive preset. I then did some automation of the Supermassive wet/dry level and track levels. There's also processing with Ozone Elements. I accidentally had the gain on my audio interface set super low, so apologies for the noise; let's just call it lo-fi."

Novation Circuit - Endurance

Published on Mar 7, 2020 Payton Carter

"I'm a terrible guitarist (see the end of the video), but I'm slightly less terrible when I can cut out the half-decent parts! For this jam, I noodled around on my guitar for about five minutes with some chords in mind. I then chopped up the samples in Reaper and imported them into the Circuit. I'm playing the guitar samples on drum track 4 with the sample flip feature. The synth patches are from Cuckoo's complete Circuit pack, and the drum samples are from the factory Circuit pack."

Novation Circuit - Content

video by Payton Carter

"Get my Circuit pack for free/pay-what-you-want: https://gumroad.com/l/MIDqA
Check out my music here: https://paytoncarter.bandcamp.com/

I needed to make something cheerful, so here's a loud and optimistic track using the BlankFor.ms Circuit pack."

Teenage Engineering OP-Z // Heatwave

video by Payton Carter

"Here's a quick jam I wrote on the OP-Z during a trip to Idaho."

Synthstrom Deluge - Panic - A synth darkwave jam inspired by Crystal Castles

Payton Carter

"Here's a synthpop/darkwave track on the Deluge, inspired by Crystal Castles. There are a couple of string presets toward the end of the factory patches that totally evoke Gary Numan and The Cure. I started messing around with one of those patches, and that's where this track came from.

I'm starting to warm up to the Deluge! After about a week, I'm definitely more comfortable performing in the song view. Keeping track of clips is still a little confusing, but it's easier with practice. I decided to perform this track live, instead of writing everything out in the arranger view. That definitely feels like a more organic way of writing, which I think is good for me. I'm the kind of guy that can spend an hour trying to get the automation on a filter sweep just write, so I like how performing live forces you to make decisions in real time, which can reduce the "choice paralysis" I can get when arranging a composition."

Novation Circuit + Elektron Analog Keys - Hurry

Payton Carter

"A quick, high-energy pop jam on the Novation Circuit and Elektron Analog Keys. The Circuit is doing drums, and everything else is on the Keys. Recorded via Overbridge into Reaper, with some mixing in post and mastering in Ozone Elements."

FREE Novation Circuit Pack! 32 patches, 64 samples

Payton Carter

"A collection of synth patches and samples for the Novation Circuit groovebox, focused on usability and versatility.
Get it for free (or pay-what-you-want): https://gum.co/MIDqA"

Novation Circuit - Myopia

video upload by Payton Carter

"Get my Circuit pack for free/pay-what-you-want: https://gumroad.com/l/MIDqA

Hey, it's been a while. Here's a chill little jam on the Circuit.

There are a few cuts in the video. To avoid artifacts when transitioning between sessions, I stop playback in one session, let the FX tail off, and switch to the next session. I then combine the old session FX tail and new session in post."

Novation Circuit - Summit

video by Payton Carter

"I'm using a mix of the Shawn Rudiman and my own Circuit pack."

"Get my Circuit pack for free/pay-what-you-want: https://gumroad.com/l/MIDqA"

Elektron Digitakt - Expectations (a sleepytime jam)

Published on Apr 28, 2020 Payton Carter

"I've had a difficult time lately with creative slumps and what I perceive to be musical failures. Sometimes I'll look back on my older tracks and think I haven't made anything I like in months. I've gone through buying and selling some gear with the expectation that once I get [piece of gear], it will be all I need, and then I can start making real music. In the last year, I've bought and subsequently sold a MicroFreak, OP-Z, iPad, Model D, and DeepMind; the Circuit (my first hardware) is the only one I've kept. Obviously, it's not the gear.

I'm sure many of you are like me in that there are hundreds of unfinished tracks sitting on your hard drive. Especially lately, I feel like nothing I've made meets the imaginary expectations I set for a good track. The chord progression is weak, I can't find the right bass sound, there's not enough movement or tension... I end up abandoning the project, and the only thing I gain is a little more frustration. Making music hasn't really been enjoyable lately, which makes me really sad.

Yesterday I decided I need to step back and just finish a new song, with the understanding that it doesn't need to be the greatest thing in the world. I started on this track and tried to just push through, ignoring second guesses and distractions. I've always admired Will Wiesenfeld's work as Geotic, because his music just radiates emotion. It's joyful, it's heartbreaking, it's nostalgic—not afraid to wear its heart on its sleeve. I tried to capture a similar kind of feeling in this song. It's simple and not the most interesting track in the world, but it fills me with optimism. Whatever you create, it is good enough.

On another note, the lack of stereo sampling on the Digitakt is really bumming me out more than I thought it would."

---
Some notes on that here: https://www.elektronauts.com/t/your-stereo-samples-on-the-digitakt/40089

Teenage Engineering OP-Z jam and review - 3 days, 7 patterns, and first impressions

Published on Dec 4, 2019 Payton Carter

Teenage Engineering OP-Zs on Amazon

"I got an early Christmas present two days ago. I thought I would show you some of the patterns I’ve created so far, and give a quick 'first impression' review of the Teenage Engineering OP-Z.

I’m coming from the Novation Circuit, which I’ve loved, but I was starting to feel the limitations of the two synth tracks and canned presets. I chose the OP-Z so I could expand the number of synth tracks, allow full control of the synth engines without a computer, and use its awesome, esoteric sequencing capabilities.

I’ll start off with some of the things I like. First, the synth engines sound wonderful. They are very usable and musical sounds. I’ve found myself spending less time trying to find the right sound and more time writing music, because the sounds just work in almost every context. I feel like I could use the same set of sounds across diverse genres equally well. I’m able to focus more on melody and composition, rather than sound design, which helps me be a lot more productive.

The step sequencing and punch in effects are fantastic. I haven’t used it enough yet to be comfortable using the punch in effects live, but the step components are great at adding elements of variation and surprise. You can make it so you’ll never hear the same 16-step pattern twice, but the parameters have enough constraint that it never feels chaotic (unless you want it to).

It’s super portable, and the built in battery is convenient. I’ve only had to recharge it once in the two days of use. I don’t think it’s too small to use comfortably, and it’s actually quite nice to just use it on your lap. I can fit the whole thing in my pocket easily. The buttons feel good to play.

The interface is surprisingly intuitive. It took about 2 hours to feel comfortable with the interface, and now I feel like I can perform most of the tasks without consulting the manual. I only have to reference the step component parameters every once in a while. I have an Android phone and didn’t realize until the second day that TE had just released a beta app. Honestly, I didn’t find it too useful. I prefer using it without a connected screen.

The sampling capabilities are great, especially now that you can sample directly through the microphone or USB audio. I’ve been going through my music collection on my phone and building sample packs from them right into the OP-Z. You can use samples as one shots or sources for a synth track, so the sonic capabilities are now pretty much endless.

Here are some of the things I don’t like. First, the reverb is terrible. I don’t know what TE were thinking. There’s only one reverb algorithm, and it’s very digital and harsh sounding. There’s almost no tweaking of the sound. The maximum decay time is much too short. It’s almost useless at adding large space, so I’ve found it really only works as a stereoizer. It works in some cases, but I don’t find myself using it very often.

I’m slightly concerned about build quality. I bought mine used off Reverb, and when I received it, I was disappointed to find that the encoders were popping right out. I scoured the forums and found a little Teflon thread tape around the encoders should fix the problem. It worked wonders and I haven’t had problems with that since. The back panel is a little loose. The buttons do double trigger every once in a while, which makes me worried for their longevity.

The synth engines, while great sounding, are a little limited. There’s not much tweaking of the sounds, so everything ends up sounding pretty similar. This is less of a con than I thought, because the sounds are very usable and work across many genres. I’ve always held that composition much more important than sound design, anyway.

I wish an analog of the mixer interface on the app was available on the device. You have to go to the fourth page of parameters on each track to change its volume. That’s not very practical in a live setting.

There’s no excuse for how little memory is on board. 32 Mb is just unacceptable in 2019. As great as the sampling capabilities are, there’s only room for 4 different six-second samples per synth track, so you have to pick your favorites unless you want to constantly shuffle samples back and forth from your computer.

Despite its limitations, I’m in love with this thing. It’s my desert island instrument for sure. I am super productive while using it, I can take it anywhere and make music anywhere, and it’s just plain fun to use. Mine was supposed to get wrapped and put under the Christmas tree, but I don’t think I can let that happen."

OP-Z // Cedar

video by Payton Carter

"Why even have an OP-Z if you don't make lo-fi hip hop beats to relax/study to? I downloaded some boom bap and vocal kits from op1.fun and this is a happy little tune I made with them.

Get my Circuit pack for free/pay-what-you-want: https://gumroad.com/l/MIDqA
Check out my music here: https://paytoncarter.bandcamp.com/"

Making a Dark Trap Beat with the Novation Circuit

video by Gabe Miller Music

"I show the making of a moody, dark Kid Cudi inspired hip hop / trap beat on the Novation Circuit, including dealing with packs, 808s, effects, and microsteps.
Get my $5 sample pack: https://gumroad.com/l/gabeoneshots
Payton Carter's pack: https://gumroad.com/l/MIDqA"

Making Modern Drum and Bass (Novation Circuit)

Gabe Miller Music

Get my $5 sample pack: https://gumroad.com/l/gabeoneshots
Payton Carter's pack: https://gumroad.com/l/MIDqA
The Force Truly Evil pack: https://isotonikstudios.com/product/b...

"I show the making of two drum and bass jams on the Novation Circuit, including a Monstercat / Metrik style modern banger, and some Noisia influenced grit."

Novation Circuit - Tutorial - Making a synth patch from scratch in Components

Published on Mar 1, 2020 Payton Carter

"If you liked this tutorial, consider checking out my music.
https://paytoncarter.bandcamp.com/

In this tutorial, we go over making a pad synth patch from scratch using the Novation Components editor for the Circuit. If you liked this tutorial or would like to see other topics covered, make sure to let me know in the comments!"

Elektron Analog Keys - Resolver

Payton Carter

"So I've been sitting on the Keys for quite some time now, never finding enough time to get comfortable with the Elektron sequencer. I was finally able to fill out this track, though my live performance skills are still a little sketchy!

I really dig the sound of the Analog Keys. I'm not one to jump on the analog bandwagon, but there's something about its character that's really satisfying. As just an analog poly synth, I think it's already outstanding. But if you throw in the unique sequencer, and it's an instrument in its own class. Everything in this track comes from just the Keys; four monophonic voices do everything from pads to leads to drums. How many other four voice synths can build an entire track from scratch?

Overbridge is awesome. I recorded all four tracks + FX individually over a single USB connection. This is a great improvement over just recording a stereo mix (like with the Circuit), because I can go back, change track levels, add volume automation, etc. That's what I did here, with mastering in Ozone Elements 9.

My only complaint is that the tiny screen is awful. The low resolution graphics are actually surprisingly good at displaying all the necessary information, but the screen itself has no contrast, terrible viewing angles, and a very slow response rate. Trying to view the screen while its perched up on a desk is a total pain. I'd kill to put the recent Elektron OLEDs in the Keys.

The process of building a drum track with sound locks was initially quite tedious, but it's been made much easier thanks to a recent software update that allows you to press a trigger + Yes to preview a step (thanks @Ivar Tryti !)"

Novation Circuit - Autonomy

Payton Carter

"This one's somewhere between the TRON: Legacy soundtrack and Oneohtrix Point Never. I'm using a couple of patches here that I'll be putting in an upcoming Circuit pack!

You'll notice a whole bunch of cuts in the video when switching between sessions. Normally, the synth patches are saved as part of the session, so even if they aren't part of the 64 patches currently on the Circuit, the patches associated with the session will play just fine. But there seems to be a bug: if you try and switch sessions without first pausing the Circuit, the patch doesn't actually switch, and it just maintains the last patch. This doesn't happen if you pause the Circuit, switch sessions, then play again. I made these patches in the Components editor as I was writing the song, so they weren't actually saved as presets. Because of that, when I want to switch sessions, I have to pause the session, wait for the FX to tail off, and then start the next session. I edited the audio and video to make the transitions seamless.

Check out my music here - https://paytoncarter.bandcamp.com/'