#1

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2016/09/07/synthstrom-audible-intros-deluge-sequencer-synthesizer-sampler/

i’m gonna have a hands on tonight!

any thoughts? or is everybody using an octatrack??

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#2

nope. never bought an octatack ultimately, although i was close a few times.
always seemed a bit too cryptic and hard to use.
interested in hearing about the deluge after your hands on.

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#3

well the octatrack needs to be either filled with samples but strange enough that you cant see a grid when you program, or record live, but the samples which i would not use after a live performance again.

will try to report with pictures as this is apparently the final hardware

#4

so a small roundup:
first, the final machine hardware has 8 rows of 16 steps and on the right side there is a 8 row 2 step dedicated to functions like record/mute/prelisten/select or just plain trigger samples. once the the grid is running, you’ll have to select sounds and place them into your composition. the hardware grid looks and feels exactly like a monome. the velocity is programed like in a lot of monome seq apps. select a step and choose a velocity via grid. there are dedicated endless knobs for most functions. the sequencer is quite powerful. focus mode lets you swiftly programm 1/64ths, clone, transpose single elements-whats demanded of a modern sequencer, but no crazy things like resets or reverse that can be had in a lot of analogue modules nowadays. each row can have effects (a new software update should give effects for individual steps) but the amount of effects and chain in which they affect each other are static and sometimes of not very good quality. the sidechain is impressive, distortion is not at all. knob motion can be recorded and edited- say, have the filter curve play panorama.
the synth is very basic but kind of ok, if i had a deluge i wouldnt be using it. the audio engine sounds really clean though. i guess with the right samples this can be really great sounding-we had the usual suspects of drumsounds, but you realised quickly that with personalised samples this can be very fun!
the deluge is capable of being a very cool drone machine! bpms go from zero to 9999…giving you instant timestretch madness. you could a have normal song going and transform it into madness within seconds.
all in all theres a few ideas from everywhere well put together and it all depends on the software thats inside it. another thing thats cool: you can have as many rows/effects/samples as you have RAM. once RAM is full and you still want to use samples etc. deluge will begin taking out samples that have been used first-so, dont start with a bassdrum hahaha i dont know how this is going to make any sense, but as said, its all in programming the OS.

really impressive is the hardware! slim, light, small but still big enough to get down live. the prototype (not the final version) has a powerful way of completely customizing all LED colors and behaving of these.
chargeable battery, a tiny speaker and a tiny microphone-this thing is so small that you can program your livegig in airplanes!

4 Likes
#5

Thanks for the update! I’m excited to see how this progresses

#6

I’m curious – I don’t think any new sampler has gotten things quite right. The octatrack is still the front runner, but (imho) is a really mess; Elektron keeps innovating on software and jamming it all in pretty much the exact same box, with that same tiny screen. bla bla… its debatable but I think Elektron left room for better machines with it’s funky workflow, for better or worse. – They did absolutely nail it with the fader, and scene workflow, its nothing short of amazing and that trumps the rest for most people imho.

A new sampler has to be easy to use and all the rest of it – but it will never dethrone the Octatrack if they don’t innovate beyond the standard push button sequencers. Is there anything about the Deluge that’s pushing the envelope in this way?

#7

yes this the true winner with the octatrack. you can do the same things on the deluge with a real nice pot.
its basically the same Dilemma with new Software updates being slammed into Hardware with the deluge as well.

i’d say its easier to use than the octatrack but then theres no sample display either…the display on both machines are a joke, unless you preprogram heavily…

one Thing i never heard with an octatrack (probably possible tho) is how fast the deluge can turn your tune in an absolute drone mess-and back to normal

i think the most cool Thing about the deluge is its portabillity, you can literally stash it into your backpack and jam away anywhere

1 Like
#8

Thanks for the heads up. This looks like an interesting bit of kit.

#9

With octatrack if you use parts you can get mangle crazy and jump back to normal if that’s what you meant.

#10

It’s certainly a pretty looking bit of kit

Deluge.jpg2180×1370 2.24 MB

1 Like
#11

fully agree.
will definitely watch the videos and more info coming out next week.

#12

Another nod to the grid here. This looks, on paper, to be really nice. Piano roll editor, FM and subtractive synthesis, sample player, CV outs. Pre-order (non rush) price of around OP-1 money. In fact, I think I’ve convinced myself. Op1 for sale in other thread.

http://www.synthstrom.com/delugeorder.html

The intro videos are not exactly stunning musically, but he does manage to show what the machine is capable of. Which seems rare these days.

1 Like
#13

Manual online for the curious…

#14

This thing looks real interesting, love the way pattern zooming and triplets are handled on the grid. The song view seems smart too. The one thing throwing me is the lack of CC sequencing (though they mentioned it may be added later). Maybe everyone else is thinking samples but I’m thinking MIDI :slight_smile:

#15

More of these are going up for sale in 5 minutes (at 8:00PM EST) https://synthstrom.com/product/deluge/?v=aaa8229d6fea

#16

These are available once again.

I have to say, I am really enjoying mine - for live use. Love the sequencer, and it’s easy to tweak parts and add / subtract stuff on the fly. The save behavior is really smart and makes it easy to save pattern variations as you go. You can load patterns and songs without a hiccup.

For studio, I’m having a bit of trouble, because of the limited I/O. If it had more midi outs (via USB virtual ports?) I’d probably use it as my main sequencer. More audio outs and I’d be more comfortable with having it do more heavy lifting. As is, it’s more like a really well-done Electribe / OP-1 type thing than a serious studio tool, for myself anyways. Grab some inspiration, take it back to the studio, and reassign parts to other devices for the final mix. Of course, if you’re happy just recording the stereo mix coming out, more power to you.

The sample engine itself sounds good - better than I remember the Octatrack sounding - and some multisampling capabilities are scheduled for the next SW release, which is great.

3 Likes
#17

Love mine, great bit of kit and integrates pretty well with the modular.

Using it like I always thought I’d use the Octatrack… Sequencing modular, sampling, mangling of samples, generating soundscapes.

I’m starting to get the hang of the arrangement view and flipping in and out of that. Love the battery powered nature of it - this and a field recorder and a 0 Coast running on a battery all in a field somewhere is the dream for me!

Like to hear some others’ use cases for the Deluge. How do you integrate it with your modular? Has it replaced all other sequencers? Anyone using it successfully with Rene or other touch controllers?

#18

Bump.

Ive talked to @sarmism a bit, who helped push me over the edge - and now my new deluge arrives on Wednesday.

Do we have any other owners here? Would love some starting out tips, etc.

#19

The looping feature is going to be interesting, especially for live use. I’m wondering how it will integrate with the arrange view which has definitely become my go to page…

#20

im pretty excited about that. Ive played with looping a bit on the organelle, but it looks like the deluge will actually be a pretty robust looping platform that could be a ton of fun.