The Synths

Playing a Synth

Synth 1 and 2 operate identically. The only difference is the colour of the pads (violet and green)

Selecting Synth 1 or 2 and then Note places the grid in Note View for the selected synth.

• The two lower rows of the grid constitute the keyboard, while the two upper rows are the 16 steps of the pattern.
• With the exception of the chromatic scale, pads 17 and 32 are identical.
• The synth has a total range of 10 octaves.

Expanded Note View

To obtain a keyboard with a wider range, hold down Shift and press Note. This activates Expanded Note View, and replaces the two upper rows with two higher octaves of the selected scale.

• Alternatively, press Note when alreay in Note View to toggle between Note View and Expanded Note View.

Scales

Both scale and root note are set using the Scales View, accessed by pressing the Scales button.

• The top half of the grid is the keynote selection screen and represents the 12 keys of a keyboard (with exception to the chromatic scale 32). The bottom half are the white keys and the top half are the black keys.
  • The brightly lit pads are those that belong to the selected scale, the dim ones are the notes that don't belong. 
• The bottom half of the grid is the scale selection screen.
  • When you select the chromatic scale, the pads turn into a keyboard that fills an entire octave up in the bottom half
  • Expanded Note View in chromatic scale will give you two octaves of keyboards.

Root Note

The default root note for all scales is C. To change the root note, simply select it from the top half of the scales Scales View for a given scale.

• The same principle can be applied to re-scale the synth note pads in the Note Views to any desired root key.
• You can change the keynote to transpose the notes, as well as the scale itself. The Novation Circuit Tracks will make an intelligent decision for any notes that don't fit in the transition to the new scale.

Selecting Patches

Both of the two synth tracks can use up to 128 patches. They are arranged as four pages of 32 in Patch View.

• To open Patch View for the currently selected synth, press Preset. 
• You can select other pages by using the v and ^ buttons. Note: the brightness of v and ^ button symbols change to indicate which page you're on.
• To selected a different Patch, press its pad. The pad corresponding to the currently selected patch will be illuminated white.
  • You can change the Patch while a Pattern is running, but the transition may not be smooth. Changing the Patch does not alter the Patch originally saved with the Pattern, unless the Project is re-saved.
• You can use Components to load Patches onto Circuit Tracks.

Patch Preview

You can hear what the Patches sound like while in Patch View by using the Patch Preview feature.

• Patch Preview takes into account the current Scale and Root Note setting when auditioning a patch.
• If you hold down Shift while pressing a pad in Patch View, Preview is disabled; this may be desirable in a live performance when you know which patch you're using and don't need to hear it on selection.
  • Patch Preview is disabled when Circuit Tracks is in Record Mode and playback is active.

External Patch Select

Synth Patches may also be recalled from an external MIDI controller by sending Circuit Tracks MIDI Program Change (PGM) messages:

• The default MIDI channels are Channel 1 (synth 1) and Channel 2 (Synth 2), though MIDI channels may be reassigned in Setup View. (Although the default setting, Circuit Tracks must be set to receive Program Change messages)
  • There is more information on this in the Circuit Track Programmer's Reference Guide.

Each of the factory Patches available for each synth can have up to four of its parameters “tweaked” by each Macro control to alter the sound. The primary function of each Macro is indicated below the knob, but the audible effect of any adjustment will depend on the source Patch itself. Each Macro has an EGB LED below the knob, which illuminates in either violet or pale green according to which synth is selected. 

• The rotary controls are endless, so the LEDS provide an indication of the parameter view via the LED's brightness.
• Macros can be varied by an external MIDI controller via MIDI cc data.

If Record Mode is active, the LEDs change to red as soon as the knob is turned, and parameter variations will be recorded to the Project.

Recording a synth pattern in real time

• Shift + Clear - Turns on and off the metronome (click track).

You can start real-time recording by either entering Note View (or Expanded Note View) pressing Play + Record. The step cursor (normally white) will change to red and progresses through the pattern at a given BPM. Pressing Record a second time will stop recording.

• Synth 1 and 2 have a polyphony of six notes.

The Record button has a dual action available: If you hold the button down for more than half a second, Circuit Tracks will drop out of Record Mode as soon as you release it. This means that you can punch-in and punch-out of record mode very easily with a single action.

Note: The factory default Projects load with monophonic sounds for Synth 1 and polyphonic sounds for Synth 2. This means you can easily use Synth 1 for a bass line, and Synth 2 for keyboard sounds. However, you can edit this with Novation Components.

• The two Octave buttons have no effect on the pitch of the notes when you replay the pattern. IF you want to alter the octave of a pattern after recording, hold down Shift + Octave
  • Shifting an octave in this way does not alter the stored Project until it is saved manually.
  • Scale and Root Note can be altered the same way. (Not only Synth 1 and 2, but MIDI 1 and 2 as well.)
• Playing the same note in different octaves at the same step can add great depth and character to the sound.

You an also experiment with different Patches once you've recorded a simple pattern. Enter Patch View while the pattern is playing and choose some different Patches as soon as the next note is triggered.

• If you hold down Shift while doing this, you won't hear the low root note that is used to audition Patches.

Recording Knob Movements

You can tweak the synth sounds in real time using any of the eight Macro controls. They can be automated via moving the knobs while in Record mode.

• In order for the knob movements to be replayed, you must exit Record Mode before the sequence loops, otherwise the Circuit Tracks will overwrite the automation movements you've just recorded with that corresponding to the new knob position.

You can also record Macro control changes when the sequence isn't playing:

• In Note View, press Record, select the step at which the change should occur by pressing and holding the pad corresponding to the step; this will play the synth note(s) at that step. Then adjust the Macro control(s) as desired; the new value(s) will be written to the automation data; press Record again to exit Record Mode.
  • When the sequence is running, you will hear the effect of the Macro knob movements at that step.
• This technique can also be used when the sequencer is still playing back. With Record Mode enabled, simply hold down a step pad and turn a Macro control

You can delete any Macro automation data by holding down Clear and moving the knob in question by at least 20% of its rotation. The LED below the knob will turn red to confirm.

• This will clear the automation data for that Macro for the whole Pattern, not just at the sequencer's current step.

Non-quantized Record

Six “finer” intervals, or “micro steps,” exist between adjacent pattern steps. They can be made available tin live record mode by disabling quantized recording.

Quantized recording id disabled by holding down Shift and pressing Record.

• Note that the button is also legend as Rec Quantize.
• You can always check to see whether quantized record is enabled by pressing Shift: If the Record button illuminates green, quantization is enabled; if it's red, recording will be non-quantized.

Recording from an external controller

If you want to play Circuit Tracks' synth patches from a standard music keyboard, you can change the settings in Setup View.

• Note that the selected Scale and Root Note still takes effect when Circuit Tracks receives MIDI Note data. Proper chromatic tuning can be utilized by selecting the Chromatic Scale for the Synths and MIDI tracks.

Step Editing

(Step editing in Circuit Tracks may be done with the Pattern running (Play mode)  or not running (Stop Mode.))

In Note View, the two upper rows of grid pads is the 16-step pattern display and the two lower rows constitute the synth keyboard. When a pattern is played, you can see the white pad moving through the 16 steps. Where a step has a note present, the keyboard pad corresponding to the note being played illuminates white while the note is sounding.

• In Stop mode, you can listen to the notes assigned to each step and alter the pattern manually. In Play mode, you will only hear the notes associated with each step when the sequence reaches the step.
  • If you mute the synth track in Mixer View while the sequence is playing, you can press any of the illuminated pattern step pads to hear the note(s) assigned to a step.
• The pads for the steps which have notes associated with them will be illuminated bright blue.
  • One step pad will flash white and blue where the pattern has reached when it was stopped.
    • If you press play again, the pattern will restart from Step 1. This can be overridden by holding down Shift + Play.

If a bright-blue step pad is pressed and held, it illuminates red, the note(s) at that step will sound, and the keyboard note(s) will also illuminated red (it will be two pads if it's the highest note in the lower octave or vice versa.)

• The pads stay red and the notes sound for as long as the step pad is held down.
• If you press a brightly-lit step pad but no keyboard pad illuminated red, it means that the note you are hearing lies in another octave. Use the Octave buttons to find where the note is.
  • A keyboard pad will light red when you hit the right octave.

Deleting Notes

To delete a note from a step, press the step pad (lights red) and then press the unwanted keyboard pad (also lights red.)

Inserting Notes

You can add a synth note to a step by holding down the step pad and pressing the desired note.

• Note: Record Mode does not need to be enabled.
• You can add multiple notes to the same step, if you wish.

Clear and Duplicate

Clearing Steps

You can delete all assigned synth notes from a step in one go using the Clear button.

• Press and hold Clear; the button shows bright red to confirm Clear Mode. Now press the step pad: it will turn red and all notes at this step from the currently selected synth track will be deleted. When its done, the step pad will dim and you can release the Clear button.
  • The Clear button has an additional function in both the Patterns and Projects view, and you cannot clear steps when in Pattern Settings View.

Duplicating Steps

The Duplicate button performs “copy-and-paste” actions on steps.

• Use Duplicate to copy all the synth notes on a step, together with their various attributes, to a different step in the pattern.
  • To copy a synth note from one step to another, press and hold Duplicate: it will show bright green. Press the pad in the Pattern display corresponding to the step to be copied (the “source” step); it will turn green and the notes assigned to it will turn red. Now press a pad corresponding to the step where the data is to be coped to (the “destination” step); this will give a single red blink.
    • Any pre-existing note information in the destination step will be overwritten.
  • If you want to copy the note data to several steps, you can continue to hold the Duplicate button down and simply repeat the “paste” part to other steps.

Velocity, Gate and Probability  
 

Every step in a pattern has three further parameters that are available to adjust: 

1. Velocity - How the volume of a note is related to how hard the pad is struck
   • It's also possible to assign different Velocity values ot different notes at the same step (Per-note Velocity)
2. Gate - The duration of the note
3. Probability - How likely a step is to trigger.

Because values of Velocity, Gate and Probability are assigned to the step rather than the notes at the step, they will be retained if you change a note on the step, provided that you add the new note first, then delete the unwanted note.

• Note also that Velocity, Gate and Probability values may be set independently for the same pattern step on each synth.

Velocity

The velocity parameter determines the relationship between the speed of movement and the volume of the note.

• A high value for Velocity means that the note will be loud; a low value means that the note will be lower in volume.
• Velocity values are saved to each step along with the note data, either as you play the synth pads or assign notes to steps manually.

There are 16 Velocity values that can be assigned to a step after you've created a pattern. This is done via Velocity View, which is selected by pressing Velocity.

• In Velocity View, the two upper rows of the grid represent the pattern steps and the two lower rows of the grid make up a 16-pad “fader.”
• If you record in real time, the velocity value is set internally to 7-bit accuracy (a value between 0-127). However, in Velocity View, it will scale the value between 1 and 16. (i.e. 1 = 8 and 16 = 127.)

You can also use Velocity View to change Velocity values while a pattern is playing.

• You need to press and hold the pad for the step to have its Velocity value changed; you can do this at any point in the pattern. The held step pad will illuminate red, and the two lower rows will “freeze” to display the Velocity value of the selected step.

Fixed Velocity

You can disable velocity by toggling “fixed” velocity, which sets the velocity of all pads at 96.

• You can toggle Fixed Velocity mode on and off by pressing Velocity while holding down Shift.
  • Fixed velocity is in green while variable velocity is in red.
  • Setting velocity to Fixed does not alter the Velocity values of any notes previously recorded.

Per-note velocity

When notes are inserted manually, the velocity value that each note is struck with will be saved to the step. The velocity value for one of the notes can be changed by simply deleting that note from the step and hitting the note again with the desired velocity.

• The range of velocity values present at a single step can be seen in Velocity view.
  • The brightly lit pads represent the lowest velocity at a step, while dimly lit pads represent the highest velocity value at the step.

Gate

Gate is essentially the duration of the note at a Step, in unit of steps.

• Fractional values are also allowed: it may have any value between one-sixth and 16, in increments of one-sixth of a step (giving a totally of 96 possible values)
• The number represents the time - as the number of steps - for which the notes at the step will sound.

Gate values are assigned to each note as you play the synth pads; Circuit Tracks quantizes them to the nearest of the 96 possible values.

• i.e. a Gate value of 16 means that notes at that step will sound continuously for an entire 16-step pattern.

Circuit Tracks lets you change the Gate value of a step after you've created a pattern. This is done in Gate View, which is selected by pressing Gate.

• In Gate View, the two upper rows of the grid represent the pattern steps.
  • The one pad in the Pattern step display will flash alternate white/blue: this is the step whose Gate value is being displayed.
• The two lower rows show the Gate value for the selected step in a similar manner to Velocity: in Gate View, the number of illuminated pads is the duration of the note in units of pattern steps.
  • You can change the Gate value by pressing the pad in the Gate value display that corresponds to the Gate value; that is, the number of pattern steps that the note and the step should sound for.
• Fractional Gate values are assigned by pressing the highest-numbered illuminated pad in the Gate value display an additional number of times: this will always shorten the Gate time.
  • Each additional press reduces the Gate time by one sixth of a step, and the illumination dims incrementally at each press.
  • After the fifth press on the pad, the Gate time reverts to the former integral value on the sixth, and the pad resumes its original full brightness.
• You can also use Gate View to change Gate values while a pattern is playing.
  • You need to press and hold the pad for the step to have its Gate value changed; you can do this at any point in the pattern. The held pad will illuminated red, and the Gate value display will “freeze” to display the Gate value of the selected step. 
  • Press the pad corresponding to the new value required.

Pattern steps with no notes have a zero Gate value; all Gate pads in Gate View for such steps will be unlit.

Probability

Probability is essentially a further step parameter, which decides whether or not notes on a step will be played during each press of the Pattern.

All steps are initially assigned with a Probability value of 100%, meaning that all notes will always be played, unless their Probability value is reduced: this is done using Probability View.

• Probability View is the secondary view of the Pattern Settings button. Open by holding Shift and pressing Pattern Settings, or press Pattern Settings a second time if already in Pattern Settings View to toggle the View.
  • Select the step in the Pattern display for which it is wished to alter the probability of the notes at that step. Pads 17-24 are the probability meter which is scaled from 0 to 100%
  • To assign a Probability to a step in Stop Mode, press and release the pad for the step you wish to edit and press the pad in Row 3 corresponding to the Probability value.
  • To assign a Probability to a step while in Play Mode, you must keep the step pad held while you set a probability. All notes assigned to the step will have a collective change of being played according to the percentages above. (either all or nothing)

Micro Step Edit 
 

You're not limited to your synth notes being played exactly on the pattern step they've been assigned to. You can ‘un-quantize’ your music by delaying individual notes on a step by between one and five ‘ticks’, where a tick is a sixth of a step. An example of a use for this would be triplets across a beat.

• Micro Step View is the secondary view of a Gate button. By holding Shift and pressing Gate, or press Gate a second time if already in Gate View to toggle the View.
• In Micro Step View, Select a step to see the location of the notes on the step: the first six pads of the third grid will display this.
  • By default, the first pad will be lit if Quantize is enabled. This means that the notes have an initial delay of zero, and will be heard exactly on the step.
• The fourth grid row will show one or more pads in the track colour. These let you choose which note at the step is to have a delay altered: if only one note is assigned, only one pad will be lit.
  • Multiple notes are displayed left to right in the order they were assigned. 
  • There may be up to 6 notes assigned to a single step.
• Multiple notes can be selected by pressing their pads simultaneously or by holding down one pad and tapping others. All the notes assigned to a step are selected by default before manual note selection is made.
  • When multiple notes are selected, the micro steps on which the selected notes trigger all displayed.
  • When auditioning a step that contains notes with different micro steps, playback of the notes will be staggered according to their micro step delays. This allows for the playback of “strummed” chords.

Tied / Drone Notes

It is possible to tie notes together in order to create drone notes and long ambient pads. Each step may have a tie-forward setting. This feature is accessed using Gate View, then selecting a step that contains the note you want to tie-forward.

• Select Micro Step View and you will see pad 24 light up: this is the on/off setting for tie-forward.
  • To make the tied note work, you need to set the gate length so that the note ends just before the next note is played or overlaps with it.
• In Note View, tied notes are shown as orange when the steps are held down as opposed to the usual red. If notes are added to a step that already has a tied note assigned, they will not inherit the tie-forward setting and will be shown in red. This ensures that overdubbing on a step with a tied note does not result in multiple ties.
  • It is also the case that newly added notes will have their own gate lengths, which may be different ot the length of any pre-existing notes. If you do want to add a new note to the tie then simply use Gate View to select the step and turn the tie-forward setting off and back on again to apply the tie-forward setting to all the notes on the step just as when you edit the gate length on a step, all notes inherit the same new gate length.

Pattern Settings

Although default Pattern lengths are either 16 or 32 steps, it is possible for the Pattern in any track to be any other number of steps in length, up to the maximum of 32 steps. Furthermore, the start and end points of a Pattern may be independently defined, so that sub-sections of a Pattern, of any length, may be played against other tracks with different Pattern lengths. You can also choose Pattern play order and set the speed of the track relative to that of other tracks.

• All of these options are set in the Pattern Settings View; press Pattern Settings to open this.
• Any alterations to the track Pattern made in Pattern Settings View can be saved to the Project in the usual way.

Start and End points

The upper two rows of the Pattern Settings View show the Pattern steps for the currently selected track. 

• If no adjustments have yet been made to Pattern length, Pad 16 will be illuminated sand: this indicates the last step in the Pattern. However, if the Pattern length is 32 steps, you will need to press the Step Page button to open Page 2 in order to see the end step indication.
  • To see which step is currently the Pattern start point, press and hold Shift. The end point step returns to blue and a different step pad lights sand: this will be Pad 1 is Pattern length has not yet been altered.
• You can change the end point for the track (and hence shorten the Pattern length) by pressing a different Pattern step pad. The new end point is indicated by a sand illumination, and the “higher” pads will either go dark or dim red, the latter indicating that note/hit data has previously been assigned to that step.
  • If you reselect the original end point, this data will still be there and will be played.

• Altering the start point is exactly the same process, except that Shift needs to be held down while selecting the start point.

*Note: If you are working with 32 step Patterns, be careful about which of the two Step Pages you are on. The colour of the Step Page button always indicates this - blue for Page 1 (1-16) and orange for Page 2 (17-32)

Play order

Pads 29 to 32 in Pattern Settings View let you choose the play order the currently selected Pattern will use. The default play order is forwards (normal), indicated by Pad 29. The four play order settings are:

1. Forward (Pad 29). The Pattern starts playing at the start point and plays the steps, in forward order, to the end point, then repeats.
2. Reverse (Pad 30). The Pattern starts playing at the end point, plays the steps in reverse order to the start point, and repeats.
3. Ping-pong (Pad 31). The Pattern plays forward from start to end, reverses back to the start point, and repeats.
4. Random (Pad 32). The Pattern steps are played randomly, though still at step intervals.

• If the play order is changed in Play Mode, the Pattern always completes its current cycle before starting a cycle with the new direction. This applies regardless of the current Pattern length or Step Page selection.

Pattern Sync rate

The third row of Pattern Settings View determines the sped at which the track plays relative to the Project's BPM. It is effectively a multiplier/divider of the BPM.

• The selected sync rate is indicated by the brightly-lid pad: the default rate is “x1”, or 1/16 (pad 5 in row 3), which means the track will play at the set BPM.
• Selection of a higher-numbered pad increases the rate at which the play cursor progresses through the Pattern relative to the previous one. Similarly, the lower-numbered pads will decrease the play rate.
• The sync rates available are ¼, 1/4T, 1/8, 1/8T, 1/16, 1/16T, 1/32, 1/32T, with T representing triplets.
  • 1/16 is the default sync rate, where each step corresponds to a 16th note.
  • Increasing the sync rate is a great way to increase the sequencer's step resolution at the cost of overall playback time. Reducing the sync rate is useful for creating longer patterns that don't require quite as fine detail, such as long, evolving pads.
• If the sync is changed in Play Mode, the Pattern always completes the current cycle at the existing rate, and changes to the new rate at the end of the cycle.

Mutate

Mutate is a feature that lets you introduce further random variations into individual Patterns on a per-track basis. Mutate “shuffles” the notes or hits in the current Pattern, to different steps. The number of notes/hits in the Pattern, and the synth notes or drum samples themselves are both unchanged, they are merely reassigned to different steps.

• All step parameters are reassigned by Mutate, including micro steps, gate values, sample flips, probability and automation data.

To Mutate a Pattern, hold Shift and press Duplicate. You can do this in any View that has a Pattern Steps display (i.e. Note View, Velocity View, Gate View or Pattern Settings View.)

• Mutate only affects the Pattern currently playing, so if it is part of a Pattern Chain, the other Patterns in the chain will be unaffected.
  • The reassignment of notes/hits will take account of the Step Page length.
• You can apply Mutate as many times as you wish for any one Pattern by repeatedly pressing Shift + Duplicate: the notes/hits in the Pattern will be randomly reassigned each time.

Note that Mutate cannot be “undone”; it is a good idea to save the original Project so that you can return to it after applying Mutate.