Novation Circuit Standalone Hardware Groovebox

The Novation Circuit is a complete music making device squeezed into a box approximately the size of an iPad.

At a glance you’d easily mistake it for a new Launchpad but in fact the Novation Circuit is actually way more than simply a pad midi controller.

The Novation Circuit includes two polysynths, a drum machine, sequencer, mixer and effects in this one compact unit. It even has a built-in loudspeaker and this is really what the gist of the unit is for; sketching ideas anywhere, anytime, much like many of us already do with iPad apps such as Native Instruments’ iMaschine, Steinberg’s Cubasis or Korg’s Gadget to name but just a handful of so many that are available these days.

So why buy a dedicated hardware unit that can do pretty much what an iPad app can?

Well first off Novation is a leading producer of some really top notch gear including some awesome synths; just think of the Basstation, UltraNova and MiniNova (their current range) never mind some of their legacy synths such as the SuperNova, V-Station, X-station etc., and their Launchpad controllers and midi controllers are highly regarded today.

So why not combine this technology into one awesome dedicated unit – a Groovebox effectively, which can be used to both create the sounds you want and bang out the musical parts on a pad sequencer.

The Novation Circuit has a 2-part synth that comes straight from their Nova products and a 4-part drum machine. The 4×8 grid of RGB velocity-sensitive sequencer pads are naturally derived from the Launchpad products and you get six voices of polyphony. That’s a whole lot of awesomeness right there!

You can combine up to 128 steps of drum and synth patterns and there’s even a sidechain and 32 slots to save your work.