What a great vid and your "conclusion" AKA "competition" wrap-up is absolutelysSpot on, honest, practical, wise, funny (well: brilliant actually) and an healthy antidote to GAS.
Major review omissions: It has a ~6 hour battery and built-in mic for sampling random things! I use this thing on my lap with headphones all the time. I highly recommend taking it to an uncrowded nature park sometime for a new experience.
Not just battery capabilities, but also 18650 rechargable batteries- which should be the standard for every portable electronic music device, but for some reason isn't
@Tony Montana ahh right. so i have 2x OG circuits, 2x custom firmware launch pad pros (ThirtyTwo, though keep meaning try try LPX), 2x launch control xl, and circuit mono station and a bass station 2, so I have a ton of experience with the newer novations, something of a fanboy even. My take is that Novation really screwed it up. OG circuit was so good because it was cheap and they kept adding features. For the MK 2's, Novation got greedy and split the functionality into 2 boxes that are more expensive. There's no reason they couldn't have made a single unit that both has a synth and can sample. I might have bought that one. And while there's some joy to having no lcd and no real ability to edit sounds, it really is a pain in the ass in the end as you have to curate everything on your pc first anyway: while the rythm CAN sample, it doesn't do it well. As it is, you can get a used mpc one for not much more than a rhythm, which is a no-brainer. mpc one can do everything, and while something like the deluge is niche and I love it for my purposes, mpc one is the hands down winner against almost everything.
I struggled with the Deluge. I really wanted to love it.. and in some ways, I did.. It works wonderfully as a sketchpad and sequencer for other hardware, but I found it to be a "jack of all trades, master of none" as a standalone. I actually traded it to get the Digitone, and I haven't looked back! Good review!
Thank you for the praise! I love the Deluge but I also could understand someone not enjoying it. The Digitone is a great device. Its FM engine has the perfect blend of "sounds modern" and "sounds like a Sega Genesis."
@@JoshIsMakingMusic Agreed on the Digitone! It's the most inspiring device I've used. Keep up the great work, your videos are engaging. I have a hard time staying focused with a lot of other material on youtube.
I just got mine recently and love it. I have an insane amount of hardware and run ableton too, but deluge is the best groove box hands down. Don't be put off by the presets: the synth engine is great, they just didn't invest much time making good presets.
honest evaluation. I positively LOVE mine. I was part of the first public batch and I'm consistently impressed by the expanding functionality. I compose full tracks on it but I haven't mastered recording on it yet. I'm going to stick with my Tascam for that.
I see your point and agree. The problem with the the Deluge is that it is an instrument in it's own right. If you can be bothered to study it and use it in a creative way it can be a very powerful machine. However, one of it's weaknesses is it's facility in making 4/4 beats quickly, which ends up being a sort of pointless dawless Fruity Loops. The teasers on the up and coming 3.2, show that Synthstrom really wants to develop the Deluge in a way that makes it an experimental instrument capable of algorithmic composition and not just another looper peddle.
@@cardboardmusic My 2nd song was 7/8 (14/16) time. It's quite simple to make odd time signatures. Just hold the shift button and turn the left/right scroll. You can dial in LITERALLY any time signature you want.
@@mijaba Yes, I know that, but it doesn't fall so well on the screen. BTW, nice review I agree with what you say. I think one of the big dilemmas is the computer - dawless option (in this case the Deluge). I've spent years working on computers - Supercollider, Chuck, PD, and even worked years ago on the startup when you could script into Reaper (Atlanta Tech). However, I'm a saxophonist, and although, as I've just mentioned, I can get around a computer/DAW, I'm really drawn to the idea of hands on music making. As I already said above, the Deluge can be an instrument. As for the cost of all these devices? Well, it's relative to what you do with them (as you say), and I think price is difficult to quantify. Just remember, if you buy a really good instrument (piano/sax/violin, etc) it only makes a noise until you've spent hours practicing it, but we're (rightly) prepared to spend thousands on them. I look at Digitakts, Deluges, and the lot like going out for a meal. You can pay a couple of (in my case) euros for meal or really head to a top class restaurant and pay 100s. If the meal is good you don't regret spending the money, but if it was rubbish then you regret spending that, whatever the price.
Nice vid...I really struggled with the Deluge for a while but then it just clicked after watching vairous youtube vids and just reading the quick reference charts which I printed and laminated..(this took about a month) Its a great stand alone device which is very powerfull and has many hidden features. I Bought extra dial switches and knobs with my order just in case. My unit has crached a few times when using fx mixing...but this is no big deal... What I was gob smacked about is its umlimited squencer which can be steched in vairous tracks..superb for sampleing. Its a great synth-drum machine-sampler and more...but saying that I have more fun using my Tr8s and Volca bass I got recently.
Wave form editor using the button lights, powers USB controllers and supports hubs, can be used as mfx and live looper for input audio including guitars using a foot pedal, soon MPE support, song, track, and arranger modes, so much missing from this review. I picked up mine as part of the first batch and honestly this review could've been a 1.0 review. I wish you would've spent more time learning it before doing this video. Check out the Dawluge series of videos of your watching this and wondering what the Deluge is truly capable of.
just order one. had an op1... so the all in one with battery and even speaker attract me . it will be use also as a dawless setting with a matriarch and a yamaha yc61 keyboard. I know octatrack could be a competitor for drivings dawless setup but the standalone on batt capability do the deal. a minus is the missing warranty european support and the size of the company. a positive is the size of the company and the constant update with new features.
i want a sequencer/synthesizer that can also function as a midi controller because keyboard input terribly confuses me. i'm juggling between this and the polyend tracker. i'm thinking i'll get the tracker because a monomachine would be the holy grail for a dedicated synth
You say the main competition would be the Digitakt and Digitone, are those battery operated? I didn't think so but they are, I'm getting a Digitakt today! I have an OP-1 which I like, but the workflow on the Deluge is way more "my jam" so I think I'll get one.
Congrats on the Digitakt! The Tone and Takt don't have built-in batteries so you could argue that outside of a home environment, the Elektron devices arent really useful, though I've heard that you can get 12 volt power banks to power them on the go.
It's really funny. I really would like to buy deluge since 1,5 years, but this is the first review where I change my mind to the opposite way. I make music on my laptop in a lots of different style, like downtempo, ambient, postmetal whatever. I really like to create music dawless, and I am searching for a device, but I found deluge is the perfect for this, but yeah I have to rethink, because yeah, maybe dawless doesn't mean, drop the daw, it's more like expand my creativity without daw. Maybe I have to have got some midi translator, and a digitakt for example. Dunno. Anyway, really really good review
Thank you! While I love the Deluge, I don't think there's any one device that's perfect for everyone. I haven't used the Digitakt but if the Digitone is any indication I'm sure it's very cool! But yeah, with music, the most important thing is making it the way that you want to. :)
@@JoshIsMakingMusic Okay... I thought about it all day long. :D It's really hard, because I really miss a great midi controller, what works more like hardware groovebox. I found launchpad a good deal, but I really hate that time, while my computer loads the daw. It's almost 10 minutes. Another thing, i don't want to 3-4 almost greate hardware. The deluge has great midi sequencer with the best midi adjust what i've ever found.. It has battery, sampling, synth engine. So it's like a digitakt + op-z + polyend seq. Another competitor is the Polyend Tracker... but I cannot use tracker. It's another way to think. I created every peace of music in a timeline way... So deluge still the best thing on the earth. But the cons, i cannot find it in the local store and I cannot try it. If i order it has a lots of tax. :D daaaamn. So whatever, thank you for your review. :)
@@arcsibo check out the Dawluge videos before you decide not to get one. This thing has way more powerful features than covered here and they've improved it a ton since it came out. I make all my music on a deluge, including recording other instruments, etc.
@@accidentallyfasting5768 thank your for comments. I have to tell you, i am watching deluge jamms almost every day. :D You are right, i will save money for this tiny studio. :)
Very funny, I suddenly want to buy a Casio mt-68, it's subliminal ? I own the Deluge and the Digitone, and although the Deluge is a great machine, I don't think it exceeds the Digitone, far from it ... The Deluge has the sampling ok, the trigs probabilities (chords ...) are more evolved than the Digitone, The smooth Automations, the limits are less oppressive. But if we compare their pure synthesis: the Lfo for example: Are really basic on the Deluge, no phase, no fade in/out, no s/h, no one shot, no triplets. The Effects: There is case to listen and compare it sounds really much better on the Digitone, Delay / Reverb, and the chorus which is not even stereo on the Deluge wtf! Also the modulation matrix on the Digitone is amazing! 4 Velocity parameters, 4 pirch bend parameters, 4 Aftertouch parameters, 4 modweel parameters and 4 breath control parameters, 4 Parameters in a single knob! And the biggest point, the external control in Midi, nice on the Deluge, but nothing except the notes and Automation CC, impossible to use the Lfo, the Note mod, the Random, the Envelopes, in midi out! On the Digitone, the Lfo operates in midi. No probailité on the lock of the parameters at noon either, on the Digitone, yes. it still makes a lot of things in favor of Digitone not? Of course it has no sample, but I find its synthesis although FM, more versatile and less cheap than the Deluge.
I'm getting you with that Casio MT-68 peer pressure. ;) I love the Digitone and Deluge, but for different reasons. The Deluge, to me, feels like a sequencing powerhouse for external gear, especially since it can do both CV and Midi. The Digitone feels like a much wilder sound creation platform though. Like you said, the Digitone mod matrix is incredible. It shows how amazing FM synthesis can get, and the UI is also stellar. You couldn't just put the Digitone sound engine in the Deluge because of its comparatively limited screen. I love them both, but no device is perfect.
There's a line-in and a 3.5mm mic input with a gain setting, but no XLR adapter. It also can't provide phantom power so you could run a mic through a preamp (if needed) and then into the Deluge with an XLR to 1/4-inch adapter, but I've also used the Deluge's built-in mic before, and it's not too bad.
this device is a massive let down its impossible to use without looking at the 330 page manual, nothing makes sense you have a million shortcuts to do anything
