CircuitPAD grows to new levels: Adding Microtonal Scales, and Custom Scales as a new feature. Also: use Launchpad Pro to play the samples on Circuit Chromatically. Jocko Homomorphism came up with a big set of templates for microtonal on the Circuit. Check out his video about that here:
Using those and this custom firmware for Launchpad Pro you can get visually useful scales for microtonal and make new and exciting music
Transcript:
9 Months ago I started CircuitPAD as part of the OpenLaunch firmware for Launchpad Pro
Since then it has sparked further ideas from the community and patrons on how to expand it
Many areas have been in the general area of MIDI and synth usefulness
But now, we get back to some new Innovation around the Novation Circuit and how the Launchpad Pro can unlock specialized functionality.
Here’s a summary of what’s new:
*Microtonal Scale Support
*Custom Scales
*Chromatic Sample (Drum) Tracks
*Fixes and Improvements
One awesome innovator and collaborator for the Circuit is Jocko Homomorphism
He has introduced Microtonal for Circuit in the form of a wealth of templates that break an octave into anywhere from 7 to 31 steps!!
Before working with Jocko on this project I hadn’t done anything with microtonal, but I’d heard a lot of support for it in the iPad Music community and have enjoyed world music with different tonal systems.
The Circuit is one instrument that allows flexible mapping of the keyboard to different tuning systems. Another family of synths that can utilize this is Korg Monologue, Minilogue, and likely the Prologue
A lot of the setup work for these is done on the instrument but the unique offering that the Launchpad Pro now brings is:
The ability to visually play microtonal scales in meaningful ways.
A keyboard is stuck with 12 notes per octave, Look at it! It’s got 12 notes per octave - That’s never going to change! but the Launchpad Pro is a flexible music instrument capable of handling anything we throw at it.
I’ve developed a way to set the number of steps per octave and ALSO turn off steps that aren’t needed so that you can make any “Scale” within a microtonal system that you want. This is a really important addition to what is possible for making world music electronically and also an exciting area for rampant exploration of music forms not invented yet.
Examples from Jocko
Another use of this functionality is to make 12 tone system Custom Scales. Maybe you don’t need Microtonal but want a custom scale not found on the Launchpad. Just set the steps to 12 and turn off the steps you don’t want. I’ve used it to make some cool offshoots of the blues scale and other unconventional scales.
SETUP:
Connect the Circuit Midi In to the Midi Out of the Launchpad Pro
Turn on Chromatic Scale on the Circuit so it doesn’t try to force other scales on this.
Load in one of the Templates for Microtonal by Jocko
Edit it to your liking or modify one of your existing patches to be microtonal (For instructions on this, see Jocko’s video - links in the description)
Having loaded the OpenLaunch firmware into your Launchpad Pro, hit SETUP, then the CircuitPAD button here.
Setup the Microtonal step count to match the Template (17 steps in this example)
Go to play the new scale.
Record , Jam, enjoy! You’ve just explored a new world of synthesis and culture or experimentation.
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Another area that has been highly requested for Circuit is the ability to play the Sample Tracks (Drums) chromatically. While there are a few issues with doing this via midi, I’ve gotten pretty darn close to making this a reality thru the Launchpad Pro.
Based on the midi implementation there are only so many notes we can get out of this, but I have utilized the space to give you 2 of the drum slots playable chromatically.
This Novation combo is a great way to get the most out of the Circuit. We haven’t had time to explore too many other synths but this should be usable with many synths that offer alternate tunings.
As always, your support is always appreciated! This is open source and you can get it on GitHub, but please stop by my Patreon account and join as a patron to get convenient builds and extra goodies like sample packs, patches, and more.
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