Introduction
The Synthstrom Deluge sequencer with built in sampler, drum kits and internal synthesizer is one of the most powerful grooveboxes I have ever used. With a dynamic 16×9 scrollable and zoomable grid interface and shortcuts for virtually every visible button, the front panel and controls open up the unit like none other offering near instant access to most parameters with zero menu diving.
Using a piano roll, grid-style interface for input and authoring was instantly familiar to me, having come from a background of digital audio workstation (DAW) production. However, I didn’t initially understand why the audition and mute/solo pads were on the right and scrolling vertically only offered 8 visible sounds per screen. It seems a bit strange considering all of the other controls that are instantly available without scrolling. However the fluidity and smoothness with which the leds and display scroll and zoom makes accessing the other sounds “above” or “below” the viewport very quick, and also allows for horizontal zooming and scrolling as well.
Pros
- Unlimited tracks
- Great piano roll, navigates super smoothly
- Super easy to save & version projects
- Qwerty keyboard for naming
- Loads of front panel shortcuts
- HPF and LPF and EQ per track
- Stereo Line in with Sampling & Loop recording
- Onboard microphone (low & high Z), & Speaker
- Battery-powered
- Small size
- Dimmable, Colorful LEDs
- Easy follow actions for sections
- Song Arranger mode
Cons
- No clip style launching (Note: a separate, open-source “community edition” of the firmware does enable this)
- No 3/8 mode for LFO sync, could be longer than 2 bar max synced also
- Arranger still a bit obscure
- Shortcuts and full power are a bit obscure
- Song stays in memory through power cycles
- Only 2 in / 2 out
- Only 2 knobs for parameter modulation
- Only 4 character red LED screen (limited, retro)
- Only 12 colored sections
- Pads *not* velocity sensitive
Enter the Deluge. It was a surprise gift from my brother during Christmas of 2018 when he came to stay with me for NYE after our family holiday gathering in San Jose. 🤯
Grid Interface
Offering eye candy galore, the colored LEDs and large scrolling 16:8 grid is the primary input interface. There are another two columns The unit uses the main grid as a piano roll, which, as mentioned above, is super easy and intuitive for DAW producers. It feels a bit limiting using only 8 pads for sample playback at any given time, considering the plethora of buttons on the front panel. But to playback “kit” samples…(essentially, using a “kit” is one way to play samples) the rightmost column of 8 buttons controls the sample hit.
Pad Velocity
Notably, the pads are *not* velocity sensitive. Although it’s pretty easy to adjust velocity on the piano roll, if you have a lot of notes, it can be tedious to try and figure out which ones need adjusting. Still I haven’t found myself complaining about the velocity sensitivity of the pads… I’m also not a finger drummer, but this is probably *not* the device for you if you are…given the small size and limited palette of sounds (8) at any visible state in using the device.
Track Count
In terms of track count, you can use pretty much unlimited tracks… So…more than 16… for sure. Pretty much limited by the system resources, but from the developer it’s known to have the ability to include many, many tracks. Now, whether you want to use so many tracks on a device that is a bit peculiar to organize on, is up to you.
You may experience voice-stealing if there is too much concurrent polyphony. There is some limit to this, with an ability to set track priority to low, medium and high. Obviously, with lots of polyphony and effects there may be some system lag, performance impact (responsiveness suffers) and memory drain. In odd occasions, I *have* had my unit crash and freeze up without warning, so saving frequently is a good practiec.
Dazzling as the colored grid of moving LEDs is, it can also create a bit of a confusing track stack when you’ve got several tracks going at once, and are trying to figure out which track is what, control effects, volumes, etc.
One can change the color of the track LEDs. The color shows different colors based on the relative “note” in the “scale” of the track… So, if you have one note (use C as an example), the color is consistent. But if you add a different note (C#, D, D#, E…) the color will shift incrementally as it goes up. This is only of limited use, when using multiple drum samples, which are of different relative “notes on the scale.” For synth parts with multiple notes, this will also show multi-colored LEDs, also. Only for relatively monophonic sequences will this be truly effective to pick a specific color for the track.
Thus, the best way I’ve found so far to organize tracks on the Deluge, is, as intended with pattern parts…by using the section colors to group tracks in smaller subsets, also track sections which can be used with follow actions for more of a song arranger. More on that later.
12 Sections
Well, here we are. The sections are great, except (one gripe) there are only 12. So, somehow, if using only the Deluge for it’s arranger, you’ll need to consider that (or using custom white sections in the arranger itself) if crafting breaks and various progressions between the sections. However using follow actions to progress between the sections takes this little groove box into mid-weight status above and beyond the two previous contenders.
Follow Actions
Having an automated way to progress between parts on this box, allows me as the user to write in more of a song architecture and mindset, compositionally. I can hear how it sounds for the song to go from one part to the next…within the “song pattern/project” on the Deluge. I don’t have to save it into another pattern and manually or chain separate project patterns together… This adds lots of dimension to the Deluge in terms of what you can do with the arrangements and playback of sections, which you can control individually, or sequence in colored vertical order of appearance.
Audio Tracks & Looper
Another feature that takes this device to even yet another level is the ability to now record audio tracks. The device manufacturers at Synthstrom have been cranking out literally tons of amazing updates. One of these, is the creation of a new track type, adding Audio tracks to Synths and Kits. Now you can sample and loop record in a variety of ways…two or three if I’m not mistaken, based on the selected color (a bit confusing) of the related tracks mute/solo button as you’re about to record it…
Shortcuts
Perhaps one “downside” to this device, is the general level of obscurity and overall potential confusion as to how to use it. For one thing, there are loads of shortcuts. These greatly speed up access to the “deeper functionality” of the unit, which would otherwise be accessed via the menu which uses only 4 characters and 1 knob. Using the shortcuts, however unlocks synth, sample, effects, master, modulation and more parameters… And they’re accessed with a simple shift + button press. Learning which button is the trick.
Eventually after use, the button grid becomes an open map to the units functionality, allowing the user to access or route modulation parameters for loads of features. This really becomes a functional shortcut for any experienced power users of the Deluge. Learning the functions you need can be a bit cryptic as the info is in very dim lettering on the dark unit. I normally need a flashlight and sometimes my reading glasses to read the functions. That said, once I know where they are, it greatly speeds up precise access to the various features, like delay time, feedback, filter cutoff, lfo timing, amount and send amount…track volume, saturation, drive, eq… the list goes on. It’s super useful to learn and use the shortcuts.
Song Arranger
Ok, another aspect of this device, one of the developer updates that has taken this unit to an even higher level — this is “heavyweight” contender status now for the “best” or “favorite” groovebox of all time — is the song arranger. I’ll be honest, it took me a while to fully understand this. In fact, i am not sure I even “fully” grok it as much as just knowing *enough* about how to use it, to feel close to super-powered now, using the Deluge. Now, were I to *really, fully* know it, I would absolutely be super-powered.
Let me explain a bit… I decided to dive into the arranger back in April or May of this year 2021. I had a roadtrip planned with my brother and wanted to be facile with the unit as it’s so small, we’ve brought them before on trips and jammed before, so I figured we’d do the same. However, I also wanted to see if I could understand the arranger. It had always mystified me and I wanted to dig in.
I started by trying to manually “write in” the various blocks of color, which correspond to the related section color of that tracks‘ phrases. Now, this was something that prompted a deeper realization in terms of working on the Deluge, with the arranger. Maybe this is just me, but now, in a way, less is more. Instead of using a ton of different tracks for different drums or synths, basses, etc… I try to use the same voices if I can, between sections of the track. This helps to minimize the track stack in the arranger, as each of the tracks gets laid out in a totally different way than in the song mode (not arranger mode…). This confused me at first, but got me starting to use fewer extraneous and random tracks in my sections.
Ok, now here’s the real heavy-weight, knock out combination. To me, this has become *the secret key* to using the Synthstrom Deluge as the literal Swiss-Army knife of grooveboxes.
Follow Actions
Instead of trying to write the song arrangement in from scratch…which was so mind-blowingly obscure I almost gave up…I learned that you can actually record your section performance to the arranger. This led me back to the sections, but directed me straight to using follow actions to compose the song with the sections, to be then recorded into the song arrangement. This would give me a recording of a track that I could write methodically, in the song or pattern view.
This was a game changer. Now, if i need to refine a song to be recorded into the arranger, I need the sections to be “clean”… as much as possible. so that the sections can be automated to play from one to the next with no extra or out of place sounds or tracks. it’s a bit more challenging to edit and create this way, so it usually comes later in my tracks’ song evolution…sometimes in the first or second “version” but usually towards the third or fourth or even further down the line.
Saving
One more notable feature on the Deluge is how easy it is to SAVE your patterns. Literally two button presses and you can save your file. And, Synthstrom has also introduced a versioning system within the track saving mechanism. So you can version your projects automatically…using—intuitively and expansively—the alphabet! So, starting with a numbered pattern (at time of this post I am now at #192 on my deluge. When I save the project next, the default next file will become #192a. Next version it becomes #192b, and so on… This is the automatic naming scheme for versioning. So 1) SAVING and 2) VERSIONING your project files is extremely easy.
Synthstrom have also added a QWERTY keyboard function to the pad grid in a software update. I haven’t used this tons, but i can see how it would be useful. Now my tracks are a bit disjointed and I have a Google Sheet setup trying to track the key, creation date, song name, notes, etc… I could just as easily set the key and bpm in the title now as well as track details. I just haven’t gone that far with it yet. Also, the 4 letter display…
Outputs
It’s only really got 2 outputs. So master out, left and right. If there was one thing I wish it had more of, it would be audio outputs. Another thing I wish it would have is some kind of offline track export to sample or something…maybe even multitrack audio out over usb to a DAW? This has become my own workflow’s biggest bottleneck now in working on the Deluge. Now, I have several tracks backlogged in there that need multi-track recording. If there was (please, pretty please Synthstrom devs…!) some way to batch export or somehow import the tracks into a DAW that would be another notch in the already highly decorated belt on the Synthstrom Deluge.
IDEAS
My brother and I have come up with concepts for several other cool features that could be added… Of course, the team at Synthstrom are already doing a massively wonderful job and should only be complimented. But if there were some other add-ons, a multiple in/out audio interface would be huge… So would an knob expander unit or module. Something like a dock that could plug into the back with a couple rows of more knobs and more in/outs would be epic.
Wood Cheeks
Otherwise, it’s gorgeous as it is. Truly a work of engineering art. It is the smallest groovebox by far of mine listed. Battery powered, Onboard, built-in microphone & speaker for internal sampling. Drum machine with 39 built-in kits. A built-in, two-voice, subtractive synth, with Noise Oscillator. Large (near unlimited?) track count. Built-in song arrangement mode. Querty Keyboard. Easy section follow actions. Did I mention it has *WOOD CHEEKS?!* I am a sucker for nice, wood cheeks!
Hidden Features + Surprises
For getting into the vibe, I’ve been going back to hardware. And of all of my hardware acquisitions, each has been chasing some new feature I didn’t have yet. Each has offered me untold functionality and sonic generation capabilities that I never could have dreamed of. One surprise on this machine is kit 18 which has some of my favorite kick sounds. Also some great swooshes in kit 29 (I think), and a nice deep bass hit in the drums/kicks sample directory. Synth 63 is a new favorite bass sound. Synth #358 (removing the reverb, shortening the release…) has been a favorite, now-essential bass sound for years now.
Developers
The developers have been knocking out new features and even offer an OLED screen retrofit which I’m about to do. Besides my Dave Smith Instruments Tempest, i’ve almost never considered having a back and forth with the manufacturers. Roland and Korg seemed way too far away and big to interacti with.
Community
Recently, Synthstrom open-sourced their OS. So, the user community stepped forth to offer a newly forked version of community developed firmware. This variant offers new functionality including a grid mode, master compressor, multiple track export capability and many more COOL features! While I have not gotten into that, my brother has, so I pay attention to it somewhat. I’m already quite satisfied with what I can do with the official OS. Also, I don’t want to compromise the shortcuts I have learned by trying to learn another system on top of it all. So, I’m currently focused on learning the official OS as much as possible, including getting the OLED retrofit installed on my OG 7-segment display unit.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Synthstrom Deluge is my favorite and most go-to piece of music gear that I own. I love it. I use it for almost everything now. The authoring interface is SO dynamic and responsive that it’s almost hard to think of anything else, except maybe a mouse and DAW piano roll or something, being any more convenient. To me, the DAW and mouse combo sucks as far as vibe and getting a groove going. Plus, I work at a computer all day and every day. As much as I may recognize it as the penultimate composing environment–in that it’s all “in-the-box” and arranging, even controlling parameters, writing or recording automation, etc can be vastly so much easier.
While the price has gone up significantly since I’ve owned mine (even though I didn’t buy mine…from ±$900 in 2019 to now over $1500) they have added a lot of new functionality and the new units come with the OLED display as well. Also, it’s still one of the best out there.
Long live Synthstrom!
Want to see how it compares to other grooveboxes that I currently own? Read my full Groovebox Showdown post here.