Applies to:

• Circuit Tracks
• Circuit Rhythm

Pairing Circuit Tracks and Circuit Rhythm can be a great way to make the most of the two feature sets on either groovebox. This article offers some information you can use to keep the two synchronised. 

Elect a clock leader 

As with all clocking, it's important to consider which one device will be leading the other devices in your setup. This will be the device you press Play on and the one you use to set the tempo. This should have a MIDI out connection to the Circuit following this leader. 

The clock settings can be changed in the Setup screen, accessed with Shift and Settings. Below, you can see the settings screen for both Circuit Tracks and Circuit Rhythm

Tracks:

Rhythm:

It's expected that for this setup Clock Transmit (Tx) would be on for one device (leader) and off for the other (follower), while Clock Receive (Rx) would be off for the leader device and on for the other. An example setup would be: 

You'll know that this setup is working when you press Play on the leader device and see the follower begin to play as well. You can also navigate to the Tempo screen on the follower device, which will say "Sync" when the lead unit is playing. 

Queued Change vs Instant Change

Circuits feature two ways to change between Patterns and Projects. You can either use a Queued Change, which waits for the completion of a previous pattern before committing to the change, or an Instant Change, which immediately swaps to the next Pattern/Project. Instant Change is done by pressing Shift and the Pattern/Project you wish to switch to. 

Circuits use Program Change MIDI messages to swap projects, and so there are two Program Change messages for swapping to any of the 64 Project slots.

Program Change messages received on MIDI Channel 16 numbered 0-63 will cause an Instant Change to the appropriate Project. For example, Program Change 1 on Channel 16 will cause the receiving device to Instant Change to Project 2.

Program Change messages numbered 64-127 will cause a Queued Change to the appropriate Project. For example, Program Change 65 on Channel 16 will cause the receiving device to switch to Queued Change to Project 2. 

As of firmware version 1.2.1 on Circuit Tracks and version 2.0.1 on Circuit Rhythm, a Program Change message for a Queued Change for the corresponding Project is sent when requesting a Queued Change, and an Instant Change for the corresponding Project is sent when requesting an Instant Change. This allows you to move between Projects on two Circuits simultaneously.

Referring to the settings screen above, ensure that Program Change receive/send is enabled as appropriate on each unit so that these messages are exchanged between the two Circuits. 

Leading track

Circuit Tracks and Circuit Rhythm offer a number of ways to change the sequence - things like Sync Rate and Pattern Length will affect how well Patterns on different tracks or multiple Circuits synchronise with each other. This is as true for working with multiple Circuits as it is for working with Patterns across multiple tracks on one Circuit. Each Circuit will look at a particular track when getting ready to make a Queued Change to a Pattern or Project (but not for Scene chains), this can be used to anchor tracks to a particular point when moving between Patterns/Projects.

On Circuit Tracks, Drum 1 is used as the reference track meaning that Pattern and Project changes do not occur until Drum 1 has completed its full Pattern cycle.

On Circuit Rhythm, Track 1 is used as the reference track; no Pattern and Project changes occur until Track 1 has completed its full Pattern cycle.

This will be particularly noticeable when trying to change Project on a Circuit running Patterns or Pattern chains of different lengths. Here are a few illustrations of how this behaviour might be observed:

1) A Circuit Tracks is running a Pattern of 8 steps on the Synth 1 track and a Pattern of 16 steps on Drum 1. A Queued Change to the next Project is requested. The Circuit Tracks will complete a full cycle of Drum 1 before making the change, and so Synth 1's Pattern is heard in full twice before the change occurs. 

2) A Circuit Rhythm is running a Pattern of 6 steps on Track 1 and a Pattern of 8 steps on Track 4. A Queued Change is requested. The Circuit Rhythm will complete a full cycle of Track 1 before making the change. Track 4 is cut short by two steps when the change occurs.

3) A Circuit Tracks is leading a Circuit Rhythm. It has a Pattern of 16 steps on Drum 1 and this Pattern is set to a Sync Rate of 1/8. The Circuit Rhythm has a Pattern of 16 steps on Track 1 - this Pattern is set to the sync rate of 1/16. A Queued Change is requested on the Circuit Tracks, subsequently sending out a Program Change message to the Circuit Rhythm to perform a Queued Change to the matching Project Change slot. The Circuit Rhythm will change pattern before the Circuit Tracks as its cycle of Track 1 completes before Drum 1 on the Circuit Tracks completes (due to the slower Sync Rate of Drum 1 on Circuit Tracks).

Understanding these interactions can help to create flexible Patterns and Projects that are easier to synchronise when performing live.