Applies to: Circuit Tracks, Circuit Rhythm, Circuit, Circuit Mono Station

This is an article version of this video: 

One of the benefits of creating with Circuits is being able to quickly realise ideas. To help speed up your workflow you can create a template project that matches the content of your pack. 

For example, I have the blankfor.ms pack here, which I know has some great sounds for working on downtempo style music. I’ll swap some of the samples in this pack with some drum loops at around 80-110 bpm. These loops are around two to four bars long.

When I first go to a create a project, the default tempo of 120 bpm will be too high for the sytle of music I’ll be creating. Additionally, any time I use these drum loops I’ll need to have set the Pattern length to 32 steps to get the full two bar loop. I think the drum loop sounds great with some distortion applied, so I’ll add that too, but bring it down in the mixer a little to offset the level increase. You can see how having to do this each time I create a new Project would quickly become frustrating, so I’ll save this Project in red using the first encoder and then move back to Components. 

While I could do this from my Circuit, managing content is faster in Components. I’ve opened my pack from my Circuit, and I can see the template project I set up in red. I’ll select it and rename it to ’108 BPM Template’ to help me keep track of it. While holding Alt on my keyboard, I’ll drag it to some other slots to create copies. I can also click and drag multiple to make lots of copies.

In the Projects screen I can see my red Projects marked out as red. I want to start a new Project with this sound, so I’ll load one of these templates.

When I want to save a Project I've created from my Template, I have two options. I could either save it to the same slot in a different colour, which will mean I’ll eventually use up my templates, or I can save it to a different Project slot. To do this, I’ll go to the projects screen, press save and then press an empty Project slot. 

Taking this idea further, you can explore options like having a row of templates for a specific tempo or style through the use of designated colours. 

Spending a little time at the computer setting these up can help move things faster when using your Circuit on the go.