Applies to: Circuit
Components can manage the content stored on Circuit; Sessions, Samples for the Drum tracks, and the Synth Patches.
While it is possible to use Components without a Circuit connected, this guide will assume there is one connected. It will also assume you are logged in.
When you first open Components and select Circuit you'll be greeted with the Packs screen.
The indicator in the top right corner shows if a unit is connected and if it is in the right mode. Clicking this indicator allows you to put the Circuit into the correct mode.
When pressed, the Circuit enters bootloader mode and the indicator will turn green.
A red indicator means that the unit is not recognised by Components. This may be because the unit is not connected, or not powered, or you may be using a browser that does not support Web MIDI (be sure to use something like Chrome or Opera). If the issue persists please contact our support team.
Packs
The packs screen allows you to manage content stored on your Circuit.
You'll have three options:
- Get Pack from Circuit - this will give you the option to get the Pack loaded into the unit connected
- Create Pack - allows you to create an entirely new pack from a blank slate
- Upload Pack - this lets you upload a .circuittrackspack file to Components. You might have downloaded one from a forum or store online, or have made one earlier. This guide covers how to save this file further down the page. You can also upload content from the original Circuit here.
If you pick the wrong option, just press New Pack in the top left to be taken back to that screen.
Once you've selected any of these three options, you'll be taken to the Pack, which will look something like this:
Along the top the three sections of a pack (Samples, Patches, and Sessions) are shown, the content in the section is shown in the middle of the page and the detail of the content selected is shown on the right.
You can expand a pack on the left-hand side and drag its content in if you want to use some of its content:
You can also drag and drop individual or multiples from a file browser (e.g. Finder on Mac) into these slots.
You can hold the Alt key on your keyboard while dragging content with the mouse to copy it to a new slot.
Samples
The first section is Samples, showing the samples in the pack. These are all audio files. You can upload different formats, but all audio will be converted to 48khz Mono 16bit when sent to Circuit. Selecting a sample allows you to change its name, replace the samples, send it to the Circuit, download it to your computer, or remove it from the pack. You can also drag and drop samples from a file browser (e.g. Finder on Mac) into these slots. The total sample storage time is 60 seconds.
Patches
The Patches screen shows all the synth patches in the pack. These patches can be used by either Synth 1 or Synth 2. Selecting a patch allows you to change its name, and category (used for quick reference to know the sound type), replace the patch, download it or remove it.
You can also drag patches in via SysEx, these can be from Circuit Tracks or the original Circuit.
Sessions
The last section shown on the page is Sessions, which shows the projects of the unit in the slots they are saved in. The name of the project is shown as well as the colour it shows on the unit. You can click any slot here to change its name, replace it with a different Session, or, change its colour. You can also send it to Circuit, download it to your computer or remove it from the pack:
Sending/Saving the pack
Once you're happy with the content in the pack you can either save it to your account, or computer or send it to your Circuit. This is done with the options at the top of the Packs screen:
When you click 'Send to Circuit' you'll be able to decide if you want to send the whole Pack or just one section:
After clicking Send Pack, you'll see a progress bar on the screen and the unit will show it is receiving the Pack. This can take some time, and you should make sure the unit remains connected and powered while it sends. If the transfer does fail, you can just try again. The circuit will always keep a backup of the Pack that was loaded before the transfer so that it can boot up into that Pack.
Synth
The synth screen allows you to create and edit patches. If the Circuit is connected, you can also preview a patch as well as edit a patch loaded on the unit in real-time (provided MIDI CC In/Out is enabled on the unit from the settings screen accessed by holding Shift while powering the Circuit). To use the editor, the unit should be in its main firmware, so you may need to click the device connection icon again.
You can change between the patch used on Synth 1 or Synth 2 at the top of the editor. Changing the patch on the Circuit also causes a message to be sent from the Circuit that changes the patch shown on the editor.
Depending on your knowledge of synthesis, you may find this section quite daunting, try loading some patches and changing some parameters to get an understanding of their effects.
The Effects tab allows you to edit the Effects of the patch, note that this is different to the “FX” on the unit used to affect both Synth and Drum tracks.
The Modulation tab allows you to change the functions of the Macro dials for the patch in detail:
On factory patches, these tend to follow a pattern so that the controls match the labelling on the hardware, but you can set up any control on any macro.