New ‘Short’ Gives Novation Circuit A Screen

bll instruments shared this sneak preview of the Short – an add-on for the Novation Circuit that adds a screen and lets you control any parameter of your synth patches.

In the video, the Short is used to control synth parameters, beyond the usual 8 accessible via the Macro controls.

Pricing and Availability

The Short is being funded via a Kickstarter and is available to backers for €100.

25 thoughts on “New ‘Short’ Gives Novation Circuit A Screen

      1. nope, here i am again. the people at novation should hang their heads in shame when they see A KICKSTARTER PROJECT (LOL!) being turned into something badly needed in order to use one of their products properly. how embarrassing for them. oh, and did i mention the fact that all current electribe models come with decent screens? gee, i wonder who has been putting this crazy idea into the heads of korg´s engineers? synthtopia readers certainly not! /sarcasm off

        1. Your comments might make sense if:

          A) the electribe came out after the circuit; and

          B) it was a big hit compared to the circuit.

          Unfortunately for you, reality is a bitch!

  1. Next is people complaining that the screen isn’t color, doesn’t respond to touch, caused their cat to run away and wife to leave them. Might even cause a few people to start a blog to express their angst to the world.

    Interesting idea nonetheless. Looks like it only does synth parameters, you won’t be editing patterns or arranging things with it. I’ve never had a desire to do patch editing on the go but I think an iPad might be a better fit for that kind of work. Editing patches on a 2×16 screen wasn’t any fun the ’90s and I doubt it’s any more fun now (especially with no knobs!). Might be neat if it lets you store a few “banks” worth of patches and swap between them easily. Or maybe a few CV ins to allow external control of parameters.

    Still, a neat idea. If the price is in line with it’s functionality I can see where this might sell a few units. I need more details to figure out if I would want one though.

  2. Curious about the price of it. If it is over a hundred or is a questionable buy seeing as how the circuit itself is 250-300 on its own

    1. Price would be a factor. I’m not a fan of touchscreens or Apple products, so really don’t want to spend several hundred dollars for a screen. If they can keep it less than $100, might be worth a look. But really, no screen is one of the things I LIKE about the circuit!

  3. Kenny is officially the smartest person on the thread. He can see that ITS A FEATURE NOT A BUG applies here. I personally like the idea, because many a synth that had no alphanumeric display really needed one. There will always be some concern about price and longevity with Kickstarter hardware, but if I was using the Circuit, I’d welcome the visual gain. It’d help the way I work.

    1. Honesty I don’t think it is either a feature or a bug, I feel like when Novation made the circuit they built it knowing it was a work in progress but were seeing what they could do when they put a groovebox into a launchpad format. I but all things considered that they would add a screen if they could but hardware is what it is and kudos to what they have been able to do without one.

      1. lol

        No way Novation would threaten legal action – there’s nothing that keeps anybody from making third-party MIDI editors like this, there are already several in software.

    1. So do I. Great workflow, no menu diving like with the current electribe models, where the simplest of task requieres a lot of it.

      However, the “Short” is more than just a screen. It’s basically a standalone patch editor and I like the idea of it. With the right price, I could see myself buying one.

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