The Deluge is far more than a beat machine. It’s a powerful and robust synthesizer, sampler and sequencer in a very finger friendly package. Beatmakers also like a bit of melody and Deluge gives you the power to build entire tracks in the one box. It’s not all about the rhythm but the possibilities in this machine are enough to make any beat monster smile.
The internal synthesizer engine features FM, analog modeling and subtractive synthesis with a load of modulation, filters, and effects to get you designing your own sounds. You can even load your own waveforms and make that the basis of your synthesizer. The sampler engine lets you stream samples off an SD card. You can resample, slice and time-stretch before running them through the modulation and filtering engine of the synthesizer.
But where this all gets interesting is in the power of the sequencing matrix. There are 128 light-up RGB pads to play with, arranged in 8 rows of 16. This is great for seeing what’s going on with multiple tracks all at once, but it also morphs into a playable keyboard, or more importantly, it becomes a drum pattern editor. With an 8-instrument drum kit loaded, each row can control a separate drum sound. It’s just like a drum grid in a DAW but in hardware.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen this before in a hardware device. You usually have to select the sound and then do the sequence on the single row of buttons — like the TR-8S. That functionality alone makes this an awesome beat making box.
The interface controls take it even further. You can zoom out to view multiple bars and then zoom back in to edit the detail. You can scroll from side to side and up and down to reveal more tracks or more steps. It even has a function where if you edit one bar it will mirror the edit in the other bars.
Arrangement and Song modes let you build tracks, chain up patterns and fire loops, patterns and samples on the fly. You can sample directly in from a microphone or line level source. Along with the usual MIDI and USB connections, there are also two CV outputs and 4 gate outputs to offer some integration with modular and Eurorack.
The front end adapts brilliantly to every sequencing situation, moving from overviews to individual tracks, notes, and automation with speed and fluidity. It’s remarkably compact, has an internal speaker and can run on batteries, making it ideal for people on the move, or jamming in the park.
Deluge is a versatile and complex machine that offers a huge amount of depth and playability for the ambitious beat producer.
Street Price: $899
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