Novation Circuit User manual

Getting Started Guide

Circuit

Thank you for buying Novation Circuit, our standalone groovebox designed

to inspire. Two Novation polysynths, a four-part drum machine and

an intuitive sequencer: it’ll have you making great new music in seconds.

Any moment now, you’ll be hitting pads, tweaking knobs and creating

a brand new track, brimming with fat grooves and beats, all locked in time

and key.

First, however, please take a few minutes to read through this guide.

We know it’s tempting to skip ahead, but this will help you avoid problems

and get up and running in no time.

Enjoy!

Overview

Get Started

Follow these steps to get up and running quickly.

This guide will take you through each step in more detail, so please read on before you start.

1. Check your box contents

2. Fit your batteries

3. Switch on and hear it!

4. Register and download the included software

5. Get Ableton Live Lite

6. Powering

7. Enable SAVE

8. Start a new session

9. If you run into problems…

1. Check your box contents

You should ﬁnd all of this in your box. If anything is missing, please contact us.

Documentation

• This helpful guide

• Ableton Live Lite instruction card

• Circuit patches sheet

• English and French safety information sheet

Hardware

• Novation Circuit

• 6×AA batteries

• USB cable

• Two MIDI break-out cables

• 12V DC power supply

Your software bundle code is on the back of this guide.

Get Started

2. Fit your batteries

Take the Circuit and batteries out of the box.

Slide the battery door on the side to release it.

Turn your Circuit upside down and look for the diagram

that shows you which way round the batteries should be inserted.

Slide the batteries into place following the diagram.

Get Started

3. Switch On and Hear It!

Press and hold the power switch for at least half a second to turn Circuit on. If you are running on batteries you will see the battery level meter brieﬂy then

Circuit will turn on. If you have the power supply connected you will see a power symbol. It can take up to four seconds to be fully ready to use.

Next press the PLAY button on the right hand side to start the demo session.

Tip: Circuit comes pre-loaded with demo sessions, so you can immediately hear what

it can do. As soon as you’ve played with these sessions, you’ll probably want to make

your own music, so read on…

Get Started

4. Register and Download the Included Software

Go to www.novationmusic.com/register and click Register Your Product.

Select Circuit from the dropdown list and enter your serial number. You can ﬁnd it on the back of this booklet and on the label on the

underside of your Circuit: it is 12 or 13 characters long: the ﬁrst 3 characters can be numbers or letters, but the rest will only be numbers.

Your serial number is not the same as the software bundle code.

Then click “Get My Stuff” to download your software. If you don’t have a Novation account, we will ask for a few details.

Get Started

5. Get Ableton Live Lite

Inside this guide you’ll ﬁnd an instruction card for downloading and registering Ableton Live Lite. There is also over 1GB of Loopmasters sample content

to work with. Ableton Live Lite is not required to work with Circuit but is a great place to record your ideas and make a bigger tune.

6. Powering

To use Circuit without batteries you can connect the included power supply. This will work with or without the batteries in place.

Turn on Circuit by holding the power button for more than half a second. The power symbol will be displayed if the power supply is connected and

working correctly.

Get Started

7. Enable SAVE

Circuit ships as save-disabled which means that initially you can’t save your sessions. This is easy to change though. Simply hold down the SHIFT and

SAVE buttons while switching Circuit on. You can tell when SAVE is available because it is dimly lit blue.

8. Start a New Session

Tip: This guide is designed to get you up and running. We think

you’ll have fun and discover more by just playing around, but if you

want more in-depth information please download the User Guide

from our website.

Press the Sessions button and you will enter the Sessions view.

The pads will change to show the available Sessions with the ﬁrst

one selected. When you ﬁrst receive your Circuit this will contain

a demo Session, but you can change or delete this whenever you want.

Get Started

Rather than change the demo, select an available empty session.

Next press the Drum 1 button and press PLAY. You will see the play position cycling round through the pads. The top two rows are for Drum 1 (kick) and

the bottom two rows are for Drum 2 (snare).