Grooveboxes — Overview
groovebox: a self-contained electronic or digital musical instrument for the production of live, loop-based electronic music with a high degree of user control facilitating improvisation
Roland followed up the MC-303 with the MC-307 and the MC-505. In the past few years they revitalized the range with the MC-101 and MC-707
The modern groovebox era began with the Roland MC-303
For me a Groovebox is a device that combines drums with Melodic Instuments and a sequencer. It can be the perfect starting point for a DAWless setup, then you can add more Synths, Drum machines and sequencers to it as you figure out the direction that you want to take.
Some grooveboxes are more sample based, some rely on factory sounds but all of them can help you get a creative Jam going. Popular models include Teenage Engineering OP-Z, Elektron Digitakt and Oktatrack, Akai MPC One, Synthstrom Deluge, Novation Circuit Tracks and Rhythm, Korg Electribe MX, Roland MC-707,SP-404 MK2 Dirtywave M8, Polyend Tracker.
DAWless articles about Grooveboxes
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New OId Circuit Tracks Packs
Last week Novation released a bundle of OG Circuit packs for the Circuit Tracks. So hook up your Circuit Tracks to the Components software and get downloading for some New (but old) sound packs! The collection includes seven packs from the original Circuit: Details here on Novations website
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Roland MC-101 Groovebox Preset Machine
The Roland MC-101 is a compact and portable groovebox that offers a lot of functionality and versatility for its size and price. It is essentially a mini version of the MC-707, with four tracks, 16 pads, four faders, four knobs, and a variety of sounds and effects. The MC-101 is powered by Roland’s Zen-Core engine,…
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How to create a DAWless Ambient Techno Jam
Here is a new live DAWless ambient techno jam created with an Arturia Microfreak, Behringer TD-3, Behringer Crave, Novation Circuit Tracks and Valeton GP-200 MultiFX pedal. Background Noise There are 2 instrument tracks on the Circuit Tracks, plus one each on the Crave, Microfreak and TD-3. In advance I setup a Cm-add9th chord on each…
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Sidechain Compression with Circuit Tracks
Sidechain compression is a popular effect in music production for reducing or compressing the signal of one track based on the level of another track. Frequently in Electronic music, the kick drum is used as source signal and then the compression effect is applied to a synth or pad on every beat of the kick.…