Something the Deluge Can't Do :(

Something the Deluge Can't Do :(
Today we're talking about how the Deluge lacks the ability to export individual track stems! Ever since completely my OP-1 album, "FB-1," I've really enjoyed the hybrid workflow enabled by gear having the ability to export track stems. When I first got my hands on the Deluge, I didn't think I'd miss the feature, but I'm beginning to realize just how important it is to include in a high end groovebox. Let me know your thoughts below, and enjoy the video :)
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Synthstrom Deluge: thstrom.com/product/deluge/
Zoom Livetrak L-12 (audio recorder): amzn.to/3nGKB9j
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[@aardvarkmindshank]

Coming soon, now Deluge has gone open source. Watch this space 😊

[@FreeBeat]

Yeah that's exciting!

[@stefan3112]

I think the idea of Deluge is to make music dawless. For me a major flaw is that you can't loop in fx, because the built in reverb and delay is quite poor.

[@RSKT_music]

Hey mate, press "cross screen" if you want to follow the playhead in arranger view, saves you having to twist that knob ;)

[@ywenp]

I'm more and more using my Deluge as just a MIDI sequencer for synths running in Bitwig on my laptop (even though I bought in for its capabilities to be self-contained...). You can still get two mono tracks worth of audio out of the Deluge in real time. Plus the multisampler of the Deluge is correct but not stellar (no velocity layers, no round-robin), plus setting up multisample on the Deluge isn't that complicated, but it's far from being as simple as downloading a ready-to-go preset and dragging-and-dropping in your sampler VST (DecentSampler is just great, and I just don't have the patience to build multisample instruments myself), and having the Deluge to sequence that is great, since it is far better in terms of sequencing than most clip editing hardware controllers for DAWs that exist. (Btw I love this kind of electronic metal in your video ^^)

[@guysmiley7289]

It is my favorite midi sequencer.

[@melokit-music]

you CAN export each track individually with the resampling mode.. it's a bit long but it works very well (with each drum element separated for example) and you find them in the "resample" folder of your SD card for import into your daw! 😁

[@FreeBeat]

That seems like it would take quite a long time?

[@DJSockmonkeyMusic]

That sounds painful! I guess you gotta work with what you've got though.

[@juliuscanus1568]

the Polyend Tracker and the Dirtywave M8 both have export features that dump a folder with stems on the SD card. This isn't even as good as what Elektron offers (on their higher-end gear, not the Models) with Overbridge. And it's entirely something that can be done in software in a firmware update. The Deluge might still get it, I think they were stuck on this last firmware update for quite a while.

[@melokit-music]

@@FreeBeat no, not so.. just need to rec+play each track, that's all

[@alexiwiedemann]

@@FreeBeat long but it is worthy :-)

[@roryjineffect]

They are on firmware 4.0, so it might be up there sleeves for later, as they have been super receptive to user feedback, so.... 🤞🏻

[@remyvegamedia]

Daaaaaang that's a bummer. I am on the hunt for the right drum machine/sampler/sequencer to pair with my SP404SX for my away from home beat making setup and this might be a deal breaker 😢 I'll have to think about it. I almost keep going back to the MPC but I just need something that can make glitched out weirdness, option for quantized or non-quantized, and ideally a way to export the stems. Thanks for this video!

[@FreeBeat]

Yeah it's really the only drawback!

[@listenanonymous]

Hey there Freebeat, you have really good videos and channel. What I do is record each track individually into my DAW. I just set up a metronome in the daw at whatever tempo my deluge project is at, then record each track individually one by one into the computer. Since I'm not a machine, inevitably when I hit start on the deluge it won't be precisely on the one in the Daw but then I just nudge the track so it starts on the one. I do this track by track and it also gives me the opportunity to add a little bit of processing on the way from the Deluge to the computer with some outboard gear I have like compressor, guitar pedals Etc. As long as the tempo does not fluctuate, this method works great for me, The time signature is not an issue doing it this way, even if it changes during the song. I've done this with projects with time signatures of 7, 5, straight 4 and combinations of different time signatures.

[@longacre4932]

I use the same process, but I simply use the midi out of the DAW into the Deluge so that everything is automatically synced

[@listenanonymous]

@@longacre4932 I tried it like that the first time I tried to export but had midi issues and I got fed up trying to make them talk to each other so I just did the method I outlined in my comment but thanks I think I'm going to try it using MIDI again and see if I have more success.

[@DJSockmonkeyMusic]

I use basically the same technique for syncing in DAW from my Beatstep Pro, because so far I haven't been able to get clock sync to work. I know it can be done, but I'm very confused by the manual and my experiments haven't worked so far. Edit that's both for audio and midi, depending on what I'm doing.

[@listenanonymous]

@@DJSockmonkeyMusic hey Nate yeah I've only done this taking the audio from the Deluge never tried it trying to transfer midi data. I imagine that would be a little more complicated.

[@itsahsah]

@@DJSockmonkeyMusic same here, I just do it film style, and go off the sound waves.

[@fallprecauxionsmusic]

I sure would love to see the deluge get the stem export featurea well. let's hope on it....

[@videolabcreators]

Bummer, would be neat if they came out with a V2 with upgraded CPU and upgraded screen, I’ve always been on the fence about this machine

[@guysmiley7289]

I've never run into an issue with the CPU ever. A screen would be nice though but it isn't an issue when you use it a lot. The only issue with the screen is you can't see the whole name of the project you are on. It is not that bad.

[@NicleT]

@@guysmiley7289 I’m considering a Deluge and reading all sort of discussion, there’s a lot of saying about sudden crashes. Can it be reliable then on stage?

[@pirds102010]

never had crushes, but they made a new screen

[@SonicVibe]

This why I like the mpc one cause it don’t do anything great maybe sampling, but it can do a lil of everything, making me not need many other things to pair with it the usb ability to export stems was huge though for some I use the mixer on mpc with a tascam dp008ex for mixing and mastering I just learned to record a session in live to that with pad mutes

[@manysounds]

With the new screen I have a feeling there are a bunch of features coming soon

[@eightytwenty2368]

Seeing you manually move the playhead reminds me this is my main issue. I can’t fathom why that’s not automatic.

[@FreeBeat]

You can hit cross-screen to make it automatically follow haha, I just didn't for this video.

[@eightytwenty2368]

That’s true for arrangement mode but for some reason it jars me it doesn’t do that in clip mode.

[@sapbucry]

@@eightytwenty2368 report it on the forum

[@geolectric_universe]

Synthstrom needs to hear this.

[@iosmusicman]

Well that’s a bit of an eye opener and a bummer FB. I haven’t yet had the learning/playing time on my deluge to need that feature (and probably won’t until we move house) . It must be so simple to implement that I came image why they wouldn’t add it. Pauses to scratch head… thanks anyway. Cheers. Lee

[@MkUltra612]

Really disappointing it doesn't have this! I've been on the fence about this thing (especially with the looming price increase), but the lack of stem export really makes me think twice.

[@mrclaytron]

Yep, exporting tracks from the Deluge sucks. It's my only real issue that I have with the Deluge. I've got so many tracks on my Deluge and I'm so poorly motivated to do the manual track export to my DAW to do final mix because it takes so damn long to do. I really hope Synthstrom add an export function at some point...

[@melokit-music]

you can't make an omelette without breaking the eggs 🤪

[@alexiwiedemann]

nice odd signatures, please tech us how to program signatures more than 4/4 and how to do polirhytms in deluge pleaseee

[@FreeBeat]

I have a few videos on those topics already! :)

[@VJFranzK]

Perhaps this can be added w the open source OS era?

[@BOMBPHONICS]

That song reminds me of what O.S.I would do if they had a deluge. Check out their album fire make thunder.

[@user-vk4el9oy6m]

I have taken individual audio (sampled) tracks off the SD card put them into my DAW on the PC for tinkering then returned the tinkered with track back into the song on the Deluge...Is this what you were saying the Deluge cant do?

[@guitarcrap4523]

so did this ever get added? Id like to get one, but need to export stems

[@FreeBeat]

Sadly it did not, I don't think they plan on adding it.

[@wiggesobk]

You could do it the oldschool way and record every Track solo into your DAW in real time. It's not the best option but i did that with my older gear.

[@user-vk4el9oy6m]

You can take a sampled track straight off the SD card and make adjustments to it on the PC and the track will still work just fine with the adjustments so long as the track name is retained...I have edited a few leads that I couldn't quite get perfect that way...Doesnt work with the drums or midi tracks but the sampled audio is no problem.

[@DavidDeLuge]

You can perform the song, using sections etc, and capture it directly into the Arranger view to get perfect placement.

[@MChristian]

Wow! Can you elaborate how? That seems really useful.

[@DavidDeLuge]

@@MChristian once you have all of your song sections, you can either set them to play through a certain number of times each or you can manually perform the song by selecting the relevant sections or clips. Sections are quite powerful. To capture the performance to arranger, hold [RECORD] and press [SONG]. That will capture your entire performance to arranger. Once done, you can go in a change things around or add the unique white clip instances. That is how I have created all of my Deluge songs on my KZbin channel. On the following video, you'll see me using sections to move around the song. For the released version, that same performance was captured in Arranger, as described above, to capture what became the single. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jaHXY6dvZ55repI

[@MChristian]

@@DavidDeLuge this is incredible. Thank you!

[@DavidDeLuge]

@@MChristian Thank you.

[@FreeBeat]

Yeah, I use that workflow all the time haha. It's still a pain for adding in tiny little new parts for particular sections, especially if they don't start right when the new part starts.

[@spongeknock7387]

Sounds like Doom music cool👍

[@itsahsah]

The way I do this REALLY fast is just simply plug the outputs into the inputs of a focus rite (audio interface), run ableton, change tempo (if you want), arm the track, record into the audio channels individually, or altogether, level, compress, master, add effects, and boom done.

[@pirds102010]

altogether? How? I need to do every row by its own

[@itsahsah]

@@pirds102010 Sometimes if I'm just making something fast for a video backing track, I'll just arrange on the deluge, and run the output into the input of the PC audio interface, and just record the entire Deluge made track onto one audio line in Ableton. I then just run a brick wall compressor on the whole thing, and adjust the entire audio channels high, mids, and lows. It's a loose way to do things for social or something, but soooo fast.

[@itsahsah]

@@pirds102010 alternatively you could record each loop row individually if you want to add external fx or something else within your DAW. I just try to get most of it done on the Deluge or externally before I even go out. For example, I have a pretty big analog mixer that runs into the Line in of the Deluge, and each of my synths, guitar, or bass, has it's own fx running as I just record Audio loops over trying to control things externally via sequencer.

[@pirds102010]

@@itsahsah cool, do u use ableton? Then I would choose Multiband Dynamics. What do you mean by social?:D

[@pirds102010]

@@itsahsah mixer INTO the deluge? I do it the other way around sometimes but if you do mixer into deluge, what comes out of the mixer?

[@NicleT]

So for example, it’s impossible to directly export neither midi or audio (or CV or Gate) tracks with the Deluge? This is important information for my decision to get one.

[@FreeBeat]

I do not believe so :( You can use MIDI and CV/Gate to control other gear, but I don't think tracks can be exported.

[@NicleT]

@@FreeBeat ok, that’s a bit of a bummer. Though we can only record audio or midi signal on a DAW. Good to know. Thanks.

[@aquaticborealis4877]

It might happen with open source?

[@FreeBeat]

It might!!!

[@mrrafsk]

that’s the point, it’s a limited device not a daw… there are so many requests for the deluge, to change it, with people having very different visions to Rohan the dev, that they had to scrap the request page on the forum, and ban it from the Facebook. My personal hell/bitch list are: Multi-channel audio over usb / a basic screen / multi-velocity or round-robin >2 sample percussion / midi-fx (mod sources) / compression.

[@geolectric_universe]

Just seeing the Sonicware SmplTrek today and the first thing that popped into my head was "hey, there's the screen the Deluge should've shipped with". lol

[@jantuitman]

I feel a bit sad that arranging doesn’t work completely for you on the Deluge. I know I suggested before to make the lengths of the tracks in song view the same but the better suggestion for odd time signatures might be just leaving gaps in arranger view and then fill them in with special instances of tracks? I hope you might give that another try though it would be totally understandable if your conclusion is that a PC is just way better for this task. The Deluge isn’t perfect….

[@siccavicca]

ok to be clear i love the Deluge had it for about 4yrs now .. I also own many MPCs You can not compare the Deluge sample editing workflow to any MPC thats laughable ..The deluge only has 2 function within the edit sample mode which are ..START & END POINT ... not even a discard or truncate function ,, the MPC sample edit window has over 24 options/functions with sud options within them . but your point regarding Exporting is REAL ,they need to fix this or release a "Deluge Pro " or some type of "USB side car" to address the 1 Weak spot in this AMAZING portable BEAST

[@noartifacts1983]

I thought you could edit . Pitch / stretch / tempo of a sample.

[@siccavicca]

@@noartifacts1983 yes you can .. but compared to most full blown samplers like any of the current MPC range ..THE DELUGE IS KINDA LAGGING …but I still love it for all the other things it can do (as it does most of the very very well)

[@noartifacts1983]

@@siccavicca very true . I find the sampler not every intuitive but anyways you can always make it work haha

[@jimbrimble3131]

MPC One…that has stem export.

[@FreeBeat]

Correct. Like I said, I'm aware that a lot of the gear out there (even other pieces that I own) have the feature, this video was about the Deluge not having it though.

[@jimbrimble3131]

@@FreeBeat I know, I was being cheeky 😊

[@MattTerry1]

I've looked at the xml format of the synths and they are very accessible, it's very obvious what everything does. I imagine the song xml files are similar... I've no idea what format the daw would import or if deluge uses some obscure format. But what you need is so code that reads deluge xml and writes you daw format. Probably not terribly difficult to do. Find some coder friends. Invite them for a hackathon and feed them beer and pizza.

[@hvhvgitaar]

I agree that stem export would be great, and so would midi export. BTW I found this midi tool, which maybe helpful kzbin.info/www/bejne/manRgYZoqJl8pqM

[@carstensorensen154]

Great tool, and I can confirm that it works really well (assuming you have a Mac with a 11+ OS), Michael also makes a great app to upload stems to the Deluge.

[@FastRCToys]

Get an oled display ! You can speak only after 😢

[@FreeBeat]

What? It still can't do that even with the OLED display lol. It's apparently being worked on by the community though.

[@carlos_martinezzz]

I agree with you, the song view is confusing. I think resampling each stem can be a good idea, you can also add live effects while recording the audio. 🎛️