Novation Circuit

Back in 2015, this little powerhouse kicked off Novation's groovebox revolution, blending a portable beat maker with serious synth muscle in a way that felt like pure inspiration from the start.

At its core, it's a digital polyphonic groovebox packing two MiniNova-derived synth engines for rich, analogue-modelled tones across 6 voices, paired with a 4-part drum machine loaded with 64 drum sounds. You sculpt everything via a 32-pad RGB velocity-sensitive grid that's perfect for step sequencing, real-time playing, or visualizing patterns on its 4x8 layout—think Launchpad vibes but dedicated to music making. Eight macro knobs with RGB LEDs let you tweak filters, envelopes, and more on the fly, while effects like 16 delays, 8 reverbs, and sidechain pump add polish; chain up to 128 steps across patterns, lock to tempo (40-240 BPM) with swing, and store 64 synth patches or 32 full sessions. Super compact at about 24x20cm, it's battery-powered with a built-in speaker, stereo out, headphone jack, and USB/MIDI for syncing with gear—no laptop needed.

Over the years, players have loved its intuitive workflow for quick jams and live sets, praising the pad feel and how it sparks ideas fast, though some note the fixed 16-step patterns and lack of sample import as limits compared to newer models.