New owner :- any advice?

whiteturbo

So I finally bought a Deluge! £750 from reverb, Its had the Oled screen mod, and from the photos looks in excellent nick, but you never really know until you actually get your hands on it. Maxed out my PayPal credit to get it so hope desperately that I haven't made a mistake. SO what should I do to prepare for its arrival, and when it arrives what should I be checking to make sure I haven't been sold a pup. After that any advice you can give a new member of the Deluge owners club🤣 I haven't been this excited over buying a piece of gear in years, I feel like a 5 year old waiting for his birthday pressy to arrive.

volsteh

Hope everything turns out well! I read the manual waiting for shipping, was flying all around the deluge in a week. Contrary to popular belief , the workflow and shortcuts are very intuitive, at least this is my experience. Have fun!

pitchblender

Hi, I got mine used and the audio stopping working after a couple of months. Over 2 years in a cupboard (skint!), then later I got it repaired but only discovered that it wasn't working 100% when wanting to use the built-in microphone, which didn't work. The repairer offere re-repair for free but I've yet to send it back again as I'm still skint. Yes, really skint.

I'd recommend immediately testing all pads, knobs etc. by just messing around with it, and also testing all audio outputs/inputs and CV ports. Do this as soon as you get it as you'll definitely get lost in creativity and might overlook a problem which you'll bump into much later, after the return window has closed.

It'll probably be overwhelming at first (obviously depending on your own mojo, experience and what you want it to do) as it's such a complex little beasty, but tutorials like RSKT's on YT are great and I've found keyword search in the PDF manual very helpful.

Also, check the firmware and update if not the latest, or install the latest stable Community Firmware if you like, but you can't swap projects between these firmwares 100% so choose one and stick to it before getting serious with it. I have 2x SD cards with each firmware & projects separate, but I mainly use the Community Firmware, it really is amazing.

I also replaced the battery with a higher capacity 18650 vape battery, and got a decksaver and MyVolts 9V centre-negative ripcord with USB powerbank, for USB MIDI and extended sessions away from mains power. Don't get your power polarity wrong!

And lastly don't forget the clumsy USB-B to USB-A adapter for USB MIDI, which sticks out and imo is a total weakspot for wobbling and knocking. I got a right (or left, I can't remember)-angled adapter/extender cable to avoid that and it works great without risk of being knocked and loosening the socket/solder. Make sure it's the correct angle as USB MIDI only works when you have the Deluge plugged in to the 9-12V power.

Hope this helps, and may it bring many hours of aural pleasure!

chrisroland

it really depends on what you intend to use Deluge for, e.g., self-contained production device v. a central brain for your whole rig. but in any event, prepare to watch hours and hours of YT demo videos to learn it all

fboucher

Totally second Pitchblender's amazing advice 👏 Yes do definitely check all the pads as they become unreliable with time, especially the shift key which is used so much and can't be midi-mapped. Also I would start collecting some nice multisamples, ready for some magic from the start! Enjoy!