No, I find it much easier to use but limited in a not bad way.
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seems to be the usual many threads; new product release, letās hold up a mirror to the device that started this ball rolling. does it replace it?
bottom line is (and without meaning to echo what many have said already here) you canāt replicate the sound of the MD, whatever components/chipsets were utilised at the time have been replaced with newer (betterā¦) stuff.
you could try and emulate it but it would probably be much cleaner. and half its charm for me is its filth and inadequacies.
In no way is the MD perfect, it clicks, glitches (when pushed under certain situations) and has loads of idiosyncrasies/limitations that weād all be up in arms over if released today.
Some people say the sounds are dated, but its upto the user through experimentation (with 16 LFOs modulating one track and new X NFX thereās still lotās of new audio to explore i believe), resampling and digging deep to take it to new places.
Something about all of that wrapped up in the box makes it still the most fun and surprising box to play with.
And Syntakt looks very close to that fun! Canāt wait to try it to compare.
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Except he ended the post by suggesting the equally rare Nord Drum 2!
for me the matter has now been settled. I bought a rytm mk 2 black today for 600 euros. this is sheer madness. now I just hope that this is not a scam and that everything arrives safely. After I read the comments about the machinedrum, I suddenly wasnāt sure anymore. I will now deliberately ignore the syntakt so as not to fall for the GAS.
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I love the MD and I would never get rid of it. My only very petty complaint is that I wish the analog open hi hat didnāt have that weird volume fade out and in.
I think choosing an MD nowadays comes down to musical personality and needs. Iāve never used any Elektron products beyond the Octatrack, but if I was to take a guess, I would imagine that anything released after, and including, the OT, whether alone or in combination with multiple Elektron devices, would be a fair, excellent, and even more powerful setup than a Machinedrum by itself, therefore, I wouldnāt even recommend anyone to get one.
This is just my less than educated and stellar guess and assumption - again, I have no experience with newer Elektron products post-OT.
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Hi. Iām a beginner with Elektron gear, first buying an ST and recently got a used MD.
Because I learned the ST first, Iām worried that when I press the 16-step button on the MD, it makes an awkward squeaking sound.
Is it wrong to open the panel and grease the switch?
I love the MD but am with you on this - for pure sonic quality and versatility, the ND2 is king. And itās so satisfying to dial in those sounds. Best interface ever.
Weeeeellā¦ Iāll put it this way. If I was to get rid of it, it was stolen, or it broke, I would be sad, but here is a really high percentage that I wouldnāt replace it. I would accept that the main reason I would be sad for not having it is not because of its sound, workflow, sequencer, sampling, sound design, etc., but because it was my
and itās been with me for over a decade. I love mine, but I also know that I can conjure up better and more interesting sounds with some software recipe and a DAW.
Iām curious, what does the ST have to do with a squeaky sound from your MD?
There is no right or wrong. Also, the MD is most likely not under warranty. So you can try to fix it if you know what youāre doing, know what to look for, have experience troubleshooting electronics, and are not guessing.
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Try loosening the faceplate and moving it until the buttons dont scrape against the edge. Thatās what I did with mine when the buttons were sticking against the sides. Unless youāre talking about the spring inside the mechanism, in which case I would say learn to live with it, as sticking grease inside there is not advisable unless you can fully disassemble the housing to make sure the grease is only going where you want it i.e. not near any electrical contacts.
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oh, I can revise this thread now 
that was a while ago. The Rytm is now my dream machine and that was even before the update. it really covers a lot, especially drums and bass. Now I personally think itās good that the raw sound sounds boring at first and only after a lot of tweaking do you get the desired sounds, which you can also save.
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This thread popping up today is kind of topical for me. Iāve had a Machinedrum Mk2 for around a year and a half, and it hasnāt made it into a single recording. I bought it out of a desire to have one of the ālegendaryā boxes so many artists I look up to have used, and now that the sheen of newness has worn off, Iām realizing I just havenāt wanted to do much with it. The few sketches Iāve done with it havenāt gone anywhere, and Iām rarely satisfied with the sounds I make with it. Itās not that itās bad - quite the contrary, and Iām 99% sure the problem is me and not the MD. I realized recently that I can find almost everything I want out of it in the Syntakt with the bonus of modern workflow improvements, and that the gritty MD sound really doesnāt mesh well with my music a lot of the time. Kind of a bummer, to be honest, but thatās what I get for putting the instrument on a pedestal and letting the reputation come before the reality.
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I felt exactly the same way.
I wanted to own it more as an object than a tool, because as a tool I just didnāt vibe with it at all. I was always enamored with what it could do, but not so much what I made it do.
Truthfully even the Autechre 2008 Project was, once you dove in, almost basic aside from it being really, really well done, if that makes sense. In other words, they werenāt doing anything wildly out of this world with it, they just made it sound good.
I ended up selling it, and I sort of regret it because I likely wonāt ever own one again, and knowing that irks me, but on the other hand, I donāt honestly miss it from a musical perspective.
I was able to get a RYTM for a very good price and have enjoyed that a lot more. Likewise, I found the Syntakt gets pretty close to the clangy, noisy, harsh FM stuff that I was looking for in the MD.
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That happens. We hardly if ever read the fine prints, and itās even worse when we have to do our homework to write those fine prints for ourselves. We canāt seem to shake off that āI am going to eat all the chocolates even if dad is warning me of a stomach acheā mentality of a 4 year old.
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Precisely, to all of what you said. While I never downloaded the Autechre project, Iāve read every forum post I can find on it and thatās the conclusion most people seem to come to. The magic is like 90% in their abilities/ vision, and 10% the MD. The wild percussion sounds it makes are cool, and I like listening to that kind of thing but at the end of the day I donāt enjoy making it.
Yeah. The funny thing is, I thought I did my homework (or convinced myself that I had). I watched so many MD videos, read loads of forum posts like this one, listened to music made with it, etc. Liked what I heard. Then in practice, justā¦ meh? Iāll chalk this up as a lesson learned - after all, if I didnāt try it out, Iād just have that nagging feeling of āwhat ifā forever.
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I had the MK1 around ten years ago and been able to move to a MK2-UW+ five years ago before things goes crazy.
Wanted to get this Ā« multiple project possibility Ā» which make the mk1 a difficult beast to use. Not sound wise, but playability wise. Never felt block by the MK1 soundwise.
Still love itās sound when I use it.
Donāt play it enough to make it full justice 
Always like this harsh sound which sound like nothing else : 2000 sci-fi.
The sound of MD is good. But I always feel like you need to use it as your main instrument then make the complementary instrument adapt to itās sound and scale if you begin to use complex sound. Because when you go glitchy on MD and itās where I get the most fun, there is tone which are produced and the tuning of the MD is just not precise at all. Part of itās character and charm.
Like when using short retrig on the sample to emphasize the metallic of a sound. MD is so good at those thing like nothing beat that.
Today I have more pleasure using the Rythm, A4, Digitone. Sound really different but so easier to use. Unfortunately less glitchy. But more my taste at the same time soā¦
The MD UI, workflow, lack of subdigit for parameter for tuning, lack of scale per track, probability, Soundlock, sound management in general and barebone kit. Thatās a lot to handle. And the MD is slow to do things.
It can take me two hours to make a KIT on MDā¦. Sweat Spot are everywhere but take time to get there. And always impress by the capabilities but thatās loooong to create. And always feel I would be ten time more efficient if I can browse some of my preset and tweak them. Instead of using barebone Init and make them sound as I expect.
Itās really like driving your grandpa old car.
Lots of care. Lots of time spent. Pleasureā¦ indeed.
But lack of confortā¦ like lack of electric glass and air conditioner.
And also nonetheless a bit of fear to invest time in it because of scarcity of replacement if it fail 
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The older devices are the only ones from Elektron that I didnāt have, so everything before OT. As far as I understand, the Machinedrum is a purely digital machine that is supposed to sound a bit like the classic Roland machines. Still, itās a digital machine and I think thatās the thing.
You either like this constant sound or you donāt. I personally like these analogue sounds because I always have the feeling that they are strong, assertive sounds and that they only offer a very warm, powerful backdrop through the formation of the sounds.
But on top of that, I personally wouldnāt have anything against the machine to create a gritty layered sound. but it doesnāt necessarily have to.
So, on the whole, every analogue and digital machine has its own character, like it or not. Both are definitely good for professional productions.
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ST is comfortable because there are no creaking sounds from the buttons.
There is a big difference in the year of manufacture between MD and ST, but I imagine that the MDās buttons may be making an unpleasant sound and feel awkward due to deterioration of the grease.
My MD is no longer covered by warranty, so if something goes wrong, youāll have no choice but to maintain it myself or hire a professional. However, if the squeaking of the buttons can be solved with grease or oil like on a bicycle, I may be able to maintain it myself. However, if I do not know in advance whether there are any precautions to be taken at that time, I may damage the MD, so Iām asking here.
As for electronic equipment, my only experience is circuit bending and building modular synths about 10 times each.
Thank you for advice! Iālll try adjusting the position of the faceplate 
It really is a fantastic drum machine
but
I think, for me, itās so good because itās also so much other stuff. The MIDI sequencing on it is actually really powerful for a drum machine, the UW section is an absolute dream for a drum machine (omg resampling omg), the effects can be really nice for a drum machine, the melodic capabilities are certainly very very very nice for a drum machine, etc. ad nauseum.
Look, if thereās a machine that has control-all where different parameters can be affected all at once in the same way that the MD accomplishes this, I want to know what the name of that gear is. (I donāt care about AblationLive. This is a gear blog(no disrespect, yo.)) I have heard that many of the newer Elektron boxes have control-all function like the MD, but the only issue with these boxes creatively is these parameters being controlled are all the same parameter(so Iāve heard anyway). Boring.
With the MD, holding the function button and turning a knob can change several different parameters at once. OT owners understand this when assigning whatever parameter they wish to the crossfader. The OT is awesome in this regard but takes some time to set up and never feels organically random like the MD does.
With the beloved MD, though, after placing a bunch of machines(drumsynth-engines) on several tracks and creating a badass pattern you really love(or just somewhat enjoy), youāll find that tweaking the control-all(function+knob) is where the REAL fun begins because the unpredictability of what sounds show up henceforth is more satisfying than any gear Iāve ever owned. The reason for this is because, unlike other gear, the variety of machines(drumsynth engines) on the MD for the most part each have a different parameter on, say, knob 3, so your ears will possibly hear simultaneously the change of FM frequency, repeat rate, distortion, high pass filter, and attack, each on separate drumsynth engines, all at the same time. Itās really beautiful quite often and hard to explain in just a few words. It takes a little time to get there but it is worth it if you love techno especially. Peace.
I will be quiet now for a minute.
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