Am I the only one? [Machinedrum love]

Same here, I spent many hours of fun with the Rytm (my first Elektron), but now I got the MD and MnM it’s sleeping in its box. Maybe it will come to life again one day, I just can’t sell it.

Just saw that today is my 3 year anniversary with my Machinedrum. A piece of gear that totally changed my setup. :sparkling_heart:

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basically i registered today just to say: in my 14 years of having the MD i never knew or found out the FUNC + knob twist trick. i kinda feel like an idiot now.

and to add to the praising in this thread, i think that i’m gonna state in my will that i want to be buried with my MD, that thing is just unmatched.

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Control All?
No, at the contrary, you’re not an idiot anymore!
Enjoy! :grinning:
Did you use the CTRL ALL machine?

Lots of tricks here :
http://tarekith.com/assets/machinedrum_tipsandtricks.htm

Maybe my last record with MD. I’m about to sell it. Boring to change machines, tune (even with OT + midi processor), boring lfo assignments (especially for MID and CTR machines), clicky…

I’m planning to get the DN. Pretty sure I’ll have more pleasure and even better drums sounds. Maybe AR MKI later.


EFM BD, 4 voices. Sequenced by OT + midi processor (notes to pitch). I’d need different tune settings for each machine ! Would be straight forward with DN.

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You’ll miss it! Such a wonderful machine. If you can find a way to keep it, you should IMO :wink:

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I don’t think so, especially if I have a DN and / or an AR !

Mainly frustrations with it. Not enough lfos for me. I need 2 or 3 per machines. Lfos for MID machines don’t work unless you use a CTR8P that don’t have lfo! Not finished product.
A good example, you can’t send a CC1 with a MID machine. It goes from 0 to 2 directly.

Better results sequenced by OT with a midi processor but that hurts my brain…midi implementation is an hassle. I even use sysex to change machines.

giphy%20(2)

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Sounds goes pretty well with the picture :smiley:
Wait for a month, let’s talk about it in June : I’ll bring all the machines and you’ll be able to test them :slight_smile:

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Was just thinking the same thing…

:slight_smile: will you?
I’m already sure about AR, I’ll test DN…

I’ve got doubts since more the beginning, 15 months ago!

Hmm, I sold 2 MD and kind of regret both times, but I guess it was right thing to do and perhaps my fondness for it is based around a few of its killer features, but not enough to outweigh its shortcomings in my setup - I still think it has far better BD than AR by far.

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Far enough. :slight_smile: Matter of taste maybe…I like the TRX BD2 only, and I think I can reproduce it with a sine and OT. Or a cowbell? :wink:

Yeah the EFM one was my favourite, mainly with most parameters dialled back (so not much actual FM at all :rofl: ) then using eq and filter to scoop frequencies out. Could get some really solid, satisfying and not too pitch sweepy kicks - the AR kicks I find difficult to make sound nice, I don’t much like the response of the envelopes which control sweep, they also lack precision and finesse I think. But most people seem to love AR kicks so…

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Coming from a totally different backround, I probabIy don’t fully understand what you want to acheive musically but I have a lot of respect for your knowledge and what you are able to squeeze out of the MD.

However, the above statement seems a bit unfair considering the Machinedrum was first released in 2001, which means the design probably dates back to 1998. A lot of other digital gear from that time looks way more dated and limited, today. IMO.

But if you like FM synthesis, the DN is probably currently the best choice anyway.

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Not finished product because lfos don’t work on MID machines, and no lfos for CTR machines. You can’t send a CC1 (modulation) from MID machines…

Sound wise, I’m not a big fan of digital lofi sounds, I don’t especially like Autechre work with MD, even if I totally respect them.
I find kicks too clicky (except TRX B2), and even more when you add several several sounds. I don’t like its reverb. No envelopes, not enough lfos to use them as envelope and modulation.

I did my best to get the best of it, according to my tastes, controlled by OT, “tuned” with midi processing, even with sysex, but I was still frustrated.

I don’t want to have too much gear, I prefer AR analog drums, TRCs, tuning, chromatic control, perf I can control with OT…
I’d also prefer a second OT over an MD.

I should sell MD saturday, and buy an AR sunday. :slight_smile:

My black faceplate should be for sale separately.

Yes, planned. I think I’d definetely prefer drums on it, already tuned.

I love this. Nice work.

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Hey, how much for the black faceplate, friend ?

I thought you’d already have sold it by now! (pretty sure that’s what I have at least mildly suggested previously :grinning:) if I’m focusing more on what a piece of gear can’t do than what it can do, it’s time to move on

there’s never a free lunch - my understanding is that the way MD is coded the LFO functionality is required to be cannibalized by the CTR machines as that is what allows the CTR machines to modulate other tracks’ parameters. In the case of using a CTR-8P machine it’s probably the best trade-off for sacrificing an LFO, since then you can use a single track to send modulation via p-locks (+slides) to 8 different parameters simultaneously on up to 8 different tracks, and then you have easy mute control over that modulation source, which I think is pretty cool

a bit surprised you haven’t tried going down @JustinValer’s Megacommand rabbit hole since you want to do lots of fancy stuff with it and he has already done most (if not all?) of the heavy lifting for a lot of the use-cases you seem to be interested in - but maybe you mainly want a challenge? :smiley:

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Sorry to inform you the AR also only has 1 LFO per track. The MD can at least route them to other tracks. Not so on AR.

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