Analog RYTM, Jack of all

Elektron Gear Analog Rytm
#1

Over the years I have owned all but three Electron devices, Sid Station, Analog Heat, and Model Samples. Off all of the Electron devices I have purchased the Analog RYTM MK2 is the one that excited me the most. Lots of hype. YouTube reviewers love it, some calling it the best rhythm machine ever. And it can do everything. But, I guess nothing can live up to the hype. Honestly it is my most disappointing and least used Elektron unit.

The main shortcoming is the 12 pad, 8 voice design which has 4 sets of tied voices. To me that is two too many and unacceptable. No other major $1000+ drum machine is this limited. But what really bothers me is that each thing it does, something else does it better. It is not the best at anything. Honestly, my TR-8S is a better drum machine. Lots of things is a better synth. Every time I use it I feel as if I am compromising. I feel like it is a Jack of all trades and master of none. You should not feel that way with a $1600 drum machine.

Am I alone in this? Am I letting the polyphony limit and 4 tied voices bother me too much?

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#2

If you ain’t feelin’ it don’t worry about what other people think, can be some kind of unhealthy habit when it comes to gear I think.

For me I think it has functions and features not available elsewhere, I like the sequencer with its condition trigs, sample, sound, and parameter locks, chromatic mode, instant pattern change, separate outs and CV ins, analog filters for each voice, perf and scenes.

Those are the things that set it apart from other drum machines, if those are not important to you, then change it for something more to your needs.

17 Likes
#3

I am with you with this- i think the price is very high for what it does i can share some of negative points with you

  • The synth engine is very basic and disappointing - i don’t like the sound

  • the tied voices is a huge limitation

  • external midi sequencing is very basic

  • the effects are not great too

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#4

I was v disappointed with the Rytm mkII too and sold it eventually.
It really is so limited. My biggest problems with it was the lack of modulation (one LFO with one destination…) and the fact that the sample loop position is not modulatable. Also the envelopes are very limited. Some of the engines sound good but without a way to make it not be repetitive what’s the point?

I find the A4 mk2 way better as a drum machine bcs I don’t like playing the pads anyways and all the sound design and modulation power is there.

The only thing that made me keep it for an year was the master distortion and compressor.
I think its way too expensive and one dimensional, unless you’re making minimal techno or industrial.

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#5

I can totally see where you guys are coming from… but to me it’s my favorite piece of gear ever.

When I first got it, it took me a while to appreciate it for what it is. It’s indeed not a replacement for something else: It’s not a perfect sampler, a perfect drum synth or a perfect groovebox, but instead a unique piece of gear with it’s own character, strengths and quirks. Maybe approaching it that way helps.

But, if it’s not inspiring you you should sell it, no Reason to keep it if you don’t like it!

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#6

I always fuck with your beats tbh got a link to your rytm stuff? You making hip hop with it or other stuff

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#7

AR is the best machine.
I’d rather do without any of the others than this one.
and I own almost all of them.
(AR, OT, A4, DTone, Dtakt).
Alternatives? Mpc is a daw in a box

5 Likes
#8

I’ve always found 8 voices of elektron to be more than enough, kind of wish the digitakt had a few deticated choke groups. That said I prefer the sample engine/midi of the digitakt. I dunno everyone’s needs are different.

#9

Miles Davis hated the guitar so he took up the trumpet.

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#10

I understand the feeling to expect a lot for this kind of price - so let’s hope Elektron step up Rytm’s game soon with some new firmware goodies (2nd LFO, maybe some new machines, mixer input like the Digis have now).

But to me Rytm is my fav piece of gear. I can make complete songs on it. It’s a sample player. It’s a sampler. But it also synthesizes sounds by itself. It’s got the Elektron sequencer. All I need basically. Yet it’s still mega easy and straightforward. That balance is great to me.

PS I like the pitch sequencing the least I guess. The 12 pad grid structure never really clicks to me chromatically. And I’d like an arp. I’d almost forget it’s a drum machine :upside_down_face:

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#11

I think the Rytm is my favourite one standalone, but in a bigger setup with gear that does what it does better it gets a little lost.

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#12

This is what I keep hoping for. I will say that I like it better than the Akai MPC Live. I bought it thinking the big touch screen and generous polyphony would make the perfect machine. But something about the touch screen seems like work, the lack of conditions is a big minus, and tying the software to iLoc is unforgivable.

What I don’t want to do is sell the RTHM and then wish I had it back a year later. I did that with the Octatrack. I bought it too soon, before I was comfortable with the Elektron method and it was way over my head. Now I am thinking that it may be my second music purchase, after a Jupiter Xm. I’m thinking the Xm and the RTHM will both really shine with an Octatrack to sample them to.

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#13

I’ll preface this by saying you definitely have a right to your opinion and like Darenager said, if you ain’t feeling it, sell it and don’t look back.

Now having said that…The TR8S doesn’t have the Elektron sequencer. And, to me, a drum machine without the Elektron sequencer is questionable for my circumstances. I can make a pattern that loops once every eight bars with conditional trigs and only be looking at one page, which is a huge workflow bonus for me. I really don’t like scrolling through multiple pages just to put an open hat or a kick in a different spot. But I can put a conditional trig on the crash cymbal so it happens every eight bars, and conditional trigs on random toms and snares so that I get a fill every four bars. Suddenly my one page of information becomes a lot more interesting and I have a lot less headache to deal with. Speaking of fills, I haven’t even taken advantage of fill mode, although I really should start.

And that’s just talking about conditional trigs. Nevermind the parameter locking and whatever else. I don’t think TR8S has anything like that, but I’d have to check. I had a TR8 and it certainly didn’t.

The different modes are very helpful, too. I like mute mode and the fact that you can easily solo tracks. You can probably do that on TR8S though, again I’m not sure.

People say the synthesis is limited, and while that might be true, I think the same can be said for any modern drum machine. We’re lucky that the TR8S has 808 and 909 synthesis (and 606 and 707? correct me if I’m wrong), but that’s still fairly “limited.” It has samples, but so does the Rytm. I used to not like the Rytm hats, but they’ve grown on me more and i’m able to coax better sounds out of them. The engine is “limited”, but it’s also deep within its limitations. It has a ton of sweet spots, and just going through the onboard preset kit sounds shows this.

The machine gets deeper as you get more familiar with it. I can’t believe I had the thing for almost a year before I realized I can tweak all of the sounds as much as I want and just reload the kit back to a saved state. Same with a pattern. I can add in all sorts of trigs to the pattern and if I ever want to go back to init I just reload it. This has given me a lot of freedom in performing this unit with my band.

Though I agree most onboard FX are just okay (reverb doesn’t get big or loud enough for my taste, and I’ve never been too fond of having one FX and sending. I always prefer sounds to have their individual FX. delay is also fine), the analog distortion and compression are really good.

Having said all this, if I paid $1500 for the mkII, I’d probably feel similar to you OP. But instead I bought a MkI from a user here on this forum for about $850 and I’m very happy with the purchase. I don’t even know what other drum machine I could possibly get that would make me happier for around the same price.

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#14

I will add:

I am genuinely curious what drum machines you guys consider to have more diverse, wider range of sounds? All of the classic drum machines most certainly do not, so I’m wondering what newer ones fit this criteria besides the Tempest which is, what, $2500?

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#15

MachineDrum, I’d say

I started my Elektron journey with the Rytm and found it incredible at first. This being said, I ended up finding, like the OP, that sound engines were a bit limited (which is not saying you can’t do very good things with them).

So I bought a MD (before the hype, so a very decent price) and found myself in a world of possibilities.

OK, my post makes not point because this is very subjective. But I did go down the same avenue as the OP.

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#16

Machinedrum and the MCL.

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#17

Chips

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#18

hard agree.

#19

Stay well away from the Pulsar-23 then… Only four voices, no samples, no Overbridge, costs even more than the Rytm… Unforgivable.

Honestly though, how can a machine that utilises samples be considered limited? Especially one that allows for resampling. You can make chords out of cowbells, drones out of hi-hats, layer internal sounds and samples, resample that, layer that on top of another internal sound… I can’t think of a more versatile drum machine.

I had a Rytm Mk1 for a while, it was a wicked machine. Will end up with another one no doubt. And much cheaper than its MK2 counterpart.

6 Likes
#20

I borrowed a friend’s AR MK2 and enjoyed it but since I had two Elektron boxes already (OT/A4), I really wanted something different and less expensive that ran on batteries so I bought a new Roland TR-08 and have been enjoying using it with my TB03 Bassline. I did not even read the manual and had beats going quickly that sound decent. Elektron gear forces me to read and re-read manuals and watch lots of videos and experiment before it soaks into my feeble mind lol. So the Roland simpler use are good balance for me between the two Elektron boxes, cost way less and fit in between the eurorack modular and Elektron gear for me.