Analog Rytm MK1 or MK2?

You can get pretty close using the SD Natural machine.

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And if you can’t: load a sample.

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For the price and build quality (no bugs etc), I’d say go for the MK1. This is what I did, no regret at all :slight_smile:

Well, see here:

This thing about mk2 bugs starts to bother. I had the mk1, excellent value for money. If money is not a problem, the mk2 is the choice. The user interface is significantly improved, you can work faster and more comfortably. Screen and backlit buttons are a pleasure for the eyes. Encoders are so-so, more sensitive than the old ones, even too much in certain situations but you get used to it. The pads are greatly improved, I had no particular difficulties with those of the mk1 but the new ones are another story. There are some exclusive features in the mk2, not a game changer but absolutely convenient:
-fill button
-fix button for fixed velocity on the pads
-storage screen to check memory usage of the RAM and the +Drive
-sound settings shourtcut
-quick performance that allows you to use performances and scenes / mutes simultaneously
-separate banks buttons
-global setting button/quick save without stopping the sequencer
But of course sampling / resampling is the real reason to choose mk2, the possibilities for sound design are endless. You can sample kick, snare, rim and clap from bottom row, move them to the upper row and use tracks 1/4 for Dual VCO. You can create unique sound combining and equalizing different machines and resampling them, add a sample, resample, add noise, resample…
You can create sample chains directly inside the rytm, connect a mixer to the inputs and sample a voice, a guitar riff. There is no game :slight_smile:

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I think if you use gear live, you want stability first.

No matter which features you got (promised), If it is overlayed by bugs causing notes to drop, the device getting laggy as hell, main integration features being unavailable (OB support for MK" only since a week or so) and last but not least it all does not benefit much if you device freezes frequently.

Or issues like this:

You can have a rolls roys - if it is not driving reliably, it is just deco, no matter of the other features.

BTW: What you write, anybody can read in a sales text for the Rytm MK2 online in many places. What we write here and everybody should be aware of before they buy, you can’t…

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I’m sorry, I don’t know if I’m lucky, but mine doesn’t have a problem. I don’t want to warn anyone, I have a good experience and I recommend the mk2 for improvements.

I understand and that is a great experience, enjoy it.

Could you please check out with your stable device, if you get a somewhat stable sounding BT loop with these simple sounds and patterns, see here:

Would be very helpful, since this seems to be a huge difference between the MK1 and the MK2 - like it or not.

Anyone, who can test this on an mk2, it would be actually very helpful.

Before I bought the mk2 (and already knew the mk1 very well) I only found comments - as here - that they basically sound pretty much the same and only differ in features. Doesn’t seem so to me atm.

I can only hope that only my device is faulty, otherwise I can really ONLY recommend the MK1 if you want to ever program some (really nice crunchy sounding) steady bass lines with your rytm.

If that possibility has gone missing on the mk2… most disappointing.

So please help to clarify this with some tests. Thanks to all.

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I’m so surprised that no one is mentioning this. The bass response is indeed way better. I have a mk1 that has issues and needs to be sent in for repair, but I haven’t been able to send because i’ve been too busy with production and preparing live sets. I went to a local dealer here in Berlin and played with a MK2 recently using their crappy cans and I totally noticed an improvement with the sound.

Today, I went back to the dealer with my cans and played with it for a bit … testing out my method of implementing BD1, SD2, & LT6 as a kick around the 40hz range with CP4 as a snare … (yes, i make hard techno). The sound quality was way better including a better bass response and equally as important, the track summing was far better.

On my MK1, when I do this 3 kick with a snare method … the snare gets lost.

Last but not least, being severely visually impaired … the new display is so much easier to work with. The issue my mk1 has is a pad issue … BT5 gets stuck and will turn on or off in the various modes without touching it. One of these days I’ll send it in.

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Thanks man, thought I was going cray since no one confirmed :grin:

not a man but a wooooa-man … haha. all good. yeah, the difference isn’t extreme, but i really notice it.

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well in the quest for knowledge, because to the best of my (admittedly limited) knowledge, including (what i took) as a confirming nod about this from a source within Elektron, i’m somewhat surprised that there’s potentially any difference at all … so strip down that 3 kick and snare to as clear and as rudimentary a pure test case as you can … with a .syx dump of a pattern/kit … and i will provide the blind audio test back or at least add some anecdotal feedback as i can A/B both versions here

i do think it is possible that you are right, i’ve seen another case where on a different set of machines a user was getting superior (in terms of attack transient consistency iirc) results from the Mk1 !! - so they may be essentially the same in terms of engine, but there may well be extremely minor and undisclosed tweaks that have an effect

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I’m preparing for a live set that i’m performing next week for a live streaming radio (hör in berlin). Then I’m sending my rytm in the next day to get some repairs done to it. (In short, I don’t have time to do this.)

Probably the biggest reason I really want the mk2 is because of the display; i’m visually impaired.

An a/b test of the two machines would be really awesome.

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There was a time when I had both a MK1 and MK2 at my disposal.

This was right when the dual VCO update was released.

Both freshly calibrated, I A/B’d them and found no discernible differences. (Where as the A/B I did of A4 MK1 and AK was immediately noticeable, as if both were going through separately configured curves on two master equalizers.)

I’d have to check change logs, but perhaps subsequent firmware releases contained a tweak here or there to the Rytm MK2.

Or perhaps this machine just needed to be calibrated:

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No evidence or basis for what I’m about to suggest… but is it possible that the headphone socket spec was changed/improved from mk1 to mk2? I’d always base a comparison off the main outs rather than the headphone outs. Although :3lektron: headphone outputs are usually very good.

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i only “noticed” it on large scale pa systems, that can go quite low without effort

link us a mix!

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This is SO GOOD! a string of expletives

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Just found a MK1 for half the 600€. Should I jump in?

Why people say there are no indiv outputs and midi out on mk1?

I heard that now even mk1 can sequence other gear…true or false?

Apart from sampling and obvious new pads and buttons, anything else different on mk2?

Thanks a lot!