Any workarounds for these issues?

Elektron Gear Model:Samples
#1

Hello, everyone… Do any seasoned M:S users have any workarounds for some of the performance shortcomings of the machine? I know I’ll develop some of my own if I spend the time, but I’d like to know how some of you deal with a few specific issues?

For one, I feel like the “global mute” setting is very difficult to navigate in a live situation, meaning that muted parts stay muted when a pattern changes. I love the Korg-style sequencer (ESX/MX) for this reason. It’s so intuitive to go on an effects tangent, muting things one by one and then drop everything back in on the next pattern. Unfortunately, there isn’t an easy or intuitive way to accomplish this on the M:S.

To top it off, any editing permanently changes the existing pattern until it is manually reloaded from its saved state. This is also a deal-breaker for me, as I really need to come back to a pattern in a live situation and have that pattern play in its original state. It’s integral for my live performances that I have freedom to mangle in real time without making permanent changes to a pattern. It basically means I will never use the M:S in a live performance, so it’s nearly useless to me.

Next, I’m wondering if there is a way to save a copy of a pattern to an unused slot without stopping the sequencer? I realize I can copy and then change patterns, then paste, but this causes a drop in the playback, obviously. I’d love to be able to save a copy one slot forward, change to that pattern, edit, save, repeat… This is another strength of the X-style Electribes.

Lastly, I recently created an “elastic audio” template for Korg ESX. (you can see my video on it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVnmP9MCaVs) In this template, I use the motion-sequence feature to do automatic time-stretching of any properly-trimmed loop. By putting trigs on all 128 notes in the sequencer, then setting each trig to the relevant value for Sample Start, it will basically play any sample you drop in that slot perfectly, no matter what pitch the sample is, or what tempo the pattern plays at. The idea is a bit genius for me, and came one night like a bolt from the blue.

I had hoped to set up a similar template on the M:S before I purchased it. Thing is… -and this is the ultimately frustrating part- the value for Sample Start on the M:S goes only to 120 instead of the usual MIDI value of 128 (0-127) like EVERY.OTHER.MACHINE known to man. Because of this, I can’t set the trigs to the exact value of each slice in a loop, making the proposed template impossible. :frowning: To make it worse, most of the other values for every other perimeter follows the typical 0-127 MIDI-value template. WHY WOULD ELEKTRON MAKE THE SAMPLE START VALUES ANY DIFFERENT? Lol… Anyway, for that question, I’d really like to know if the Sample Start value is 0-120 on the Digitakt as well? And actually, does the Digi do any time-stretching? and is it automatic like the Octa?

Thanks a lot, everyone, in advance!

#2

You can can store the pattern in memory Func+spanner and func+pattern to restore.

I think they did 120 so it’s easily divisible, that’s the only logical reason.

#3

Function+Spanner? Do you mean the Temp Save/Reload? I know about that feature, but it’s basically useless. I can save a temp copy of the pattern, but I can’t apply it to a future pattern without navigating to that pattern, which leaves at least a moment of silence before I “paste” the temp pattern. On the other hand, after I’ve mangled a pattern with huge effects, mutes, filter sweeps etc., and navigated to another pattern, when I return to the previous pattern it is still in mangled state… The saved Temp could be applied at that time, I guess, if I still have it saved.

As far as “easily divisible”, 120 is not evenly divisible by the 64 trigs, or any multiple of this number. That’s the problem. 128 is perfect, and they should have left it alone.

I’d still like to know if the Sample Start value on the Digitakt is also divided into 120 increments?

Thank you for your response!

#4

Digitakt is 120 but the granularity of the start point selection is in decimals, so you could more or less place the start point evenly across how ever many steps you wanted. I know people have also set up a psuedo time stretch using the lfo to move the start point on the digitakt of a short looping snippet of a sample. Not sure if this trick would work on the model samples or not, I think people got a sort of timestrech working on the analog rytm which has more in common with the way model samples handles its samples.

#5

120 on the Digi, wow… Ok, thanks so much. The decimal points would work though, but not on the M:S. I’m attempting to make it work with LFO set to Env and destination Sample Start, but the lack of a retrigger function makes the results too erratic for now. Maybe I’ll get it to work.

#6

M:S certainly has its quirks and limitations, it can be difficult to adapt to your will. But if you go with its workflow it can be rewarding and even surprising at times.

The 120 point limit is confusing to me too, I think maybe it has to do with MIDI ticks so it’s a value divisible by 6.

It’s annoying to have to do, but if you spend a bit of time making some custom 120 slice chains, these are great fun to mess around with. I found I have at least a few uses out of each chain I make.

The OctaChainer software makes it simple to make accurate chains, thread about it is here.

#7

Yes. It looks way more complex in the manual than it actually is; it gets pretty quick once you get used to it.

Screen Shot 2020-07-23 at 10.41.36 pm
Screen Shot 2020-07-23 at 10.41.36 pm1214×234 52.2 KB

As for the other stuff…

Yeah, I was frustrated by the 120 sample start value too, not sure why it’s like that.

Regarding the destructive pattern editing, it’s just something you need to get used to. I like it that way because I was always forgetting to save my patterns on the Electribe.

#8

I figured out a different method of drag-and-drop kits, to fit a programmed drum break automatically. This OctaChainer soft is going to make that a very intuitive process; thank you!

#9

Thank you for the screenshot! I read the manual cover-to-cover, but it’s a dry read, lol. I don’t remember seeing this in there. I expect there is a lot I’ve missed in the manual, and I really appreciate the help. :slight_smile: