AR as standalone

I know someone has mentioned putting together a set of tracks with the AR on its own. I wondered if others have tried it themselves.

What might be the limitations ?

I’ve paired it with the A4 at the moment, but I’m sensing the appeal of stripping things right back and working with it on it’s own (I bought both machines at once, and may not have given enough time to the AR before moving onto the A4).

Shouldn’t be a problem! Using samples in looped mode with a short cycle length it’s possible get some huge bass tones out of the AR, perfect for house music (of any variety … deep, trance, etc.)

exactly :slight_smile: :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Even if you had 100% free time and didn’t need to eat or sleep these machines are so deep it would difficult to explore every possibility.

Not just a problem with Elektron gear, of course …

I just watched three stand out Youtube vids people uploaded earlier this year showing the AR on it’s own, and feel even more compelled to put the A4 away and dedicate some quality time to steering deeper.

Drone’s ‘Industrial’ Demo in particular made quite an impression on me.

My Analog Rytm arrives in the morning and I plan to get to know it by recording an EP entirely on it (with the exception of vocals). I already have three of the tracks written in my head and some of the samples edited and ready :slight_smile:

Hey, This is only the rytm. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc54SwoJmcs&list=UUsZBHZQIBdwBco1PzYwdSog

Using the analogue sounds and samples with that compressor and distortion just sounds cool!

:smiley:

Yes I have done many tracks with only the AR it has flex!

example:

Cheers all.
I’m convinced :+1:

Putting the two machines together after only surface scratching was yet another helpful pointer towards the fact that an idea of doing something and the actual experience are two entirely different things.

As with everything in life really…

This short experiment is all AR without any samples (synth engine only):
http://soundcloud.com/vandervossen/rytm-vignette

Is AR capable of playing longer pads/texture loops?

define longer…

60-90 sec

If you are gonna mess with the texture loop try recording it as once instance in grid mode or real time once then play the rest of the sequence out. You can also pad mute and unmute to see how the drums sound first.

But even though I lust for an A4, I am gonna master the AR first then jump on that box.

For me the limitations for making more complete stand alone tracks on the Analog Rytm is:

  1. Sample playback is mono. Quite a lot of the mojo of evolving pads, atmospheres and chords are lost in mono IMHO.

  2. Transferring longer samples to the AR takes pretty much forever. I don’t even bother with 2 bars or longer.

  3. When recording melodic lines in chromatic mode there’s no fast and easy way to transpose like I can on the Analog Four.

I guess at the end if the day it all boils down to the fact that I’m a lazy bastard.

but the mono sample has work arounds… but yeah not great.
transfers has not been great but I get better then 2 bars reasonably fast.
melody on an AR vs A4 is like comparing a fiat 500 to a monster truck!
long live the lazy bastards of the world let all unite!

Mono is of course a limitation but you can bring the mono sounds back to life with lfo to pan, reverb & delay and automation. I transfer 100 samples at a time. Just let it do it and make a cup of tea! :wink:

@DL Pads and atmos are better played manually or with the LFO.