I’ve owned a Rytm twice, each time for around a day before returning it.
I’m far more keen on linear sequencing with Max seq objects or just using Live to plot out my sequences in a linear fashion.
I don’t play live and don’t think I ever will, so am I losing a lot by not using the Rytm’s on-board sequencer?
I’ve owned every Elektron unit up until now and still have an OT and A4 and still use the A4’s sequencer, but I use the OT with Genome as I can record the crossfader actions.
You don’t have to explain p-locks to me or the like, I’m mainly just looking for an answer about if the usability of the Rytm’s sequencer can lead to more surprising rhythmic chop-ups like Autechre and mid-90’s Jungle or if it’s better for simply making loops with some expression while playing the same rhythm over and over.
I’m not a fan of rhythmic repetition and I may still buy one for Overbridge alone.
I mean, they recently had the probability update to switch things up a bit. But, you might be able to do that with Max. How accessible is it to make “Aphex”-y rhythms with Max, BTW? That’s one element of electronic music I haven’t been able to make with the elektron workflow, and I’m dying to tackle it
Basically, with Max you can do anything.
For a lot of my Max sequences, I put the standard beat in and for any hit that doesn’t encroach on my standard kick and snare hit (say at 1 for kick and 3 for snare in a standard dubstep rhythm), I allow for the possibility of a rhythmic fill (rolls, pre-planned fills, MIDI dealer’s choice) with a clamped 20%-80% probability.
That probability wavers between the floor and ceiling by the sweep of an LFO to make it even more random.
I love the sound of the Rytm and I really just want to use Max to select random samples & patterns and get weird with it, but am also wondering if I can just sit on my couch and get just as weird without needing to be strapped to a MacBook all the time to do it.
I imagine Aphex’s music isn’t totally generative like Autechre’s so I can’t really say, but I’ve only listened to bits and pieces of Aphex’s music since SAWII because I find him to be obnoxious and really, really childish.
I really don’t like cute and that dude has been trying to play clown prince for years and it’s just kind of dorky more so than cool
Autechre on the other hand, DO NOT fuck around.
This set is part of their new stuff since Exai and it’s all Max, nothing else.
interesting, for me its exactly the opposite. For me Autechre disappeared into their own psychedelic dimension some years ago (My sweet spot was Chiastic slide fwiw) and never returned to our world, whereas I like AFXs cheetah EP quite a bit. You think being unaccessible is cooler than being a clown? They’re just two sides of the same coin really.
As for your actual topic, I doubt you’d be interested in the Rytms sequencer if you can use max instead. No contest there.
Interesting discussion… I like how the two subjects interlace
I would say both Autechre and Aphex Twin refined their own style.
I really really dig the late AFX, I love the sounds and feel like there is some novelty in it… I have much pleasure to listen to it.
Somehow I find that late Autechre is also easier to listen than their previous work, but maybe it’s my own experimentations with the MD that soften my ears
But I wouldn’t compare Autechre and AFX…
Aphex Twin has become lot less experimental, I feel like his tracks have very smart progressions, I love how they are built, structure is one with the sound design, and maybe even more prominent.
Whereas I have no clue where Autechre tracks go, I love the sound but it feels more like continuous experiment than structured tracks.
Maybe this reveals something about my ignorance, though. But I like it more when a track “tells a story”, in a way.
Now the Rytm is quite capable as a sequencer, it cannot really compete with Max but with the conditional trigs you can have relationships between different tracks, probability trigs…
And the synthesis was greatly renewed by last update !!
And with the sample side you can fetch the glitches, no pb
If you can afford such machine, go for it blindly. It’s a real pleasure…
The art I like is sparse and enigmatic while riding the line between glacé and threatening.
Autechre check all those boxes and I’d rather listen to them at their most inaccessible than post-94 Aphex and his godawful, wanky acid jams.
Syro sounded just like some shit he plunged out of his DATs from the late 90’s and early 2000’s and everyone went around giving it 10 out of 10’s.
It’s embarrassing.
SAWII is a landmark record, an island pick for me, but after that he has 10% good music and 90% wank.
Autechre stand in no one’s shadow and it takes me 2 seconds to identify their sound as they’ve cultivated a truly isolated, artistic path that, even with a million imitators, has stayed true for well over 20 years.
Fair enough. I only like the piano piece in syro tbh. And it is true that Ae will always be their own thing, inimitable, and I do respect their integrity quite a bit. Just dont fancy listening to it anymore, YMMV as always.
I just don’t have time for retro music or escapism in music.
That music had its time and its time to do new things.
Autechre don’t always stick the landing, but they’re constantly trying to push things forward, for better or worse.
I think I may enjoy the Rytm just as a drum and sample module to control with Max.
I mean, what’s the worst that could happen even if I waste the possibilities of its sequencer?
Well, for what it’s worth, Chiastic Slide is definitely my favorite album of theirs.
After that it goes up and down in quality.
I put Autechre in the same camp as Holly Herndon, Lotic, Yearning Kru, Antwood, patten, etc; I respect them to no end and love what they’re doing, but their music hurts my ears and I can’t listen to it for long stretches.
I just don’t put artists like Aphex up to Autechre as Aphex is a pop star and Autechre are craftsmen of the highest order.
Your judgment is pretty hard, though.
Guess in your quest for glacé your heart is less open to emotion. Happens a lot to people that dive deep in production…
Last albums by AFX were my bridge to electronic music.
I’m obviously not an expert in this field, but I’ve been listening to music for decades…
Failing to see beauty in such tracks, and in pop for that matter… How sad.
I think calling Aphex a “pop star” and “dorky” is grossly oversimplifying (and underrating) his place and what he does in the music world. He’s gone through a lot of phases throughout his career, all very unique, but I think the underlying narrative is to have a good time. “Good times” does not have to be interpreted as “formulaic.” In this respect, Aphex is craftsmen of the highest order. Quality compositions, arrangements, chord progressions, melodies and so on are extremely difficult things to craft, let alone putting it all together in a cohesive, well produced whole. He does it extraordinarily well while even remaining true to his singular vision. It’s much easier to just follow age-old formulas. He’s, as you say, “trying to push things forward”. His success in this regard must be respected, even if it isn’t your type of music.
Now, on to your original post
I think to mangle samples the AR would prove capable. Setting sample start/end, slot, pitch, bitcrusher, ect to LFOs and performance pads and trig conditions and fills, ect can have, depending on how they’re set up, varying degrees of complexity from undulating drones to mad glitch. Of course it’d be great to have Max on it, but you could certainly do craziness from your couch.
That kind of complexity with the synthesis, on the other hand, has eluded me so far. But I think the key is going to be the setting up the same parameter manglers mentioned above to the new machines (I just haven’t gotten there yet) The older machines are better able to serve repetitive beats, while the newer ones (especially the quality of tracking in the BD machines) are more reliable in mangling. In my theory, anyway…
I saw Autechre live about a year ago - and the show was super heavy, ultra compressed and loud as fuck. It was like being back in 99 at the crest of the IDM wave. They did not slow it down or get mellow at all, it was all just hard bangers. Purely computers - all in-the-box - and it sounded ok in regards to that I suppose, but they pushed everything so hard there was practically no dynamic range left - not sure if that was a FOH problem or not.
Honestly that kind of generative and aleatoric music isnt really difficult to make. Its actually pretty easy to get something like that going with Max and Kyma and Reaktor and so forth, as long as you have a little background in the most basic kinds of machine programming and modular patching. There is also practically zero harmonic structure and therefore no need to apply any discipline in that area. The hyperactive rhythmic workouts take center stage - which is what computers and software excel at to begin with, even while taking very little to no cues from conscious interaction and improvisation, or equally as much interaction as you want, effectively rendering anything resembling “mistakes” null and void in an absolute manner. Their music is only a couple steps away from noise, which isnt necessarily a bad thing but does make them very niche even in the “small” world of non-edm purely electronic music, and yet they are still fairly well known. They have honed their particular art for quite a while though - its hard to think of anyone who sticks out more as the perfect example of that kind of thing. They have become iconic in that area.
It seems there is a typical attitude found amongst the so-called “avant garde” and especially people in the fine arts world where personality, public image and operative philosophy is far more important than the actual works in question. Its almost like a race to see who can be the most pretentious and precious and self-important, because that is all that matters. Its pretty silly to me, but Ive never been a fan of the “high-brow” world anyways. Autechre themselves may or may not be like that, I dont follow them or know them personally, but they do seem to attract that kind of attention when it comes to the more obsessive side of fandom. One thing that seems to happen to every crowd regardless of brow height is the phenomena whereby fame induces respect and admiration automatically, and strength of image regarding the person or organization carries the weight of success and drives it forward much more so than the works or products in question. The basic idea is “oh these guys made it, so it HAS to be good!” But thats just human nature, unfortunately. Victory and success through proxy and so forth - its perfectly in line with the need to imitate, which is the backbone of society, and especially cliques, tribes or whatever you want to call them.
He’s, as you say, “trying to push things forward”. His success in this regard must be respected, even if it isn’t your type of music.
Nah, he’s really not.
Look, I gave him a shot in the 90’s and now I’m just gonna keep not liking him.
I honestly like him less since he’s become a bellwether for people who have no real knowledge of music in general; “Have you heard the new Ssaliva or TCF records?” “You heard the new Aphex, dood?! I Care Because You Do, dood!”
Caring about Richard James is so far down my ‘list of things I give a shit about’ it’s practically illegible.
Thanks for eventually getting back to the point of this thread, though.
I think to mangle samples the AR would prove capable.
I’m not as worried about mangling, I suppose, as much as I am about getting out of the repetition caused by a fixed-step sequencer.
I had a MD and I just couldn’t enjoy it because you had to work so hard to make it not sound like the same, repeating loop with slight variations.
I like my rhythm tracks to sound varied and I think the AR can do that with scenes, but I’m making sure before I plunk down another $1450 and then get disappointed and make the poor guys at PCA take it back again.
They’re patient, but I feel that’s starting to wear thin.
