Benefits of +Drive for MnM mk2?

Elektron Gear Monomachine
#1

Howdy. I just got a Machinedrum last week (Mk2, UW, +Drive) and am loving it. I find myself attracted to the Monomachine as a companion and am keeping my out for good deals on used ones. I’m not in a rush to get one as I’m still in early in the learning phase of the Machinedrum and a couple of other synths, but would like to leap if I saw a good deal.

I’ve seen a couple Monomachines come and go recently on other forums without the +Drive. I know the Drive can be useful on the Machinedrum UW with the samples. Does it offer much for the Monomachine? How heavily would I have to use the Monomachine for it to make a difference?

Monomachine MKII + Drive
#2

+Drive will give you the ability to have various Digiwave packs in the machine, and able to swap out without a computer running a sysex operation.
So, very handy if you use the Digiwave machines.

Also, it gives you 128 snapshots, rather than just 1.

The +Drive means you are less tethered to the computer for working between snapshots.

Having owned a +Drive model, and borrowed a non +Drive mk2, I definitely enjoyed the utility of the +Drive.

#3

These are precisely the issues that the OP needs to consider.

@OP
Whether you get a +Drive model or not, I would imagine that you would want to back up your creations to computer via SysEx dump anyway in case something happened to the MM.

So the usefulness to you of the +Drive on the MM to you is exactly the same as the usefulness to you of the +Drive on your MD.

#4

Furthermore, as the MM has no traditional patch browser, using snapshots full of kits with 6 patches each works as a make-shift sound library.
While not as ideal as the A4 sound browser, MM does allow copy and paste of sounds, and/or kits between snapshots.

#5

What I like most about having +Drives on both MD and MnM is the feeling that I’m never going to run out of canvas. That and the ability to stay organized … something I’m a bit compulsive about so they help ease my breathing :slight_smile:

I’ve got several active snapshots on both instruments. Many of them are sketchpads where I let myself noodle, or are dedicated to a specific composition where I need to explore lots of variations in rhythm/melody/kit. I also have a couple of performance snapshots that I keep up top that I use for gigs. Whatever patterns I am planning to use at a show, I move to those snaps.

All this keeps me away from the computer for the most part … only when I need to move a good number of patterns and kits around do I hook up the TM-1.

FYI it’s more frequent that I have to do this on MnM, as I find I can’t copy a pattern and expect all its data to stay in the buffer after I switch snapshots. (On the MD this works.)

1 Like
#6

Cool. Thanks so much for the answers! Yes, I want to stay as divorced from the computer as possible, so +Drive it will be.