hi everyone.
supposinng you make techno, what gears do you prefer?
- A4 + octatrack
- A4 + AR
- AR + octatrack and a quite cheap synth like the Doepfer Dark energy, minitaur, or something like this?
thank you!!
MD+A4.
You can achieve this with OT + any cheap mono synth.
Just sample the synth parts from the mono synth. You can do almost anything with a sampler. Then have the synth play the bass line.
But OT and A4 is also a great combo to do anything.
I own an A4
now i have the money for buy another elektron gear, and i think about sell the A4, and buy the AR and the OT with pretty warm mono synth like the vermona mono lancet or a moog.
soā¦what you sugget?
stay with the A4 with an octatrack or octatrack + synth and AR??
This is the kind of music that i want to produce:
In my opinion you could actually sell die A4 and get the AR first. Your examples sound quite percussive so the AR could be a nice piece of gear for you. Especially for live techno performance the āperfomance modeā is really awesome. With the sample capabilities of the AR that machine could be the only Elektron gear that you need. If you want to add something i would suggest the Octatrack + Analog Synth combo. I run exactly that Setup.
Octatrack as main hub and AR + Waldorf Pulse 2 into Octa to do sampling and effects. Plus i send midi from Octa to both machines do send notes to the Pulse and to make program changes on both maschines according to the pattern running on the octa. Works well for me.
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yes it look likes a gret set up 
i think that i very need a good drum machine for this kind of techno.
Now i have to choose a mono synth, i think about the vermona mono lancet, mfb kratzwerg, dark energy, or a basic modular.
what you suggest?
+1
For evolving techno ala Rrose I think the MD has a better workflow than the AR tho the AR is more in your face (punchy), if thatās what you want.
Performance mode & Scenes are wicked but thereās no beating the Control All trick for building & dropping.
Ram machines on the fly add some amazing textures too!
OT + Evolver + Nord Drum 2
Very powerfull set-up for the price
I still regret selling my Evolver, especially now that I have an OTā¦
I still regret selling my Evolver, especially now that I have an OTā¦[/quote]
Oh yesā¦ I made the same error also.
This confing (OT + Evolver + Nord Drum 2) is not my config today but a past config I miss.
I still have the OT
Based on your examples, get the Dark Energy to pair with AR. ARās distortion will do you good, both for synths and drums, to get you to the reference sounds youāve posted.
Oh and donāt go the ābasic modularā route. āBasic modularā usually means āMicrobrute for 5x the priceā. Speaking of which, have a look at the Micro/Minibrute. Raw, rough sound for a really affordable price, and you can make it sound monstrous running through ARās effects.
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I would like to do very strange and dark sound, and the dark energy is the wich one that attract me more, but one only oscā¦ i donāt nowā¦ what do you think about this fact?
also the minibrute is nice but I have seen only video where it sounds to much raw for me 
in the video post above the blofeld was surprised me, i thought that it can makes only classic pad
Iām about to receive my first Elektron machine (A4) next week. Next year I will take a drum machine to have the perfect combo. It could be MD or OT or AR.
If youāre going to use loop samples and other synth-sampler -> A4 + OT + Other machine.
If with two machines you have enough:
- Live looping, loops, loads of samples, good sequencer -> A4+OT
- Need play samples chromatically, some synth for drums, best sequencer -> A4+AR
- Tons of tracks, some MIDI, live sampling -> A4 + MD
You could do the same with the MM, but I donāt know it enough.
I will go for the A4+OT combo, at the moment is A4+microOT (Volca Sample :P). In your case any combo would work.
I didnt try MD but i have Rytm, A4 and Octaā¦ The Rytm is a Techno monster itself
For one-machine-techno monster, I highly advice the MDUW. I was going to pick the Rytm first, however I contacted a guy which had the MD/AR/A4/OT, payed him a drink and he showed me the machines (and others, he had a full roomā¦).
The AR sounds good, but itās really poor in sound designing. The MD sound is more artificial, more techno. Unless youāre happy with single cycle waveforms or speeding up/down samples, and changing only the filter, I wouldnāt recomend it as a only machine for techno at the moment.
the machinedrum is a good choise for planning a live set?
because the rytm really appeals me for the perf mode, the pads, and for the analogue sound.
Do you think the digital sound of the MD works better for techno?
Yes, it is. However, I warn you. It lacks the modern AR features like different track lenghts, 16 bits samples, overbridge and, the most important, itās stall, itās not updated anymore, while AR will be. Also, it doesnāt have the perf mode.
But: It offers you 16 tracks, MIDI Out, 4 times the number of machines, Ctrl-Al machines, reset to default (very very useful, I donāt know if AR or other machines support this), audio input processing, real time sampling, more effects, better SONG mode <- which is very important for me.
About the sound: it depends your taste. In the most AR videos you can see in youtube, you only will see samples swiming in reeverb. Unfortunately, atm, it doesnt have to much variety. However they sound very good, except some sounds. The MD is moreā¦ it sounds just āgoodā but it hasā¦ its own vibe.
You can check this by yourself, AR:
MDUW:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tRXCFrDxHw (no samples used)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpCPUuqUfPs
Both are a good choice. Just ask yourself what features you prefer the most then see which machine fullfill you more and go for it.
Personally Iād go with the first I could get cheap in the marketplace, because, if you own already an A4, any of them will combo perfectly for your purposes (OT/MDUW/AR).
No idea how much time you have down on the A4, but if you want to stay productive, Iād add as little as possible and work with what you have. It is an absolutely incredible drum machine and poly analog in one box. My wife keeps blowing me away with the complexity and variety of percussives and textures she jackhammers out of it. Get sound-locking down better than the back of your hand and really abuse that weirdly amazing poly implementation. Donāt take it as if talking to you, but most brilliance comes from digging down, not spreading out, and certainly not by trading your tools at every bump on the road.
All 100% subjective. Just the irreverent 2 cents about making music in an insanely materialized abstract economy.
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i love christian vogel/peter van hoesenās sound and iām wondering what hardware synths can bring those sounds to my octatrackā¦sometimes i feel like bitwig is the way to go.