So just reading the MD price thread got me to thinking back to before I had one…I was desperate to get my hands on something that had similar capabilities but in software.
I ended up using a Reaktor patch for a while that was pretty good and I tried to mod it to have UW capabilities, but I never got that bit to work. (something to do with tables I didn’t understand).
Anyway, it’s many years later now. What’s the best software emulator you’ve seen for Machinedrum or Monomachine?
I’ve never tried to emulate these machines as close the real thing as possible. Instead I try to adopt their “spirit” whenever a song or tracks calls for it. In that sense, to capture the spirit of the MM, I take a monophonic instrument, create a monophonic sequence, and automate parameters in a step fashion with each step starting at the start of a note to the start of the next note. I don’t bother to try to find synths that are close to the engines the MM provides because I find that to be shortsighted and limiting. I grab whatever synths I feel may make the sounds I hear in my head, and go from there.
If I do want to get that shitty MM sound “in spirit”, then I would reach for something with lo fi qualities. Odin 2 has a nice chiptune engine to get those SID machine sounds. Vital could do lo fi wavetables. Odin 2 could also do the Superwave stuff, but Odin 2 actually sounds really good compared to the MM, so maybe Synth 1 is a better choice. Maybe Surge XT can cover all these sounds plus the FM+ stuff.
I would use the same approach for the MD: find drum synths, use them monophonically, use one-step-per-note automation to mimic p-locks. As for the sounds, there are so many analog style drum synths out there to replace the MD’s TRX machines, so chef’s choice. For the EFM machines… hmmm… Inear Display has a FM based drum synth that pretty awesome. I don’t know about physical modeled drums, but insert a physical modeled drum synth or general synth in here. For the E12 machines, I would find some old school drum machine samples, load them to a drum sampler plugin like TAL-Drum, add some subtle sample rate and bit depth reduction.
4 Likes
There seems to be new emulators of the MD and MM, and they sound very, very nice.Monomachine & Machinedrum emulators: Elektron's iconic instruments for your DAW - SYNTH ANATOMY
10 Likes
Could be so cool to port the “machines” to the TBD16!
2 Likes
I just feel like samples would go further.
A big part of the sound I like from those units is down to the older digital bits. If you just recreate the engines (which in itself is a very big ask) you still won’t have the full picture.
I have both the MD and the MNM, but still I would love to be able to have all their algo machines in one device! And if the sound is not exactly the same that’s not so much a big deal.
To each his own buddy.
I’ve just seen a wave of this “let’s tack this part of one synth onto another,” likely fueled by a wave vibe driven amateurs with a weekends worth of ambition. I mean amateur in a literal sense, not as a derogatory term.
I’m just pissing into the breeze here. My opinion doesn’t matter, and I’m not even fully sure how I feel about it but:
- I think this would be much harder to do right than it would seem at a glance.
- By the time you’ve done it, you could have just made something new that isn’t just a vague imitation.
- Ultimately I feel these kind of ideas only serve to diminish the artistry that goes into designing an instrument in the first place.
I’m so conflicted because I love the spirit of hacky solutions, picking apart things to learn why they tick and then carrying that torch forward. That is how we got here. This is gold and how a lot of great designers across fields got started.
But let’s pretend we get to a point where it’s easy enough for the average music tech enjoyer to port whatever features and engines from other devices to anything else.
What’s the point anymore? Why ever have a bespoke object built around intended workflow consequences if you can bypass, port or amend the features you want?
What if you could just hypothetically arrive at the final sound you want without any of that fuss at all?
This is all rhetorical and a bit strawman at times. But I’ve seen such a trend of demand for X and Y features. What will it be like if that really were a finger snap away?
I’m not really suggesting anyone doesn’t try this. I’m just voicing an open thought because I’ve seen this kind of device mod / combining / firmware hack conversion a lot lately on here and it just feels different from what I think of when I think of a passion driven, exploratory device expansion or modding project.
E: I’m mainly talking mostly about “porting MD” to another device and similar convos I’ve seen about “can I put a digitone engine on my Digitakt?” and not so much the emulation effort that started this thread. My b there.
7 Likes
got to the github page to try and download this and downloaded it but my mac says its too dangerous!!
anyway has anybody got it up and running, screenshots?
The live sampling engines on the MD are unique and the only things I miss from it. One captures sound and the other plays back. They’re quite simple but being 12 bit probably helps create a nice punchy sound.
With them, you can capture any live input and shape it into an ever changing stream of percussive sounds, using pitch modulation with LFO’s as envelopes.
I have created approximations in Max but I’ve had better results from VST’s like Cableguys Shaperbox and Devious Machines Infiltrator.
If this emulation includes the UW sampling part I’d be very intersted.
It does but not quite ready yet.
1 Like
Elektroland MDM-1000
1 Like
thanks - cannot get it sorted - unexpectedly quitting endlessly - will wait for official version!!
it’s the wild west man, will never be ‘official’ 
3 Likes