The one thing I disliked about the MD was the inability to play sounds (machines) chromatically. The ability to do so on the AF will make a huge difference I think. Itāll be a lot easier to program a melody.
Really well said, Iām on the same page. Tempest is a great at having a fun jam on, knocking out a quirky 4-8 bars, Lots of unexpected results, which many rave about. but technically thats totally undesirable if you actually wish to compose music, editing is a game of chase the sequencer Even having muscle memory of all the counter intuitive shift funtions, it is still extremely awkward.
on the other hand editing an individual sound is so smooth and straight forward.
So , for jamming out a groove with ābig full soundā its the best thing around, but if you wish to actually take it further and compose a track beyond 4 -8 bars only with tempest. its a headache, I have dozens unfinished track ideas because of this.
Last night I tried out an akai s20 prase sampler, a really basic sampler, with looping , very basic functions, and the akai mpc sound.
I made a track that i was immensely more satisfiing, sampling a loop of the tempest kick, layering with a sample loop from Gill Scotās āGunsā, a few one shot chord hits. I recorded my track to a $5 Teac double cassette deck, sampled it again, added an layer , and sampled it back from tape. and so on.
sounded great and was more fun than writing on tempest, i liked it more than most grooves just from tempest, had a classic MPC /tape sound (which i love for the money!)
So basically, I hear You, I think i will keep Tempest to use as sound module for keys/bass, for the pads practice my parradiddles and to quickly create an original analog drum sound!
and put it next to an mpc for the COMPLETED sequencer with a inner-clock systems sync-lock. That sound really good!
I would love to try an electron box , but at the mo, price and the unfinished OS on AR is putting me off.
a bit suprised that elektron is releasing a machine without a completed OS.
One does not do a show without rehearsal ,or open a restaurant for dinner without having made appropriate preparation. I view releasing a product without finishing it first as unacceptable.
But i get the impression that AR doesnāt even know what it will be as yet!
That Elektron is waiting for feedback to develop the OS. I donāt understand this.
Surely, to conceive oneās creation in full before it manifests is essential to
quality design.
As a Tempest beta tester having paid over 2000 for the privilege.
i am somewhat traumatized and do not see any merit in releasing an unfinished product.
Iām sure Elektron will do a much better job but;
Couldnāt there be an forum for discussing user feedback and sequencer design to actually conceive of a fully finished sequencer design, and then fully coding it out to the last bug, Before selling it.
This is unprofessional IMHO
^ lol the rtym isnāt out yet.
re: machinedrum, you can do wicked basslines with pitched down toms (try using an LFO on the filter) or whatever they are. does anyone actually use them for toms fills? just like on old 70s analog drum machines the toms are often best modded into kicks and rubbery basses. 
Only DSI did that Who gave you the idea that itās a product you could buy right now? The Rytm wonāt be available until march or maybe even later.
Regarding āunfinishedā products getting released, I somewhat agree with you, however, Iād like to share my personal view on this :
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buying brand new machines often involves a risk, that the buyer should be aware of. This does not only apply to musical instruments. There is only so much quality control a company can do before deciding itās good for āpublic consumptionā. Then itās time to release the product, and let the public use it and abuse it in ways that a small team could not conceive, and therefore could not āfixā.
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as a ābeta testerā of sorts, you, the early adopter of a product, will have an influence over what is added / modified in that product, if you submit constructive, well - written, reasonable feedback. Engaging with the developers about what you like / dislike is a great way to see a machine evolve towards something you will really enjoy. Sometimes you donāt get what you want, but the feeling that your voice is being heard, and that youāre furthering the functionality of a product to YOUR taste is quite special.
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Elektron gear is OS based. Some people donāt like it, and would rather have a dedicated knob for each function, instead of those āanonymousā encoders that require a screen to work. For me, however, this is the best approach, as it means the OS can evolve over time, grow, forever. The best proof is the addition of poly mode to the A4, or the addition of new, exciting effects to the OT. What Iām trying to say here is that no OS based machine is truly ever āfinishedā, as it is in its nature and design to constantly evolve, according to usersā desires and needs.
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finally, Elektron have proven to be very responsive with OS updates, and they tend, for the most part, to listen to their customers. As much as you and I are disgruntled with the Tempest, I can assure you that Elektron are in another league altogether when it comes to upgrading OSās.
Cheers !
Techno for life!the tempest has a lot of great features, nothing listed was even a big deal, considering its benefits.
if features matter that much, go with software, fuck that though,
the tempest is great, u can press record, it will record a pattern, corresponding to keys or pads pressed in the order they were pressed, awesome for a drum machine., even has great synth capabilities,
i dont know, maybe its just me, but the AR doesnāt really interest me much.
seems rad, but its synth abilities donāt seem very impressive, why make things harder than they have to be? synth sounds are usually better made with a synth., the tempest is worth the price to me as a synth,
i will have to mess with it, i am sure i will dig it,
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Iāve noticed from the Youtube demos that the AR seems to cover a broader low-range than the AF does. I really hope as Elektron strategizes its path for the AR, they plan to take advantage of this. It would be great if instead of limiting the ARās ability to create bass sounds, Elektron adds features in OS updates to really enhance its ability. Iād really like to see the AR become an awesome analog drum machine that can create insane analog bass to compliment the A4ās softer side.
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I found this thread because I was wondering the sameā¦ anyone made any hoover synths with the AR?
Try the cowbell engines for hoovers, IIRC I once managed to get something resembling a hoover from it (cant remem which cb machine tho)
But y u no just sample your alpha juno and get the real deal? Samps sound awesome on the AR
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A fair point! But its good to be able to synth it if itās possible
Iād really like to see the AR become an awesome analog drum machine that can create insane analog bass to compliment the A4ās softer side.
+1 (oh yeah!)
Iād really like to see a 2-osc bass/pad machine too where you can tune/detune the OSCs, select the waveform (with one of them inverted saw if possible). I you listen to the BD engines with long decay, this dream is not too far off, but most of the BD engines still have BD attacks that you can not easily get rid off.
Parameters for that engine could be:
Wave 1 (I guess Saw, Sin, Tri, Sqr, maybe noise, but itās unclear whether the analog engines have that)
Wave 2
Tune 1
Tune 2 (relative to Tune 1)
Detune
Balance
Feedback OSC1 or FM or Ring (if possible)
Restart OSC
Well, I have some hopeā¦ They have a gem there, and a good track history of OS updates.
K
Bassdrum Sharp machine combined with samples (for the 2nd osc) is almost what you describe. Add some funky LFO action for AM/FM modulation
Attack can be shaved with negatively modulating the vol via a oneshot LFO or with the attack control in the AEG section
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You are right, should sample the OSC and put that back on top, the detune of the sample becomes my detune of the OSCs
Hell, i can even invert the saw and create a fake pulse with modulationā¦ Tomorrow will be a busy night, thanks for the suggestionā¦
Still, they do have 2 oscs alreadyā¦ Let them free!
K
Aw manā¦ that would be so effing sweet! If they made a simple bass machine in this box, it would solve so much of my hassles. Iāve been desperately trying to find an affordable bass synth with a sequencer (due to no ext MIDI) to pair with my AR but everything is either way too expensive or just limited in some silly way (volcas come to mind).
Iāve been lamenting the ARās lack of external MIDI sequencing but a Bass Machine would cure that right up.
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BD sharp is the way - been getting really nice basses from it lately.
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My experience is yes you can do bass sounds in the AR however I find it hard to keep the Bass and Kick frequencies separate well enough inside the AR and instead track the instruments out to a mixer so I can apply EQ and maybe side chain compression.
Iāve got a Rytm MKII on preorder, and was wondering how well it does for bass sounds. Being that it has all those individual outs, it could be ideal for drums and bass.
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Great for bass
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