Can Elektron please start selling MachineDrums again?

I actually strongly disagree. I just recently bought a monomachine after spending years with the other elektron devices. So far what makes it unique and interesting to me is the creative routing and cross track triggering. Being able to do things like a ducking volume envelope on an effect track that is triggered from a kick drum track. Also things like slide trig’s. So far I have honestly not been blown away by the synthesis at all, compared to the modern devices. The effects are really interesting and lo fi so I can see that, and the distortion sounds amazing, but I feel like the synthesis engines in the syntakt are much more useable and immediate.

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Yes, Slide trigs are a major omission from the digis, i forgot to mention that as something missing from the experience. That’s why i pair my Synakt with an Octa tho. It is in the current lineup and has the creative routing scheme and slides too. All the pieces of the puzzle are there on the roster, besides the 12 bit crunch sound, and numerous machines of many types (neither of these aspects are minor for me though, i admit).

But none of their current devices (maybe the analog, but I’m don’t have any of those) can do anything like proper sidechaining without some hacky workaround, like copying kick drum triggers to an effect track, or midi loopback, or something. What I really want is the ability for one track to influence another. The most simple example is have the volume duck down every time the kick drum hits. Or have the hihat shorten when the kick drum hits. Or just generally have the sounds all interacting with each other. This is very hard to do with their current devices, while the monomachine had track triggering, and the machine drum had LFOs that could be trigged by other channels. The modern stuff doesn’t really have any of that, which is something I would love to see.

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AFAIK MnM slides are unique, different from MD/OT, because the modulation can concern all trigs between 2 slide trigs or something. Sorry for bad explanation, if someone could correct me.

Isn’t it the same as MD/OT (Lofi fx) ?

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Yeah I am trying to figure out exactly the overlap of the MNM and Octa algorithms, so far the monomachine distortion has sounded nicer to my ears, but that might be the money I spent influencing my brain, also it has a lot to do with the input material and the saw swave into distortion into the filter does sound very nice. I need to do some tests though.

Slide trigs - you actually answered this yourself in an old thread;

The MnM implementation is better and opens up more possibilities.

I would be happy with the MD/OT implementation in the Digitone. Slides are sorely missed.

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I always found the MnM to be hard work. A lot of tweaking and iterations to get it to sound «right» (to my ears). I don’t usually prefer instant gratification synths, but the MnM really was at the other end of the spectrum for me.

Fabulous interface and user-friendliness though - one of the best ever imo, along with the MD.

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The chorus and Plate reverb on OT are the same as the Chorus and Reverb on MnM and they are :chefs kiss: on percussive sounds.

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Yeah, inter track routing is great. On a performance level, I feel scenes/macros are meant to do that?

Sidechaining on the A4 Mk2 works using the control in as mod source, can be triggered from the A4´s cv track. On the OT you can use an lfo to duck sounds, that works the best imho. OT´s midi lfos can even work for ducking, but that depends on how the receiving device handles that.

while we´re here with a lot of veterans… can someone explain to me how the AMP envelope work on the Monomachine… decay and hold seem to go together somewhat and i find it pretty annoying that max hold does not hold the amp open till infinity… you basically have to max hold, decay and release to get infinite, but then it wont shut the amp after key release… one of few annoyances on MnM for me.

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Yeah, I honestly don’t really like the envelopes in the MNM or OT all that much. Especially since what you play into the sequencer while live recording is not what comes out. The syntakt envelopes are fantastic though, being able to switch between adsr and ahd is nice.

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not +drive related.

MCLs grid is a innovative approach for access to each banks pattern row, so effectively a 128x128 grid. There is also a Y grid with midi tracks and other stuff doubling potential.

Each track has it’s own slot with machine and sequence data and these can be loaded independently, so for example you can be rocking a pattern and have drums on tracks 1-8. You can select alternative drum tracks 1-8 with different machines from any other pattern and load these live playing alongside the original rows tracks 9-16. Then when ready reload the other row to drop in the next 9-16.

You can also QUE load individual slots in any order for dynamic improvised sequencing and set individual slots length and loop amount!

As well as song development and structuring i see it a cool way to DJ within the box, dropping different parts of patterns over each other to create more of a flowing live performance.

It’s an excellent innovation, and i don’t see that potential in the recent boxes.

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Looks like a couple hours after writing this, Sample Rate Reduction on all tracks came to the DT. Really hoping to see SRR and BRR on Rytm and everything on Syntakt.

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More machines !

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save on loot by saving on button caps? :upside_down_face:

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Yeah basically, as someone who whines all the time about current Elektron really all I want is a machine with kits and all the performance BS the analogs have, a nice bunch of selectable effects like the OT/MnM, plenty of lfos and modulation, some neat routing stuff, and cool engines. I don’t need the MnM/MD specifically, it’s just that nothing else in the Elektron lineup scratches that itch BESIDES the OT, and I’m more of a synth person than a sample person. The OT is still my fav by far in the lineup though. It’s not that I think the syntakt sucks, it’s just that it feels like a massive tease when there’s such a glaring gap in their lineup.

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Talking about Func and Extended button caps ?
I sold them 100€ each to fund my MD. :pl:

It is an MKII panel so, and unfortunately there is a little shift for these.

If someone knows where I can find MD button caps, eventually 3D file…I’d modify them (I don’t want to modify the panel or the original caps I have).

If Elektron were the new Roland, they’d spend the next two decades doing D-Beam-ridden grooveboxes, rack units and miniature “Boutiques” with varying degrees of accuracy in sampling/emulating/reimplementing the old devices while stressing with every press release they were all about looking towards the future.

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Haha yes good one, except I think Roland has somehow figured out that no one wants the D-beam. Rack units would be better than the boutiques if you ask me.

But at the same time, I feel like Elektron hasnt really been listening to the customers in a long time, and are more focused on profit rather than creating something that really stands out. I know that they still need to make money, I get it. But where is the spirit of the old machines?

I agree that there is a quite big gap in their line-up.
For me things went sour when the MKII machines were released, too big, too clunky like a 808 or 909. Why make it bigger when overbridge is a thing?
On the front panel, from the edge of the enclosure there is a big gap to the encoders and buttons, what is the reasoning behind this?
Dont tell me that a OLED could not be fitted into a MK1, because that is possible and there is enough space.

In an attempt to make the UI more friendly/easy for beginners, the advanced users are left behind and some people are still looking at the old machines.
I am also guessing that some sort of new development software was made in order to make code for these machines easier. In the meantime, Elektron boxes sounds like every other company, and seems to be inspired by ableton live at least the digital ones.

I know it’s not easy to resurrect a classic, and maybe that is not the best idea either, but a small team that could work on porting the MD machines/engine to the Syntakt would really increase the sale and make old users happy.

However I think that a new totally digital instrument would be a good idea, something in the formfactor of the first machines, there is no denying that THIS IS the ideal formfactor. Something that really stands out and surprises us.

The only instruments I can see are in the same ballpark as the MD, is Nord Drum and the original LXR.

I might sound old and grumpy, really I am just missing the days were I would get blown away

Sorry for the rant :slight_smile:

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Sorry, I’m not understanding.

Is the implication that Elektron are the new Roland because they’re not rehashing their legacy products?

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