Could we *please* have a function to shift *all* tracks left or right?

Elektron Gear Machinedrum
#1

I’ve been a loyal Elektron customer for ten years now, since 2007. Spend about six grand all up, on the md, ot, mnm … and grateful for the experience and the interaction.

I’ve promoted Elektron products internationally out of a sense of enthusiasm and love.

But i find it galling that Elektron is putting so much time and effort into creating the usb overbridge malarky so that users can go and plug themselves back into a computer, when i have been asking for the shift-move simple yet essential feature on the MD for years.

Elektron listened and responded to the whinging users who wanted to stick their brains and gear back into a computer. But they couldn’t care less about even responding one way or the other to me.

Asking politely. Interestedly. Encouragingly.

Function and Up key to shift all tracks left, Function and Down key to shift all tracks right.

So … yeah, if Elektron cannot grant this one wish of mine, then fuck it, i won’t buy another box of theirs ever. Ciao.

1 Like
#2

The current OS is final.

(EDIT: doing it track by track and counting the number of shifted steps is easy, no need for another function or shortcut!)

2 Likes
#3

Yeah, don’t see any further MD os development happening. Sounds like you need the InnerClock Sync shift

#4

It’s a discontinued machine dude.

2 Likes
#5

This is merely the latest in a line of angry expletive laden posts that are increasingly jarring to plough through … you surely know the development of MD is complete and that there’s also an old feature request thread where this should be for what little use that would be

Instead, we have this completely self-defeating style of posting … if you came up with a genius idea and posted it like that you could guarantee it’d be ignored imho … come on, please, just take it down one little notch eh, it’s easier for us browsing and you’ll surely be happier with how you’re representing yourself … besides, it’d be something you’d get more of a useful definitive (though likely brief) response from support about

Having said all of that, I actually wish this feature was possible in the later currently supported devices … it’s a reasonable legitimate wish

11 Likes
#6

Come one. Seriously? Overbridge is great if only for the audio over USB. I don’t care about programming the synth through a VST, but when I was searching for a new synthesizer and thinking about the extra cost to expand my I/O Overbridge on the A4 tipped the scales in Elektron’s favor. Even though I prefer programming the A4 from the physical machine, setting up performance macros is way easier on Overbridge.

Elektron has to listen to the market. Working on adding a small feature, whether it is a good or bad idea, to a legacy-ware product isn’t going to be their priority. Having worked in a small retail business that makes some of its own products for almost a decade I can tell you one thing: the customer is always right is a huge fallacy.

You can’t kowtow to every person who walks in claiming they have spent all this money in your store. I see a ton of 1K bonus check ballers come through my store every year, flashing their once-a-year roll in my face trying to score a deal or special treatment. And I see a ton of loyal customers who love to tell you how much money they have spent. Special treatment isn’t always possible or earned. Once you start with it, people will walk away the minute you treat them like any other customer (which in our case and I think Elektron’s is “very well”).

#7

I see the same trend on fora, pages or other (electronic) music oriented online portals. If it isn’t self promotion or GAS fueled ranting, more and more posts have a cynical, angry character (I am guilty of that as well, being a cynical old troll online).

I used to feel the internet dumb down from newsgroups and IRC to messageboards to forums to facebookgroups.
Now besides dumbing down, we are aggressing up! Anger, envy, unhappiness, humanity is losing, abandon all hope… :frowning:

#8

Its just a ‘shift tracks all’ to the left

4 Likes
#9

Cheers Cosmic for the light relief.

But apart from that…
I’ve been a loyal and well-behaved customer for years. And now, after having politely asked for years, I am now at the end of my tether.

So 1.63 was supposedly the last OS.

Well, what if it isn’t?

What if they release 1.64? Would that be so very onerous? Oh, but Elektron are very very busy implementing a way to connect their devices and the users usb umbilical back into the good old computer.

That is why i am pissed off, and that is why i won’t buy another box of theirs again. Years of asking for this one feature. Nup. Not even one reply.

The Octatrack’s main developer is now gone, working with Teenage Engineering, so that is obvious why the OT will not be updated.

But the Machinedrum? No, there is no good reason whatsoever for that to be locked off. Except for that company policy states that it is so.

Well, I am stating that it is not necessarily so whatsoever.

If Elektron has time to try and implement Overbridge for all the vocal users who wanted to plug straight back into good ol’ computer land, then they have time to implement my request and release )S 1.64 for the Machinedrum.

It’s a nicer number.

There is no abandoning of hope, there is at last, a feeling on my behalf that Elektron totally and utterly snubbed my requests for a brilliantly simple feature by not even answering my requests for this one essential feature over the years. Whether I emailed them personally or posted on the forums in the correct place, nothing, nada, no response, zip.

Yes it is possible to individually go to each track and shift it left or right by using Function-Left or Function-Right as usual.

But this interrupts the flow of composition and performance to a large degree.

Elektron are more than welcome to do or respond to whatever they want to.

What i am saying here is that as a long-time user, promoter and supporter, I feel utterly ignored, an so shall move on.

As regards InTheam’s post, I couldn’t care less what your experience is. Nor do I appreciate your tone … “kowtow” haha fuck off. I am just asking for the basic decency of Elektron to at least once have responded to this one request of mine, either by email or in the forum of Elektron Users. They never did.

Honestly it doesn’t bother me, there’s plenty of other cool hardware producers.

I have certainly promoted Elektron internationally, and have no desire to explain nor detail how this would have been beneficial to Elektron. But they would certainly know what I am talking about.

#10

The implication in your post is that they owe you. They don’t. They’ve consistatnly produced products that do what it says on the box (as much or more than other companies). If the products don’t do what you want, don’t buy them. Which seems your decision.

It was your choice to promote them internationally, whatever that means, but all they owe you is that product does what it says after you’ve paid for it. I’ve mostly bought their products second hand and got nothing but excellent customer service.

I’m sure they get individual requests for feature updates that go unanswered all the time. It is your decision to take it personally, when its likely a matter of prioritization. Would it take very long to send out a polite no to one email about a feature request? No. Would it take a lot of time to respond to all of them? My guess, based on the feature request threads here, is yes.

You can throw all the fvck words you want at me, but it doesn’t change the fact that Elektron isn’t in the wrong here or at the least isn’t behaving an differently than any other company.

3 Likes
#11

And your implication is that i am asking Elektron to kowtow to me.

I am not taking it personally. But i don’t like your tone.

Elektron is not like other companies and if you think they are or should be, then you do not know Elektron.

It’s quite simple, I shall take my business elsewhere.

#12

4 posts were split to a new topic: Personal bickering

#16

Humor helps. Try watching some Monthy Python or The Simpsons, it always puts a smile on my ole grumpy grin!

#17

Homer helps.

actually Wayne’s World is my go-to comedy relief.

1 Like
#18

totally understand and agree.

but in this case, it was none of those things.

I guess it was just ten years of politely asking for and desiring a feature that every single MD user would love.

Time feel is incredibly important and the vibe of where a pattern starts often changes especially in a two or four bar loop. If there are 26 steps to shift a track left or right to readjust to where feels right, then to do that for just five tracks would be 130 Function-Left or Right clicks. Anyway, shan’t blather on. :slight_smile:

Also the total amazement that the original magnificent flagship model, the boat that Elektron sailed to fame on, the scintillating Machinedrum, is now discontinued.

Talking of discontinued, I hope Elektron one day re-releases the original unicorn, the Monomachine 6, the keyboard version with the joystick. Not going to whinge about that or anything else tho.

1 Like
#19

Shifting track by track will let you hear a-symmetrical versions of your pattern and quasi-polyrhythms. It can lead to great finds within your pattern/groove, not to mention shifting swing patterns!

All I am saying is try to appreciate frustrating, difficult and time-consuming workarounds… great art and music has been made that way long before we bought our drummachines.

And now fun, peace and happiness, the world needs it (not joking)

2 Likes
#21

IMO the root of the problem lies in the fact that their “OS” is not opensource.
Simple as that.

#22

for me, the issue was perspective.

the other day, i just realised, often although the pattern sounds complex, it is more to do with sample selection, and it is kind of easy to replicate the time feel by just deleting a few trigs in grid mode and then approximating what they were doing on bar 2.5 over on bar 1. kind of easy really.

it was a similar feeling to when i found it was possible to timestretch loops on the machinedrum by savvy p-locks of the start and release times of a 2 bar loop, or 1 bar loop. the trig placement requirement was somehow relative and interactive with the loop length. yet quite possible to approximate timestretching of an audio loop.