I pretty much always partner my Elektron box (currently a Digitone) with my E2S.
The Electribe has the features missing on Elektron boxes and vice versa.
I’d like to hear that album. Where can I
listen to it? I like the current gen Electribe sounds and appreciated all the complete works Mistabishi did on them, for example.
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- sounds really good, has excellent classic filters emulation
- a bit limited, but very well designed sequencer, pattern chaining, polymeter support
- tweakable (sound-wise), knob-per-function UI
this machine has character, so the main question is how this character suits your particular style.
as for me, absolutely superb 2nd machine in any setup.
still have mine. It proved to be useful many times. The sequencer is not up to elektron’s standards, but it’s okay.
shameless plug with one of my last pieces before I sold it. The E2 (synth) is probably the box for which the “creative limitations” cliche is valid the most. It just begs to be played alone and trying to master it. Using the cheesy PCM and bending them to something unusual is a real challenge. I’d say the key to it is to master the motion sequencing and try spread your work into many, many 4 bar loops to achieve textured and interesting compositions. The 24 voice limit (which is mysteriously drained when using time-based fx) forces you to really focus your loop and having not more than, I’d say 6 fully blown-up parts, using insert fx, long releases etc. The form factor is truly great and perfect for the couch, the ability to run external audio is very useful and batteries makes it great for outdoors, backpack etc. Many people hate on it, but that’s mostly old ESX users who expected the same workflow. And yes, Mistabishi really shows how it should be used - the guy is running from pattern to pattern rarely leaving one to play more than two times, heavily automated loops and carefully mixed instruments. Analysing his work has really opened my eyes on how to create for the current paradigm of 64 step pattern machines (lincluding Elektrons). I had the grey version, from what I heard, with the blue and red versions they improved the feel of the pads a bit. Writing that even makes me want to grab one again, so I’d say go for it!
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Dude, that’s spectacular 
why did you sell it? Clearly, you master it.
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Haha, I really wanted to move on and get into Elektron stuff. At that time I had a big setup with many small boxes, sold everything to go DT, DN and AH and created a slick spaceship at home. Really helped my ocd:) I loved the tribe but also I love changing things. I kind of liked the idea of letting it go at the peak of my ability with it (was early adopter) Mistabishi shared this same track on his facebook, lol - my career highlight:P
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We’ve had this conversation before… I like my anonymity online. 
At any rate, the album in question isn’t my album, but rather one for a client. As such, I’m not at liberty to share it, even if I was content to blow my cover. It’s not of the electronic idiom either.
I do a lot of “atmospherics” for clients of various bents, from rock bands to singer/songwriters, and I never tell them what gear I used on their tracks. That way they just listen, you know; rather than concerning themselves with otherwise trivial trends in music production.
It’s my experience that many electronic artists, for instance, get too caught up in what is making the sound, or how it was arrived at, rather than just concerning themselves with the sound itself. I’ve witnessed irony after irony, over the years, as vernaculars of gear, brand names, workflows, and the ideologies that come with all that, have waxed and waned:
Analog, digital, analog, digital… Lo-fi, hi-fi, lo-fi, hi-fi… In-the-box, outa-the-box… Etc.
Bah!
To that end, the lowly Electribe is, and always will be (regardless of the latest fashion), a very useful tool for sound design and beat making. Much like its close relative, the cheap and cheerful MicroKorg. As someone said above, it’s the artist, not the machine. A great craftsman never blames his tools.
Cheers!
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That’s really good @mishpult! I had an Electribe 2S but found the sampling interface clunky, and kinda wished I had got the standard E2 instead for all the oscillators. May still get one. 
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Yeah I miss my E2 synth version from time to time, it was my real gate way into the groovebox world and it in some ways discovering all the weird work arounds was part of the fun of the box. Always being quantized, the kind of clunky swing/groove system and the basic envelope system on it were what pushed me to other gear and once I walked into elektron world it was really hard to make myself go back, tried to use it has a sound module with the digitakt for a while because I did like the sound of it but it felt too clunky and slow because of the inability to save sounds separately from patterns. Let a friend borrow it for about half a year and then eventually sold it when he never used it. I kind of feel like the model cycles or stuff like nanoloop for the gameboy is what I wanted an electribe2 to be… definitely scratches the same itch that used to tempt me to go back, minus a lot of the hassle. Still wanna try an electribe emx-1 at some point.
Ah yes, now I remember. Wasn’t gunning for your cover, sorry mate 
all good.
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Still use my E2 from time to time, always a useful time when I fire it up…
Always end up exporting parts as wav that I use later for editing / sampling / sound design.
Got it for dirt cheap, it s a keeper.
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Still love and always loved the Tribes! There is just something (creative) about them. That said I just spent the last couple of weeks creating a samplepack for the Electribe Sampler which some of you may enjoy
Check below impressions if you like:
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Enjoyed this post. At basic level I fully agree but just to say a word sticking up for taking what may seem an undue interest in the how and what - it can open up new levels of appreciation, and beyond that - new fields of creation. Partly it’s an art thing - being okay with the idea that two seemingly identical paintings can have massively different interest value due to their backstories - and that carries over to sound, or whatever. And just like the huge weight given to author biography in fiction, or the lifestyles of musicians - we just DO comprehend stuff differently depending what we know about the who, what, where, when of its production. Which brings me to the creating part - actually very much in line with your approach - spin the backstory if you make stuff - why not exploit that part of your audience’s attention? Just as you take control of identity - your own and the equipment you use - keeping that stuff out of the picture to help steer your work into the world, so people might want to control it the other way - revealing with what and how they worked - as just another dimension of their presentation. Even if it’s lies or myth making - the residents for example…
Or
The music you hear -even the voice- especially the voice is constructed entirely from bones breaking, blood flowing, and the like. A fly in flight supplies us with the note “F”, a humble bee “C”, and so on. So it’s not really music but it is (fantasy and reality)
Musick In Diabola, Rudimentary Peni
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Yeah, I kind of agree with John’s reasoning on this on a philosophical level, but we shouldn’t dismiss the value as well as pleasure in just exploring instruments because of the how and what. I played a lot of instruments before I settled on the piano, and I did so for reasons not only musical, but also because of the sheer connection with the instrument, the way it’s designed and how that relates to how I work as a person.
Since electronic instruments are very different in their hows, it’s very relevant to go exploring if you’re looking for a sampler and try out options. There’s worlds between an Octatrack, an MPC and a Blackbox. Features, interaction patterns and the emotional response they provoke in you, matter.
There’s equal debate always going on in the writing world, where I make most of my living. One can debate for ages the pros and cons between Ulysses, Word and Bear - or Final Draft or Slugline. But even though the process of writing might appear just something you do and the magic comes from your craft, that craft takes different directions depending on the combination of your tool and how you relate to it. And we all relate to those differently. Understanding that, and knowing yourself in that, requires exploration and that can take time, and that has to be okay.
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I agree that, in some circumstances, knowing how something was accomplished, or how someone arrived at their present state, can often lead to a greater appreciation of that person or thing; if said information is considered thoughtfully and objectively.
However, I also think that caring too much about one’s own plight, or the plight of someone else, and the voguish details of a given process or presentation, comes with a risk of delusion, on the artist’s part, and prejudice from layman observers.
That said, at risk of sounding overly cynical, I’ve long since resigned myself to the fact that people, especially these days, are going to obsess over the backstory behind just about everything really, whether it’s of consequence or not; mostly because it’s posted online, ad nauseam, and made into the likes of “reality” TV.
To that end, I make every effort to protect myself, my clients, and my audience from getting distracted by (what I see as) lateral details. Of course, that comes with the lofty responsibility of developing a clear and unbiased understanding of what the objective is, in any given situation. I think that comes naturally with experience and maturity (not that I’m claiming to possess much of that).
I’m no conceptualist. I’m simply a musician. People hire me to play and to support their playing. So, in the context of what I’ve said above, what I do is not really that difficult to define. Mostly it comes down to “use your ears, not your eyes”, assuming that music is the end goal.
Video killed the radio star.
Cheers!
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More good insights. also making me take stock of how some music has lost (personal) value by my finding out too much of the lateral info. Sometimes I feel myself making an effort to forget that stuff just to get back to the pleasure of the music. Cheers!
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A vital component of the process of switching over to completely AI-produced music will be that the AI should also tell a poignant tale about how its work is dedicated to a deceased grandparent, or perhaps pet.
It’s possible we may need to employ several AIs to truly replicate the current human experience, each with their own specialities, in order to explain every nuance of their confusing and banal output. Ah, what a delicious future awaits!
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This post genuinely made me laugh this morning.
It’s a brave new world.
Cheers!
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To that end, I make every effort to protect myself, my clients, and my audience from getting distracted by (what I see as) lateral details.
Knowing the lateral details can totally ruin a musical experience too. For example, an artist extolled in this thread as a master with the Electribe has been dropped from his label because he was found to have made many racist posts online. I learned this as I was listening to his music and it went sour fast.
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