Elektron Interfaces are unnecessarily difficult

The Lounge
#201

It’s probably just not a good fit for you. Personally it took me maybe an hour to understand how to use the DT (and subsequently the DN/Rytm/A4), the OT definitely took longer. If you’ve used a tracker before the OT is pretty easy though.

For me the worst interface I’ve ever used was the MPC Live. It has dozens of different screen layouts to reach it’s various functions, all of them designed haphazardly with little regard for consistent use of color, shapes and location of virtual knobs. Literally a UI nightmare.

#202

Save and Assign, Save and Assign, Save and Assign, Save and Assign…

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#203

I agree and that’s why I eventually sold my MPC One too. The interface is very messy, some of the things are working “sometimes” and the software doesn’t feel very thought out at all. And the bugs…

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#204

I now use a DT/DN combo and I am enjoying them a lot. I actually find these wonderful designed, not only how they look, feel and sound but also how to use them and which functionality they have (and also don’t have).

Not everything is directly “intuitive”, but therefore they are very fast to use, when mastered. These are not devices to use now and then, you have to “keep up”, as is with traditional instruments.

The functionality of managing samples/sounds on the devices themselves is more capable then I actually need. I’d say even more useful as on the MPC (which has a touch screen). With transfer 1.4 it is very easy to manage all of this (and make backups) from/to your computer. I use it daily and it just works.

And the fact you can turn them on and start working on your latest project within seconds is maybe one of the best things.

I’d say the exact opposite, the DN/DT interfaces are not unnecessarily dificult. There is alway room for improvement (these machines are not flawless) but more importantly they are a breeze to use and I’m happy that I’m so lucky that I can even own two of them.

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#205

digi interfaces are a thing of beauty imo.

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#206
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#207

There is definitely back and forth between screens and may be a legacy thing because think it could possibly be done better,…
but….
it’s basically a daw with 6 knobs a few buttons and a touch screen, it gets complicated with that many features so not as easy as it seems to design the perfect interface

#208

I understand the need to deliver a lot of information through its touchscreen, but it’s actually the inconsistent layouts between all the different screens that’s the problem.

It’s designed to look ‘nice’, not deliver information in a quick or consistent manner.

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#209

It reminds of the time I was teaching people how to use computers. Some people could not understand a thing and when you listened to those people, it was never their own fault, lack of work, it was always the computer that was dumb…

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#210

It’s taken me three years with a Digitone (my only Elektron box) and I wouldn’t say I LOVE the interface. I do love the deep utility of the product and have learnt to do anything I want with it quite quickly ( um … except fade in/out two tracks simultaneously :expressionless: )

I think I like the Digi interface but that I find it a bit of a switch jumping between it and other equipment (largely knob-per-function gear) with fluidity. I prefer it as a groovebox, solo.

I’m starting to think I want to try a one-box project with just a Digitakt.

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#211

There is a lesson in that isn’t there?

New languages require mental elasticity and that can be hard, but the work must be done.

#212

All of this is reasonable.

But!

If you aren’t spending enough time with your gear to forget your gear, I don’t think it matters what you use, you are holding yourself back. And making everything easy at first limits what can be done to what is easy at first.

The climb was long but using my AK now is far easier than easy instruments - when measured by the total power I now have

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#213

giphy

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#214

just ordered a blond wig from Amazon, overnighting it.

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#215

Given that I may have come across a bit strong there, haha…

I think it should go without saying that you should use the instrument that feels the best to yourself. What vibes it for you? That’s the place to go. I’ve spent way too much time messing with gear that seemed like I should like it. Usually but not always you know how you feel pretty quickly. I go with that now, and the AK was my baby from the get go. But if I hadn’t felt that vibe? I would say why bother with all this when I really like synth X.

What leads to good music is the guide.

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#216

Touchscreens are unsatisfying and not well suited for musical instruments IMHO. I have a MPC One and the touchscreen is one of the worst things about it, even using it with a stylus is tedious, it would be far better with cursor keys and soft buttons IMHO. I hope they will allow a mouse to be used with it, it is that bad IMHO.

On anything other than an ipad (or similar) touchscreens are sluggish and not responsive enough, even on the ipad all the crappy multi finger gestures are a ball ache, especially the split screen mode which activates, often by accident, a feature I never want, and it can’t be disabled. etc. not to mention the greasy finger smears….

Elektron key combos are alright, you do have to commit to using them though, like when you use them on software, most people know how to zoom, cut, copy, paste, play etc on software using key combos. Not much different, and you can easily print out the key combo section from the manual and pin it on your wall.

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#217

Yes, there’s no such thing as intuitiveness. It’s all about the specific user’s accumulated knowledge applied to the learning curve index of the task(s) at hand (the improvement rate, related to time and quality, for each completion of the task) that’s providing the perceived UX.

I’d rate Elektron as generally targeting intermediate users but swing left (Models) and right (OT) on that scale - once clearly on purpose and once by…passion :grin:.

It’s not surprising there’s not a unified view here.

Oh, and the file management DO suck but the clever devils have us mostly forgiving that by providing easy triggers of the reward system (hey there, OT fader and Analogs performance twiddling in real-time) and the overall controlled balance of the most common user journeys.

To the OP: I’d give it slightly more time but wouldn’t fight it if it bothers you - there are other products out there that MAY suit you better.

All above is just my opinion, of course.

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#218

I’m getting the squarp hapax it looks super intuitive to use to me, can’t wait to try that.
Definitely don’t think Elektron are difficult
eg hold the trigger turn the encoder nothing difficult about that

#219

You can fade multiple tracks with the Control-All feature. ie. hold the MIDI button and adjust track Level, or Volume.

#220

I can see some pain points in Elektron gear. For example, coming from the DT/DN “kit” per pattern paradigm made getting going with AK and AR a PITA and there were moments when work was lost when forgetting to save a new kit for a different pattern, etc. Even DT, which is super simple, has its annoyances. One I particularly hated but just learned to do automatically was to unload the crappy stock samples every time I loaded a new project. Things like these could be swatted aside with a couple of set and forget menu options, then everyone would be happy depending on how they wanted to use the devices. Overall, tho, as I said above somewhere back in this thread, I do think Elektron get things mostly right on balance and they’re always improving things with updates.

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