Let’s go!!
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It looks SO REAL!
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Elektron better spill the beans soon or I’m getting waldorf m
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I know, right? MS Paint still rules the roost!
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That’s called „Waldorf Iridium“. You still don’t own one? There is an Elektron sequencer extension available for it, called „Octatrack“.
P.s. Thinking about it…an Octatrack can be the sequencer extension for any synth. Right?
How polyphony was the sequencer? Hmmmm.
Aha, 4 notes. So Syntakt will have up to 8 notes?
tried it but it’s not the same thing. CC# Midi learn is awesome but after a while it’s hard to keep track of what is what.
the thing about the digitone is that you can sequence 4 simultaneous synth engines all with an elektron sequencer, with p locks and sound locks, using 8 total voices. you cannot do that with the octatrack unless you have 4 synths or a multitimbral synth that uses different midi channels per “track”/synth/voice. Even if you did, it would be extremely low resolution without incremental quantize such as the dn’s and you can only assign 4 notes to each trig. and you wouldnt have sound locks or the same performance controls
it eliminates the need for multitracking or looping, so you can have 4 different sequences running with 4 or more different synth voices, all playing live, interacting with one another with live record automation and performance controls. it is extremely innovative and we should have many more synths with that capability at this point
i dont get why people still do not understand the reason why the digitone architecture is so incredibly powerful. if synth designers were smart, they would just start making more varied and flexible iterations of the digitone with new types of synthesis, different types of oscillators (complex, phase modulation, va, whatever the iridium and hydra has), some analog components if possible, and maybe a few more voices
you cannot do that with anything else
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I have a Digitone Keys…
Yes, that immediately killed my idea to use it to sequence my Iridium. But I still have the Digitone Keys and it’s sequencer… 
And hopefully the Syntakt will have 8 notes per trig…
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The only thing I’d say in the OT’s defense is you get all sorts of synthesis, plus sampling, in 8 tracks. Maybe the pitch range, or switching up the sample per step isn’t enough, add modulation, throw in 3 LFO’s, p-locks on a ton of dynamic components of just the sound and playback, not to mention effects, say what you will of them, but never the less you get to start with a sample of digital or analog tone of whatever, and you can do granular, FM, etc, easy. But the Digitone is just 8 FM synth voices, but it is a great synth model. But sampling is playdough of anything, way more dynamic range and quicker to get there. You can make parts but there all digital synth parts, and that’s it comparatively. But it is a killer piece of kit to it’s own as a synth. Which is why I think they will hopefully read some of this and make a sample based keyboard synth at some point with a new time stretch and you have the Synth-Takt, oh yeah, it would be great.
yeah the octatrack is the best sampler there is, but it’s not a synth. as a sound design tool, i actually like the fx, but i could use more ideally. even something like the ableton stock fx would be cool. i always wondered what an octatrack with a norns or max msp type of toolset would be like
im talking about synthesis, like a sound creation and sculpting laboratory. modular in a box kind of. the digitone architecture kind of inherently encourages this kind of experimentation. even though the fundamental building blocks are sort of limited, they are somewhat malleable, especially when you use modulation and p locks to create movement and evolving textures. but as a sound design tool and as a compositional tool, you can’t beat multiple synth engines running alongside one another with per track scale & tempo division + dat seq
i also like using my digitone to midi sequence my other synths. but ideally i would just have a synth comparable to a modern polysynth inside of that box so i can run 4 separate patches together and p lock and mangle and sequence and create polyrhyhtms and cascading melodies that converge and diverge and be able to perform live parameter adjustments/levels/mutes/ctrl all/pattern reload, swap out trigs with preset sounds in the +drive.
i think part of the appeal for me to have this all in one is that i really enjoy having one portable piece of gear to take with me outside of my setup at home. so if i can actually work on something in depth in my free time, away from my desk, and be able to meticulously craft detailed elaborate compositions on a groovebox with vast flexible synthesis options, processing options, sequencing options, then take that home and also incorporate it into a bigger piece because the synthesis audio quality is good enough to mix in with my other gear when i connect it back into my full setup, i honestly dont think i’d have to buy another piece of gear for as long as i live
i like the analog four because it has that analog organic living breathing quality with its overdrive, feedback, extreme audio rate fm and am modulation options. sort of like a strega or t-resonator in an elektron box with a decent monophonic analog osc. I like the digitone because it has more voices for composition and i think the timbre has a wider musical range than the a4 for incorporating the synth sounds into actual tracks (although it does have that particular unique fm character that’s hard to get rid off). so its just a matter of providing the building blocks for a wide range of unique custom sounds that interact internally in a way that isn’t limiting or stale
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Therefore the Syntakt will be a drummachine with synthesis, because because becauuuuse the wizard of Ozzzz-illators for drums, instead of samples. Think about it:
Analog Four -> Analog Rytm
Monomachine -> Digitone -> Model:Cycles
Octatrack -> Digitakt -> Model:Samples
Machinedrum -> ?
? = Syntakt?
Btw. Iridium can sample…
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You said it though, modular in a box. I get wanting to use something that has more in the way of sound like a synth’s full range of scale but though you would say you’d want more effects and the max msp building block type openess, my guess is like you were saying freer structuring of how it is sculpted or played and I’d say b/c of the OT’s outdated time stretch that would be where it’s limitations could be addressed and sure you can have more ‘effects’ but tell me of an effect that isn’t essentially a type of or combinations of modulations and you can p lock near anything in any order in a modular way on the OT already.
I’m just saying what I think the name means not just what would be better, so keep that in mind though.
Like for instance the hydra synth, it has a lot of ability in that all of it’s parameters are modulatable but it’s really just a type of sample as the single cycle waveforms are all you start with rather than whatever you’d want on either an open synth that lets you load your own single cycle waves or a sampler. And then yeah the hydra allows you to change the shape of filter slope etc, just features they could include to make it a wider range of synthesis parts. So if it’s things like that, what I thought their next gen idea could be is like what roland did with having the models of old synths as installable plugins on the system 8 and such. Have something like the OT with a keybed option like DN keys, and then you can have a set of included machines and then custom add more machines that you’d want or one’s they’d develop or even more like the minilogue xd allow a programable option like the digital osc on the xd. That would make it like max msp for sure. And have legacy machine packs like from the machinedrum or even the model line and digitone and you could collect them all if you wanted or something like that.
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I see what you’re saying. And yeah, that system 8 module idea might not be bad actually.
And yes, I like the structure but a little more interaction between components may be cool. A4 does that well with feedback and osc rate lfos for fm and analog am.
As far as effects, I would like phase modulation, freq shifter, graphic eq, granular delay, resonator, vocoder, saturation, pingable phaser, Doppler, the ability to cross modulate two audio signals of your choosing and use one signal to modulate the other. stuff like ableton stock fx or mutable warps. Usable pitching and time stretching would be cool, as well as modern granular tools. Spectral effects would be nice
I have said it many times before but I’d be happy with just a good solid synth split into four tracks like the digitone. That format is so good for building full tracks. I very much prefer that to multi tracking. The interaction between the sequencers that exist is enough for me if the synth is good enough
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Alien technology
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I just had to return my Syntakt. Unfortunately, it started leaking LFO juice when I would modulate the cassette recorder too hard. The issue would sometimes clear up when I’d flip the tape, but then the record head envelope would bleed onto the 4th track, the 8th track and the 29th track, but no other tracks. Elektron are aware of the issue and may be offering free tape upgrades, or free LFO juice for life.
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Damn! I say keep the bug, the LFO juice is worth it alone!
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Well I think LFO Juice is the new Fight Milk, and it really is the future.
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I am so glad they finally addressed this.
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