I’ve had my Syntakt (and my first piece of Elektron gear!) for about 6 weeks now. I’ve finally learned pretty much everything I need to on it. I’ve made about… 10 tracks? And one thing I noticed today was that most of the songs sort of sound the same. They all have a similar feel and sound palate. I guess I’m wondering if this an experience other people have had with the Syntakt, or if the problem is with the musician and not the gear (which I suspect!). And if the latter is the case, I’m wondering if anyone has any strategies for making their composition process more various.
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i noticed that all my tracks sound like mine, but this happens regardless of used gear.
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Is it the sound, the composition or both that sound the same?
I guess one thing that can «lock you in» is that a large number of its machines are FM-based and have a particular soft sound to them. I would recommend spending some time exploring each machine. The first thing I did with my Syntakt was program full patterns with only a single machine at a time, going through each and every one in the Syntakt. It helped me find sounds that I probably wouldn’t have found otherwise.
Also check out what other users have done with it, for inspiration. Processing sounds individually in a DAW might also bring a wider palette.
Other factors that might limit your music are the grid sequencing and the lack of polyphony. Try playing some parts with an external keyboard, or sequence some parts from your DAW.
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6 weeks isn’t long for trying to master an instrument?
What is frustrating you about your approach?
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I noticed quite fast that I wanted/needed some support on the sound design front.
I ended up buying these two soundpacks. The investment was small, and they motivated me enormously. The Syntakt sounded so much bigger and larger and friendly to me.
- Soft Spoken - Sound Pack for Syntakt | Elektron
- Syntopia ... Elektron Syntakt Sound Pack
- This last one is free: https://www.elektron.se/hu/team-machines
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…just spent one day, scrawling through all it’s presets alone and it dawns on u, yup, must be me, not the machines in the machine…
same old patterns, once again…was a hook of mine, long time ago…
@Nils tip sounds good…force urself to try that a few times…at first sight, each machine seems a little limited, but there are always little twists to open them up…and always keep in mind, it’s ur mindset, that gets u out of the box…and as with all elektron devices, u need to plok to rok…
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I had my ups and downs with the syntakt as well, especially at the beginning. The first days pure excitement. Then a bit later I felt like there is actually not enough options to tweak or create sounds. Then I figured out there are actually a lot option with a bit of experimenting, then later I also felt everything sounds the same until I played more with it and got the weirdest unexpected sounds out of it. Today the syntakt is my most used instrument.
I think it might need a bit more time then just 6 weeks. What helped me is not being afraid to experiment and dial knobs without even looking at them. And I believe many use the track all feature. I underestimated this feature a lot. Just take some of your songs and hold track all and dial all knobs wildly. I am sure there will be always something interesting you gonna get out of it which you never would have done manually. That helped me a lot to not sound like the typical syntakt sound some describing. But at the end its an instrument and you will always have of course to a certain degree its distinguished syntakt sound, as many other instruments have as well.
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Solid advice here.
Overall to the topic though, yes. I would say the Syntakt largely has what I have described as “on the rails” base sound for most of the machines. This is a good thing generally though for the accessibility of the device IMO and plays directly into its commonly described immediacy.
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Good point. Most Elektron synths sound unimpressive «out of the box», it’s with p-locks, the sequencer integration, the LFOs, Ctrl-all etc that they start to come alive.
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Its your signature sound.
That is totally normal.
Try other genres perhaps?
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I think Syntakt also has a randomize patch function. Just look in the manual how you do that and do it regularly to see where it can take you.
More general, did you use other hardware or software before where things didn’t sound so samey? Maybe that’s the sound you gravitate towards. But if you feel limited, you could also think about one of these Syntakt courses out there that will teach you new techniques, like the one by @davemech for example.
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Yeah, I wasn’t too excited about the sound as well when I got it. But I stuck with it and now, two years later, I don’t think that I’ll be selling it anytime soon. It’s a really great groovebox, not perfect but very capable and deep. But you have to put some work into it! It’s very much like the Model:Cycles in that regard.
I made a few tracks solely on the Syntakt (and even more where it’s playing a minor role) and I’m really happy with the wide range of sounds I was able to get out of that thing: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmKJII-YOShMkyy3SCkx6i0BJnGy4wC_U
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One thing I’ve learned with the Syntakt is that the parameters are SUPER broad, particularly the Mod parameter on FM based machines. I find that really small knob movements unlock a lot of sounds I’d otherwise miss.
I’d also recommend misusing the machines to make other instruments, using the percussive machines to make melodies, using the melodic machines for percussion, etc.
The analog machines are also really good at your classic 60s/70s synth sounds. Ping the filter with the impulse machine and then modulate the frequency with an audio rate LFO and you can get even weirder sounds.
The only machine I’ve never gotten along with is the chord machine, I don’t think the base waveforms sound all that good.
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I almost never use the chords themselves but set the machine to unison x2. Some LFO to the wavetable position and you get a very usable synth sound.
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well, first two things:
- every gear has a certain soundsignature
- you have your own style right now
some solution:
take a break for six month and then fire up your ST again, it will be different what you hear because you have changed
use trig/parameter-locks excessive
I have the same problem with my acoustic guitar!
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As mentioned earlier in this thread, try making all sounds with one machine and be amazed what you can do with a bit of lfo, filtering and different amp envelopes. My fav hihat is the chord machine atm 
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For me that’s the goal, put together a group of tracks that share YOUR style and call it an album and move on
This was all great advice, thank you everyone! I think I will try the approach of going machine by machine — I’ve admittedly been relying on the preset sounds I like best. And I tend to gravitate toward a softer more placid synth sound—stuff like Farben and Oval and other microhouse from the early 2000s. I should probably force myself to make more aggressive sounds just to see what happens. I’ve also never thought of getting a soundpack (and tbh didn’t even know that was possible—thought that kind of thing was limited to samples).
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You did not mention what kind of music you want to make! (Edit: just saw your second post now. For that sound, Syntakt is the perfect machine as well 
)
To me, Syntakt is the best thing ever and does almost any sound, but unfortunately the init sounds are the worst lead to them 
Here’s my playlist as per usual: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUYzit2zEIg&list=PL-MKoQp4lob1fUD5DAyDqKQuutxNeZsZI
(And I also just released a soundpack called „Syntakt Curses“, suitable for styles such as IDM for example.)
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