I would say that the sound design options are very wide, especially with lfos at audio rate, you can plock lfos to the right audio rate pitch and get even more modulators for crazy tonal shaping in all the lfo destinations. You just have to get creative and try and explore the weird sides of the functionality, like super high pitched and high ratios for weird aliasing stuff. The only thing that has started to feel limiting after primarily using elektron devices for a couple years ,(DT, DN, M:C) is the pattern length and pattern chaining capabilities for making longer compositions. There are also plenty of generative and interesting sequencer stuff I would really like, but it would require different interface elements than the digi models. I can still sit down with my model cycles after getting it soon after launch and get new sounds and have a ton of fun.
Ah sorry the language might have made my question ambigous, when I said ‘Elektron machines’ I mean the machines that exist on the MD, Cycles and now the Syntakt - not the instruments themselves.
I realise now how that might have read haha.
I like the sound design capability on the Digitakt, it’s a very good set of features, but if I only had 30 samples available on it I don’t think it’d be as much fun. But I also appreciate that’s an unfair comparison (not least of all because samples are just chromatic on digitakt), I guess I don’t have the experience with the machines to know just how much variety you can get out of them. Maybe I should play with a Cycles…
Watch the BoBeats YouTube video. He shows some examples where he plays a sequence and each step of the sequence has different parameters for the machine. It really showcases how much variety you can get from a single machine. In fact, in his demos, the single machine sounds like many machines playing together but is just one.
Ah nice, I haven’t got to his video yet I’ll be sure to watch it
You mean that polymeter going through the main bass drone? I believe I used the toy synth machine 
Yeah, speaking specifically to the cycles, it has a ton of variation. I have made and recorded 5 different songs with the cycles alone, and it is probably my favorite instrument I own. The default sounds (just turning the knobs on the machines, no clever lfo tricks) can become very familiar, usually in a way that is very controllable, like I know what to move to get a specific sound, especially out of the tone machine. On the other hand that familiarity can get a little bit old at times when you start up a new pattern with default sounds (speaking specifically to the cycles experience, as I can’t say with the Syntakt) But once you get in there with the lfo doing things, and clever use of P-Locks or exploring uses of drum machines for tonal use or vice versa, there is a whole lot of room for exploration. And with the Syntakt having two lfos, both that have more features than the cycles, and extra machines the cycles doesn’t have, I don’t think you would get bored any time soon. Like you probably won’t get all the long evolving super complex type tones you can get from the digitone, but the digitone can be very hard to wrangle, especially with control all. With the cycles and machines the machines always stay in a certain range of sound, so you can go wild with control all and your bass drum stays a bass drum and your snare stays a snare.
Hey man thanks for replying Yea I think that’s it - on track 3
pulse pinging filter with hi res makes nice toms
Do you know if the digital filter can self resonate? Also, I forgot if the impulse is only available in the analog tracks?
pulse is an analog machine. dunno if digital filter can self res
analog machine with a digital noise/pulse
can’t (imho) beat a pinged resonant filter (using impulse machine) or a more textured input like a noise machine (or any other) - there is tonnes of scope for tom type sounds (of sorts) - dedictaed tom circuits are one trick ponies, and wrt the digital side, maybe the architecture of teh voice (based on DN/MC) isn’t ideal to define down to a tom type - keep in mind the machines don’t all work in isolation, with control all and so on, there has to be a loose synergy between parameter edits on one machine to the next, so the musical flavour isn’t lost
but yeah, it’s an observation i hadn’t drawn particularly, but having explored teh machines, it does not worry me that this base isn’t covered - and yes, carbon would be the first stop (but not the last by a long way)
i honestly think people hanging out for sample functionality will wait forever, i have no knowledge whatsoever on this, but this seems highly unlikely
see what it does, not what it doesn’t, if you need samples, try elsewhere, elektron or not - and if it comes along, take a look at the possibilities again
The Syntakt is an amazing self contained device with huge potential, very immediate, very rewarding, very powerful … but tailored to live performing and interaction - its full of sweet spots (although it’s way too easy to go rogue on the chord machine chord selections) - they’re putting a lot of their knowledge into one device and it’s a blast to use, especially with the FX bus
re topic, i hope there will be future machines but i don’t count on it, i’m quietly optimistic as it seems to be their way to breathe life into products years down the line and to keep us lot all happy campers
Correction, just checked. I used the tone synth machine. So it’s an FM tom
I know how to synthesize toms and I am sure there are probably many ways to get great tom sounds from the various machines. But my point is that having machines that are dedicated to a certain drum type is sort of the whole point. There will be many users not sure on how to synthesize a tom sound and would feel reassured that using a tom machine would put them in a safe place. A tom machine would have been very easy to implement (IMO) as they are not so difficult to synthesize. This would have added to the list of machines and made that list more complete.
Just an observation though, It actually doesn’t worry me that I will not be able to get toms out of this thing.
There’s a PC machine. That is what it is
The argument that people shouldn’t have to learn about synthesis is lost on me tbh.
As you say, a tom is not very difficult to synthesize;)
PS. Maybe there are more machines on the way
I imagine there are hundreds of tom sounds on the plus drive - no need to worry either way - maybe a tom centric machine will see the light of day, but it’s easy to work around, with will and so on - it’s far from a show stopper given how short a leap it is from some places into tom territory
keep in mind these digital machines appear to be based on a common engine type that’s restructured, they don’t seem to be starting from a blank page and saying what’s the best way to offer a tom/whatever - they’re is a starting point and the engines are tweaked around that to offer a cohesive place amongst all other voice types
Not heard much about the PC machine yet. Looking forward to trying it.
I do not mean people shouldn’t have to learn synthesis. But why is there any machines at all then? Just make OSCs and modulations and we can synthesize everything from scratch. The whole design and workflow of these Elektron instruments is to give the user starting points of a certain drum type that they can tweak and modify. This is true for Kick, Snare, Hat etc but then suddenly not true for Tom? That doesn’t make sense to me. Either include all the drum types or none.
Maybe it will come in the future?
Elektron, please add the vocal machine and the SID machine to Syntakt. I’d also take a sample playback option. Thank you for your consideration!
SID machine sounds fun, I’d second this 