Heat Coming Soon - Favorite Things About AH?

Elektron Gear Analog Heat
#1

Hi friends, I think this is my first post here. I’ve been lurking on and off for a while, but spending more time here recently, since acquiring a Digitakt last year. I love my Digitakt, it really has gotten me back into electronic music production, and given me a focal point, if you will. I’m realizing I don’t need a billion synths / sound machines that all need to be learned. Now that I’m putting together entire compositions using Digitakt (plus occasional complimentary pieces of gear), I’m feeling that I need something to gel the mix together. At first I thought about a compressor, but couldn’t really decide on a direction. A friend suggested the Heat, and the more I looked at it, the more it seemed to be the missing link. Oddly, the fact that it could also be used as an audio interface really sealed it. I knew the sound processing part of it was going to be ace. Long story short (too late), I got a promotion and rewarded myself with Analog Heat - Heat is on the way!

All that being said, I’ve been through this forum and searched a few times for examples, etc., but does anyone have any tips for a new Analog Heat user? Should I dive in and just go to town, or should I start off subtle and build from there? What are some of the coolest little quirks / tricks that the AH can do? I’m sure a lot of this is dependent on how I make music, but I just want to hear other people’s favorite things to do with Heat. Thanks, cheers.

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#2

Congratulations, Heat will compliment Digitakt nicely. One of simplest things you can do is to link Heat with Takt via MIDI and send Program Changes to change the Presets on Heat. You can also set triggers on one of the MIDI tracks to do that.
Welcome to forum and congratulations on your first post!

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#3

Heat really is “plug and play,” but like all elektron boxes, it rewards experimentation.

Mine is usually set to Clean Boost or Saturation, rarely going into the crazier realms, but there are many surprises in extreme-distortion land. light tinkling arpeggios are really fun to crank up the Round Fuzz. i’ve scared myself (and a small crowd.) with it.

I’d recommend low volumes with extreme settings for home experimentation. =)

Setting LFO to filter adds a lot, too, especially if you’re already LFOing your sound source. This way you can save filter modulation on the initial box in lieu of another parameter and let the Heat add more modulation. Filter being only one example. I like LFO set to ‘dirt’ and use that a lot.

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#4

Lfo with Frequency Pan and Bandstop Filter destinations = stereo phaser
Envelope with Lfo Multiply dest
Envelope with Drive dest, negative depth

I mostly use Classic, Round, High Gain. Still need more drive, but Analog Drive is here !
AH is the simpler Elektron after Analog Drive, but envelope with 3 dest sweet spots are not that easy to find I think.

How do you proceed ? I succeeded sending an Envelope Threshold CC16, with a 0 value, and a 127 value before, not sure it’s the best way.

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#5

in what mode of the 8 ones ?

#6

I’m not sure if this is adressed to me…and what is the question ?

Correct me if I’m wrong but I think all AH tricks can be done with the 8 characters, even if they can sound drastically different.
Drive / eq are different, and they have a different sound character obviously, but as the envelope is listening to incoming signal anyway, same for Lfo trigger, same filter…I think principles are the same.
(Edit : That said you may have to correct a few parameters, especially Drive, Eq, Dirt, Resonance…)

My favourite Character order :

High Gain
Round Fuzz
Classic Distortion
Enhancement
Clean Boost
Saturation
Mid Drive
Rough Crunchy

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#7

You create triggerles trigger to one of the MIDI tracks and assign the Program Change message to that. Usually at the beginning of the track. Timing is actually inportant and sometimes you would set it to the end of previous track. Or you can go creative and set the random numbers to random triggers. Or set the Change to every trigger on track and then assign LFO to change their value. Richard Devine would probably approve that. Watch the temperature of Heat…

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#8

For ”glue” on the 2bus, I am not sure a heat is the best choice. It doesn’t really give Ampex ATR-102 or SSL G bus comp style cohesion as such…

However, you can certainly add some mojo with it! I love treating my low end with it on the 2bus. But if I need ”glue”, I reach for my SA4000 instead.

Favourite thing about the heat? Its flexibility no doubt. You can use it for many tasks, although not simultaneously… you have to decide how you wanna use it in any given situation. But analog processing with DAW automation and full recall? priceless

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#9

Sending the same Prog Change will trigger envelope and lfo each time ? I have to try it with MD. Thanks

#10

No tricks here, but the Heat has definitely proven itself invaluable. Even with subtle amounts, you don’t want it off anytime. I use the envelope follower for side chaining a lot; it works wonder even if it can be a bit fiddly to set up. It’s a fantastic box, fun to use and very rewarding !

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#11

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I definitely feel more confident about getting the Heat. I was careful not to use the “glue” keyword, since I knew it wasn’t going to be that type of device. However, I am excited about the many possibilities that are available with Heat vs. spending that money on a good compressor. The more time I spend with Digitakt, the more I get used to the Elektron workflow. I still have a long way to go, but I think that will come in handy when trying out different things using DT and Heat. After watching the Sonicstate and the videos with Thavius Beck, I’m excited. I think this box will do what I want it to do.

#12

I think AH don’t replace a compressor. I plan to buy OTO BOUM, chain it after AH. Compressor, stronger distortion post AH drive / filter, additional filter = Analog BOOOM !
I already had good results with Analog Drive after AH. Search and Destroy ! :smile:

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#13

Raising the resonance on the filter so it self oscillates, automating the frequency from OT via midi, and sampling / resampling into OT with tons of effects ( or not ). I had two straight days of old school B-Movie “mad scientist lab” noises coming from my workspace.

Using AH to treat outputs of gear prior to resampling or recording to 2-track.

My only complaint with the AH at this point is that I want another; one to treat outputs, one to use as an effect.

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#14

What do you mean by “Watch the temperature!” ? Mine gets quite warm too, but should I worry about?