Help needed to find the right machine

Elektron Gear
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Hi there! I am into garagy rock/indie music on a minimal band setup (inspired by somethng like THE KILLS). This made me dive into drum machines, sampling and all that, which was completely new for me and inspired me to do more electronic experimental things. I got into ELEKTRON machines, since working something out on a DAW and play it as backing track is not what I want for a live performance. I want to use the piece if gear as a physical “instrument”, integrated in my performance but also act as a working backing machine, in parts when I play guitar, singing etc.
I dove into Elektron with the DIGITAKT. The learning curve of the Elektron workflow was steep, lot of fun and the sound samples on it are inspiring considering sound samples of real analog instruments, claps etc. mixing it with electronic sounds by modulating single wave forms and so on. It calls for inspiration. But there’s one essential thing missing: The ability for a SONG MODE!
It is nearly impossible to switch patterns while playing guitar. Messed around with different foot pedals, that didn’t work out either.

There are two options and machines, that offer SONG MODE:

The ANALOG RYTM MK2 or the OCTATRACK MK2

Once I did research about both, I found out a lot about their workflow and for what they might be best, but most of the reviews show people doing electro/techno music with them.

I highly consider the ANALOG RYTM MK2, since this is a real drum machine, specialized on that, adding sample capabilities to get some “real” drum percussion sounds into it combined with the analog electric drum engine, plus a synth engine for experimenting with. Song mode is there plus nice features like scenes for live performance.
I am just not sure, if ths machine is too specialized?

Option 1: Sell the Digitakt and get the ANALOG RYTM MK2
Option 2: Get the OCTATRACK MK2 in addition to my loved Digitakt

The octatrack could be the “brain” for the song structure (combined with Digitakt) with the song mode and great performance tools with scenes and the crossfader. Endless sampling possibilities for years to come in learning and evolving…
But with this one I am not sure, since the OT is a quite complex machine and need to dive into MIDI how to control the DT with it…

OK… after a long text, you might have an idea, what I am aiming for. What would you recommend?

OCTATRACK MK2 + DIGITAKT
or
ANLOG RYTM MK2

THANK YOU :slight_smile:

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Analog Rytm Mk1.

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The AR MK2 is the best drum synth in the world period. Its capable of synth sounds too that are very appealing. Its fun to use and instant.

2 Likes
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Then you would have almost similar machines. Wouldn’t a combination of digital and analogue make more sense, because the sound engines are very different?

My combination is OT and AR with AR beeing more the drummer and OT the experimental sound and groove design instrument.

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Hey, thanks for instant reply y’all. The AR MK1 is just out of consideration, cause as far as I’ve learned, it’s not capable of sampling and I’d be stuck withe the probably awesome analog drum engine, which might be good for pure electronic beat music but lacking the versatility of adding drum sounds of “real” drums and percussions…

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how come foot pedals didn’t work out for you? what have you tried?

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Here’s another suggestion. MPC 1000 (or higher) and nord drum 2 or 3. The linear sequencer and song mode on the MPC maybe better suited to the genre you mention. It’s designed as a sampler and sample playback machine, whereas the samples in the AR are essentially designed to compliment / combine with the synth engine. You can’t sample directly into the AR, you can into an MPC. I don’t own an AR, but have read some complaints about sample transfer and sample management. As far as I know, the Nord Drums 2 and 3 have the deepest / most flexible synth capabilities in hardware. With this combo you’d get a sequencer more than capable of playing back whole songs, crunchy sampled acoustic drums, and a deep deep pallet of electric drums and sound fx from a Nord drum.

1 Like
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I’ve tried the SOLEMAN, that was recommended in several threads. Got it to work for START STOP signals, but program changes to forward in patterns the same time is not possible. Other than that, fiddling around with the SOLEMAN software got it to freeze and no factory reset possible. Shipped it back for repair, then same thing, ordered a completely new unit, same thing. Other than that, for more complex song structure with some bridge and pre-chorus I’d end up tap-dancing like a Riverdance-Performance. So a SONG MODE is really most essential. :slight_smile:

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Good input. Also considered the new MPC ONE as song structure machine along with the DIGITAKT as instrument.

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Sounds like you may as well stay with the Digitakt if you want real drum samples. Just workaround the song mode as best you can. Nearly impossible is not the same as impossible :slight_smile:

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The Digtakt isn’t an instrument in that it has no sound engine. Like MPC’s it’s essentially a sampler - sequencer. I’d pair the Modal Cycles with it instead if you want an elektron sequencer and something more immediate in the way of drum synthesis.

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That’s what actually got me into the DIGITAKT, since I first had no idea, just the great sounding versatile drums samples really hooked me. Just thought I might have the same experience with the AR MK2 since it’s capable of sampling, no?

Anyone got an idea if there are already similar samples on board of the AR MK2 as on the Digitakt?

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I’ve got the AR MKII and I’m pretty sure it doesn’t contain the same samples as the Digitakt (I don’t own the Digitakt so I wouldn’t know sadly). It does have a very similar if not the same sample engine. Combine that with an amazing synth engine and you can layer some really nice drum samples (well any sample really) on top of the analog synth engine. You can record directly into the MKII model and thus sample directly which is amazing! I find it an amazing and versatile machine. I totally agree that most videos of it on youtube are techno/electro but it is capable of so much more, don’t really know why the majority of videos are techno stuff. Glo Phase here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1JqE35hXQyayBiWYmFMEZw shows what it’s really capable of, amazing videos though not tutorials.

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Foot controller : Yamaha MFC10, Roland FC200

AR MKI : Load samples!

I play guitar and I think OT is a great sampler, looper, with synthesis abilities, and much more.
The most complicated is to make choices, because you can make A LOT of things with it.

Not easy to choose, but If you really like DT and its sampling ability, why not ARMKII. Probably less straightforward than DT, but simpler than OT.

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If you love everything in your DT and you just miss song mode, you should save your money and try some workarounds.
If your song structure is not an experimental wtf track, maybe just a copy paste pattern and play patterns in chain could be the trick. Just add some “Fill” effect for some transition and trigger them with footswitch ?
Edit: You can also stretch the time with 1/2 scale per track and add conditional trigs like 1:4 or 1:8 to slowly evolvle your pattern.
Edit2: Setting the MLEN of a pattern to 128 for exemple will play it 2 time before switching to the next pattern, so in chain mode you can choose to play some pattern multiple time without consume a pattern slot.

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Thanx for great inputs. I try everything not to decide GAS-driven and first try to work with what I got. Anyhow considering the chain mode in the DT doesn’t let you save the chain permanently in your project/song and each time you start a Song you need to set up the chain from scratch, which will be a knock off for my use in live situatons.
I did some great recordings and songwriting already with the DT, since during recording sessions I got my hands free for it.
I will definitely try to fiddle around with pattern length and MLEN before I give up on the DT.
Other than that, any more inputs regarding OCTATRACK2+DIGITAKT vs. ANALOG RYTM2 ?

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if a foot switch isn’t going to work for you, a couple of other options would be the midi loopback trick, or sending program changes to the DT via a laptop, or even a rpi.

failing that I would sell the DT and get an OT, AR, MPC etc

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Yeah! Found out about the loop back trick to send PC messages to itself and this was the perfect workaround and made it completely fitting my needs …UNTIL… I upgraded the software to 1.11 or whatever is the latest, for Overbridge connectivity for recording and after the upgrade, the loop back trick became history :frowning: Discussed in another thread where some one eagerly wants to downgrade, but previous software is not available and already contacted Elektron but no answer, maybe due to lock down…

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Did you consider selling the DT and getting the OT?

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Actually not… Might the OT on its own be a capable machine for my needs?