Digitakt, using the High Pass (high resonance) filter trick and then the second filter to work the top end. I get pretty good results with it.
2 x DN into OB
For a while it was Jomox for me. But lately I’ve found the A4/AK and it’s envelopes to be superior for making kicks… I also run them through RML distortion boxes, which make a world of difference.
Runners-up:
Nord Drum 2/3P
Digitone
BARP 2600
DT2 (with a sample of any beefy oscillator tone)
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Oh and in the box, Battalion and Opal make some super-solid kicks.
Same here. Out of all my Elektron boxes, DN is my favorite when it comes to kicks. And it’s not just about FM, it must be something in the envelopes/LFO pitch sweeps. My A4 just doesn’t get them so snappy.
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just for the record, those were my first three tries on day one of owning a Machinedrum …
(just the output of the md)
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That would be the sound of a pair of laser chopsticks hitting some tinfoil-wrapped nuclear barbecue.
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I haven’t tried wave synthesis, just samples, but after a few suggestions in this thread I’ll be giving that a shot soon.
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You better do 
Keep us updated!
Been awhile since I sold my A4mk2, but I got some of my favorite kick sounds ever out of that thing. But we all have a different idea about what ‘good’ is, which is as it should be
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look right, we’re not all blessed with the ability to work hard at things and be rewarded with amazing results
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I just love when I listen to someone making justice to that machine… Something that, unluckyly, doesn’t happen very often
Big thanks for sharing.
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How the hell have I never heard of this thing? Wow.
Just got one in the memorial day sale at perfect circuit. What sold me is when I saw the trigger input. I believe I could send the trigger out from the Perkins kick into it and sequence the jomox on the Perkons kick lane. That’s going to be completely awesome if I am correct.
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I actually like the Syntakt kicks which - please correct me if I recall this wrong - are the Rytm almost, right?
I do believe you can do that, but I never tried the trigger input. Should be rad! The Mbase is the kick module from the Alpha Base I believe, which is beloved by many. Also the Mbrane is the snare module in the Alpha Base. They’re a good way to own a large chunk of the Alphabase but without the larger investment and deal real estate. And they sound bloody gorgeous.
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No FM sorcery allowed!! :))
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Vermona has its own Bass Drum module now. The demo is so so but I heard good things about the Kick from the DRM-1 MkIV.
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Syntakt kicks are huge and punchy is you tweaky them right. I always use track 1 for digital and noisy click and track 9 for the kick body, this works really well to me.
I think this is the syntakt strength, using two sounds to create one. I do the same on the open hats and they sound really lush but punchy at the same time.
Bonus tip: if you create like 4 different sounds each (like 4 different clicks on track 1 and 4 different body on track 9) you have a lot to play with
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I know this is well trodded territory, but aside from sound design I do wonder if there are any disadvantages to simply loading some MFB 11 samples into MK2 Digitakt. I ask because there’s a very extensive sample pack available online, and that would give me a bit of everything.
Obviously wouldn’t do this with a more complicated sound source like a synth, but kicks are somewhat static things. Is there any loss of sonic fidelity?
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I have that sample pack I believe - no, there aren’t real advantages to owning the hardware unless you enjoy tinkering with sound. I like to make longer loops of kicks that I modulate very subtly by hand, so for that sort of thing the hardware is better. Even then though, you can achieve subtle variations by applying an LFO to something like a filter with a tiny bit of cutoff or whatever.