Inevitable machinedrum

Elektron Gear Machinedrum
#1

delaying the inevitable…

how much did you pay for yours? today, a machinedrum uw runs $2,121.66 modestly, an uw+ is $2,537.60 from overseas [us]

is the uw crucial? i’m into the proto-octatrack functionality and feedback possibilities of resampling the machine, but should i try out a non-uw first?

unless i can find a more disgusting digital drum synth, its probably a better time to buy now-er, rather than later-er? i’m not into fm sounds…so cycles and digitone are kind of off the table? am i wrong abt cycles/dt? using stock samples, could digitakt be a rhythmic noise machine? is uw crucial? +drive?

help!

ps
analog territory is covered by a beloved leploop, so no need for an ar mki/ii thx

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#2

Possibly. There’s a lot you can do with it that makes it sound less like an “FM drum machine” and more dirty/heavy, if that’s your thing.

It’s definitely not a powerhouse like the MD (though from what I’ve seen of the Syntakt it comes close) but you might be surprised.

edit: Can say the same about Digitone, but I personally don’t like using more general purpose synths as drum machines. It’s got filters and two layers of overdrive, definitely way beyond FM.

Why would you use stock samples only? :smiley:

#3

How much are you into those sampling functions?

How much are you into the drum synthesis without the sampling functions?

How much do you want to use the MD now rather than later?

Model:Cycles and Digitone are mostly/all FM based, but Digitone in particular has subtractive synthesis features. Have you listened to these two instruments in use?

Why does that matter to you when you can also put non-stock samples in the Digitakt?

GOTO answer 1.

The +Drive stores multiple snapshots of the MD’s memory that you can call up without having to load in from an external device, but loading interrupts playback. How useful is that to you?

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#4

Check out @blushresponse’s MD video, it gives a good idea of what the UW offers, along with @defenestration/Max Marco’s videos.

If that’s the specific sound you want, nothing else will quite do it. How important that is I guess is up to you.

Having both the OT and MDUW, it’s hard to say how important the UW is for me, especially considering you could get both a standard MD and OT for the price of the UW in some cases.

I was able to get the UW at a very attractive price, if I didn’t, I’m not sure I would have sprung for it given what they’re going for. I like the sound and options, but it’s not something I go to that often I guess.

All of this is to say, take a look and decide how important it is to you, there’s certainly value to it, but in my opinion you could get a long way without it.

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#5

field recordings, voices, backing tracks are important sure, but couldn’t i pump a field recorder thru a non-uw ? resampling the md for like feedback loops is what i’m after with the uw

good to know there’s lag, thx

#6

planning 1 elektron box around another makes sense … they say ’ you don’t just buy one elektron box"

#7

i tried out a syntakt last week, afaik no master compressor??

#9

mnm sfx6 was $1950 on debut or someone at wiki is joking

#10

which one tho?

#11

No, but I don’t think that should be a reason to buy/not buy a machine.

#13

for sure.

fortunately it is a key ingredient in the noise i make! outside of driving my field recorder or a fiends’ tape machine, it’d be nice to count on the sound of an internal compressor + no longer haul 2 drum machines, mixer, effects unit/bass/lead synth + my field recorder for master compression around to gigs

#16

i’ve have played more sets on pocket operators [rhythm, tonic, sub] than any other instrument at this point

edit:
po-12 is hands down the best drum machine of all time…still hoping for a po-field w tonic functionality made of metal…maybe md will change my mind

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#17

I got a mk2 UW (no +drive) for $1600 on Reverb in 2020, sold it here on Elektronauts for the same price less than a year later.

I personally didn’t gel with the MD, but I’m glad I got to give it a try. The sampling side of it was cool but I’ve got samples covered elsewhere so it wasn’t a huge focus for me — if I were to ever dive back into an MD purchase, I’d go without the UW to try to save a few bucks.

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#18

I paid 1150 for a standard Mk2. I’m thrilled to have it, and don’t need the sampling right now. I’ve only had it a couple weeks and haven’t been able to play it much but I imagine I’ll hold onto it for a long time.

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#19

how are the inputs routed on the non-uw? can you assign them to a track? process or sequence the inputs at all?

#20

also how’s the glare from the bottom half of the screen? barely noticeable probably?

#21

So I haven’t actually tried routing them, but on manual page a– 11, it has a few input machines listed, and doesn’t specify that they’re exclusive to the UW. I can check tomorrow if I can assign them on my unit. As for a glare, I haven’t noticed any glare when using the machine :slight_smile:

#22

Assigning them to tracks is what you do. You can set up as many input machines as you like. You can have the same input on 16 tracks if you want, for parallell processing using 16 filters (for example).

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#23

There are three different input machines. One is passing through audio only, one vontains an envelope follower and filter, and one contains a threshold triggered envelope.
All three input machines still have the page 2 (track effects) and page 3 (routing).

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#24

these are on the non-uw ?

are there any safeguards against patching output c/d into input a/b for feedback ? my sampler will not feedback on itself, for example