Introducing Syntakt

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#1996

in the course of life i have learned: never be too happy.

but so far, i have nothing but praise for the elektron team. you took your time with the syntakt and didn’t throw out a new product all of a sudden. I think there is a lot of love in here. The sound is also different, at least that’s my perception and so far I think it’s great, as I said - you get results very quickly here. i don’t want to presume to judge other elektron products badly, but i never had that experience with the rytm, here you always had to tweak a lot to be reasonably satisfied. the sound of the syntakt sounds much more pleasant and not so harsh. I hope I’m not too hasty, but a big thank you to elektron for their great work - super creative.

19 Likes
#1997

Your experience is similar to mine.

It’s very easy to get the sounds I want out of the ST. And for the music I make, the sounds sound good to my ears.

I’ve owned all the Elektron boxes at some point. Now it’s just an OT and ST. And this combo for me is amazing.

Not too off topic, but I recently discovered the DJ EQ on the OT. Instant techno sounds with that thing. It’s on all my OT tracks, including the Thru track which I’m using to run the ST through.

Very techno oriented. All of it.

11 Likes
#1998

how do you use the EQ to make it techno?
I also have an OT and ordered the ST. Why did you choose to run the ST through the OT?
I was thinking that running OT through ST would also make sense, so you can use the analog filter/drive on the OT (and keep the inputs of OT free for other gear)

#1999

Does anyone else feel like the Syntakt rytm machines sound slightly better or have more musical ranges than rytm? They seem to have more “sweet spot”, as do all the syntakt machines. It’s so much harder to make a sound i dislike on Syntakt. Really lends itself to tweaking. I could just be imagining it, curious what others think

4 Likes
#2000

Great video.

#2001

I don’t know if it’s because of the format or what but yesterday found myself devoting hours only to doing patterns using only 3 tracks with the DVCO machines… I haven’t had so much fun with hardware recently, even when I had a Rytm Mk2…

2 Likes
#2002

Hard to explain but basically cranking that middle knob and slightly turning down the bass or turning up the highs takes my samples, or ST to different places sound wise. The tone reminds me of the how my favorite techno records sound. I’m getting that sound.

1 Like
#2003

Kicks, claps, snares, DVCO, FM, even chords… I feel like it’s way easier to dial the sound I like from these machines, indeed.
My good old Rytm is making a strange face…

3 Likes
#2005

There’s a discussion for Syntakt only tracks, you might want to drop it there if it fits :wink:

1 Like
#2006

Welcome @FFM80. I see what you mean, it took you 5 years to post something. Nice post!

1 Like
#2007

is there any way to move it?

#2008

You can post an Hyperlink from this thread to the other one or Remove this one and post it in the other.

#2009

I see Elektron will now be at Superbooth.

3 Likes
#2010

1st hand experiences likes and dislikes

I decided consciously that I will buy the ST – and using backward induction and some bravery I decided the time is now (pandemics, inflation etc. taken into account) and ordered at the new kid on the block (ProMusicTools, Munich) - because they had it in stock. Bravery (or risky behaviour?) turned out well - great after-purchase communication, great packaging and 2-day-delivery! :slight_smile:

First impressions ((the box in the box) in the box)

  • veeery nice new-style-artsy-elektron-packaging (like with new digitone, m:c, rytm mk II)
  • veery nice 4-color-print poster
  • smaller AC/DC converter
  • high quality USB-cable - now in gray
  • built quality just as with digitakt, some enconders are not 100% smooth, but 98%, that should suffice
  • the box has no handle anymore, which is a pity, but handles did not go so well lately with Elektron – so I understand :wink:

2nd first impressions (the machine itself, powered on)

  • I like the new color scheme
  • labels in gray and purple are readable
  • OLED display in white works well with it and helps to distinguish the feel-alike-boxes in the dark
  • digitakt muscle memory kicks in immediately
  • sounds ok-ish, but lets tweak it

after some hours of hyperfocus

most importantly

  • it’s a keeper
  • it can sound much (!) better than most preset patterns suggest (which are very one the digital side and sort of mid-frequency-pronounced) - dub techno - here I come :slight_smile:

really great

  • new sequencable FX-track!!!
  • animations
  • 2 LFOs per track!!!
  • new solution for velocity and other stuff (Mod pads)
  • MIDI sequencer
  • sound lock (different presets in one track)
  • ADSR envelopes
  • chord mode options (tweakable via LFO!)
  • free tuning for microtonal stuff (albeit not easily transposable as of yet)
  • waveforms
  • input mixer
  • input to sequencable FX chain!

very good

  • sequencer as known from the digitakt with all its polymeter- and polyrhythm goodness (but still in limits) and known quirks
  • sound of the reverb
  • the “bits” mono-synth (digital)
  • FM drums similar to those on the m:c (very great 808-ish basedrums, snares, hihats)

somewhat disappointing

  • jumps in the adjustment of the first milliseconds of the envelopes are too big (if it needs to be 127 steps - perhaps make it log to improve temporal resolution in transition phase?
  • that fantastic new bitcrusher (yes, OT, I’m talking to you!) only available in one instrument and not as part of others or track FX or main FX
  • although this is clearly not meant to be a drumsynth only (look at all those scales!) - still no possibility to transpose tracks (like the DT)? (the DN can do)
  • such great C64 sounds and - no arp??? (or I haven’t found it yet)
  • balancing sounds difficult esp. when mixing digital and analog ones
  • analog HH only on one channel (CH/HH choke with sound locks – ok, I get it – but, c’mon - what’s with 606-ish cymbals over a hihat pattern?)
  • sound of the drive FX of the analog FX chain

really missing

  • extra EQ for analog drums (yes you could repurpose the FX track, but would loose drive and filter control)
  • master smoothing FX (like compressor)

the obvious

  • no songmode
  • kits? (there seems to be an option?)
  • no battery (yes you can use the USB-to-Elektron converters and a powerbank and some users have modded their DT machines with a built in Li-battery, but…)

improvable

  • accessing the sound-lock-feature (the way it is now it is very un-intuitive - even for Elektron standards)
  • hold func+A “tune” jumps only only +/- 12 - please implement jumping in musical intervals, or at least semitones
  • filter-resonance on most instruments sounds pretty much like 1990s-digital-filters (not so much in a good way)

wishes

  • transpose (destructional; or non-destructional via track or pattern parameter)
  • arp
  • one polyphony instrument (like the chord one but with direct input of the respective chord or interval instead of dialing it in)
  • that exact (!) bitcrusher as track FX or master FX (the analog drums would love it!)
  • change sound manager that way it can be filtered for instruments that can be actually loaded to the current track
  • relative send to analog FX track (remain part of the dry signal)
  • any ratio for track meter (1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/7 … 1/15 … 23/1, … 7/1, 6/1, 5/1, 4/1, 3/1; 2/3, 2/5 … … …)
  • microtonal scales
  • trig condition: “NOT(X:Y)” (pause every Yth repetition, starting with the Xth)
  • live transpose via keyboard (pads) for selected tracks
  • microdelay (+/-) for every track
  • active steps feature (like new volcas)
  • cascading filters (like a simple 12db LPF after every filter do reduce unpleasant side-effects of working with bleep-blop sequenced resonance) (EDIT: friendly forum members just pointed me to the existence of a second filter page in the digital instruments - which contains a BPF!!! :smiley: )

bottom line

  • really great box with lots and lots of the Elektron goodness
  • owners of DT will feel at home immediately (with the good stuff, and also with the quirks and edges: you will make the same mistakes as with the DT, well, at least you know them, reload pattern can be really dangerous)
  • will shine with overbridge and extra EQing of the single tracks
  • owners of DT and (DN and/or m:c and/or volca drums - as sample input or sequenced directly) may achieve (mostly) the same results with a very similar workflow (without ST)
21 Likes
The Syntakt Feature Request Thread
#2011

Holy shit. this is cool.
I wanted not to want one…
but well…this video and Dave Mech teach a better one.

#2012
  • copy pattern
  • Press [Ptrn] + empty slot + paste. Hold 4 seconds.
5 Likes
#2013

Thanks a lot!! :slight_smile:

1 Like
#2014

Anyone here have syntakt AND analog heat?
do you believe the analog drive of ST can replace the saturation of the heat?

#2015

What has really struck me is that my year with Pulsar 23 has really changed how i look at devices… With Syntakt and its Master FX, i much rather see it as a whole running evey track throught he FX block and then copying the BD track trigs to the FX track trigs, and then having some fun wit the amp and filter envelope… i find this to be a really great and accesible performance feature. i can drop the intensity by adding some attack to the filter ADSR for instance.

i mentioning this cause my initial wish was that Elektron would have added a second stereo outpuuts instead of inputs. but after using the master FX like i mentioned above, im not so sure… i like it as its own contained echosystem of sounds.

8 Likes
#2016

The effect of the analog drive can go from very subtle to harsh, it doesn’t cover the whole Analog Heat palette but I rather like it as is.
I think appreciating a distorsion is a very personal thing.