Introducing Tonverk

[jm2c]

yeah, that one’s my faves as well. Elektron has even made a merch T-shirt out of it

[holonology]

Got it. I feel 100% out of my depth, but equally, wow I can totally see what the fuss is about with both this and Elektron in general. So far I’ve managed to make a basic pattern routing the FX, and just seeing how I’d chop stuff and all the other things commented on in here. (Also a little bit of perform mode because c’mon…) Think I’m gonna hang on until I’ve made some junk with what’s on the card while I learn, (nice sounds btw) and then load my own stuff on and get cracking I know the way around a bit better.

Tonight is a lot of "wait… what?.. opens manual. As it should be.

Slow and steady…

[StuB]

Welcome to the party

[StuB]

Someone just bought my OTmk2. No going back now! Although gotta be honest, I may have had couple of head scratching moments over the new workflow but at no point have I felt like im fighting it or it hates me

[everbong]

Mine arrives tomorrow. Never been more internally divisive about a music gear purchase. I know it’s new and unique and know it’s somewhat incomplete. The world is better with Elektron continuing to thrive so I support them but honestly sick of the product segregation. Wish they’d make a true groovebox for those that like a minimal setup. Price it like an OP-XY if needed but throw the kitchen sink at it.

[nonhorizon]

@JhnWilhlm

multisampling is totally useless. notes are very often delayed. very unpredictable results.

the latency issue is also on the loopop video

the problem can’t be addressed by changing the sample start point bc that functionality is not available

so um it’s a multisampler that is currently unable to effectively multisample?

[alexlabrioche]

same here, bought in Europe at the big bad Thomann so 30 days to try if it worth it

[everbong]

This is concerning because it’s midi based auto sampling. I wonder if there is a latency difference between usb midi and 5 pin

[nonhorizon]

@everbong

This is concerning because it’s midi based auto sampling.

wow so it’s possible that the multisampling latency can’t be fixed by firmware?

has elektron communicated with anyone about this?

[Tchu]

Moog Audio has receive them. Music break is over. Let’s get into it.

[Azzarole]

So it doesn’t have multi or hi pass filter on busses right now, correct? That’s a real bummer as I’m a dumbass who always wants to bring stuff in and out with a hi pass. Too many letdowns adding up so far when I get into how I’d actually want to use it.

[JhnWilhlm]

yep unfortunately. but another 2h later I just have to say that this machine is sooo fun with the buses and effect possibilities. I will forgive everything if they fix it soon

I opened tickets for all issues and I hope everybody else does too.

[tdmusic]

You can use Dirtshaper’s high pass. Some of the effects available on different track types seem a bit arbitrary and hopefully they’ll open them up a bit. I guess some are restricted to sends as they’re CPU heavy

[Tchu]

@JhnWilhlm

multisampling is totally useless. notes are very often delayed

In the EZBot (@mpiecora) video, he’s using a « test » before multisampling. Does that help?

[captain8]

@Anigbrowl

So I see a lot to like about the Tonverk - particularly the complex new routing options and the big selection of fx, but I’m very disappointed by the lack of performance controls, limited i/o (although maybe a keyboard version fixes this), and forcing a lot of complexity through the 25 year old low-resolution display. Like managing 1024 samples through that front panel looks kinda painful as does sample trimming and a lot of other stuff. I’m also somewhat disappointed that they didn’t use the engine concept and allow polyphonic multisampling but also some DN-like FM or a simple VA engine for those times when you don’t feel like browsing a library but want to take a few oscillators and make them fight.

I wonder if they addressed these concerns if people would start calling the TV a daw in a box though… sometimes it seems like people need the instrument to fight back before they can feel like it’s an instrument… on the other hand computers mess up and fight back all the time but people don’t feel like they are instruments

I don’t know Anigbrowl, I’m just listening to what you’re sayin and thinking what I’m sayin
I made a promise to myself that this will be the first and probably only Elektron beatmachine that I never make a single feature request for… just see where they go day by day, but for me this is only possible because of the DT2 and MPC

[naturarum]

Got my TV this morning, here are my first impressions as someone who never owned an OT, but owned a DT, ST, DN, DN2, MD:

• TV is modulation heaven. If my math is correct, there are 128 polyphonic track LFOs, 128 FX LFOs and 64 modulation envelopes in the tracks, plus 8 LFOs in the Buses and 6 in the Sends. So A LOT, enough for any project I can think of, and I was among those who always found the LFO count lackluster on other boxes.
• TV is also FX heaven. Again, if I’m counting correctly, a single sound can go through 13 FX, which are arbitrarily available on some tracks and not on others. I think Elektron has been somewhat lazy in the development of effects: many of them are just rehashes of the effects from other boxes renamed to look cool (Panoramic Chorus is just the Elektron chorus, Supervoid Reverb is just the Elektron reverb…) - Some cool new FX thrown in there, but I think this box needs a lot more FX choice… which brings me to my next point:
• Since there are lots of routing options and the onboard effects are slightly disappointing, this box calls for external effects. To do that, you have little room: one stereo, or 2 mono send & return. That’s not a lot of I/O compared to the amount of buses and sends! Perhaps it will be possible to route audio through USB in the future?
• The box is perfectly usable standalone, but really wants to become part of your setup, and I think it’s reasonably capable in that regard. For example, I can easily see myself using it along my Eurorack, as a sequencer for some modules and using some of my eurorack fx as sends. I have not set that up yet but I think I could get it running in less than 10 minutes.
• The sampling engines are designed to do something different than a DT. TV right now is more like a polysynth with high-quality multisamples as the synthesis engine. I quite like that. Sure, it could have slicing and timestretch, but I’m not sure that’s really the point of the device. Time will tell if that comes in an update.
• Quality of life is greatly improved with USB-C power, SD Card, keyboard, and a definite shift towards the workflow changes that have taken place since the release of DT.

Overall I like this device a lot, but I must say that I don’t think it’s for everyone in its current software version. Elektron shamelessly includes a little note in the box that tells us to look out for future updates. They probably have 1.10 in the works as I write this, and I’m sure it will address some of the issues people seem to be having with it.

[StuB]

My approach so far has been: Take time to get the sample just right then play the fx & mod. It’s been very very rewarding so far…. I don’t mind admitting I got a bit emotional about it at one point tonight.

[rtme]

Mine arrived this afternoon, I was very enthusiastic the last few days and so looking forward to try it out myself and the first impressions are very positive:

• Tonverk is VERY EASY to use if you know one of the DT/ST/DN devices
• Excellent sound quality!
• The FX are very nice (DAISY DELAY and CHRONO PITCH are awesome)
• Many insert FX slots!
• SD card
• USB-C
• Form factor (and it really looks and feels awesome IRL)
• Beautiful crafted art work!

Unfortunately I also came across these things:

@JhnWilhlm

The software is quite unfinished. Really basic functions are missing and I’m not even talking about stretching and slicing but page loop, instrument previews and other really important stuff.

@JhnWilhlm

wow… the fun is fading pretty quickly. multisampling is totally useless. notes are very often delayed. very unpredictable results.

@JhnWilhlm

and if you try to rename a multisampled instruments you can not

Regarding the autosampler: If you press the [YES] button multiple times in step 1 to test the autosampler you can see the latency going from around 17ms to about 185ms. Which is also happening during sampling so the results are indeed useless.

Which tells me there are some serious issues regarding realtime audio processing going on. The many reported syncing issues probably have the same cause.

And there are unfortunately many other things:

• Boot time is very slow compared to other Elektrons
• Scrolling is sometimes very sluggish
• No zooming for longer samples (very much needed!)
• Some instruments (factory content) are not previewable (I get ticking noises, the instruments do load fine however)
• Autosampled instruments cannot be edited or adjusted at all
• When you load a preset on a track with an existing preset, the settings of the insert FX are kept from the existing one (very annoying!)
• No velocity modulation
• Very bare bone configuration options (regarding MIDI channels etc.)
• …

Some I can live with, as most bugs and missing features will be resolved with firmware updates (there is even a card in the box that says “check for updates!” ) and some things are annoying but doable, no piece of gear is perfect.

But these latency issues (exposed by the autosampler and reported syncing issues) made me a bit sad, as I really like other Elektron devices because of their stability and real-time behaviour. This feels like a bit sluggish and like computer problems (latency, buffer size etc) which I do not want with my hardware sampler / groovebox.

So until now Tonverk feels a bit rushed if I’m honest, and this is a shame as the potential is there…

[square_wave]

Sorry for the off topic question but what stand is that?

[PAPANOONGAKU]

My thoughts after making a few patterns and multisampling from Roland Cloud:

1. Endless encoder on the volume. Holy shit.
2. The power switch is momentary. That is going to fuck me up between my OT2 and my DN2
3. I detected no delay on the multi-sampling. I’d love a full keyboard view for selecting range because most people won’t need all 88 notes of something sampled.
4. Button placement will take getting used to. Everything is slightly different.
5. Naming your own multi-sampled instruments cannot come soon enough.