Hi
Couldn’t find anything in the Machinedrum Manual regarding this.
So I guess, the MD is not have a menu for velocity modulation, Correcto?
Thx!
There’s no velocity at all (not to mention modulation) 
There’s vol per track (can be LFO target) and Accent feature
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Haha!
Got it.
Thx!
but it (volume) does respond to velocity, no?
Not really
Actually, when you trigger notes through some external MIDI controller then indeed it reacts to velocity (notes play with different volume), however if you live record it on MD then velocity is ignored and all notes are then playbacked with the same default volume.
It’s pretty serious limitation of the sequencer, among others (e.g. lack of chromatic mode)
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sorry for necroing the thread - I just got an MD … so does it still not have ability to program velocity per step now, even with the unofficial updates?
could I send patterns into it from digitakt and the MD would play hits with the specified velocities per step? TY
The info above about velocity hasn’t changed, with or without the unofficial firmware.
If you trigger notes from the Digitakt - or from any external MIDI source as mentioned above - the MD will respond to velocity. That means that a pattern in the Digitakt or any sequencer can be programmed to play notes with velocity and the MD will respond accordingly.
Thank you. Is it possible to do that and still keep all the other modulations / sequencing etc on the MD itself?
Also is it possible to sequence level / decay per step on the MD?
You can send cc for those params from DT, and it will also trig the tracks lfo.
The thing you’d lose is param slide ability.
No decay but you can use the accent track to have 2 volume levels. I think it’s per track even
Thanks. So you mean program the steps on the MD but sequence the velocity separately from the DT? Or send both from the DT?
That could get (unnecessarily) complicated, so I’ll leave some things for you to think:
- If the pattern is coming from the DT and triggers the MD, you can sequence velocity in the DT and the MD will respond
- If the pattern is coming from the DT, you would have to do all p-locking in the DT
- If you want to p-lock in the MD instead, then the pattern must be done in the MD
- If you want to program “velocity” within a pattern in the MD, you have to use the Accent control
- While the MD can be velocity responsive from an external MIDI source (a keyboard, controller, another sequencer), the MD’s patterns do not record velocity data from the outside
- You could create a pattern in the DT that plays in parallel with a pattern in the MD, then do CC control to the MD from the DT while the MD plays the pattern with p-locks. Pause for second, and reflect on how complicated and convoluted that would be… it’s doable I think, the question is, is it worth it.
Oh so you CAN plock level (volume)? I had understood from people talking about 2 levels only (ie accented and not) that that wouldn’t be possible with the internal sequencer.
I like very alien electronic type percussion but that can behave somewhat like acoustic in the sense of velocity etc - ghost notes, bubbling hats etc. my Nord drums do it super well but I want to get more experimental hence the MD.
What would be great is to be able to plock both volume per step and also plock a longer sound to get a better ‘acoustic’ feel…
apols for all the Qs- I am RTFM, just not clear what changed across all the X updates.
Actually I take that back. I got confused. I was thinking of something else. The LEVEL (LEV) control cannot be p-locked - sorry. I’ll fix my post above.
You can p-lock the VOL control.
The addendums for each new firmware are also available for download at https://cdn.www.elektron.se/media/downloads/machinedrum-uw/Elektron_SPS1-1UW_OS1.63.zip. Read the PDF in there.
It seems weird to me that across all these updates that basic function was never addressed. To finesse how hard you hit the drum is surely essential… I get that they weren’t able to do more then simple accents on an 808, for example, but in a machine this powerful, why not? Do people just not want to do that with electronic styles?
Can a Megacommand do it?
(Re updates - ty. I did run through most of the changelog but it’s a lot to parse and I’m not yet up to speed on all the MD vernacular)
I can’t answer for Elektron. I can just say that I remember the MD being sort of marketed as a “modern classic”, and that explains a lot of the decisions that went into it, as far as I can tell. It is what it is. When I go mine in 2007, the lack of volume p-locking wasn’t an issue. Nowadays it would be because there’s been over a decade of developed expectations. If the MD was released today as is, people would make a fuzz about this functionality missing, including myself. So what I can share is that when you buy old gear, take it for what it is. They were developed with consumers from a particular period of time in mind, who had different experiences and expectations. This is true of any product.
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Just to make sure we’re all on the same page, here are the different ways to manage amplitude modulation on the MD when not MIDI-controlled 
Each track has a Volume parameter and a Level parameter.
The later is not p-locakble and is useful when it comes to manage the overall level of a volume-p-locked track. Smart.
The former is p-lockable just as the filter cutoff frequency or any other parameter of a “parameter page”.
As far as LFO modulation, only the Volume can be a destination, just as for p-locks.
Hope this clarifies
@Sim808, I’m not sure where you come from as far as drum machine, but I’ve managed to program some decent acoustic drum based patterns. They are not as human as with an MPC, but p-locking volume and filter cutoff frequency can help a lot. Once a note is p-locked to your taste (e.g. for it to be a ghost note), you can copy-paste it on another trig of the track. Also, you may be able to highjack LFOs to simulate random trigs.
I used to use the MDUW as a quite experimental sampling instrument. Then I made it the drummer of an electro-rock duo. Now, I use it scarcely but the last times I did so, it was for some boom-bap-ish beats. The only thing I think it lacks is micro-timing (tricks do exist) so I got a MegaCommand… but I can’t seem to stick with the workflow of it (should try harder, maybe). The Rytm may be an alternative for me, but the User Wave is something I really love.
Oh fuck me, it does have a VOL parameter. I think today is not my day to give people advice… goddamit!
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Thanks mate. Those plocks will work for me… I want to get hold of a mega too
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