Looking for the right Elektron for me

Elektron Gear
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Hi all,

I have been making music as a hobby for quite some time now as a mostly guitarist and beginning keyboardist. I’m mostly into jazz, hiphop, new age and rock. Lately, electronic music has also come into the mix. At the moment, I want to start making music more seriously and actually start recording songs instead of tinker around with things that I come up with.

The thing is, firstly, recording ideas/creating music with a DAW (Logic in my case) is not that inspirational to me and secondly, I am a drummer and bassist short! :smiley:

The ideal workflow to me would be to tinker around with guitar and synth/keyboard, record it, add drums, add bass, refine and repeat until I have an entire song. I want to be able to remix it or “destroy” it where possible. All outside of a DAW. After having done this, a DAW would be the perfect medium to record the final version to based on what’s on the unit I used and to add finishing touches to. Like this, the unit should be able to be used live aswell as it’s been the main unit used in recording & shaping the track. Also, I have to point out that sequencing entire musical pieces is not necessarily my thing (OP-Z style) as it doesn’t enable me to be creative. I like to still be able to do thing “on the go”, without them being sequenced per se.

The reason I am looking into an Elektron unit, is because the workflow really speaks to me and the design of the products rock.

Which Elektron unit would support me in creating music as described above?

Thanks a lot,

straighter

P.S. my current rotation of music consists of De Staat, Michael Hedges, Preston Reed, Jacob Collier, John Coltrane, Owane, Biggie Smalls, Cuckoo (has played a big part in my interest in Elektron units such as the Octotrack, Digitakt & RYTM) and more

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Sounds like you may want to take a closer look at the Octatrack.

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Maybe a combo of the Digitakt for one shot drums, percussion and some melodics and the Octatrack, you can put a 64gb CFcard on it, for long sample files and extra drum and percussion (one shot samples or loops)

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None of Elektron’s products record everything you are doing - only through Overbridge into a DAW or via available analog outs. They do resample, and the OT will record to a track or two or three but it can’t multi-track everything while you are jamming, so to speak, you still need to sequence / perform.

Elektron products really kind’ve sit in their own niches and do what they do best on their own as well as in combination with other machines.

The recent crop of Elektron machines really do come alive when used with Overbridge (when its available) to record everything you are doing. The Octatrack cant do this. But I’ve used the Analog Four mki and Analog Rytm mki both with Overbridge and Ableton, and the experience is very fluid, especially with an Ableton Push in the mix.

The Ableton Push 2 is honestly the most flexible and fluid way of doing everything you describe, with the caveat of not being a standalone hardware unit, and also being very much part of a DAW. But it will give you everything you want, if you are looking to dabble. Worth considering.

Otherwise when it comes to hardware you really want to collect a suite of machines or boxes and will have to begin dealing with things like mixing and routing etc.

You could of course go a pair of Analogs or the Digi’s to get the most versatility, maybe even adding a midi keyboard to your chosen synth if you prefer it. Maybe even consider the Analog Keys?

Either that or just grab a Digitakt or Digitone and have a play / have fun and see where you go from there, they’re a lot of fun and sound great, can be multi-tracked digitally and wont break your bank.

The Octatrack on the other hand is a nice option, but it may be a bit much to start with as it does require sequencing to get the most out of it. Also it only has 4 outs, so you’ll never be able to mutli-track your 8 outs simultaneously. I’d get the Octatrack if you really want to avoid a DAW altogether, and are happy with stereo/quad out recordings of your tracks.

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I think you want an Analog Keys. Plenty of tinkering capable. You can add FX to incoming signals(and even P-Lock those FX parameters) or sacrifice tracks to apply filters to incoming signals(which you can also plock and that would open up ability to poly some voices). You’ll have more room to play around with and you’ll have Overbridge to more easily get your production to the right spot.

You can do a lot with the 4 Analog voices and my tracks where I just used the A4 are some of my most significant tracks.

Octatrack is great. Digitakt is great. You’ll have a great experience with either, but given your background I think you’ll have the best experience with the Analog Keys

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I certainly don’t disagree with what you’re saying, but based on my own experience, there are some workarounds. I often simply mute tracks until everything is in the DAW, one track at a time. Super easy to line up the tracks, even without midi sync. Not saying it’s the best solution but it’s a workaround. Even without that workaround, 4 separate outs is often enough. Also, if the OP wants to perform with those tracks live as backing tracks, the Octatrack strikes me as the best option, possibly.

I love every Elektron box for what they are, but having to prioritize, the Octatrack struck me as the best all arounder. But that’s me :slight_smile:
My personal next choice (knowing what I know now), would be the RYTM. Great drum machine, performance machine and has lots of physical outputs. Then again, I’d own em all if I could

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Yeah for sure man, workarounds deluxe :slight_smile: was more the mention of ‘record it’ I was going off of

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Absolutely!
I think what separates Elektron stuff from a lot of other things I’ve tried is, you can tweak things to get what you want, or sometimes more than you thought you wanted. The trickiest part of my first two weeks with my Octatrack was finding tutorials that do things the way I’d imagine them to. So many different workflows and personalities with the folks using these boxes. I’m slowly but surely learning MY workflow.

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Just my few cents on this … :wink:

The nearest candidate would be a DAW like Abelton Live or Bitwig, because it’s easy to record clips of different lenghts and put them to work with other clips directly and synchronised. Have a short drum or bass clip, loop them, and play and record your guitar all day long.

A box like the Boss DR-880 comes to my mind. I use this sometimes for jamming and practicing. It’s drummer and a bass player :wink:

Again Ableton Live or Bitwig Studio

Now, if you have the budget, check out MPC Live or better MPC X

Again Ableton/Bitwig, even Logic is doing well, or the MPCs with their DAW software.

Check one out and make up your mind.

IMO and as far as I understand your personal workflow correctly, none.

What could work best for you is a device like a phrase-looper, or a multi-track recorder with track-loop function. You may also want to record/playback midi. The OT can do parts of it, but its own way … its particular own way, and it’s hard to tell, whether the OT workflow would really match your vision of a workflow. I dare to say, it would not, but that’s only my oppinion and experience from having been working with different gear.

Having some Elektron boxes, MPC, Ableton and other options in the studio, and using them regularly, I would suggest:

  • check out an OT and use it as the live performance sampler and sound mangler, which it’s supposed to be. You can also try the recording buffers and the Pickup Machines as a phrase looper, but for me the buffers have been too short to record a live played improvisation. Typically the length of such an OT buffer corresponds to about 4 bars of recorded material.
  • think about Ableton/Bitwig, or even MPC
  • you could also check out a Portastudio from Tascam or an equivalent unit :wink:

I hope this lengthy post made some sense :wink:

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There have been good suggestions.
May I underline that with Elektron machine you have to embrace the workflow, there’s no way to go against it. So you’ll probably end creating sequencer based music.
If you fight step sequencing / loops, you might not enjoy the experience.

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To be honest ableton and a APC40 or similar would probably be right up your street.
Since you are going to record into a DAW eventually anyway, why add a middleman?

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Thanks everyone for the detailed suggestions. Thanks for thinking out of the box aswell.

I must point out that I’m not at all against sequencing. I think it’s a powerful tool and really like using it! I’d simply like to also adding non-programmed music to it the track easily.

I have worked with a friend’s Digitakt before, the workflow was great, but it felt like it’s options aside from sampling and sequencing were limited. The Octatrack has caught my eye mainly, because of all its extra features.

I currently already have a MIDI controller, OP-1 and some guitars by the way, if that helps in making a suggestion.

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Analog Keys does sound like it would suit you, apart from the “remix / destroy” aspect. You’d probably need a sampler for that (probably the Octatrack), or something like a small eurorack rig with some digital/sampling/granular modules like the Morphagene or Mutable Clouds / Marbles, etc.

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no sampler or granular

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Sorry, you’re right, I thought Marbles was the replacement for Clouds. Is there actually a replacement for Clouds? Maybe there isn’t.

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Not yet. But it’s announced that there will be a successor

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The best way to narrow down the choice initially is to think about whether you want a unit that is primarily drum machine, synthesizer, or sampler.

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Analog heat no doubt :kissing_heart:

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If you already have got the Elektron virus as many of us … OT would also be my suggestion … but I still think, it would not support your workflow described in your first post, but you will have a lot of fun, if you use it the Elektron-Way :wink:

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Deluge would make the most sense I think.

Or Digitakt + Octatrack.