M:S and M:C arriving tomorrow... any tips on setting up/syncing

Elektron Gear Model:Cycles
#1

Hi. My new M:S and M:C arrive tomorrow (woohoo). I’ve previously owned a DT so Elektron world is familiar. But I’ve never owned two Elektron machines. Just wondering whether anyone could offer a few tips about:

  1. Syncing the two machines
  2. Settings for syncing pattern changes
  3. Midi settings so that I can use one controller to control both machines. Using midi thru with a channel for each machine perhaps
  4. Cool stuff/tricks you can do with two machines

Any help appreciated

Thanks

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#2
  1. Pick a box to be midi master and one to be midi slave, connect midi out/thru of master to midi in of slave via appropriate cable (they both have dongles for a regular midi cable). Set master to send clock and transport, slave to receive them. Alternatively make both of them a slave to a DAW if you want.
  2. Taken care of by step one if I remember correctly. Look for send/receive pattern change if not. Then pattern A01 on master equals A01 on slave. Switch to pattern A02 automatically switches the slave to A02 and so on - this works for other banks too.
  3. Never tried it so I’ll let someone else chip in on that - I’d only be taking a stab in the dark.
  4. Twist all the knobs and see what happens! Seriously, tho, there are tips and tricks threads for both machines if you search the forum. Have a read though and make notes :slight_smile:

One extra consideration is there is no way to pass audio from one to the other on the Models (unlike the DT) so you’ll need a little mixer or else to connect both via USB to a computer to mix the signals inside a DAW.

Have fun! :slightly_smiling_face:

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#3

A few things I would have liked to have known earlier:

SYNC: It’s pretty straightforward on the model series, make sure CLK OUT is ON on the master, and CLK IN is ON on the slave. (My OCD makes me turn CLK IN to OFF on the master, and CLK OUT OFF on the slave so I know what’s going on. In the PORTS section, pick a channel for program change messages.

Make sure to set PCH IN on your slave device to same channel as PCH OUT on the master.
Pattern changing on both devices works best when the pattern lengths are identical on both devices for the pattern you are leaving. You can set “Chg” to, say, 16 on both devices (on every pattern) to have changes happen on the bar, but by default Chg is set to off, so the pattern length dictates when changes occur. To prove your setup is good, I recommend quickly creating 4 new 16 step patterns that sound quite different to each other on both machines. This way you can test the behaviour.

Good idea to copy the default project to a new project immediately, on both machines - this way you can muck about and always have a fallback project.
I guarantee you will press play one day, hear nothing, and wonder why. It’ll probably be because: 1) all your 6 tracks are muted (func+trackpad) or 2) “chance” is set ridiculously low. You’ll have ended a jam the night before with a deadly muting/chance combo and forgotten to reload/reset.
Be careful with saving! Think of saves as “start points”, and remember that if you tweak, power off, power on, you will still have those tweaks… but you will lose them if you reload the pattern without saving the new version first.
You’ve got individual level control of the tracks with the orange knob (M:S), and you can edit the note, length, and velocity of a trig by holding it down in grid mode and adjusting/pressing that level knob.

I’d need a bit more detail regarding “control both machines” - I can’t speak for the M:C, but the M:S will let you assign a MIDI channel to each track, allowing you play each one chromatically if you desire, or use a Maschine or PadKontrol type controller with each pad sending out on those channels if that is what you want.

The “AUTO” channel concept with Elektron boxes is cool, but can be confusing. Basically, if you set a device up with an auto channel of say 15, then any MIDI data coming into it on 15 will trigger the CURRENTLY SELECTED SOUND chromatically. it means you don’t need to be on a pad’s assigned MIDI channel (hurray!) but you might accidentally trigger noises on some weird-ass sound at gigs (Booo!).

Here’s how I would map it, for super max flexibility:

1 - 6 - individual channels for the M:S tracks
7 - 12 - individual channels for the M:C tracks
13 - AUTO CH for M:S
14 - AUTO CH for M:C
16 - PG CH

I found the setup of the model:samples really solid, really simple - you are going to have some seeeeerious fun and the gang of 'nauts on here are friendly, knowledgable folks who will always try to help out.

Enjoy!

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#4

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply. There’s some really helpful information here. You’ve definitely helped me avoid some potential confusion. I’ll have some fun today and see how it goes.

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#5

I suppose it wouldn’t be a problem between Models, but just by the case, and before you get mad… This one setting made the trick for me when I though I was losing :sweat_smile:

#6

…forget about controling one via the other…

ur missing out on lot’s of fun if u can’t do realtime foolarounds on both machines individually…
and since the model series have the one knob per function layouts, it’s really easy to keep tracking the overview, especially once ur used to get back to where u came from anytime u want with one button combo…
and the knobs that twiddle the filtersettings on the samples got totally different purposes on the cycles, since that one does not offer any traditional filter usage anyways…

in any sync missions proceed as told u here already…

be aware of the fact, the models got no audio ins…so, as mentioned also here already, there’s no way around any mixing / summing up device…
also keep in mind, that only midi out is left for further midi external missions, once in sync chain…
but midi lines on the models can only mirror already existing trax anyways…

if u wanna avoid a computer, some cheap battle mixer makes the models in combo a pretty neat sonic weapon…