M:S - the quiet kid at the TE EP-133 party?

Elektron Gear Model:Samples
#21

Elektron workflow is not scary at all (at least in Digi and Model boxes), but it definitely is programming, not playing.

Maybe look at the SP-404 - lots of sound mangling possibilities with effects via resampling ((it also has sequencer, but it’s really there just in case you absolutely need it). MPC One is another playable option, but probably overkill if all you need is a sampler. EP-133 certainly seems very playable, but ability to tweak sounds seems kind of limited. Also take a look also at the Circuit Rhythm.

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#22

A few thoughts: I don’t really have major issues with the M:S not being a sampler. I have SOOO many samples, I don’t need to add any on the fly.

The elektron workflow is not that bad - especially at the Model level. You just have to remember the difference between cutting pasting a trig, vs a pattern vs a sound, and so on. So it is muscle memory.

For playing, the pads are ok, but forget the velocity sensitiveity side of things. You can mod them by adding tape underneath, but they feel anywher near as good as an MPC or MAschine.

Sounds to me like you should be looking at SP-404 or EP-133 . Latter for pure fun and jokes only. Doing a full song will be a learning curve and tricky.

Digitakt is unbelievably deep for a small form factor.

Personally, the GOAT is the M8 tracker. Not ‘playable’ per se - but you could buy some midi pads. Othersie, the M8 spec is through the roof - stereo sampling, unlimited emmeory (SD card), no loading to RAM, synths, samples, the entire mutable instruments braids, multi fx / function lanes - it’s insance, and very easy to see what you are doing.

THat’s where the M:S and even other elektron boxes lose out - seeing all the locked trigs and figuring out what on earth you did on a song, esp. a song that you have not worked on in months. You come back with all these lights flashing on the machine. The M:S also cannot rehearse trigs like the digitakt (func + yes!)

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#23

Nice summary

Depending on how your brain is wired, when the M:S gets into locks territory it can start to get awkward. My current bugbear is panning cannot (easily) be locked on M:S … which is exactly what you going to want to do if you’re going beyond 6 different samples.

#24

I need to hear more positives here…so I don’t regret my impulse buy of the M:S just now :smiley:
(sampler addiction is real)

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#25

sounds like you need to check this

you know what’s the best about M:S? even though I listed many flaws and tedious things, I still keep it and wouldn’t sell it. It’s fun to use, sounds great, is light and powered by a power bank so that you can take it anywhere (lovely summer sessions on a hammock by the river)

the truth is that we are burdened by the samples we have. what M:S and its lack of direct sampling taught me is that there are so many ways to mangle and manipulate one sample and get totally different results. I often find myself being more creative within those limitations and finding new ways to manipulate sounds

also check Takeo for some inspiration and what M:S is capable of:

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#26

thanks,
either way…it was a bargain!

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#27
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#28

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Would not say that looking at FE or 00 is specially easy to remember from a M8/LGPT/LSDJ project. And understanding exactly which track do what…
But for sure, it’s powerful under the hood ! Like lots of this tracker in this league.

#29

Trackers are so intense… Where you see an FE or 00 an experienced user will see a lady in a red dress dancing through that matrix.

Poor M:S has to deal with the irony of having the word “Samples” in it’s name, which results in confusion and disappointment in some cases.

To me, M:S is a brutal groove box, with sound shaping capabilities that put a foot in synthesis territory, and with a sequencer that is another instrument on it’s own right. It’s a performance oriented device also, like the Pockets and the K.O. 2000, with the CTRL ALL/instantRecall/ScaleChange/MoreKnobsThanFingers/etc…

But sure, if sampling and polyphony capabilities are deal breakers, there is no reason to get a M:S.

If not, M:S will take you places… Like Sweetwater to get a Digitakt later in life.

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#30

It is true that knowing what each chain does is not as easy, but at the pattern level, everything is explicit:

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Like here, I can see what pitch, velocity, and instrument each note is, plus the per-step FX and values, on a single screen – no extra button presses needed

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#32

Love the theme + caps. Suddenly I’m craving fruity-marshmallow-flavored milk.

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#33

i think the smartest thing elektron can do right now is to update the model samples with resampling before teenage engineering figure that out.

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#34

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Maybe this should go in the Music Memes section…

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#35

haha.

black & charcoal e25 edition MS & MC plus a pair of cheeky os updates, they’d sell like hotcakes imo.

maybe, I dunno. total guess like. I’d buy em

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#36

yes - and this is only the M8 ‘track’ view. On the sample editor, and all the synths, and the master mixer etc., you can see what you doing immediately.

But frankly, i’m currently using the M:S as a ‘happy accidents’ sketchpad - so knowing what is happening, and where, doesn’t really matter to me. It’s for doodling and going crazy at the moment - like throwing paint at a wall. The EP-133 can do that too of course, but I am already hearing several outputs from those videos that sound very similar (because of the punch effects being the same).

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#37

Makes sense. One of my goals next year is to start integrating my instruments more. I tend to want to do everything on one machine, but it would be cool to mix tracker programming with M:S live manipulation (and more)

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#38

Just wanted to say that I’ve been kind of uninspired and bored with music lately, didn’t click with the EP-133 yet (sits in my closet basically), but today I felt urge to do something and what did I grab? Model:Samples, it’s just great to tweak those knobs (:eyes:), love this little machine

That’s all, thanks

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#39

The Model series are the most streamlined of the Elektron devices, very knobby and easy to wrap one’s head around.

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