It’s getting a bit faster with time, but yes, it still feels a bit too much like programming…
I wonder if one can record trigs à la Elektron, possibly with an external controller, but I don’t think recording midi automations on the fly is even possible with such architecture.
You can record notes with a controller, not MIDI CCs, I think.
It’s funny (I mean interesting), and I hear you all feeling it’s too much programming. To me, it’s bliss that I so easily can massage the sound by tweaking commands in a way that it laid out so directly. Compared to a MIDI editor in a DAW, for entering music by means of no recording (so, mouse/keyboard/keys) I find it fast and effective.
I bought a S-1 and love sequencing it with the m8, it’s fast and satisfying for me. Just my experience 
Aoh, the big font is a blessing. Works amazing and helps me a great deal!
As a follow-up, and that is entirely personal, I have found that the abstract-ness of the tracker UI helps me write music more than the more visual of a DAW - my personal theory is that on the one hand I have to listen without a crutch of seeing something that looks like the music, and in the other hand, that crutch is lying but I can’t help believing it.
It’s lying in that say, in a MIDI editor, neither the notes and their length, nor the envelopes and their shapes, have a direct relationship to what I hear, anyway. But seeing them as detailed as they are, creates an illusion that I never really minded until I started with the m8 (headless at the time).
I can still use a DAW, of course 
Just the love of a tracker. This and the feeling of “massaging” the sound as mentioned earlier. Like using commands on sample playback for pitch, speed (via LFO and associated commands) etc… is so much fun!
This is the benefit of trackers for me. Ultimate precision. It definitely is like a programming language in a way, and I understand that’s not for everyone (even I don’t feel like making music that way sometimes) but it’s really great for making super tight, detailed music.
I used to own a Polyend Tracker but sold it because I found it too programmy AND (probably more) because it was sample-only.
Now I ordered a M8 because I heard crazy stuff done with the internal synths (I’m really not a sample guy) and the level of control seems to be pretty deep (with tables and all), but I hope the programmy experience won’t be too much of a put-off :-/
I place great hopes in the X/Y touchscreen that you can easily (or it looks like it) set up to control whatever you choose. And also the fact that you can launch track/clips as you wish, a bit like in Ableton Live.
My focus is definitely live performance. Any user here care to comment on the live experience?
There’s a few concessions to live performance, but that’s not really its primary focus. If you found the Polyend too programmy, something else (Syntakt/Digitone) may be a better fit for live work.
Consider that with the tracker workflow, each step of a phrase could be an entirely different insrument with entirely different parameters. So design-wise it’s kind of hard to add a performance interface on top of that. (Are controls linked to tracks, or instruments, both…?) To be clear I’m absolutely not criticising your line of thinking ! Just pointing out that the omission/limitations of a performance mode is somewhat inherent to trackers.
That said, it has that live clip launching mode, and I think you can use a MIDI controller to live control some filter cutoff or other parameters. There’s a new external instrument (v3.0+) that can control external MIDI gear and run it through the effects.
It actually would work exceptionally well as a sequencer for a desktop synth that you could tweak live. And then you could program some simple drum tracks and backing samples that don’t need a whole lot of live interaction.
I’m a 100% with you on this, that’s why I love the tracker workflow and that’s also why, coming from a classical background, I prefer music notation softwares like Dorico to “write” midi notes. In fact I find lot of similarities between writing music the classical way and the tracker workflow.
The more I dive in, the more the M8 becomes a tool, a companion to write music, it’s pretty amazing, and the M8 is a complex device so it’s never boring, I discover new things very often.
For example, I thought the groove feature was just a silly thing to add swing, shuffle or syncopated things, but in fact it’s a lot more powerful than that. You can create really complex rhythms with it, and if you like uneven measures, polymeters and polyrhythms, it’s just heaven.
Here’s a fun little sketch I made working with the groove feature, as wobbly as I like :
Do you use the PS4 gamepad via bluetooth or USB?
Many thanks for your detailed reply!
Yeah, I’m aware of this programmy workflow - from my experience with the PT.
I’m planning on using it with a synth and a drum machine. I hope these will cover most of the performance aspect but they are quite limited sequencer-wise. That’s why I though the M8 would be a nice addition, to take care of the more structural part of my live set. Not like a song-mode sequencer - because I like to keep some flexibility in the arrangement - but rather to launch clips, and possibly to use the X/Y touchscreen for internal synth tweaking. From what you describe, it could be useful for that
Man, this is nuts!
And you know what’s even nutsier ? (Is that a word lol ?) The fact that I used almost exclusively sequencer’s FX commands, so now I can switch these internal synths to midi out instruments without losing any data, and go on with this sketch in Bitwig and trigger Vsts.
BTW new beta = bigger fonts for M8! We are all for a treat!
No worries. If you haven’t seen it, this Discord meetup has an in depth tutorial. The section on the song/live mode should go in depth with the capabilities
Thanks a bunch!
Does anyone have a screenshot of the new large font mode? If so I can have my grandkids print it out for me.
Video of avrilcadabra showing the new big font (still beta):
The ‘programmy’ argument is perfectly valid. I’ve never found the one box to do everything on, so it’s different tools for different jobs, I think. There are a couple folks who make amazing use of the M8 live, but I doubt I’ll ever be one of them
My main reason for getting an M8 was be because I travel a lot for work. I’m also an American with a Dutch girlfriend, so I need something to do on long plane rides. Flying to Amsterdam later today.
I tend to just make a bunch of samples of incomplete ideas on my modular or whatever and load em into the M8 to see if I can find an arrangement for those ideas and that’s been a very fun way to work.
Oh, that makes me so much happier with my order. These aging peepers like.
I don’t mind the programming part because electronic music basically is programming most of the time anyway. The only difference is daw visuals make it look more exciting and fun.
The m8 makes you really use your ears more and that is fine with me. Also older 90s gear was all like this. Setting up an Akai sampler is like programming an old commodore or something and yet tons of classic were made on it.
Wow. Looks great!!