But you can plock the destination, speed and shape for each step. That’s some power, still.
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IMO the best thing that could happen to the Rytm would be freely assignable 12 lfo’s instead of an extra one per track.
It would make it absolutely endless for creative exploration.
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true and in spite of limits, Rytm still my go to drum machine. I use that or modular drums and sometimes Virus that has nice crunchy sounds too.
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IT WOULD BE BONKERS AMAZEBONK
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Adding fuel to the ‘we need more LFOs’ fire, are we? 
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Always!
Although, technically it would be the same amount, just more freedom with the distribution.
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I think what sets the MD apart doesn’t lie in a single aspect/function. It’s a whole thing, or at least a set of things.
The sound is not unique but not that common. Some virtual drum machines can approach it, true.
Remove the synth engine and you can says bye bye to that sound.
Remove the sequencer and you… well, do not remove the Elektron sequencer 
The freely routable LFOs are something.
The MIDI machines, CTRL machines, are something too.
Not to mention the User Wave feaures. This sampling engine is insane, not like in “amazingly powerful” but more like in “both very limited and very open”. It is very strange.
I used it a lot some years ago, in various ways: I performed in improv’ sessions where I sampled other instruments, processed them and sent them back in the mix; I live-sampled a singer in a band context using the MDUW as a kind of enhanced faux-delay; and I even used the output sampling in song mode when I sampled a bar and next pattern was just a degraded version of the sample before a chorus for example… (makes sense ?..)
I think the MD is already a great drum machine, not sure I would instant buy it or keep it forever. The MDUW however is a keeper to me.
If you haven’t, have a look at the beginning of the OT manual, where they talk history. The OT idea actually came up when Elektron saw where the artists pushed the simple yet flexible sample engine of the MDUW. They thought “hey, why not putting even more of this in the next instrument!”…
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love the MD but not paying the high prices for a used one same with the MonoMachine. I can get decent results on newer Elektron gear.
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I was thinking of getting this machinedrum
I’m wondering about the encoders. On machinedrums I’ve used in the past, the knobs were the older kind and it would take many rotations to change values (unless holding down the encoder)
Would newer style digitakt/a4 style encoders be a lot more responsive for changing values? Or is it less about the encoders and more about the internal processor/software?
On my a4 mk1 the encoders are the same. Really slow to change values vs mk2 versions.
This is a long winded way of asking about knobs!
So the older devices used encoders, which have a finite angular resolution, I think around 24 steps per rotation. The mk2 devices and the digi’s use endless potentiometers, which send out analog signals which can be much more precise, which allows the digis to move the knob very slightly for minor adjustments, or quickly for more intense adjustments. This is an interplay between software and hardware, the software is doing the acceleration and smoothing, but the hardware is also more precise in the modern ones. But they are also electrically different, and have to be implemented differently.
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Thank you for that! So is it possible to have machinedrums knobs to respond the way the more modern boxes do?
You have the option for this on the MKII units
I think everyone is confusing the Mk2 MD/MNM with the MK2 OT/A4/AR.
The Mk2 MD/MNM predated the Mk1 OT/A4/AR, I would be very surprised if Elektron put pots in the Mk2 MD/MNM, then went back to encoders for the OT/A4/AR and then went back to pots for the Mk2s.
Edit: on my Mk2 MD, it takes roughly 5 full turns to make pitch go from 0 to max, with knob resolution set to 24. With knob resolution set to 32, it takes 4 full turns.
According to the manual (p61, OS 1.63):
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Oh man, now my head is spinning with confusion!
Yes obscure robot is absolutely correct, I might have added to the confusion. The MD, MNM, Mk1 Octatrack, mk1 AR, and mk1 A4 all use encoders. The Mk2 octatrack, mk2 AR, mk2 A4, DT, DN, ST all use endless potentiometers.
I cannot speak to the differences between the encoders on the Mk1 and Mk2 MD.
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So I wonder what it would mean to add endless potentiometers to the Machinedrum…
Thank you for these responses!
Sadly that would be impossible. Encoders are digital devices, sending out digital pulses as you turn the knob, and endless potentiometers are analog. So the hardware for reading the knobs and the software for interpreting them are totally different for each.
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I’m not sure but I think this is opposite, I think encoders are endless and potentiometers are finite
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Traditionally you are correct, but there are now potentiometers that have two wipers at 90 degrees from each other, and by reading the difference, you can get the absolute position of the knob very accurately with 360 degree rotation. This is also called a sine cosine potentiometer. That is what the modern elektron devices use. Here is a datasheet for a similar part. https://www.mouser.com/datasheet/2/13/V112FF-1522316.pdf
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The encoder resolution tip is super helpful and I feel a lot better about these knobs now. Thank you!
Now about that nice blue screen…