Making the most of RYTM!

Elektron Gear Analog Rytm
#1

its nice to see videos like this, which reminds me of all the versatility that a machine like this actually has. Sometimes I play around with my MK2 and the results are underwhelming, and then I get into a groove and it starts to come to life out of nowhere. But I still know that it could be waaaaay better.

When I hear guys like Cenk add little details like “this noise machine is a great way to get the compressor to duck in time with the Kick” and little details like this pique my interest. As I feel these are the little details are the way to get the most out of a machine like this.

It occurs to me that most individuals that I’ve seen performing on youtube are not taking advantage of this sort of thing and just using the RYTM to make very basic drum sequences, which are not quite so impressive to me :confused:

Is there a main resource with all the tips and tricks others have found to make their drum patterns stick out from everyone else?

Seems that the majority of “tips and tricks” resources are reserved for the octatrack and all its intricacies. I’ve found some great threads on this forum just completely dedicated to mastering the octatrack.

but no such luck with the RYTM?

I know the answer is probably just messing with the machine more and more, but I would also like to have some references to speed my learning curve a bit!

Thanks all!

7 Likes
#2

Ok, I’ll add mine!

  1. Dont overdo it. Aim for only a couple layers at a time. It’s easy to crowd.
  2. Be sure to add samples to the synth voices, this to me is where the magic happens. Just a Transient alone helps wonders.
  3. Use the amp pages to make the sounds as short as possible for your designed sound. Meaning, cut unwanted tail. The analog circuits are amazing and will keep going for a while sometimes.
  4. lowcut what you dont need.
  5. Resample a lot to free up filter and lfo
  6. Use scenes to extend Patterns and Performance to help with transisions
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#3

Thanks Baztek! resampling!!! that’s where I’m at right now.

does anyone know if anyone has pieced together a mega thread of AR tips like for OT?

J

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#4

Never seen the video before and the impulse section opened up many possibilities for me just now. I had been looking for a pearl syncussion style sound and its been right there in the RYTM all along. I just never put the pieces together…thanks

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#5

that video was awesome…

I wish there was a mega Rytm tip thread as well geared not only towards techno but other genres and ideas as well!!

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#6

It seems like the Compressor is such a big deal on this machine, I’ve never used gear with a compressor before so I’m not great at it.

But when I come up with a pattern and i’m incorporating it into a track it seems beneficial to add some light compression (low ratio, 50% or less wet, higher threshold) to glue the pattern together, give it some extra… something.

Also:

  • finger drumming w/o fixed velocity
  • chromatic mode! - for example use 1/2 steps to give some movement to sounds w/o sounding “melodic” or double-time hi-hats with every other trig being a slightly different note
  • As @Baztek said don’t crowd and lowcut what you don’t need - don’t put too much into one portion of the frequency spectrum and watch out for overpowering bass rumble (well unless that’s what you want!) - if you have more than one sound on a trig do you really need both?
  • Microtiming to give a bit of feel for example putting the snare just slightly behind the beat on every other bar
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#7

Dope! yeah the compressor is a big (?) for me still on this machine. I can’t decide to use it to enhance transients, or to just use it as an overall mix limiter to control levels and merge everything. Honestly adding a little bit of distortion to the whole mix at the end though can probably accomplish a lot of the same, and sounds really warm and nice. its got kind that ‘analog heat’ feel to it.

But one thing that is massively confusing to me is that the compressor does have two level knobs, one is general volume and the other is the typical make up gain knob you’d find on any other compressor. the thing is the regular volume knob seems to compete with the master FX send. so if you just crank the volume on the compressor the FX seem like they are relatively lower in the mix.

and of course the new firmware removed the gain reduction level. which I think is a super weird decision because I would like to know how much relative gain reduction is happening visually. Im still not a master at hearing the effects of compression yet. :confused:

3 Likes
#8

I found this video on the forum somewhere as well. might as well repost here:

since you guys liked the last one this one was also a gem.

J

1 Like
#9

Two things I didn’t previously know about RYTM:

  1. When you are in FX menu you can also set trigs on the sequencer to control p-locks on FX settings. that was cray… haven’t put that into use yet.

  2. If you route a channel away from the master and only to FX by going to your tack routing menu, you can get something that sounds very ambient and pad like because it removes all attack from the sound, pretty cool and useful feature.

bonus:

how did I not know about STROM for iPad and its integrative features with the RYTM? I’m gonna look into this next.

is this compatible w RYTM MK2??

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#10

Yes, I hate this too!!

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#11

cool thread!

#12

Not sure i really understand the “Impulse” machine. sounds like a “click” and that’s it. the video says, you can use it to trigger external gear or trigger multiple sine waves? how does this work?? lol

blows my mind.

J

#13

Using the Impulse Machine to trigger external gear refers to the concept of control voltage.
Simply put, it’s a short pulse that triggers a sound on another device.

Drum synthesizer like the Nord Drum and other drum modules have trigger inputs which can be used to trigger the drum voices.
Also pre-midi synthesizer as well as modular and semi-modular synthesizers often have trigger inputs, usually labelled ‘trig’ that can be used to (re)trigger envelopes, retrigger lfos, start/stop/reset sequencers etc.

So you connect a cable to a trigger input on another device and then the Impulse Machine can be used to trigger a certain function on this device.

5 Likes
#14

thank you for the explaination. figured. so what about internally? Cenk seemingly was using impulse to trigger filters internally on the rytm? is this possible?

#15

Yes, that’s possible. It’s known as “pinging a filter”
Basically an analog filter with high resonance (around the point where it self oscillates) can be exited by a short pulse so that it resonates.
The pitch is determined by the cutoff frequency.

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#16

“pinging” a filter. thank you!

1 Like
#17

I’d say my top two suggestions would be to:

Master the retrig button press to set/ freeze a macro depth:

  1. Apply pressure to the macro(s).
  2. Press/ hold retrig.
  3. Move hand away from the macro(s).
  4. Let go of retrig.

This trick works with the aftertouch states. You just have to be careful to not strike the pad/ sound.

Allocate modulations to the aftertouch/ play page whenever possible.

Ie. If you want to extend the decay time of a kick to incorporate a sustained sub, it would be a waste to use a performance macro to do so, IMO.

The clear downside to this being that it adds more global modulations to worry about managing when switching patterns/ kits, but without the visual aids of the pink lights on the macro page.

That said, something I’ve done in the past has been to arrange modulation programmings in a way that the intended starting point of certain tracks is to have AT already applied, and then press quickly (but not strike) and slowly release pressure to fade back to no AT.

Bonus: As I sometimes run Jitter visuals alongside, I’ve set up some logic in Max that will allow me to reset all modulations with the click of a button, or launch a new pattern with desired perf macro/ aftertouch/ velocity states already applied, etc. (I’ll save the pattrstorage spiel for later. :laughing:)

To illustrate, the build up of this clip incorporates a lot of aftertouch state adjustments (First pad 6, then 9, then 1, then 7, etc.):

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#18

There is so much more I need to learn about this machine - thanks for the tips

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#19

Yeah, it’s criminally undervalued.

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#20

Whoa!!! this is crazy!!! thank you for sharing!!! is this an exploited glitch in the unit? or is this an actual function? crazy how most of the actual usable functions in this unit are not even in the manual! lol

J

2 Likes