Not sure if this has been posted here before but I just discovered the Max for live instrument called Opal, it’s a four part drum synth with a very heavily Elektron inspired sequencer that allows for control over everything from step count to probability to whatever it’s got four different synth engines that are very reminiscent of the MD (FM, Granular, resonant modeling etc). I just installed it this after noon and I’ve been messing around with it on and off all day, very fun and allows for a really wide range of tones.
Also very cool (and Machinedrum-like) is that you can have each pattern contain it’s own patches so for example you can switch from pattern 1 to pattern 2 and pattern 2 can have an entirely different set of sounds programmed…or you can copy and paste your pattern and have the pasted pattern contain subtle (or drastic) changes to your sounds…a feature that I love.
Found this article on it:
Personally I’m obsessed with drum machines (drum synths particularly) and there’s a bizarrely low number of good ones both hardware and software (compared to the amount of synths and workstations, sample based drum machines etc) so I was just searching for random stuff and stumbled across it. I highly recommend checking it out, the work flow is immediately obvious if you’re familiar with Elektron stuff.
My only gripes are that it has a randomizer available for every sound and for entire patterns, I personally hate randomization because it’s sucks the exploratory nature of synthesis out of it while at the same time is hard to resist fucking with.
And that I haven’t been able to figure out how to switch patterns via Ableton as opposed to manually triggering pattern changes…granted I haven’t read any manual for it yet as I try to avoid manuals until I absolutely need it.
I also wonder since it’s a Max for live instrument if one where to have Push 3 stand alone if it could be used without a computer and if so if the programmer wrote a nice interface for the Push, if so that would majorly power up the Push 3 standalone experience.
Sorry if this has been posted here before but I’m sure some of you will be into it. I wanted to spread the word on it here because I hadn’t heard about it before and this is the same place I found out about apps like Drambo (which I love). So any gear or software that has similar workflow to the Elektron stuff I assume would be of interest to many of you.