are you still using OT or will you get TV?
Truthfully, not really. Because a lot of products are done ideas in a different flavor or coat of paint. That’s also driven partially by market response though and consumer expectations IMO. If the model wouldn’t sell products, companies wouldn’t follow it.
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Yeah point of the video definitely is that they have not ever released a bold new device like they used to in the beginning. They kind of tried with Tonverk, and it remains to be seen if it will become a success. But with the feature set on release I don’t see it becoming that. It does do some things different. But there are other things on the market that do it cheaper and (arguably) better.
Past 5 years, no. SOMA comes to mind, but most of that is not in groovebox territory.
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SOMA is indeed a good candidate actually - but nevertheless the lean there is more on experimental rather than a complete package with multiple different ends. Octatrack can do many distinct functions (that stand on their own) really really well and it doesn’t follow one direction.
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Eh, I’ve had Soma products and they’re weird but innovative, I don’t know. I think they’re simply making synths for experimental music, but the sounds they produce aren’t any different from traditional synths. They’re just easier to make those sounds with I guess.
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Forgot this one, although complete innovation is debatable (but so it is for the Octa): M8 Tracker
EDIT: Also debatable: OP-Z/XY, Deluge
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Was just about to say this. I would love to see what Dirtywave could do with a larger team and more development resources.
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happy to see this!
I was glad to see Max Marco is okay (as far as we know), but at least still, I don’t know, alive? I had watched his OT videos a few years ago and felt a debt of gratitude.
I enjoyed his video for succinctly telling us what the Tonverk is not (for those of us like me hadn’t been paying much attention). My main takeaway is that it is definitely not a replacement for an OT. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, when the TV (bummer initials) “TK” was announced, I thought, “oh crap, I should have sold my OT MK II” then was relieved that it isn’t an OT MK III. On the other hand, I LOVE what the OT can do, but do not at all like (haters please refrain) the way you need to do it on the OT. So, my OT sits in the studio closet, calling to me about all the really cool stuff I can do with it, but scaring me for the month or two it will take me to once again get my head around how to use it. I’d been hoping the TK would be an upgrade on what the OT does, but mostly in creating a way to do it that makes more sense and is more easily accessible (like the A4, DT and DN are).
I suspect there is no OT MK III (or any substantial firmware revisions in many years to the OT) because Elektron no longer has the people there who would know how to build it.
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I have a DT2 now… after 6 years of OT usage.
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I would love to see what kind of experiments max comes up with using the multiple fx busses with various send trigs and the crazy new fx.
I think thats actually where his sound design shines, when he’s able to more freely make intricate complex signal chains in order to create interesting new textures
thats what i always loved about his videos anyway
I think its kind of tough to conceptualize, and i hope it gets rec trigs, but i think i understand what this is. i can see a use case for it. and ive always wanted a complete sound sculpting box that i can also arrange and compose in.
i am very ocd about saving sounds that i like. my old blackbox was packed with loops of my just recording 16 bars of a new patch i just made on one of my synths to preserve it for later use. which is why i dont get along with modular even though in theory its ideal for me. because i need to save things. so i think thats what this is good for, capturing sounds, then really getting deep into the sound design, carving out new timbres, stacking these very versatile and useful effects that can actually sculpt the spectral content and turn a sound into something entirely new. then save that as a full voice/instrument/synth which you can then build a track with
none of elektrons boxes allow you do to everything in a single machine, but they are getting very deep. and this one fills a space that i’ve always wanted in my hardware setup, even if i still have to use my octatrack and digitone 2 for other things. an elektron box with all of these effects alone is more powerful than i think most people realize. i have been asking for something like that forever, but combine with the buss routing and polyphony and subtracks, i can actually see it being maybe the most capable all-in-one hardware box for making an album, if thats the kind of workflow you’re into
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“designed by committee”
goddamn i love this man.
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Gotharman it is. Look at the specs of the Little Deformer 3 (or Little Deformer Zero now) and you’ll see what Elektron should have been doing for the past 5 years. Little Deformer 3 is THE crazy experimental groovebox everybody is asking for, even crazier than the M8.
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There’s a lot of granular samplers available. I had a GR-1 but sold it because it just wasn’t that great.
Look at the synthesis specs of the Little Deformer dude, the number of LFOs à la Machinedrum, the possibilities of FM between tracks, the busses (!), the effects…
Don’t get me wrong it is impressive, but innovative? It just looks like more features that have been available before. Like this is the thing, Elektron has done this already. Maybe they’re giving you more of the good stuff but nothing new, and I doubt that device would give me any significant advantage over an Octatrack.
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Max’s Octatrack videos have really helped me in getting under the hood of that instrument. I really appreciate he shared his experience with it.
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This topic has been done to death really but playing with my old MD and MM boxes yesterday for the first time in ages does remind me that Elektron is a very diff company today but on the other hand it must be damn hard to innovate these days as there is such an amazing amount of gear and competitors out there doing wild things. One man Trash at Dirtywave comes to mind with the ridiculous firmware updates squeezing the crap out of handheld hardware with what seems very limited power.
I think for me personally it’s a bit boring to keep buying the same brand / similar boxes and collecting them all just to be able to do everything which was the direction I was heading in 5 years ago, any new Elektron purchase will have to be very special.
Ive said this for the umpteenth time so I do apologise but it still irks me that I own a Digitone Keys with fast dedicated MIDI channel switching and it still can’t do MIDI Arp - shame really and makes little sense on a physical keyboard when my ancient OT and MM boxes can do this. Why cant the Digitone 1 and II not have this feature? Hence why sometimes it’s hard not to get an Apple vibe and it’s these kind of things I wish a developer would at least address. Will be interesting to see if the Heat FX guys get some love with these new Tonverk FX
Still a big Elektron fan but I do kind of agree with a lot of Max’s views
PS - refrained from mentioning the E25s and blame myself lol
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Agree with his take. MD and OT shattered the ceiling for hardware capabilities at the time. Sad we haven’t seen much pioneering from Elektron since…
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