Excellent tip! I hadn’t thought about being able to wrangle the LFO back into sync like that! Thank you for that one.
I’d like to thing of it as a “drone generator” at that point. Same idea.
Sounds like I’m going to have to spend a lot more time playing around in the FM and stepping up my FM game. Thanks for the tip, can’t wait to see what I can discover.
Easily my “I’m in a hurry” go-to way of making a quick kick on the MD too.
That’s really awesome! I’m nowhere nearly talented and creative enough to do a live set. Glad you had one of those moments where new things opened up to you. That’s super exciting!
Monomachine or not, I’m super envious of just the thought of spending 12 hours on music in the same day!
Enjoy! The MnM is pretty magical
Well to be fair, I did take breaks and take care of “adult” stuff like chores. Ears need rest with the abuse I was giving them.
Absolutely enjoying this magical journey. Words fail me in describing how unique and fickle (in a good way) this machine is. It’s as far from your “bread and butter” synth as you could get, and I am really getting the distinct impression that the more you can spend time with it and discover all the unique spots and relationships within it the more you’ll be rewarded with sounds that otherwise would be (at least) difficult if not impossible to replicate on other synths.
Absolutely. I find it to a pretty similar experience with the A4. Actually, I think they’re pretty similar instruments, in a few ways. Lately, I’ve spent very little time with the A4 and the MnM, because I’ve been more into playing guitar and using samplers — if I boot up the synth and spend like half an hour with it, I don’t get as much “MnM magic” as when I would spend several hours in a row. You really get what you put into it! At least I do.
To balance out all the effusive Monomachine love, I would probably point out that I find it takes more effort to make it sound like it’s not a Monomachine, if that makes any sense. I try to use sampling techniques and layering with other sounds to sneak the MnM into jams, without it being obviously a a MnM, and that takes a bit more work. I don’t dislike its sound, but I hear a lot of MnM tracks/jams out there that have a lot of similarities, at least in timbre and also structure (arp tricks, for example).
That makes perfect sense to me. It has a very unique sound to it. Very digital (not a bad thing if you go into it know that’s what it is).
You know, I fall into that trap of “it sounds a lot like X, I need to make it sound unique”. I say trap, only because we as the creators (and other creators) would hear it and pick it out. Normal peeps only care if it sounds good, has a groove that they connect with, etc.
I struggled with that a lot with the MD after some time, before I accepted the fact: “Yes, it sounds like a MD. But it also sounds like /my/ MD. It has my take on it in there, and that’s what matters.”
I was talking this through with a friend of mine who plays guitar and she just smiled and said “Trust me, you’re worrying about the wrong thing. There are plenty of guitars out there just like mine, but only mine sounds like /mine/ when I play it.” That kind of hit me.
That’s an excellent point. I mostly make music for me, so if it bothers me that some instrument “sounds like x”, it still bothers me 
But yeah, I should probably remember that most listeners (for example, people outside this forum) would not be able to spot a MnM voice in a track, or even know what a MnM is!
Or even appreciate how amazing it is that you had the chance to share the sound of it with them.
I can 100% relate to that. I do it because I enjoy it, and that’s the point. In fact I don’t think I’ve recorded anything for others to listen to in a few years. Been having too much fun making my noise to bother with it (;
Keep enjoying the process, worry less (if you can), and enjoy more!
Expect a valley of disappointments as you struggle with the machines. Then it gets better. The MnM is a cruel dominatrix, the raw sounds are unforgivingly harsh. My favorite trick is to send a machine output to external effects (proper reverb anyone?), then feed it back in to a chain of fx machines.
Interesting. So far it’s been a world of pleasure to work with. I do find myself somewhat overwhelmed by the countless options for modulation and end up going down rabbit hole after rabbit hole making new discoveries only to arrive at some sound I hadn’t planned on crafting but aching to hear more of. Maybe I’m just too easily entertained…
This is one of the reasons I have always wanted a MnM. I don’t want your typical lead/bass/pad bread and butter synth when I sit down with the MnM. I want that unforgiving, unexpected, purely digital with wild changes when some parameter goes from 43 to 44 and alters the sound dramatically.
One of the things I appreciate is the relationship between the filter & EQ with the headroom (distortion & volume) and how that definitely plays a large role in what sounds you can get out of the MnM.
It’s been almost a week since I got my hands on the MnM and I still can’t be happier with it. Truly a world of pure digital uniqueness. I love it!
I don’t actually like the sound of the factory demos. I bought the MnM on impulse because I wanted the MD. Bought them at the same time. The MD was exactly what I wanted it to be right away, the MnM kind of sat there for a while because everything I tried sounded terrible. But I love the ENS machine which with careful filtering and external processing is wild with the paramater locks per step making it much richer than static chords. The voice machine does great percussion sounds too. It taught me that what you do with a tone is more important than the raw tone itself.
It may be strange opinion, but I absolutely love (some) the factory demos. They are charming and have abstract retro feel about them. Even something from soundtracks from BBC Radiophonic or alike. Unfortunately not all the tracks were published online.
Upd: remove exaggeration 
Haha, that’s funny. I don’t even know what the demos sound like. I wiped my MM clean as soon as I got it.
Never heard them. I wiped mine clean as soon as I got it.
That’s absolutely 100% true!
So a bit of an update. Life got in the way, but I wanted to say I’m still loving my MnM. As I typically do with new (to me) gear that I get I try and make at least a little tune. So, here we go.
I can’t wait for the MnM to join the rest of the gear now and continue exploring it.
Welp, finally got the MnM moved to join some of the rest of the family (not pictured Analog4 Keys, UltraNova, and OSCar).
Currently using MIDI EXT on the A4 to auto channel on the MnM. Which should work for now, but I am sure will change as things evolve.
Now I’m even more excited to see how well it complements everything else. Still love this endlessly capable and unique machine.
Very nice! I had the same trio years ago. I’ve sold the OT mk1 to buy a mk2, but saw an A4 mk2 at a good price and bought it.
What kind of pdf have you read which stimulated you? I’m going to reconnect my MnM after a few years of creative drought, and I don’t want to fall back into my classic uses.
The first thing I did, while I was waiting on the MnM to be shipped to me was read every single post in this forum. Keeping notes about what people had mentioned or suggested be tried.
The second thing I did, was sit down with only the MnM and explore it. With the manual at my side. Reading the manual and searching the forum if I had a particular question about what something was or what it did.
The final step (before moving into the other room with everything else) was to make a simple tune from scratch using only the MnM. I tried to focus on using as many features of the MnM as I could (routing, p-locking reverb settings, song mode, etc.)
That’s what I did. Your mileage may vary.
