Hey folks,
“silent reader” here and finally made an account. I need advice regarding new hardware.
First of all: I´m “new” to Elektron. Had a Digitone for a few months but couldn´t really learn it because of certain circumstances, so I sold it. I guess I liked the thoughts behind the Elektron style and that´s why I focused on their hardware.
Music styles:
- I´m into spacy styles and ambient. I love Tycho (!), Boards Of Canada, early Aphex Twin, LoFi stuff, Last Step or Trickfinger, some old school hiphop for example
- early electronic stuff, I guess early techno and acid (house). And: Tycho, again
What I want to do:
- well, create music. The process itself is satisfying. While I like to record (got an interface and reaper) and finish tracks, its with no intention of releasing it or anything. Sharing with friends? Yes. But it´s not that I´m a professionel or need the highest amount of perfection
- Moving away from hardware or software synths and using samples is my aim right now.
- Using samples with a good piece of hardware can result in some nice tracks, Board Of Canada style maybe? Tycho tends to have more complexity in his song structures, I guess you need a DAW and f.e. OT can´t really build these song structures? I know that Tychos songwriting is huge, thats why Scotts music became popular. By no means I would assume I will or can do the same.
- creating some hiphop style for fun would be lovely as well
How to achieve that:
- I love being limited, really. I used an OP-1 for the most amount of time. While it has a lot of options, I loved having one device and making music. Sometimes recording stuff and putting it together in DAW, sometimes finishing tracks in the OP-1. I had other synth which I used to “jam”, just tinkering around for an hour with no goal.
- because of that I favour a piece of hardware capable of achieving that
What I want to avoid and dont need:
- well, I could buy a drum machine or midi keyboard, use my laptop, DAW, buy hardware synth and would have a good arsenal of weapons. But I want to be limited somehow, thats why I had look for grooveboxes.
- I know the Octatrack is damn good live tool, but Im not a live act or anything. Recording “perfomances” would be an option of course, as it´s a pretty pure form of creating music
Advice needed:
- I really love the look and ingredients of the Octatrack. What I dislike: no overbridge support. From time to time I would like to record the stuff, so overbridge would come in handy to record separate tracks
- The Digitakt has some more mordern components, though its not that complex as the OT. The reverb seems to be better than on the OT?
I watched several youtube videos and read a lot of threads online, comparing the two. Maybe I´m on the wrong path with Elektron and should look for other hardware?
Im leaning towards an Octatrack or Digitakt + Minilogue XD (which could be a nice combo for BoC or Tycho style), though I would favour having just one piece of gear and learning it extensivly, knowing that its limiting. I guess part of the legend of the old Roland stuff were the limitations. Todays offering is simply overwhelming and I guess one could easly move away from the actual intention: making music.
Your input is very much appreciated! (and sorry for some bad grammar)