Hey all, posted a couple of times despite having no Elektron gear like the saddo I am. Now I’m finally on my way to being a legit Elektronaut
After some money probs around the time that I was about to purchase Wintermute’s MD UW Mk1, I’ve managed to get my dough straight (for a fleeting moment) and make the purchase.
Planning on throwing OS 1.63 on it immediately, followed by the JustinValer 808 and 909 kits.
Anybody got any golden rules or essential tutorials on the basics? I’m aiming to throw myself into learning the workflow in a fairly full-on manner.
My top tips would be. Turn all machine vols down to about 12 o clock when starting out with fresh kits. Turn your speakers down and try sending sounds to the delay with feedback set to about 68 to see how it builds. it can be a monster, 63/64 is a looper and anything beyond goes ballistic. Double click stop to cancel all sound.
Hello lockah and welcome to the MDclub. Its a nice and powerfull machine. Can make live with her (not it) only.
my advices :
1/ listen to the presets, then you’ll regret your money and think that MDusers are stupid to find this drum machine fantastik.
2/ then open a new kit and start working the differents machines (they’re called "machines) to know wath they can do (their specific range of sound).
3/ try now to have fun by creatings the kits you need to play music
4/ dont forget to try fx to boost your sound
5/ hav a lot of fun, take your time because you won’t know it before a while ( you will still discover tips after year of practice) … so take it easy and make sounds
Here’s one: on the machines with retriggering, like the E12 and sample machines, turn up the retrig and play with retim below 64 or so (setting filter to taste) to get some phat bass and synth sounds. Above 64 can be good for some bass sounds, although it can start to break up and not sound solid much below that, especially for bass. Use pitch for fine tuning, and everything on page two is fair game for really shaping the sound.
Wow guys, thanks for all the tips. I know some forums get hit with people asking the same dumb questions every time they sign up so I’m gonna try and not be ‘that guy’!
The MD just arrived half an hour ago and is sitting on my studio desk now.
So far I’ve run the factory reset and am in the process of updating the OS to 1.63. I kept getting an error saying “upgrade failed switch power off and try again” to begin with, but have set the C6 ‘tick’ to 14 which seems to have solved this. It’s slooooooow though. So, I’ve probably got a good half hour to get familiar with the quick start guides and manual. I should probably also go for a shower…
If you’re on OSX, I’ve found C6 fails with delay ticks set any lower than 10 (at least on Mountain Lion…I think the problems started in Lion and haven’t been fixed since). It takes time, but it isn’t the machine. It should be a little better if you have the TM-1 on Turbo.
in addition and especially for the pre + drive UW…although not space saving as far as the ram is concerned, you can maximise the mileage possible from the limited number of MD sample slots by using sample chains and choosing the sample with the start parameter…)
Loaded in some UW samples of my own today and have tried my hand at building some kits from a mixture of samples and onboard synthesis. Very cool!
It’s very empowering to get to grips with the basics so quickly, means more time to enjoy the whole thing! My aim at this point is still simply to get 100% confident with doing the simple things. I still haven’t quite got my head around songs, patterns and how they tie in with kits themselves but that is the next step.
Thanks everyone for digging up some of the known links & tips, really appreciated
Hey man, congrats & welcome. It was this machine that got me away from the computer and having REAL fun making tracks.
It can be whatever you want it to be. It can be a glitchy techno groovebox or a 909. It can be a simple xox style drum machine or a machine used for making ambient drones… your imagination is the only limit. Since I’ve purchased the machinedrum, other hardware has come & gone, but the machinedrum remained.
Check out Tarekith’s website, there’s a machinedrum tips & tricks section. Also do a search on Wessen & tutorial. Both of these sites got me started… and then I just forgot what everyone said and started focusing on making the music I wanted to make.
Cheers,
Mike
