New Rytm MKII/Elektron owner with lots of issues

Elektron Gear Analog Rytm
1

Hi All!

This is my first post, and I rarely post in forums or leave reviews of any kind. But I’ve been having so many issues with what I would consider a rather expensive ($1,500 US) piece of audio gear, and so I’d like to reach out for others’ thoughts and advice.

I bought the Rytm MKII last April (2018), and upon taking it home I just sat with it and the manual for a month or so before attempting to start creating anything on it. However I immediately, within the first week (and after having updated the firmware) had issues with it randomly freezing/becoming unresponsive. And browsing through the forums I discovered that was a common issue others had had. I took it back to the store I bought it from, and they kept it for 24 hours trying to recreate the issue unsuccessfully. Since they couldn’t duplicate the issue, they said they couldn’t replace it for me, but that Elektron would cover it for 3 years. So I took it back home, and would continue to have the same issue at extremely random moments. I contacted Elektron and eventually they agreed to allow me to return it for a replacement.

I received the replacement and haven’t yet had the same issue. But, now I have a new issue. I reinstalled the backup patterns, kits, samples, etc. that I’d saved from my first Rytm. It seemed to install with no issues, but within the entire project that that backup is loaded into, pads 5 and 6 will not play any recorded trigs, even if I create a new pattern somewhere else within that same project. Pads 5 and 6 will sound when I manually trigger them (hit the pads), but will not play any recorded trigs. I’ve done a factory reset and reinstalled the backup project several times, and I’ve definitely installed all the firmware updates, to no avail. Interestingly however, if I load another project (a new, blank project), pads 5 & 6 record trigs just fine.

I’m trying to keep my cool, but this is honestly extremely annoying to purchase an expensive piece of gear by a reputable company (I’d heard that the Analog Rytm was the best drum machine on the market), and be now at 5 months with continual glitchy problems with 2 separate units. Plus in my research I’ve seen loads of people complaining about similar issues with Elektron.

I’ve just sent yet another message to Elektron. They’re often slow at responding, but generally very helpful once they do respond.

Ultimately I just want this machine to work, properly - perfectly even - without any weird glitchy issues so I can feel comfortable and safe to begin writing and performing with this unit. Am I just one of the unlucky ones? Are there any of you who are not having any problems at all with their units? Is there anyone who has had the specific issue I’m currently having (pads 5 & 6 not playing recorded trigs)?

As a side note, I also bought an Analog Keys at the same time as my original Rytm MKII and haven’t had a single issue with it.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

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hi tgn, welcome, sorry to hear about your BT and LT trigger issue, that would infuriate my sub bass cravings for sure but you’ve been very polite about it!
i don’t own a mk2, i’m a mk1 user and the advice i’m about to give is based on mk1 approaches and other responses i’ve read here.
and probably stuff you’ve already tried but based on what you’ve said worth covering all the usual things.
it seems there are a small bunch of units with hardware issues and it maybe that but worth checking:

  • in the trig/setup page for each track are the synth trig and samples trig setting enabled?

  • are any midi devices attached to the midi input that may be sending control changes that’s bought the volume down on the tracks, check on the synth and amp pages volume is up.

  • is the amplitude attack at zero, a velocity mod affecting a parameter or filter all they way down/up or mutes on/being affected?

  • in globals are all the tracks routed to the master output, have you checked to see if those tracks are sending out of their individual outputs?

  • in rare instances when a track does not sound via trigs physically playing the track pad can kick it awake

thats my basic checklist, sorry if it doesn’t help or you’ve already tried.

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Not a rtym owner (digitakt & tone for me) but what youre describing sounds a lot like 5 & 6 are muted. Have you checked the mutes on the patterns youre having trouble on? I say this because when tracks are muted on the digitakt you can still trigger them live, but recorded trigs wont play back.

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OMG it was that simple! I don’t know how I didn’t think about that :frowning: The mute of course crossed my mind, but I assumed it wasn’t muted since I could manually trigger it.

Thank you so much!

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