Now that the dust has settled what are your learned opinions & experiences when it comes to the AR v MD.
Who thinks the RTYM has slain the Machinedrum & who thinks it will it never match up & why?
Most importantly, who’s using the pair in tandem? What’s your workflow & do you find yourself reaching for particular combinations on a regular basis?
Not at all an either/or, no need to reduce experiences to oppositional stances
The MD can do a lot of glitchy drum work, much more flexible in synthesis options and routing, and can do live sampling + MIDI sequencing
The AR has less synthesis options but can do machine + sample per step, has a more open sequencer and easier performance macros
The MD holds up being over a decade old. It seems like a number of people think they would benefit from the AR since its analog but the MD is probably more in line with their workflow.
The only reason I went AR is I use extensive percussion sampling but want it tied to synthesis machines as well, the MachineDrum fit my needs perfect otherwise and I made a few concessions in getting the AR.
Yeah I have to agree the MD holds up very well & is a lot more flexible in a lot of ways. Wish it had the AR’s sequencer, can you imagine!
That said my approach has changed since the advent of the AR.
Kiks - I’ll nearly always go to the AR first.
Strong Snare AR (sometimes with sample as well, usually not tho).
Percussive Snare/ghost notes - MD TRX
Claps - MD EFM CP everytime, AR leaves me cold in this dept!
What I’m finding is that I’m definitely favouring the MD for its quirky glitchy stuff & I don’t bother trying to achieve certain sounds anymore cos the AR just tears it apart in specific areas.
I’ve always used CTR-AL Machines & Ram Record/Play but now they’re all over everything cos I have tracks to spare.(Don’t get me started on LFO’s on the MD, I dream of those things!).
Haven’t touched Rom machines in so long I cant remember what’s in there! Probably should revisit 
The Rytm’s sequencer and native sound is far superior to the MD in my opinion. 16-bit samples sound better than 12-bit samples. The sequencer on the Rytm is better for the simple fact of being bale to program different pattern lengths. Also, the ability to mute different tracks per pattern outshines the MD.
But people love the MD and it’s easily a far better drum machine than anything else on the market; besides the AR.
When I had the MD, only the trx and efm machines were useful. The PI and E12 sounded very bad to my ears. MD had some sweet spots but also alot of spots that didn’t sound very well to my likings.
Also when using the MD is was all-out glitch, or static patterns for me. There was no way to do something in between, something more controllable.
The AR has indeed much better kicks to my liking. I have to admit I use alot of samples, single-cycle waveforms, looped noise, etc to craft the other percussive sounds, sometimes layered with the internal synth engines. It’s much easier to work with samples in the AR. Also, with the performance/mute/scene modes, direct jump, trig mutes etc, it’s much more able to make controllable variations in your patterns, but I think there is still much to gain in that department, hopefully in an update sometime. I really miss an easy way to do a fillin.
I sold my MD MKII +1 UW after getting a RYTM…kind of regret it now because I miss the Hi Hat, Rim Shot and Clap sounds. I also love how PHAT the kick got by using the hi pass and jacking the Q.
The RYTM is a monster though, I can make sounds with a few clicks and swipes that sound so big and the pads make it fun. Not to mention the micro timings and individual pattern length possibilities for groove and polyrhythms…
In summary, I think the RYTM is better but I perhaps prefer the MD. I suppose it depends whether you want tidy drums to keep the pace and beat in the back of your tunes or whether you want your drums to be a wild beast ripping your song to shreds.
I would never sell my Machinedrum in a million years I find it to be totally indispensable.
As others have mentioned the Machinedrum and Analog RYTM are completely different beasts and I think they complement each other very well.
If I had to choose only one of them, As much as I love my AR I would choose the machinedrum. It’s a lot more flexible and has a unique and interesting tone (though I guess they both do) either way I prefer the Machinedrum even though I’m using the AR in just about everything I do.
I really enjoy layering the two for rich and complex rhythms.
Verdict: Apples vs Strawberries
Both great and actually go together really well.
well said. i agree completely.
Not sure the dust ever settles on conversations such as these but while I don’t own an AR, I’ll add a few thoughts.
Was jamming last night with a buddy I met through Elektron-Users. Both of us got our MD UWs around the same time several years ago, and while talking we found we’d both had the same experience the day we pulled it out of the box: the realization that we were holding something that would take us pretty much anywhere we wanted to go. He’s far more of an ambient experimentalist while I’m primarily a clubby house/techno guy, but the astonishment was equal on both our parts.
The realization came not only from the breadth and power the internal synths have, but from the amount of overall configurability the MD UW has, for sound design and otherwise. Having so many freely assignable LFOs, the ability to self-sample, plockable triggable control machines, different types of input machines … mind-boggling. We agreed we were both still finding new ways to approach and use it today.
It took a long time to wrap my head around the possibilities and then to apply the knowledge. Maybe a bit too long. It took work, more than I’d expected, and even after doing the work and writing tons of music with it I’m still learning my craft in fundamental ways. That might well stem from my own limitations as a musician, but I’ll admit it’s not the most immediate of instruments. Neither is the Monomachine, which after two years I’m starting to think might be the deepest instrument Elektron has created. Not necessarily broadest, but deepest. Both instruments feel like they were created by designers who loved oldschool techno, hiphop and video game music, but also wanted to offer the sort of options that modular synth owners crave – a two-edged sword.
For comparison, a DJ buddy of mine who gigs a lot got the AR a few weeks back, after trying and returning a vanilla MD. He says the AR is a game changer for him cos he loves 909ish analog sounds, and it sounded great straight out of the box. That echoes what I’ve read in some threads here: the AR appears to be more immediately gratifying.
Specific features on one device vs. another are easy to parse. Sound is a personal issue that probably no one can address for anyone else: There’s just no substitute for listening to lots of examples, preferably by users whose creative inclinations overlap somewhat with your own.
What I will be interested to see over the next few years is how the AR inspires people. Not as a question of whether it’s better than some other instrument, but what it allows them to create and where they go with it.
There’s was a lot of talk early on about the differences between the 2 & how they compliment each other but tbh I’ve seen/heard surprisingly little when it comes to incorporating both machines!
I’ve been using the 2 together, sending a feed from the AR into the MD & re-sampling. Works really well adding that 12 bit grit, p-locking the hell out of everything or using CTL-AL.
Running the MD on 12 or 7 steps whilst the AR does its thing is heaven!
Also assigning multiple LFO’s to various destinations on the playback Ram machines is wicked!
Anybody else mixing it up with both machines?
Edit. As Mathew says, layering the pair works really well, almost like old school beat matching
sold my mduw (again) to fund the AR purchase
like most here i had the mduw as a constant in my setup
amazing device and i will not go over old ground with the positives but the one thing that i could never absolutely love (i like it) was the sound even the 12bit sampling engine
certainly unique and the uw leads itself to a low fi sound and sometimes it is angry and gives me a headache
cv…fuck my cat just jumped my keyboard and typed cv - no cat go and jump on my analog keys cv…where you belong
anyway…the AR sound is much deeper and lush all round. After i few weeks useage i can even pull out strange md and uw type sounds from the ar which is a bonus.
anyway here is my overview and comparison between the AR and MDUW
[ul]
[li]For me the analog synths and analog sample player are what i always desired in the mduw and i was also trying so hard all the time to make up for the limitations of mduw with external processing, ipad loaded with analog samples as a 16 gig sample feeder, sampling my analog stuff on the fly…[/li]
[li]I love the fact that i have 800 meg or so of Sh 101, 808.909, sp1200, juno 6, arp, moog, make noise samples in banks and ready to roll into the AR.[/li]
[li]8 tracks as opposed to the mduw is more than enough as the AR has 2 sample engine per track and the ability to plock sounds on sample on every step - limitless really[/li]
[li]the mduw track system is limited by ram r and ram p using two or 4 tracks and then there’s control all taking up one track, and by the time you layer drums to get the sound you want - well bye bye tracks. yes you can resample but where does that leave you with mutes??[/li]
[li]the AR synth engine is alot like the md sine and sn machine - which i used more than the TR/fm engines[/li]
[li]i feel the AR synth engine is mature and sounds very special with overdrive and analog filtering[/li]
[li]chromatic was something i desired in the md and it drove me crazy that i had a wonderful machine without a chromatic mode!!![/li]
[li]crtall all is amazing on the mduw - yet the AR allows much more control and crt all options via the scene mode[/li]
[li]retrig function on the AR is a bonus[/li]
[li]compressor never made much sense to me on the MDUW, by comparison on the AR the compressor is pretty dam fine sounding[/li]
[li]groove and swing, the mduw incorporated a tr808 swing template and it was nice. Somehow the AR grooves a lot more and anything you bang in just seems to make my head nod a little more akin to the 2000xl mpc which at one point i ran alongside the mduw[/li]
[li]MDUW can sample and strange things can happen - i will miss that strangeness[/li]
[li]I listen to and enjoy the AR for much longer periods than the mduw- the md gave me headaches sometimes with its sharp digital noises and it hurt my sensitive ears sometimes[/li]
[li] finally after all these yrs i am leaving the mduw behind - goodbye my old angry friend i will miss you[/li]
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