For those of you who own both an octatrack and Rytm, which unit sounds better to you in terms of using drum samples without using any of the Rytm’s analog maxhines? Currently I’m using the octatrack for whole songs but sometimes wich I had a few extra drum tracks, however I like the sound of drums coming off the octatrack more than my mduw plus sample loadings easier so I was debating selling the uw and getting either a second octatrack or rytm, though I’d probably use mostly sampled drums (unless the Rytm’s analog ones sounded better).
The analog filters on the Rytm are appealing but I like the oct’s effects and headroom.
It’s a subjective choice I guess. Do you have a link to the kinds of drum sounds that you like and make/use?
The AR is all beef and sizzle, with really full sounds from the most of the analog engines. Samples sound punchy even if you leave the filters open, for obvious reasons, everything is passing through the analog circuits.
Yea I mean that’s why I was looking at the Rytm because of the analog circuitry and the analog drums seem pretty hot or miss in demos I’ve heard, but I typically use samples anyway.
For me what I liked about the oct over the mduw was sample loading time (which seems better in the Rytm as well), and headroom; with the mduw I constantly had to hi pass filter hihats and percussion just to make everything fit and I always felt the samples lost a bit of weight. On the octatrack the samples all sound good to me and it feels like there is way more internal headroom than the uw or a4 ever had.
I guess I’m wondering if I’m gaining anything by going for the Rytm vs the octatrack for drums, and I would use it as a typical drum machine, not a lot of glitchy plocking.
Drums I like include: four tet - buchla, joy Orbison - the shrew would have cushioned the blow, Addison groove - melody maker, Shlomi aber - taped and gorgeous, to name a few
Based on that line up, I’d say RYTM for sure. Utilizing the head room on the RYTM requires more understanding of gain stages, but when you get that right it is super clean.
Send your snare sounds out separately via OB for really nice saturation or run your hats from the individual out into the OTs FX.
I think having more than one sonic point of reference for drums is pretty key if you can manage it.
I use a lot of samples in the RYTM - it’s hit or miss until you realize it’s an SP1200 with analog engines, on crack.
Maybe I’m missing something with the comparison to a SP1200
The SP1200 used 12 bit and 26 kHz samples. Rytm uses 16 bit and 48 kHz samples. Maybe it was the analog filters you were referring to. I don’t imagine the Rytm uses the SSM2044 filter though.
No need to get personal…or subject us to your BS
We must get used to your sweeping generalisations about gear I guess, you being the oracle of all things audio.
Hey hey hey, that’s some excellent trolling. Well done you! You forgot to mention the independently tuned filters on the SP, and the fact that it’s a different shape etc… but I’m sure you’re still getting around to it…
Point is OP, the RYTM is a good choice to compliment the OT based on those acts you’ve listed. And it’s NOT an SP1200, in case you’re confused.
However buzz, I think you should stay on point. Help this person out and be of good use.
Quality is one thing, and the Rytm sure sounds great to that aspect. But the thing with the Rytm is coloration of the sound and the punch. Dull old percussive samples (606, 727, Linndrum, CR78 or whatever) that where sampled using a SoundBlaster in the mid nineties sounds really great. And if you got top notch stuff (like Gold Baby libraries) it gets even better.
Instrument samples, more then single cycle, are a bit tricky in my experience. They can sound good but they can also sound a bit to much lofi. Depends on the source material for sure. With instrument samples I get the vintage sampler experience; you load up samples and you don’t really know what you will be getting until you press play.
For Mono samples, Samples can sound practically the same to the ear, if you keep the sample level parameter on the RYTM accordingly to the sample peak level so, it won’t excite the overdrive circuit. Tested not only by ear, but scientifically,using the proper audio measuring instruments.
Some of the biggest differences to me is that the rytm has better FX, but the OT can play stereo samples. The rytm filter does alot of coloration, while the OT filter is more transparant.
For the styles you mention the drums are often lp filtered with reverb added. That kind of joy-o / burial style drumsounds are easier to create on the rytm imho. Mainly because of the colored filter and lush reverb. Layer them with stereo fieldrecordings, pads and stabs on the OT and you can get really close.
Can anyone play some audio examples of a drum break samples or 808/707 samples played out of the Rytm, not using any analog machines? I’ve pretty much only heard the analog machines and pretty overdriven stuff in person.
I can dropbox some samples of need be and post an octatrack beat with them for comparison, just let me know.
I’d be happy to do that later for you. Send me some stems and I’ll send you some variations. If you can convert the samples to the RYTMs bitrate and kHz, and to mono, that’d be great.
I can give you some examples of OBs fidelity and an Emax example for good measure.
Hey so I’m dropboxing over a quick wav file with two drum beats one 909 one 808 first ones pretty simple I just mute the clap at the end, second one just repeats twice, both 128bpm. I also threw in all the individual samples so you can just load them in to the Rytm so we’re both starting at the same point. Feel free to either emulate the beats I made or just make your own, it’s really more about the sound.
I probably wouldn’t use over bridge just because I use Reason so if you could record through the outputs that might be helpful, I’m really just trying to see how the Rytm colors the sound. I’ve use the md, octatrack, mpc2kxl, and asr10 so that’s my gram of reference for how Harvard samples sound.
No worries - I use an RME UCX as sound card and I’ll just go straight into that. I won’t do individual outs - I’ll just use the master outs and I’ll disable the loop from master FX.
This will give you a good example of the straight up sound of your loop.
Because, unlike the SP 1200 for example, we can’t sample straight in, there’s no dedicated conversion algorithm post-analog input in the RYTM, so the file conversion process before bussing into the RYTM is pretty key as it really doesn’t do the best job at this.
Thanks, yea a bit much resonance on the last pass but I think it demonstrated the color of those filters. The Rytm seems like it can give off a pretty colored sound when you start cranking those overdrives, pretty cool. I get the whole sp1200 comparison point.
