One Elektron Box for the Years Ahead

The Lounge Other Gear
41

Hi!

I’ll jump into this discussion as well and I’d like to mention the Analog Rytm MK2 (not MK1), because it has a good balance between possibilities and limitations. Currently my AR MK2 is my centerpiece for my productions and my Liveact show, because it works like my “vinyl crate” where I have many tracks, that I mix with my Octatrack to a full DJ style Liveact.

When I produce on my Analog Rytm I can - of course - create all the drums and percussions on the Analog Rytm (because it’s a solid Drummachine). But for the synth part I us the AR as an Audiointerface and hook it up to my MacBook (DAW - Bitwig Studio - 1000x synth plugins) OR iPad. On my iPad I have a few synths where I like the sound and the sounddesign with my hands.

The AR can act as a basic MIDI sequencer and in conjunction with MIDI plugins from my DAW (MacBook) or DAW (iPad - Drambo for instance) I can jump above that AR MIDI sequencer limitation. For instance: I can insert a MIDI Chord plugin in my DAW and all my monophonic note patterns from my AR will convert into chords that then trigger my Syntht plugins.

Those virtual plugins can also be routed directly via USB into the analaog tracks from my AR, so I have the analog filter and distortion on my virtual plugins. The combination of an iPad/Notebook with synths etc. and the Analog Rytm MK2 offers a lot of sonic possibilities to shape whole tunes :wink:

On the perfomance side I think the Analog Rytm MK2 is the best machine Elektron did so far. With the performance pads you can very quickly assign a bunch of sounddesign parameters to one pad. For instance: lowering the filter on all tracks can easily be done with the press of one performance pad. BUT: you can assign those performance pads to one real Encoder with a start and end position and this is gold for the feel while you perform. AND: you can add multiple performace pads to just this one Encoder (Quick Performance Encoder). AND: those performance macros can send MIDI, so you can control virtual plugins from DAWs with the Pads and Encoder from the AR.

In addition you have Scenes where you can assign multiple parameters to the Pads and can activate or deactivate those snapshots.

And then you have the Fill Button, Page Loop, Pads for Fingerdrumming, Mute Mode etc etc.

In the End: you can translate those Performance related functions to musical arrangements phases. Thats what I did! What encoder do I have to dial in, when I need a transition from my main part to my break? What Pad do I have to press to bring the focus on to the synths??

If you like the jelly fat rough sound from the AR, the limitations (Mono samples, 1x filter per track etc.) but also the nerdy possibilities, you can ask me anything :slight_smile: I could write a lot more, because in combination with the Octatrack you can do whole livesets, have fun with Sample Slices playing from the Rytms Pads … and I didn’t wrote stuff about sampling … so for me (as you probably hear), the AR MK2 is my favorite timeless machines Elektron has ever build. But I always loved to jump above limitations and boost my creativity with those.

My suggestion: if you wanna play and perform, go for the AR MK2. If you like design tracks and arrangements in a more “programmer way”, then maybe the Tonverk could fit your needs.

Best, Kai

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42

Buy a 2nd hand Ableton Move first then a Digitone OG if it’s not enought for you.

La bise.

43

For me, one box for all is the key. That’s why I’m Team Tonverk. I don’t want to limit myself to specific genres of music, so Tonverk’s flexibility is essential to me.

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44

I just want to extend my appreciation for this thread introducing me to this dungeon synth style.

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45

Ok you ruled out samplers, and with your suggested devices you cant go wrong they are all great.
But, who says you have to manage samples? Just sample something and go, give it a proper name and thats it. The main thing is to do something, dont care about the structure in the background.
You seem to already got decent software synth you know, so maybe having a sampler would feel complete.
The Tonverk is a great tip, its sample based but its more a sound machine, especially for „dungeon synth“ you would be massivly suprised what the TV could get you.

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46

If you’re interested, I’d be happy to share a short list of great Dungeon Synth albums :slight_smile:

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47

…To continue, Alright, I’ve slept on all your replies, and as we say in French, la nuit porte conseil.

I think I’m going to give the Tonverk a try.

There’s not much risk involved since there are already several used units available.

I’ll probably make a few videos documenting my experience with the machine, how I get to grips with it, and how my workflow evolves over time.

Merci et prenez soin de vous les cocos. (take care of you)

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48

You seem to take time and guessing into decisions so my guess is you will review the experience with the TV after some time and yeah even if its not what you wanted sell it there is no risk.

Iam interested in how it goes for you so please keep us updated.

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49

Two or three to get started would be great!

50

You can begin with this 4 albums :

  • Secret Stairways - Enchantment of the ring : A classic “Old School” Dungeon Synth Album with old tones make with cheap synth
  • Aindulmedir - The Lunar Lexicon : A “New School” DS Album, very ambient
  • Mountain Realm - Shadowlorn : A “New School” Dungeon Synth album but he maybe use AI… We don’t really know. But he sound very good
  • Frog Concert - Slumbering Sounds of the Frog Fellowship : A “Funny” DS album :smiley:
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51

make a new post, im new to Dungeon synth albums and interested too

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52

I make that this weekend !

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53

are you open to other gear or is being an elektron box mandatory ?

54

I mean, this is the ‘Other Gear’ thread…

55

Of course, To be honest, my decision still isn’t completely made.

56

Oooh … I didn’t know you could do that. Could you explain how, briefly?

57

Oh I’m not so sure anymore now. I could have sworn you could do that in the past. Or did I dream?

As it is, it looks like you need a Teensy now? Sorry, I haven’t looked too much into that. Maybe it’s possible to emulate a Teensy on a regular computer?

EDIT: more info about that on M8Docs/docs/M8HeadlessSetup.md at main · Dirtywave/M8Docs · GitHub

Sorry if I mislead anyone!

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58

Ah! No worries dude :slight_smile:

You should be able to tho. That’d be awesome.

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59

Not a big fan of metallic / bell-ish sounds synonymous with FM synthesis either. Yet the Digitone II is the box I would recommend, for reasons I stated in a similar topic.

Its sonic palette goes way beyond what I used to associate with FM synthesis, because of the two other machines (VA and Drums) but also because the FM machine is done well. NGL it’s harder to dial in a nice sound myself on the FM machine, but there are nice non-FM-sounding presets to start from.

As for the A4MKII I used to be a big fan, but it’s now too expensive for what it does IMO. Always felt limited by the 64 steps, the 4 voices, the absence of ratchet. Ofc you can play around those limitations and it can be fun too, but it’s nowhere near as modern conceptually as the Digitone II feels if that makes sense. Voice stealing is fun (forces you to make more with less, like on an old gameboy chip) until it isn’t.

I’ll add that the only thing I was dearly missing from the A4 was individual outs, and the Outbox 8 should solve that shortly. Parameter slides I miss too but not that much (you can get around them with LFOs). CV out a little, but apparently Outbox 8 might do CV.

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60

Check my thread, too - it’s similar: Best first Elektron SYNTH box? - The Lounge / General Discussion - Elektronauts