‘Producing’ with Elektron

The Lounge General Discussion
#1

Hi Everyone, I love my Elektron gear (Analog Rytm MK2 and Digitone) and have some amazing ‘jams’ on them. I would like to start incorporating them more into a hybrid setup and producing full tracks with them. I would love to hear how other people have it set up and how they use their machines in full tracks eg. If I create some patterns on the Rytm do I record the audio of each pattern separately and then structure in the DAW? Or do I create a set of chained patterns and record the whole lot in one go? The Digitone is a bit more limited in song structuring so do I record a pattern as audio and then structure the audio in the DAW?

Any tips would be great thanks

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#2

Permit me to put in a vote for the “keep jamming 'til it’s tight and call it done” approach.

By all means go as deep into DAW use as you want, but… some people find they get bogged down in the details when they do that. They struggle to finish tracks. I’m one of those. If you were in a band, you’d probably get quite a long way into developing each song by playing it in real-time with your bandmates. There’s no reason not to apply that practice to electronic music, especially when we have Elektron devices. Many of them can act as mixers and compressors for each other so you can get at a coherent sound with just the instruments. You’ll likely be able to get more refined and detailed results out of a DAW, but ask yourself if you need to, or want to, at this point? Go with your gut; enjoy making up your own practice.

“Finishing” tracks is much more about intent, decision making and commitment than it is about tools, or even process.

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#3

The way that worked the best for me was to build patterns on my Elektron machines, record long takes of each part (kick, hats, synth, etc) and then build my track in the DAW from the parts I recorded. I got lively evolving parts, more control over each one since I did not have to care about the others while recording, more control during mixing and arrangement, and the welcome limitation of not being able to go back and edit the sound once the recording was done.

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#4

I tend to do either:

Use arranger in OT to build full track then record it.

Or

Play patterns live with tweaks etc, recording as I go, then if I don’t get a perfect take do another. Then if needed edit on audacity or wavosaur.

Both options allow me to tweak and mix during the creation process, so the only work that is required post recording is a bit of light polish to the master.
The more you do it, the better you get.

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#5

Very good advice by @Octagonist. There’s something magical about capturing a live jam that is very easily lost when multitracking / editing in the DAW. A lot of bigger name techno artists work this way too, for example Mathew Jonson. Personally I love capturing live jams and then finding the exciting bits because it feels like I am uncovering something rather than trying to write something from nothing.

Document what you do / your journey. It will help you along the way.

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#6

I use a Cirklon to sequence other synths and drum machines, as well as the pattern changes for any Elektron gear used in the track. you can do the same thing with a DAW sequencer of course. I will typically build an entire track this way, and then just record the individual parts into the DAW once I’ve finished it. at that point, there’s usually some additional arrangement and audio tweaking in the DAW, as well as of course mixing and all that that entails.

I also think it depends upon what you’re writing, how you like working, what gear you have, what DAW you’re using, etc. it could be that you work better when writing patterns in an Elektron machine or synth, capturing a couple bars of them to audio clips in your DAW and then moving them around there into an arrangement. or something in between these two approaches. and likely your approach will change over time… try every variation you can think of, and see what works best for you.

#7

I second or third the live jam approach, and Elektron boxes are great for that. When I do this I usually get a pattern or two set up to jam on, then record about 10-15 minutes of tweaking, etc. Later I will go back, listen, and grab my favorite parts and arrange them in the DAW for the final piece. And you can send all tracks separately over Overbridge, so you can do the final touches on the mixing later. If you did want to get more structured, the RYTM has song mode and can send program changes to the DN.

#8

I have ableton and A4 and Dt, but once i connect it to ableton, the sound quality decreases :(. Just makes me sad when opening ableton again.
I thought, it might be the compressor of the dt, but I also have this with A4 alone

I thought it might be the soundcard (ni k6)
Bought heat, but it makes ableton unstable with overbridge and cracks as a soundcard.

I am on apple 16 gigram mbp 2019 quad i7

Is it just me, or where is the crispyness of my sound once routed through ableton?

#9

I go the stereo out record route most of the time. I don’t have the patience, nor the mixing skills to track out all the different parts.

Just get it sounding as good as you can in the box and hit record on your recorder.

Anything and everything I’ve released over the last couple of years is recorded out of the box.

The box does go through an eq, maybe a saturator and possibly a compressor or limiter. So there is some processing for sure. Actually, not some, lots.

But I can’t say I’ve tracked out a jam in a long time.

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#10

I use Ableton 11 and run all my Elektron gear (and everything else) thorough it and I notice zero difference in quality then when I run gear directly to the monitors. Ableton doesn’t color the sound in any way shape or form. I have the Focusrite 18i20 as an audio interface and it doesn’t color the sound of any of my gear either. As long as you’re doing proper gain staging and all that and not using plug ins then you shouldn’t notice any difference in sound quality. I don’t know anything about the particular audio interface you’re using but if you’re noticing a difference in quality then it has to be your interface.

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#11

I monitor through Ableton so I hear what I hear…made the mistake years ago of monitoring through my speakers and recording to Ableton. Only to be like, that sounds different…problem solved by just jamming through Ableton and out to the speakers.

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#12

Multitrack recording of live performing, ideally. I often settle for just recording patterns one at a time while tweaking a few things.

#13

I’m with @Octagonist on this one! I build my patterns and jam on them at the same time. I’ll make a simple pattern, then start playing with mutes and improvise with parameter tweaks for a little bit. Then I’ll reload the pattern and continue building on it. This goes on for as long as I’m having fun, and by the end of it I’ll have a pattern or two that I’m very familiar with because I’ve been jamming on it for so long. Finally I plan out a little arrangement (how to start the track, how to transition between patterns, how to end it), then use my phone to record a live performance. Most of the performance is improvised, but many of the tricks I use have become muscle memory so it’s not stressful or overwhelming. It really helps to roll with the punches and leave mistakes in. A lot of my “signature moves” were discovered by accident :smiley:

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#14

Watching a Gary Numan video on how Cars came about. He took a simple four note pattern on his bass guitar and built on it. He couldnt believe how simple this method is.

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#15

I get sad if I work on some stems from RYTM in the DAW and make a killer track and if I go back to Rytm it doesn’t knock as hard, so I’m tryna up my game making it a banger just with Rytm.

#16
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#17

Hi! Check out our channel!
We make music with Elektron Gear.
For example here we have:

  • 2x Octatrack - First as master (mine) for global FX and second (mine dude) for his fx’s
  • Analog Rytm as my groovemachine
  • Digitakt as dude groovemachine
  • TS3 & MF as dude synth

Everything is connected as:
OTmk2 as main input both signal from AR & OTmk1
MF + TD3 to DT
DT to OTmk1

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#18

I’ve only been in the elektron world a few months but this is the only way I’ve done it so far.

Doing little bits here n there then chopping them up and arranging on a computer just kills any enjoyment.

I’ve just approached it like I would my bands. We’d only ever record live once through takes then possible some bits of layering for solo bits etc.

I just don’t have capacity in my life to learn daws and mastering. I just give myself day an hour and make a track in the hour, play about it blindly with eqs etc then once I hear “are you coming through soon?!?” Then it’s time to export to my phone and that’s that.

One thing tho, I’m just terrible at getting drums to sound great and pop no matter what I do :frowning:

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#19

Make sure you never go into the red in Ableton, on any channel. Ever. (I mean, you can… but don’t).

A good default habit is to have every channel fader start at -12db (or -24 if you have a lot of tracks). This helps to keep a lot of headroom at the master bus. It gives you freedom to raise one or two of the channels if you want to make them louder. If the overall mix is too quiet after this, you can use a Utility or Limiter (or both) to boost it. If you’re not trying to do “mastering”, then keep the peak level in your master channel bouncing between -6db and -3db (and you can turn your speakers up if you want the sound in the room louder: just remember to turn them down again at the end of the session).

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#20

As with my Ableton comment, turn everything down a bit* at the start of your session (but maybe turn your amp/speakers/headphones up). Then, as you add more tracks or feed things into the Ext. In, you still have headroom in the mix bus: you’ll be better able to hear when things are getting muddy and have bandwidth to work with it. Your ears will get tired, so maybe don’t actually turn the headphones up.

*= I prefer to use the VOL on the [Amp] page for this, rather than the Track Level knob. This way, I can use the level knob as a performance tool, without looking at the screen, and don’t have to worry about hitting the level ceiling and changing the sound through distortion.

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