Any one doing this?
The TR-8 midi implementation chart shows loads of CCs for parameter locks.
Kit select via program change.
And MnM or OT midi sequencing means 64 max steps instead of 32, and overcoming the low pattern memory.
Plus all those realtime knobs and sliders at the ready.
I’m looking to add some beefier drums via MnM’s midi sequencer.
I will be off topic once again but I remember adding a MFB522 to my MD and it was awesome.
Real analog song in a compact box super fun to tweak 
yup, owned and sequenced the TR-8 from the OT. But then realized I have 808 and 909 packs I can use just with the OT.
But yeah, you can p-lock things like pitch and decay. Unfortunately, you can’t lock the delay and reverb sends. With that, the TR-8 is way more versatile and interesting when sequenced from somewhere else. It’s internal sequencer is limited.
The TR-8 sequenced from an Elektron is sick! Lots going on, but again I found the real answer in my Elektrons and sold the TR-8 to some guy who runs a big techno festival up here. He was stoked.
Get an OT.
I’m going to hold off on the OT for a while. I’m not so much looking for an “answer”, as you mention. But rather a supplementation of what I already have (AR/A4/MnM/NordDrum1).
The reason I mentioned the OT is because I figured very few people would have experience sequencing TR-8 from MnM, though there are some midi sequencing similarities to OT (CCs for parameter locks). I imagined more folks, like you, would have OT+TR-8 experience.
If the TR-8 kit switching via program change is instant, this might make for fun parameter locked program changes on some off steps with MnM.
So, I have a 6 track midi sequencer on MnM wide open, unoccupied, and room in the gig bag for one more piece of gear.
It has to be able to respond to midi program change (Sorry, klerc - the MFB is out), and have some drum capabilities. Multi-timbrality is a plus.
The list has been narrowed down to TR-8 vs Virus B vs Blofeld vs SH-32. Each has unique strengths and unique weaknesses compared to the others.
TR-8
Drums I already love. Could offload 90% of MnM’s drum parts to free up more synth parts.
Ability to use standalone
Loads of knobs for realtime manipulation.
Most appropriate drums for my music to add to MnM, but I wouldn’t be adding any new synth parts. Would be great for my live rig, but I probably wouldn’t use it in the studio much.
Virus B
Multiple synth parts with loads of OSCs and LFOs, good V/A timbres to compliment MnM’s FM and wavetable.
Decent drums with added low level synthesis editability. Could offload 50% of MnM’s drums.
A bit long for my bag, physically, but it will fit.
Great, powerful synth, but I worry the drums won’t be up to snuff. Highest cost solution, may even be inclined to spend more for the Virus C to get the EQs and added modulation.
Blofeld
Sample option via license. Perhaps the best, most versatile. solution for drums. Could offload 90% of MnM’s drum synthesis.
Loads of modulation. Deep synthesis that would keep me pleased for years.
The most portable.
Mid-cost solution but I worry that tweakability in multi mode will be diminished.
SH-32
909/808 samples with some editability but not over CC#s for each drum.
Polyphonic, multitimbral, waveform based V/A synth.
Lots of hands on faders, knobs for realtime tweaking.
Lowest cost solution, but synthesis is most limited and I feel the lack of drum CC# p-lockability will get to me.
Fortunately, I have a couple months before I absolutely have to decide.
I see that you say you’re going to hold off on getting the OT for a while, which is a shame, because once you get it you’ll realize you should have bought it first.
Fair enough - I’d probably still have a TR-8 if it wasn’t so freaking big. They could really do away with the sliders and go with a knob, IMO.
Yes, P-locking things like the decay to an open hat is pretty cool. I also found locking tom pitch was even cooler. Since I was using the OT, I could make really long sequences using the TR-8 and then sample and mangle. The TR-8 is limited to 2 bars but I wouldn’t call that a limitation.
I don’t think you can change patterns or kits via midi but I could be wrong. I think I tried, but that was last summer so…
I don’t think the Elektron midi sequencers get enough props, but my internet scope is limited to this forum and no others so who knows. I love them. Any external synth or drum machine will benefit from some Elektron sequencing; you can’t go wrong no matter what you choose in that respect.
I won’t mention the OT again, but by doing so, I just did 
“Select Kit # By Program Change Message” was a feature added to the TR-8 in the v1.10 firmware update.
The question, really, is how fast does the change happen? Is it fast enough for a “Sound lock” like Bass Station 2, or does it take an extra step before it will sound a note, like Blofeld?
Not a deal breaker, but it would further open it up to have multiple kits going around in a single pattern.
I would love if someone could test it.
Any external synth or drum machine will benefit from some Elektron sequencing; you can’t go wrong no matter what you choose in that respect.
Well, thanks! That makes it easier 
You are right. But there are some procedural things at play here, and it’s just not going to be the right time for an Octatrack until early 2016.
My two cents:
Avoid the SH32. My least favorite musical device I have ever owned…and I have owned a ton of different gear over the years. On paper, it’s amazing, but the filter is the worst I have ever heard (including twenty year old VSTs from the dawn of the ITB era). At about 75% and up on the resonance, it squeals like a digital pig. Ear splitting terror noise, and not in a good way by any metric you could use to measure it.
BUT…the drum sequencing was actually pretty fun because you couldn’t step write without using an external sequencer. Drum programming on the box itself was done with the arpeggiator, and I always got something way more interesting than I would have just step writing everything.
You are right. But there are some procedural things at play here, and it’s just not going to be the right time for an Octatrack until early 2016. [/quote]
As I don’t know what the procedural things are, I can’t comment there, but what I can say is that prior to buying the OT I tried to get a number of other less expensive pieces of gear to tide me over. Ultimately, I was just wasting time and money, and ultimately most of that stuff got sold off to buy an Octatrack. Once I finally got the OT, my need for a whole lot of other gear (and thus my GAS) diminished, because the OT revitalized all of my existing gear. Let’s say you want to go nuts making a crazy FM drum pattern with all 6 tracks of the Monomachine. Sample it into the OT and chop and mangle it into whatever you like, thus freeing your Mono for synth duties.
I took another look at your setup, and while I know you are keen on more drums, you need them like a hole in the head 
…I’ve got the same problem, but can’t force myself to purge. Anyhow, with that in mind, I would suggest you go for the Blofeld, since it’s probably the best bang for your buck-and it seems like the one you want the most.
You make incredibly valid points. So I should probably explain a bit more, as I don’t want you to think I am dismissing them…
Well, it mostly has to do with my live pa style.
I compose things on single Elektron sequencers, and then mix them together live for performance, a bit like a multi-track dj mix. So Rytm is a “deck”, A4 + ND1 combine to make a “deck”, and MnM is a “deck”.
Only about 10% of what I write is on multiple sequencers.
This is just what works for me lately, it helps me focus, gives me the portability to write with just one box or at least one box plus one small auxiliary instrument (nord drum), and I can easily recall the entire composition.
So. with that in mind, I’d like to get some more drum timbres into the MnM compositions. Between FM and heavily p-locked BBOX samples, I’m scraping the bottom. The observation that I need more drums like a hole in the head is valid, but in the context of my live pa style, I think the need has a little more merit.
Being thrifty, and methodic, I figure if I’m going to expand on MnM’s midi sequencer, why not add an instrument that can do more than just drums? I was initially looking at V/A’s because I feel the V/A implementation on MnM leaves some things to be desired. On top of that, I love the neighbor routing of MnM. Some of my favorite compositions consist of single mono voices going through several neighbor tracks for loads of modulation and fx automation. It would be great to have at least a couple more free MnM voices to explore these routings more and more.
As you mention, the OT is great for freeing things up as well…
However, the only way I’d be able to get an OT before next year is to sell my MnM and I won’t do that. I realize I could use the OT to sample in my MnM compositions, but I’ve got some bookings coming soon, and it would just make much more sense to wait until January before I mix things up with an OT. I’m getting married in 2 months, and just got back from a couple weeks in Europe and Turkey. All my earnings, save for a few hundred that I’m allotting toward MnM expansion, are going to the last bills of the wedding.
In the end, it’s procedure (live pa style), combined with circumstance that has me holding off on the OT. But be assured, I am only holding off, and not dismissing the OT. I’ve already read the manual, and am sure it will offer much flexibility to my compositions and performances, but it will have to wait, unfortunately.
And I think that you and energyovertime are both right. Blofeld is the way forward, at this moment. The good news is, the portability of Blofeld means I should still have room in the backpack for OT down the road, and may not have to choose between what stays and goes to gigs.
Update.
So I’ve been trying out a friend’s Blofeld/SL for the last couple weeks.
It’s a powerful solution, no doubt, but I’m not 100% sold on it yet.
I’ve managed to write a few solid tracks with it, and it is certainly capable, but there’s been a lot of process of discovery within that workflow so it hasn’t been easy to judge if the MM+Blofeld process is for me.
∞For all that it can do, the Blofeld patch system makes me really appreciate Elektron’s kit system. To ensure I don’t edit patches that are already used in a multi, I’ve got to save them to a dedicated (do not edit!) bank. Bit of a workflow killer, really.
∞I’m also not a big fan of the mod matrix system for assigning LFO destinations. I appreciate it when the destination is right there on the LFO page, instead (again, thanks Elektron). I can probably get over this, though.
∞It also has some quirks with responding to program change for switching between multis. To get everything properly lined up so that it reacts in an expected manner, I have to take multiple steps. Kinda like the system’s check you see over the shoulder of airline pilots when you’re boarding the plane.
Meh.
Today I used my Nord Drum 1, which has always been dedicated to the CV triggers of my A4, with MM’s midi sequencer. And I’m really liking the sound of the ND1 through the MM’s input into Dynamix, with a bit of delay.
It’s far more enjoyable to edit drums on than the Blofeld. Sure it isn’t as deep overall, it only does drums and fx noises, but it does that job incredibly well and allows me to focus on the things I like the most about MM, which are the FM machines.
I’ve felt like trying to get a good multitimbral V/A to work with MM was a bit like fitting a square peg in a round hole. Sure, you can mash it in and make it work, but it comes with a cost, and that cost is workflow kill.
With Blofeld multi mode, I felt it was getting in the way of the MonoMachine workflow quite a bit, where as ND1 fits right in.
Perhaps Blofeld in Sound mode, rather than multi is the better solution. Much easier to juggle one patch than 6.
So, with the ND1 performing well enough with MM, I’m going to take it off the A4 for a while and dedicate it to MM duties. If the MM/ND combo continues to jive and I want to go further, I’ll nab a Nord Drum 2 for the added voices, CC#s, and synthesis depth, and the ND1 can return to the A4.
With ND1, I can still parameter lock program changes to get some kit extension going.
Perhaps I’ll end up just trading the ND1 for ND2. I can use some of A4’s open steps to sound lock in a few hats and stick sounds, which is all I was using the ND1 for anyway, as A4’s kicks are so huge.