Still newbee, please help with mnm

I do have the monomachine almost a year, but it still did not ‘klick’. I have read before, that many users have similar experience. But how do I make a step forward? I tried to learn the different machines and I do like some of the sounds I can create, but what is missing for me is to find a way to make just simple “grooving” patterns. I know there are some monomachine-lovers around - please give me some simple advice how to make more out of the monomachine as a standolone music (fun)tool.

Strange thing is, I had o lot of fun with the monomachine the first 2 or 3 weeks I was playing around. Maybe I was just fascinated with the 8 octaves sound possibilities and the wonderfull subbass possible with the sine alone. But theis first excitement vanished, as I tried to make more and longer patterns or pattern combinations.

If you have any “idiot”-proof advice to have fund with the amazing sound capabilities of the mono, please let me know … I am kind of desparate.

Hmm, my advice would be to keep on messing around with it. Trying out strange parameter locks and fx tracks can make the sound more interesting.

Btw, how you tried the monomachine booster pack on elektron website? :astonished:

The MnM rewards experimentation through trial and error. Sometimes it seems like I can’t get a single sound out of it, and other times I’m coming up with so many cool sounds I can’t save them to new kits fast enough (create new kits to save cool sounds. You have tons of space for new kits and patterns so don’t hold back. Plus, you can always delete patterns that turn to sh!t.

The thing about the MnM is that when you’re tweaking parameters, some of the parameters only need to be moved very little to create a big change in sound, and if you move that parameter too much, the sound can be destroyed. When I find a nice sound, I try adding just a little of this then a little of that, and maybe less of this or that. It takes patience and a passion for designing sound from the ground up.

Perhaps you’re trying to hard to make something work, rather than just letting go and letting random acts of madness happen! The coolest stuff often comes from just mistakes or random input. If you get too caught up with trying to achieve a specific goal (whilst trying to learn the machine) it can be quite frustrating and will kill the fun for you. Keep things simple, try random stuff, make new patterns and kits often, copy parts from one pattern to another pattern and make variations, etc. Most importantly, SAVE before you change kits or Snapshots!!!

As for the “groove” you’re looking for, well, it’s a process of intuitive exploration and happy accidents. One thing that will help you get you there is to think of the sounds in your pattern/song as ‘personalities’ or ‘voices’ having a conversation. Having the sounds come in and out individually rather than having everything constantly playing together can create a “call and response” effect that is very appealing to the ear. You can make complex and beautiful arrangements with just a handful of sounds.

I agree with Dataline about the Elektron SoundPacks – download and install the LEM one for some serious inspiration.

I found the filters on the MNM particularly hard to master. I spent a long time just playing with all the filter parameters with different kinds of sounds – not just the parameters on the filter page, but also the keytracking page in Assignments (?) and modulating different filter parameters in the modulation pages.

An old chestnut for making the MNM sound a little less harsh (as it can be sometimes) is turning down the distortion to negative values. The filter resonance can distort things very easily too – I rarely use resonance settings higher than 30-40.

Thanks for all the hints!! :kiss:
Yes, I tried the booster pack. Maybe I should have a listen to it again and try to analyze the patterns.
I will try to appraoach the machine with more patience. I tend to speed up too much, when trying to find interesting sounds.
I love experimenting, but at the same time I can get frustrated, if I am not able to build up on the experiment into a more pleasing groove or “evolving” patterns. But then I start twisting knobs with live-recording-mode and most of the time everything that was soundig “right” is lost in a second. I know, I should not do it, bit can’t stop. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
The octatrack seems to be somehow easier to approach, when it comes to build patterns, at least for me. The monomachine gets ‘out of control’, if I try to make things crazy. Especially in live-recording mode. I overdo it all the time :imp:
I will try to make more use of copy & save with the mnm. And be more patient. Ohhhhmmmmmm. Ohhmmmm.


One advice from my small experience with MM…it has a lot of energy in the signal but doesn’t have a lot of headroom.

So you should play, as perfectly suggested, with neg. DIST values - Filter settings and …when all the 6 tracks are playing,low volumes

Then use a couple of good line preamplifier or padded microphonic ones…and pump-it back…for great pleasure!

-----i still have to try the 6xMono routing to check if the low headroom happens------i dont think so…

As for getting the groove, are you using it standalone or do you have a companion for it that takes care of beats? Well, if you are using beats then…

I mainly use the MD and the MNM together, and to get the groove going I tend to work like this.

  1. Working out a bassline on the MNM together with some beats on the MD
  2. Get get beats grooving!
  3. Start adding more MNM
  4. Get back to the MD and do more beats
  5. Repeat step 3-4 until satisfied

When working with the MNM, make sure that you envelope times gets the groove going. The AHR parameters needs some good tweaking to get right, this goes for the filter envelope as well.

Your workflow with the machinedrum sounds promising! Maybe I should try to combine it with my OT and use this for the beats. But at the moment both machines are in different places, so I must use the MNM standalone. I will keep on trying with patience. Actually I think I am making some progress, thanks to the great hints and advice!!!

Great thread. Thanks to this MNM noob for the approach advice as well.

jgb,

when you wrote’ make sure that you envelope times gets the groove going’, what envelope did you mean?

Thanks a million,

Needles

Needles_13: Not quite sure what you mean, but I’ll try to elaborate a bit.

The main envelope per track (AHR), and then the filter envelope (AR).

To get at good bass sound, the value of the hold parameter of the envelope is crucial. Good fun can be had when parameter locking that one as well. Do not forget to use LFOs as additional envelopes.

A lot of people take a book to bed before sleeping. About two months ago I started taking the MnM to bed for exactly the reason you have - trying to master it. Now I’m a whiz at it and I can get exactly what I want. Just keep tweaking!

hey all
great responses from everyone
as a mono head I can add - yes use the envelops on the filter you would be surprised at the tonal changes with attack, decay

there’s a lot to take in with the mono
but start with the filter and lush delay
not feeling it, well transpose up or down, try again

here’s one tip, plock the shit out of a machine just go crazy
lowest tempo
play the sequncer - mute the track when you hear a great sound
play the keys and mono is stuck on that found sound!!
now cut and paste the track onto another chanell/track
wipe the pattern, keep the new found sound

go back to the original plocked track, unmute and do it all again for more great found sounds