It definitly can do what’s heard in this video
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Syntakt is very capable of those sounds IMO
Another compact beat-forward thing. The main driving force here is an FM bass drum machine, playing with the decay and FM decay makes the bassline sound. I have absolutely no idea how to evolve this one but it was fun to mess with.
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Haven’t had a syntakt since 1.0. The new machines are fun!
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Got myself a Syntak again, gonna start using it more as a drum machine this time. Any tips on making steady hats on a digital machine without using SY Alloy? I’m using a synth machine with only noise at the moment, but I’m sure there are better ways.
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Most of the machines in the Syntakt can be used as hihats. Try adding a very fast random waveform LFO to pitch (mimicking noise modulation) or to filter cutoff, and set the filter to high pass with a little resonance. I use SY Chord quite a bit, as it works nicely as a multi-oscillator waveform for hihats.
I have an ambition to make 909 closed and open hats on the Syntakt. I know it’s very hard considering the originals are samples, but I’ll give it a proper try. Just didn’t get around to it yet. I’ve started on a CR-78 kit, but I’m far from done.
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Nice one for the tip mate, will try that 
909 OH sounds impossible to me, but I’d be very curious about the results, let us know!
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STK only - Lo-FI electro
Later add new track and some pads from OPSIX
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Do you happen to have Sonic Charge Microtonic? IIRC they released machine learning created 808 & 909 kits for microtonic drum synthesis, they could be a great sound design resource for your endeavour…
The sound pack with the 808/909 patches is called “Microtonic Vintage Tonic” and is available on their website
909 style hats/cymbals on the Syntakt would be awesome, even if they didnt sound exactly authentic. I feel like I can get decent enough ride cymbals with my model:cycles, always hated the fact Syntakt’s cymbals dont sound as good
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I don’t. That’s a good suggestion, thanks. It may give me some pointers as to how they can be broken down into segments.
I actually did DL that soundpack, and was just testing the machine learning -created patches of sample based drum sounds. Some of them very eerily good, like some linndrum sounds, sounded very samplelike for a synth made sound! Unfortunately the 909 OH sucked, but the CHH was sort of close. So there is hope of at least getting a passable closed 909 hat going.
I thought about screenshotting the patch, but it wouldn’t have showed the exact parameter values so wouldnt have been very useful…
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I would like to say that the ST analog machine BD Hard puts out the most (pleasingly) aggressive sub bass and kicks that I can achieve whether ITB or OTB. It’s pretty ridiculous actually. I can’t even get close with software, although this could very well be user error. Anyone else feel the same?
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I find the same thing with BD Acoustic as well as BD Hard. Both of them have a presence in the mix that I’m finding really hard to replicate in my DAW (Live). The only way I can get close is with a 909 kick sample into Live’s Drum Buss with the ‘Boom’ control cranked. But even then it’s still quite not as tight and deep as an analog kick out of the ST. I can get into the same zone (almost) but with the ST it’s just on the money every time.
BTW I think the ST analog kicks beat out kick samples on the DT as well, so this isn’t just a DAW vs DAWless thing.
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the strongest part of the ST sound is analog subs/kicks with touch of overdrive…everything about the low frq is great.
for styles like trap/hiphop/rap this is an amazing tool for thick glide 808 basses with slight distortion…(and you don’t even have to pay attention to the digital tracks)
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Yeah, I saw a video where a user was comparing the ST kicks to the DN2 FM drum. Now no shade thrown to the DN whatsoever and everyone has different preferences but to my ears the ST just dominated (in this test).
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I think the DN2 is something of a masterpiece and I write on it standalone quite a bit. That said, I almost always replace/augment DN2’s kicks with ST kicks before I’m done
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Yeah, I felt some type of way when the DN2 came out because of how full featured it is and amazing it sounds. That being said, the ST is a beast in the drum department and as mentioned by many above, the FX track is super powerful and unique.
it is tricky. I feel like I kind of need (would like) both the ST and DN2 ultimately. My most recent syntakt experience, after spending a couple months with strictly the dn2 felt a little restrictive. I missed the bp filter on the analog drums a lot, having the digital overdrive on every track, more power in shaping different segments of the percussive sound
so i feel that the digitone 2 is an incredible groovebox and sound design/song creation tool and the most fully featured impressive elektron synth yet. it is extremely powerful and its tough to even ask for more there. they really implemented so much flexibility in the different modular-style components of the new architecture, even outside of the va and massive polyphony and impressive new sequencer functionality
But, the syntakt does have something special. you can get more slippery clacky complex percussive textures on the dn2 in my opinion. with all of the granular noise + pcm transients + multiple filters and envelopes and more modulation and oscillators and ways to craft different sections of the same sound individually and then animate them. and then using the new filter and od routing to push them through the signal path into the master compressor can sound really great and powerful. but it’s not the same as the digital bd modern kick on the syntakt or the sound of the master fx stereo analog overdrive gluing and just perfectly crisping the edges of every transient and pop and smack in a percussive pattern
i guess that could be solved with an analog heat post-dn2. but having the strong analog vcos and filters along with the baby stereo analog heat drive on the master is actually really crazy. if you think about the pre-2022 gear landscape and how many people would’ve lost their minds over a built in stereo od circuit inside of a physical modelling, fm, wavetable, supersaw, analog vco groovebox with all of the rytm machines + more
we’ve been flooded with massive waves of exciting new gear at an increasing rate post-chip shortage and so i think we take some of these rapid technological advancements and the gear that they provide for granted. and i did the same thing with the dn2, because it’s almost everything i’ve ever wanted and plenty of things i didnt even know i wanted. but i forget sometimes that i felt the same way about the ST. and it really does have a unique character. which is evidenced by the captivating tactile punchy sound of the model:cycles, even. that thing alone is a monster and sounds like nothing else before it. i wonder how we will look back on this period in time a decade or two from now
also that hh lab is wild. such a cool idea
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Some kind of Boards of Canada… I should have developed this one but inspiration evaporates quickly and I never ever manage to finish anything…
Straight from the Syntakt. Everything went through the FX track this time.
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Dumb beats from hot rodded STK
(just little compression in Audacity)
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