The Elektron machines you have owned - rank them!

Elektron Gear
#252

#1 AR mk1
#2 Monomachine mk2 (no +drive)
#3 Machinedrum mk2 UW (no +drive)
#4 A4 mk1
#? Perhaps adding an Octatrack (used mk1? new mk2?) soon to the list (to share the place with the AR mk1!)

AR is the one that I’ll never sell.
Completely in love with the output of this machine.
Scenes, performances, mutes, distortion and compressor, dual VCO, sample layers… a live performance horse.
Perfect for my needs.

Monomachine is my modular in a box, it leads me often to the unexpected results starting from 0.
The synthesis structure is so different than standard subtractive controls that I’m less biased when using it.
Each control have some “magic sweet spots” that lead to sound changes also with +/- 1
change.
Dunno what’s inside that DSP code, brilliant machine!

Machinedrum was the last that I added to the setup, I still need to spend more time with it, but it’s already coming into the same Monomachine territory.
If only the MD and MNM had the newer machines sequencer features… (Yep, currently building the Mega Command for the MD :slight_smile: )

A4 at last position because what I get from it, in terms of unexpected, is less than the Monomachine.
It is perfect when I want standard 303ish, basslines, dubby chords, and so on, but I don’t know, perhaps is the standard analog subtractive synthesis paradigm that doesn’t lead me not that far like with the Monomachine.
Probably I need to spend more time and experiment with it.

#253

I’ve recently bought Monomachine, which I put into quarantine for a while.

All the positive things I hear about them has got me really excited to try it out!

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#254

Realised I posted a list about 6 months ago but also how much has changed.

#1 A4 mk1
#2 MDUW+ mk2
#3 MD mk2 (sold)
#4 DN
#5 AR mk1
#6 MM mk2 (sold)
#7 DT (sold)

The A4 is so central to how I sequence and process my modular that it’s impossible to imagine being without it now. The MDUW is setup to live sample the A4 and modular as well as still being my go-to drum machine.

The DN and AR are really kinda tied for third. I haven’t had that much time to spend with the AR since getting it a month or so back, so it’s quite possible that will leapfrog the DN. Similar to the A4 and MD, I have the AR and DN paired together. I love that combination of digital and analog.

#255

#1 AK, i want to replace it with A4mk2 (for portability). Just cool synth, and with ARP can do very nice drums. And this is crazy cool
#2 OT mk2. Mixer, ARP, midi station
#3 DT cool sample based drum machine

#256

AR Mk1
A4 Mk1
DN
DT
Sidstation
AD
OT Mk1

Only have the AR and A4 left, and they are the center of my setup.
Would pick up a M:C if I could find one :slight_smile:

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#257

Yes, I’ve used the Octatrack for things like these, and I don’t hate it by any means. It’s alright and can absolutely be a bit of fun. If it would have been a third of its price, I would definitely have kept it. I’m just thinking in terms of the alternative cost here.

#258

Lol

#259
  1. Digitone
  2. Digitakt
  3. A4
  4. A Keys

The Digitone is so simple and little one. Absolutely my favorite one of the elektron machines. Perfect for making music in a few minutes. Just love it.

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#260

Interesting that no one mentioned the Model: thingies at all!
Perhaps too limited?

#261
  1. OT, A4, DT
  2. All my other gear

:slight_smile:

#262

My original list was here.

That’s changed a lot since then. I realized I really didn’t like the A4 overall, and I got some new boxes since then. I currently only own the DN, DT, and OT.

  1. Digitone - Probably one of my favorite overall synths. The sound palette is wide and deep, the programming is mostly intuitive, and the form factor is great.
  2. Octatrack/Digitakt - These are tied. When the DT first came out, I was like “WTF do I need it for if I have an OT”. Then I got one on a trade (for my A4, actually) and realized that it’s almost the perfect drum sampler, freeing up the OT for so many other functions.
  3. MachineDrum - This was below the MM originally, but I think the MD, overall, was a better machine for me. Especially now that I have the DT and OT. It’d be great to get another MD and sequence it with the DT, or sample the MD into the DT/OT for more fine tuning.
  4. Analog Four - This served me well for our last album (shameless plug) but I realized that beyond that one project, it didn’t fit my style. I also didn’t really like working with it, and I didn’t find it to be super inspirational.
  5. Monomachine - I had 2 of these, and both times I realized it wasn’t for me. As fun, zany, and deep as it could get, it was just too digital for me to enjoy or use in most of my songs.

Part of me would like a Rytm MKI (I really don’t like the new box designs at all) just for the fun of having an analog drum machine, but I don’t know how much I’d actually use it.

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#263

Octatrack
Machinedrum
Digitakt
Monomachine
Digitone
Model:cycles

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#264

God Tier

  1. Monomachine SFX60+ MkII - where it started for me with Elektron, still the box I know best and the one I’ve used the most. I love its digital weirdness and routing flexibility. I deeply wish it had microtiming, conditionals, scale per track, etc., but I’ve learned to let go.

Top tier

  1. Analog Rytm MkII - been very happy with this machine since I got it. Has its quirks and limitations but I love the sampling functionality and generally I feel very productive with it
  2. Machinedrum SPS-1 MkII - it’s a classic for a reason… I oscillate between this and the Rytm. Super tight and snappy. Still frequently surprises me
  3. Digitone - Not had it long enough for it to be higher up the list but definitely has the potential. Super clever design
  4. Model:Cycles - That kick machine though
  5. Analog Heat MkI - sounds great, wish I had two. Or four

The rest

  1. Octatrack MkI - The only Elektron I’ve sold. I wouldn’t be surprised if I come back to a MkII one day, but at the time I had it it just did not fit my use case or workflow. Felt too much like hard work.
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#265

Had DT & DN, ended up selling both.

Like DT, not much bad to say, DN was cool but I disliked how the sound was SO clean.

Even though in the past I have defended the ‘lack of song mode’, in the end that is what totally killed them for me.

#266
  1. DT
  2. OT mk2
  3. DN
  4. A4 mk2 (sold)
  5. AR mk2 (sold)

Really didn’t like the Analogs sound.

#267
  1. OT Mk 2
  2. OT Mk 1
  3. All of the other ones
#268

  1. OT - I think as long as I’m making music, this will always be with me.

  2. MnM - Ever since I sold my Nord Modular, I have regretted it. But, I really think this thing has replaced what the Nord did, with 6 voices and a way better sequencer. Love the gain staging and the filters. Just brilliant.

  3. Analog Four - Just got it, so can’t give a really good view of it, but love it so far. Never really cared about analogue vs digital, but for subtractive synthesis, this thing seems to be one of the full featured synths ever.

  4. AH - if I had to choose two machines, it would be the OT and the AH. The two are what I take when I am out of my studio. It is now also my sound card, so yeah, this would be number two… But they are all great in their own ways. Like one of those old Swiss Army knives, each one has way too many tools that I may never really need… But who knows when your out and about.

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#269

This thread is so old … but I was just thinking about this and came up with my personal ranking. The only Elektron boxes I haven’t tried yet are M:S and DT.

  1. Model:Cycles - My main go-to for song ideation. 6 tracks of drums, chromatics, weird and wonderful FM simplified. Amazing bang for the buck and yet so fluid. CHORD solidifies its utility as a song writing tool.

  2. Machinedrum - My main drum machine. This used to be lower on my list but MCL has revived my love for it. There’s no equal.

  3. Monomachine - Sold this and regret it forever. Got an Analog Four to fill the gap and it mostly worked, but I miss the wavetable synth and delay per track. The FM has a unique character that I also miss. I don’t think it’s as digital as people say. It can do both digital and VA. But the digital stuff it does is VERY digital.

  4. Analog Four MKI - Honestly it’s a close tie with Mono. I like to think of this as the analog flavor of Digitone. Both can do big sounds, but A4 is richer while at the same time “less weird” so its a tradeoff. I like weird/digital but I came to think I have enough digital synths, it was time to get into analog. I prefer the interface on A4 MKI to the Digitone, for the simple reason that the knobs don’t have an acceleration curve. Circular buttons are very ergonomic too. So, sound design, UX, but also Perf and trig mutes and transpose. It rules.

  5. Digitone / Keys - Great sound, iffy UX. The screen can lag a lot and the knobs seem to have a mind of their own. Lacks song mode … not that that’s a deal breaker. It’s not that it’s bad, it’s that it doesn’t fit in with my setup. I’ve said this in another thread but if I started with DN and DT as my very first Elektron devices I’d probably have considered that to be all I need. Excellent for experimental noise. The keys on the Keys version are excellent, but there are too few of them for me to even consider this as my main keyboard, even though it has features built in for just that purpose. I don’t like the horizontal layout or the octave buttons in the way of the modulation wheels or the puzzling ability to disable them.

  6. Analog Rytm MKII - Great UX, so-so sound. The drums have the Elektron flavor but lean on the gritty, muddy side. There is definitely an audience for this, but it’s not me. The hat and toms are nothing special. I find it ironic that such amazing performance features are kind of wasted on the limited parameters of the drums; they’d have been wild to have on something like the MD. The pads are … fine. But I found that I’d rather hook up my PadKontrol to my Machinedrum and call it a day. ARMKII really feels great to use, all in all. Might have made it my sampler but … the cost isn’t justified for me.

  7. Analog Rytm MKI - I actually haven’t tried this one but I imagine it to be even worse than the MKII, with pads that, from testimonies, hate the user, and a cramped interface and no sampling.

  8. Octatrack MKII - This one is polarizing but I don’t think I’ll ever gel with it. Don’t care for the effects, or the complexity of the sampling workflow. All the obscure shortcuts. The way you can’t assign trig modes to tracks. How you have to give up a track for master effects. How you have to make choices about what effects you’ll have on each track. The overly sensitive buttons and knobs. Parts are confusing. Limited pitch range. Ugly warping algorithm. Don’t have much good to say about OT, to me it is the Linux of Elektron boxes - fun for people who love total control so much that they will get a degree in the tool to have it. Scenes and the slider are cool.

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#270
  1. DN I really look at these two as one instrument now.
  2. Heat
    ---------- The never sell/dangerzone boundary
  3. OTmkii
  4. A4 mkii/mki (they’re even, one is better in form factor, the other in screen/features/usability)
    ------- sold and not re-bought boundary
  5. AR
  6. M:C
  7. DT
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#271

Currently own:
1. Digitakt. It really kicked my burnt-out-on-music self into making music like nothing else. I went from making a few tracks a year to making a few albums a year. IME it has the perfect balance between features/complexity and ease of use/limitations.

2. Analog Four mk2 This and the Digitone share the 2nd favorite spot, but right now I’m grabbing the A4 more often. I think it requires the most patience to use standalone because of its complexity, and it requires the most creativity because of the 4 voice limitation. But man, it’s really fun once I get a pattern going.

3. Digitone It’s like the opposite of the A4: Using it is easier because of the more streamlined workflow, is more forgiving as a standalone groovebox since it has 8 voices. It’s also a lot easier to pair with the Digitakt because they both share the same project structure and layout and have pretty much identical midi options.

Previously owned:
4. Analog Heat It sounds amazing, but unfortunately it didn’t suit my hybrid setup. Including it in my setup always added extra work that got in the way of just making music. My workflow is more streamlined without it, but its sound is irreplaceable. Fortunately, selling the Heat helped fund a much needed new laptop that has improved my quality of life :stuck_out_tongue:

5. Octatrack mk2 I loved the idea of it, but it wasn’t for me. Its strengths were wasted on me, and its weaknesses were covered by the Digitakt. It didn’t have a natural place in my setup so it was always shoehorned in whenever I used it.

6. Analog Four mk1 Despite the A4 mk2 being my 2nd favorite Elektron machine, the mk1 is my least favorite. The round buttons with relatively stiff springs, tiny and sluggish screen with tiny icons, the slow encoders that require multiple turns to go from 0 to 127, and lack of dedicated buttons and awkward button combos (there’s no save project shortcut!) has completely removed ALL my GAS for mk1 Elektron gear. I really liked the sound and workflow though, and I knew how comfortable the digi- and mk2 buttons/encoders/screens were, so I upgraded to an mk2 and am fully satisfied.

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