The Elektron Syntakt made me sell all my synths

RSG · 2023-02-16T04:53:41.611Z

Well… luckily I was already a Blokas Midihub user, then I got an RK-002 to try with my Analog Keys. Decided to sell the Keys and get the tabletop version Four, but ended up, somehow, with a Syntakt. Certainly less deep ‘sound creation wise’, but it’s so easy to get usable sounds out of it, and to make polysynths via the Midihub or the RK-002. More than anything, it frees up tracks on my Octatrack to do better performance mixing, and ties me up trying to learn how! 🫠

x0x · 2023-02-16T07:44:15.570Z

peaceful:

Even though it is now my music foundation, my Syntakt really can’t replace polysynths (although plugins can)…

I thinking of just using an iPad for Poly. The Syntakt makes it so easy to connect/control etc.

x0x · 2023-02-16T07:54:22.401Z

mleaf:

Why is the Syntakt making the DN sellable for some of you folks, does it really cover what the DN can do in such depth?

I also have a Digitone, but the Syntakt has a some 2-Operator FM machines so you can get a lot of FM tones. Obviously they are monophonic so designed for percussion and melodic sounds, but I think a lot of people were mainly using the Digitone as an FM drum machine/groovebox anyway so the Syntakt can replace it in that regard. Obviously if you want polyphony then the Digitone is still “relevant”

Zelio:

It’s like a AR/A4 kinda thing : the ST is faster, like the AR, but the DN is deeper, like the A4.

Yes there’s that too

Fuseball · 2023-02-16T14:28:22.277Z

Humanprogram:

I feel like the Nymphes comes close to fitting the bill here? I love mine, and it complements the ST’s sounds well. I especially like how widely assignable the AT and MW modulations are, which work very flexibly from Digi box midi tracks.

For some reason the Nymphes wasn’t really on my radar. After listening to some demos and realising how flexible it is, it seems like a perfect polyphonic companion for the ST. The other contender was going to be a JU-06a, but the Nymphes sounds a lot more interesting (and I don’t much care for modern Rolands).

InternalVoice · 2023-02-16T15:36:44.938Z

I agree, you can do a lot of this with the digitone so it is likely possible with the ST ( many of their machines use 4op synthesis). I’m really into speech synthesis. Though a simplified speech machine might quickly grow overused.

Jeanne · 2023-02-16T16:24:58.702Z

Once again a few months later, my percussion sounds on the ST have surpassed those of the Digitone.

Digitakt is there for a few colour splashes (field recordings etc.)

Analog Four is for analog awesomeness, together with the ST’s analog voices (yum yum square wave).

And now I got the Opsix, which does “everything else”.

graverubber · 2023-02-16T16:42:28.887Z

I love the OpSix. I’m curious to see where you go with it.

HoldMyBeer · 2023-02-16T17:51:42.246Z

The same thing happened to me a couple days ago. A Syntakt broke into my apartment brandishing some sort of a weapon (looked like an Overbridge with nails sticking out of it), and made me sell all of my synths. Then it drank most of my beer, and read me some of its beat poetry before leaving. At least it let me keep my harmonica, because now I’ve got the blues.

rev_c · 2023-02-16T18:35:34.634Z

That must be the new firmware beta.

Riuozami · 2023-02-16T18:42:14.062Z

Ah yeah that one, it could be

johnl · 2023-02-16T19:43:02.680Z

Humanprogram:

Fuseball:

fairly portable poly module - something simple but it needs patch storage.

I feel like the Nymphes comes close

It’s a pity the Syntakt MIDI sequencing is only 4 note poly, if it were even 6, this would be gold. Any good workaround?

Humanprogram · 2023-02-16T21:18:24.050Z

johnl:

Syntakt MIDI sequencing is only 4 note poly, if it were even 6, this would be gold. Any good workaround?

The Nymphes does have a chord mode where you can save 6 different chords in each patch (and modulate between them) when in one of its stacked-oscillator play modes, so your m11 and so-what chords are safe to play from one midi track.

Overall Nymphes’s patch programming interface takes a lot of getting used to, and I don’t think it’s for everyone, but it’s modulation setup really is perfectly matched for the digi box midi tracks, and it sounds great going into ST’s Fx block, where a little delay-modulation chorus on it always sounds nice.

pselodux · 2023-02-17T02:20:49.717Z

mleaf:

Why is the Syntakt making the DN sellable for some of you folks, does it really cover what the DN can do in such depth?

I don’t think it’s that, necessarily. I just think that the Digitone’s nature pushes me towards making lush, melodic music most of the time, and the lack of a decoupled kit system means that it’s very difficult to make tracks that have a lot of sections using the same sounds. For some reason it really gets to me more than on any other Elektron device.

On the other hand, with 12 tracks on the Syntakt, it means I can basically use one pattern to create an entire track arrangement, muting and unmuting tracks to create movement, with some tracks dedicated to being the “B section” etc. Of course this means some care has to be taken in order to not have things clash.

I think also part of it is that I’m heading in a direction with my hardware tracks where I want to spend less time on detailed sound design, and more on making fun tracks to play out live, or to record into DAW and add to later. I have less desire to spend hours hunched over a little hardware box tweaking micro parameters.

Haesten · 2023-02-17T19:42:12.307Z

The Syntakt feels like a 4000€ eurorack system, just a bit less tactile, but with far better sequencing options and far better possibilities to save tracks

Bwax · 2023-03-28T21:04:40.298Z

x0x:

What drum machines or synths have you sold as a direct result of getting the Syntakt?

The Syntakt is almost the perfect dub techno groovebox for me. Although, I would like polyphony and/or a simple sample playback machine (mainly for sampled synth stabs) included in a future update.

I’m only keeping Syntakt, Digitone, and Digitakt.

Thinking of selling:

Nord Lead 2x rack (Digitone meets my polysynth needs)
MicroFreak (too thin and reedy for my tastes. I can get my weird and digital sounds out of DN)
Boog (Dual VCO and Raw meet my mono needs)
MS-20 (Dual VCO and Raw meet my mono needs)

Mainly looking forward to having less clutter, less wires, and some extra cash for other things I need.

DJSpaceP · 2023-05-19T16:29:52.073Z

I didn’t sell anything, but I don’t use my Circuit Mono Station much anymore, and now that my Digitone is freed up for more FM/polyphony focus, I don’t use my MicroMonsta2 much either.

Side note, I’m not selling the CMS or MM2 because they’re modern classics that I’m sure I’ll come around to using more again in the future.

But right now, I just focused on the Digitakt/Digitone/Syntakt trio as my core, with the Syntakt as the foundation of most of my songs lately.

peaceful · 2023-05-20T06:47:44.572Z

peaceful:

I sold a Roland TR-8S and a Polyend Tracker to fund the Syntakt. After I bought it, I sold a Behringer TD-3 and my Dreadbox Typhon has sat unused for many months. I might sell that soon, too.

The Typhon is gone now too. I gave it a last try but the Syntakt and Digitone cover it. It did not do enough extra and had been boxed up for half a year.

johnl · 2024-04-13T15:01:44.333Z

The only advantage of a 303 / mono outside the syntakt is always having access to the cutoff

Prints · 2024-04-13T15:04:14.276Z

I’ve owned the Syntakt twice, thinking I’d never sell it, but I have issues with its ability to produce decent hi-hats and its lack of FX.

Goseba · 2024-04-13T15:57:07.369Z

When I got a Syntakt last year, it made me get a Digitakt and Octatrack for the 4th time.