The Knife and Machinedrum/Monomachine

Elektron Gear
#1

This may be old news, but I am still obsessed with the album Silent Shout by The Knife. I wanted their sound as my jumping-off point, so many years ago I bought the MD/MM combo. (I’ve since sold the MM and sort of regret it, don’t yell I had my reasons.)

Anyway the point of this post is to ask if anyone knows, how they might have produced entire tracks with these devices? There are of course many ways to go, but listening to the tracks, I would guess that programmed patterns were used in combination with desktop-sequenced CC automation for flourishes and transitions and stuff. There are definitely a multitude of beats featured, with plenty of variation, so one wonders if they were really all programmed as patterns, but they definitely sound like they contain P-locks. So the thing is, there has never been a clear-cut way to queue patterns on Elektron devices via a desktop sequencer that doesn’t have workflow-killing tradeoffs, so I wonder how they did it. Was it Song Mode, with MM slaved to the MD, with the DAW also slaved to the MD, contributing automation. Or did they sequence it all in a DAW, perhaps recreating patterns “prototyped” on the machines. (Does anyone do that??) Or maybe all the transitions were done as live performance in Song Mode using CTRL-8P, but some rolls and things added “in post”. What’s most likely?

I would kill for some insight, but I bet if you asked Olof or Karen directly they wouldn’t even remember…

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Topline synth, The Knife Like a pen
#2

I’d be interested to have more insight as well. The Knife the Silent Shout album were the sole reason I initially got into Elektron gear, i.e. Machinedrum and Monomachine. Not a whole lot of information available online on how they made the album though. Would love to learn more!

Lots more talk about Autechre and Sophie’s use of Monomachine, which is of course well-deserved and may be because of how they probably pushed the MnM further than The Knife.

Still, Silent Shout for me is one of the best albums ever and certainly part of my musical DNA.

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#3

Reminded me of this talk…
https://www.elektronauts.com/talk/46

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#4

…many big recording artists use elektron gear…
…to craft their sound and ideas…and RECORD all that ear candy they created with it…
…to THEN FINISH an album…

#5

Not a fan of The Knife’s other albums but Silent Shout is an outstanding under every point of view.

#6

had heard of the group but never actually listened to silent shout
checking it out now…

great interview too @LyingDalai thanks for sharing

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#7

LOTS of Nord Lead on that album too…

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#8

Previously on Elektronauts:

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#9

I don’t recall where I read it because it was 15 years ago and Google isn’t returning the results I’m after… but I definitely remember an interview where dude said drums were all MD, all the synths and vocal processing were in FM8. so don’t be remiss that you got rid of your MnM! grab a copy of FM8 (or better yet, a Digitone) and have at it!

a lot of their sound is that they actually ran the MD and FM8 through pro level desks that you’re likely not going to be anywhere near. but the point is: multi-track it and use effects/EQ as needed. and I highly doubt they did song mode or anything super involved. they probably sketched it out by grabbing patterns they jammed on, then cut and pasted them around, same as anybody else. they’re not interested in the performance for the record (the record IS the performance), so doing each song front-to-back (even with vocals) is unlikely.

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#10

After this post and a little talking over it with my (ridiculously multi-talented) roommate, this is how I started going about things as a rule and I’m finally finishing tracks.

But after I finish tracks, I go back and make a live-friendly version. This involves Session mode in Ableton, creating scenes that loop endlessly, and a footswitch that launches the last launched scene + 2. (See how that works? Every song done this way is always linear-loop-linear-loop…) Generally they’re made up of ‘sanitized’ audio clips from the album version but I know there is the potential for MIDI clips too. Audio clips are definitely simpler.

As I learn about live electronic music performance I jump back and forth between a DJ mindset and a songwriter mindset. Ultimately I didn’t want to be a DJ, but that is a potential way to make money since it is so “easy” to generate hours of dance music with a handful of beats on a couple of devices and knobs to tweak. I am starting to realize that as a currently one-man band, pre-recorded tracks requiring little interaction will be the default since what I really want is to be singing and playing the keys or banging a drum. It is nice to go experimental and solo for a bit on a groovebox, turning knobs and muting things but in honesty I don’t think that’s what I want the star of the show to be. I used to get myself in knots wondering what should be prerecorded, what should be live, etc.

Ultimately I think I hope for a bandmate or collaborators. Since I feel that music generated directly by human beings is more alive / powerful. For now that feeling has to be “faked”.

I like the idea of making the meat of the beat (transitions and all) fixed, and then adding supplemental rhythm and loops impromptu. Would be cool to get a second person to do it live though, every performance a little different…

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#11

Here you go :slight_smile:

https://web.archive.org/web/20080128003204/http://remixmag.com/artists/remix_knife/

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#12

“While The Knife has certainly improved leaps and bounds in the realm of production, their core gear is still limited to only a few key elements: Steinberg Cubase, the Swedish-made Elektron Machinedrum SPS-1, Native Instruments FM7 soft synth, Casio RP-1 Rapman synth, Roland SH-101 synth and the Boss Voice Transformer. “

#13
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#14

Curious omission of the MnM. Also no mention of the Nord Lead2, which is all over that album (factory presets)…

#15

Same. This was how I discovered the machinedrum. The Fever Ray album specifically. Silent Shout is also top notch.

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Fever Ray / The Knife
#16

interesting and awesome to learn so many of us are linked by this album/band/artist :wink:

one thing i think i remember them saying is that it was a lot of work programming the grooveboxes.

the creative process is weird. and with the way synthesizers and related hardware are made, you have to feel your way so much that it can be impossible to pin down exactly how you made something.

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