To Twin or to Trinity

[DanJamesAUS]

I went all out last year because was is lucky situation and had extra cash to spend
so I bought the AR,AF mk2s DN,DT and OT mk2…
I was using them all for a while together while it’s possible to do,
I finding I much prefer using only 2 at a time now
My favourite combos are :

1: AR,AF mk2s together they alone with samples,
synthesis sound locks and features are all you need to make electronic music…

2: DT and DN again same thing that’s enough…

3: DN,OT same deal those too are enough to create anything you need…

To many sequencers running at once with sound/sample locks can get hard to keep track of for me anyhow, I don’t regret getting them at all I just didn’t realise how capable each elektron box is by themselves… and really like being able to focus more and get more out of each one

[andreaslingard]

Favourite duo for me is MM + MD (i swapped these two machines with DT and DN, a choise i do not regret). Today i’m playing around with MM + MD + A4, i do like the A4 a lot but having problems fitting it in the mix with MM and MD.

[DelayDude]

I could not handle more than two at the same time. Sometimes I think, that even the DT alone is more than enough. As you said: Minimizing the setup comes with more creativity. When I use the DT and DN together, I use maybe 20% of each instrument.

[reeloy]

…right direction…beyond three boxes, it really get’s hard to keep an effective overview in live situations…

the black trinity is nice to have…but only half nice to handle properly…

best live combo for me these days is an otmk2 that is freed from the basic duties by an next by, led through digitakt…which is taking the cue outs hard wired to an analog heat…

cycles is taking the other ot stereo in for now, for rhythmical synth and tonal percussion stuff ONLY…

my black twins were never a trinity…since rytm is the only elektron gear i don’t have in use…
and well, a4 mk1 and my first swedish purchase ever, the ot mk1, i use for recording into daw straight away whenever i run into something worth to be captured…which always spent the basic elements for new track arrangements., that will end up pre mixed and sorted out in dedicated samplechains and stuff in the live rig again…

sounds cool, but guess what…this year i finally realised, i got too much stuff to focus for real…

[Unifono]

My favorite trinity is OT+A4+DN, cause this is the only one I own
For making tracks this is great (though I’m underusing OT as drum machine + chopping breakbeats)

For live, I would never use more than OT + one of the two. Could not handle three boxes.

[sezare56]

I had 2 Dark Trinities (OT/A4/AR and OT/A4/MD black), and now a Dark Quadrinity.

I planned to used them all together in a stand, or by pair, OT+DN, OT+DT, DT+A4, DN+A4, DT+DN.

Probably OT+DT for live, with guitar and vocal fx.

Best Elektron pairs

What are / were your favorites, your worse ? I’m thinking about working with pairs in stands with audio patch bay as @jb did. @AdamJay wrote recently he likes to pair them, like MD+A4. Last week I added MD to my dear OT+A4. Maid a stand, everything plugged, synced, but once everything worked I didn’t know were to start, no inspiration, and too heavy. [20180320_195843] I want to keep MD, and I’d like to make another pair. Monomachine with black faceplate comes to my mind logically. I don’t …

[CompNutation]

@Unifono

For live, I would never use more than OT + one of the two. Could not handle three boxes.

^ This is what I’ve found.
I played live with OT, A4, AR and it went fine but you’re stretched a bit thin and I think for performance tweaking, 2 boxes is plenty for me. Working on AR and OT for live stuff now.

In the studio I like to have a few different synths to feed the OT with…they all have a unique sound like using colours in a palette…just for sampling though.

Octave One though…

[wouzer]

I use a4&dt, i have a dn too, but 3 machines feels too much on the head.

[DanJamesAUS]

I remember seeing you say you were getting digitone, didn’t know you had got the DT also…
Is that new?

[Python]

Working on a single machine is both the most fun and most productive for me. However, OT and AH integrate so nicely together that this would be my favorite combination. OT and DN is just endless possibilities. Haven’t been able to make all three of them work together on more than one song at a time.

[Unifono]

@DanJamesAUS

Is that new?

he struggled learning the OT and thought DT might be more beginner friendly

[sezare56]

@DanJamesAUS

Is that new?

Yes in 2 months I sold my Micromonsta and other stuff to fund a DN, then I sold AR, bought a DT, a Tetra and a Virus TI. I Have to sell something now!
Keeping DT and DN for sure.

Pretty sure to sell the Tetra, and maybe the TI for a Micromonsta 2 and a Pulse 2.

@Unifono

thought DT might be more beginner friendly

Sure I didn’t have to read the manual and made a little live on day one!
Brain holidays.

[PomPomOne]

[reflektah]

AR2 is the latest addition for me, so recently AR2 + OT are my go to, with a few gigs coming to really see how I can handle them live. So far they have been a wonderful pair with great jammability in practice sessions.

So far I have used OT + DN for live stuff and that’s already a very good combination, but I wish I knew how to make the DN sound more lush I guess? I really shouldn’t look at the A4…

As others have said three Elektron boxes at the same time would be a bit too much to handle live. Or at least you can get more out of less, by focusing your attention on one or two boxes. I’ve already had some frustrating moments with the DN because it’s hard to tell which tracks are muted/selected. Add to that the complexity of OT at 4AM and it’s enough for me.

I still really wish OT supported Overbridge, even if it were just to record tracks separately. But even without that it opens up so many possibilities when paired with pretty much anything else - LFOs, sequencing (dat arp), live sampling and transitions, chopping etc. so it’s a keeper.

[lesstalkmoredisco]

@sezare56

Probably OT+DT for live, with guitar and vocal fx

Interesting: that’s already you and multiple others that for live use a 2x sampler setup! Either the OT + Rytm or DT. I’m very inexperienced with live but would definitely think more towards OT + synth, even though I’d miss the dedicated drums on DT. But in your case there’s the guitar then as well of course

[lesstalkmoredisco]

[toddzilla]

My current setup is OT, DN, Peak, my guitar and a few pedals. When I’m working on music I try to focus on one machine at the time and then slowly build and layer with the others. Of course I go back and forth between them a lot and having two powerful sequencers to control Peak really helps. For live performance I woud probably keep Peak at home (haven’t played out since I have it) and prepare its parts as samples in OT.

[lesstalkmoredisco]

@Python

Working on a single machine is both the most fun and most productive for me

For live I would imagine that’s more difficult for transitions (if you’re thinking of a set as opposed to separate songs), then with OT + at least one other, no? I know there’s lots of threads on other transition tricks, but I imagine having OT with its looping and a second box to Cue would be easier when trying some live sets

[Python]

Haven’t used the OT live yet, but I used to play shows where the DT was the main instrument and it also handled all the transitions (fixed setlist though).

[og_tea_boi]

I’ll be DN/DT + Small Modular in about a month from now(at the most) Pittsburgh SV1b+Modular FX and whatever else I have room for, then I’m done on all the main bits. I might get an Apollo Twin, they have the free plug ins offer on for a couple of months, then at least I don’t need to 2nd guess.

So yeah 3. The Holy Triage. Sampler,FM,Analog.