Translating Autechre’s Untilted/Quaristice Era (Monomachine/Machinedrum) to Digitone II

Elektron Gear Digitone/Digitone Keys
1

Hey everyone,

A while back, I posted about trying to achieve SOPHIE’s material-based, physics-engine-like sound design on the Digitone II. Huge thanks to @juliaen for pointing me towards Jeanne’s Hypervault soundpack! Exploring those 128 presets and 12 patterns has been an incredible masterclass in pushing the Digitone II into true IDM, Experimental, and Glitch territories.

Now, I want to pivot to another Elektron holy grail: Autechre’s Untilted and Quaristice era.

We all know Autechre heavily relied on the Monomachine SFX-6 and Machinedrum SPS-1UW during this period to create some of their most chaotic, generative, and violently rhythmic tracks. I’m endlessly fascinated by how they abused the Elektron sequencer to create structures that feel simultaneously deterministic and completely out of control.

I’m currently aiming to carve out this specific brutalist architecture using the Digitone II. Has anyone been experimenting with building Autechre-style systems on the Digitone II? I’d love to hear your approaches, specifically regarding:

Algorithmic Drum Deconstruction: How are you setting up FM ratios or utilizing the new machine types to get those dry, hyper-compressed Machinedrum-style clanks and percussive hits? Are you using specific LFO routings to randomize decay times or filter states per step?

Generative & Micro-tuned Melodies: Autechre’s synth lines often feel like they are melting or floating off-grid. How are you utilizing the Digitone II’s LFOs on pitch, combined with the sequencer’s probability/conditional trigs, to emulate that Monomachine generative sequencing where a pattern never repeats exactly the same way?

Extreme Parameter Locking for Glitch: Any tips on parameter locking different FM ratios, harmonics, or effects on a single track to create a rapid, disjointed sequence of morphing textures?

I’m aiming to start from init patches and really build up these complex, chaotic systems from scratch. Any conceptual advice, modulation routing tricks, or thoughts on bridging that mid-2000s Monomachine/Machinedrum mindset to the Digitone II would be massively appreciated.

Thanks!

3 Likes
2

is this some ai writeup? when they were using the silver boxes, there were no such thing as probability and conditional trigs on them…

6 Likes
3

As a side-note: I tried to replicate MnM patches on Digitone and it’s challenging. Silver boxes’ sound is very rough and punchy, and this is not something to be cured with extra distortion.
MnM FM is sort of 2 or 3 Op, but the parameters are quite different from Digi

1 Like
4

I listened to it and I haven’t heard anything in particular that wouldn’t be possible on Digitone II.

I wanted to write OP in private, but since they’re “no longer active”, I have to write this here:

Posting those clouds of AI text is like throwing a wrench into the wheel. There’s now this huge pile of assumptions to process that steer the course away from finding acutal answers.

14 Likes
5

Looks like he is searching for shortcuts without putting in work and figuring out for him self

2 Likes
6

Here’s some glitchy IDM stuff, though the goal here was to sound like me and not to copy Autechre :wink: But stylistically, it’s adjacent:



Edit: Each is DNII, direct-out

I recommend selecting a snippet of an Autechre song, to work on something concrete :wink:

18 Likes
7

Spot on! Just add a random track title like “Scostwm” or “Brkn Fmntl” and its 100% post-“Tri Repetae” Autechre. You could easily upload these and fool people that these are “leaked”, unreleased Ae tracks.
Anyone who enjoys “Incunabula” or “Amber” sees what I’m getting at :slightly_smiling_face: