Trying to decide on a DT, AR, or another OT to replace my MD

Elektron Gear
#1

I am def. decided on selling my MDUW+. After having it for over a year, I’ve realized it just doesn’t do it for me. However, I’m starting to struggle with what I should replace it with, and so I figured I’d ask y’all. I have a MM, A4, and OT. I plan on using those 3 boxes plus possibly a 4th for live shows. The MM and A4 would be melodies and FX, and the OT would be samples (melodic/percussive for more organic sound). I’m considering getting another OT, DT, or AR to act as JUST a drum machine. Here are my thoughts.

AR:
Pros: Dope drum synthesis. Sample layering. Individual outs. Great sequencer. COnditional trigs
Cons: Mono samples. Not much sample editing on board. Pain in the ass sample transfer (from what I’ve heard from others). No live sampling. No external sequencing (means I can’t program a dope pattern and then record it to my DAW for later tweaking, which I love doing with my MM and OT). Limited FX. 1GB drive.

OT:
Pros: MIDI Out. Great sequencing. Sampling mangling and recording. I already love my current OT. As much space as the CF card can handle.
Cons: No conditional trigs!!! Only 4 outputs. No synthesis. 1GB drive. Can’t put delay/reverb on the first FX slot.

DT:
Pros: Conditional trigs. Great screen. Small footprint. CTRL-ALL
Cons: No song mode (I’d need this for my live sets). Mono samples. No individual outs. No synthesis. 1GB drive. No individual FX (esp. delay/reverb).

I love my OT and with all the samples I have (from the AR, MD, and other stuff), I’d basically have a dedicated drum sampler/sequencer that I could resample and go nuts with it. The DT seems great because of the conditional trigs, which I love on my A4, but the other limitations make me wonder if it’s to expensive for what it is given that the OT prices have come down so much. While I am selling the MD, if the DT incorporated the MD synthesis, I think I’d pick it up simply because I hate the SRR to 12bit on the MD. The AR seems like my first choice as I love sound design, but I wonder if I’ll be underwhelmed with the sample aspect of it. I can accept that I won’t be doing live sampling with it.

I’m sure I’ll get a plethora of different opinions here, so I’d appreciate people providing reasons for their opinions.

Thanks!

#3

I sold my AR in order to get a DT and it was the right decision for me. The pros outweighed the cons. Mostly, direct sampling and MIDI sequencing. True, the DT has no “synthesis” per se, but the sound shaping options are pretty deep making it feel like a synth if you want. You forgot a major pro (imo) for the DT - cntrl-all!

#4

No no. I mean, I have hope, but I doubt it will happen. I’m just speaking in hypothetical there.

#5

Any reason you grabbed a DT instead of a used (or price dropped) OT? I can do MIDI sequencing with my OT, so that’s not necessarily a need unless it can MIDI sequence more than 4 note chords (an OT limitation).

#6

2 big answers to that: Conditional trigs and cntrl-all!

#7

I didn’t even consider the CTRL-ALL. I never used it on my MD. What do you use it for?

#8

It’s so much fun, especially with MD !!
You can totally change your pattern (ex: decay on all tracks at once), prepare fills (easy filter tweak for every track) or, and it’s really the treat, turn the same knob for every track at once, the knob being assigned to different parameters since you can have different machines on MD.
Can be a FM decay for your kick, and the Feedback for your charley… Only your ears know !
When you have found sweet spots, you can further craft your pattern, or if you want to get back to safety you have the instant reload combo just under your finger !

Today still, MD is a very powerful box.
Together with a DT, you can get your precious conditional trigs and microtiming and such…

3 Likes
#9

Live tweaking or creating quick interesting variations on a pattern. I play live, so in order to give up the AR (scenes, performance macros) I needed something to replace those. And I like cntrl-all better because its more spontaneous and doesn’t require setting up before hand. The cool part about the DT is you can have 3 variations of 1 pattern in “memory” at once. Example, use cntrl-all to tweak a saved pattern, copy that pattern and tweak further. By pasting/undo pasting the pattern you can switch between 2 iterations or reload the saved pattern for a 3rd iteration.

Another MAJOR selling point for me that I didn’t mention above is BPM per pattern. I use a lot of looped samples in my music and not having to adjust the tempo in order to “land” at a song from a jam is huge for me. Instead of having to play a live set “in order” and worry about tempo I can just choose what to play as I’m playing from a whole project worth of patterns. Gamechanger for me.

3 Likes
#10

I’d strongly advise you try it. It’ll be like having a whole new box and you’ll think “what was I thinking?”

2 Likes
#12

Just the tip of the iceberg my friend.

Now go and unleash the beast!

:grinning:

4 Likes
#13

I’ve seen that. Doesn’t really appeal to my musical sensibilities. Haha.

#14

Fair enough …
🖒

#15

Damn. I still watch it once in a while. THE video that got me into the Machinedrum. Still hooked. :smile:
Being the second slice of a radioactive sandwich and not liking this amazing piece of internet. How sad. World just doesn’t fit sometimes…

3 Likes
#16

Haha. It’s cool, and it has some dope techniques, it’s just not the kind of music I listen to on a regular (or even irregular) basis.

#17

Do you need to replace the MD? What can’t you do with your existing gear?

4 Likes
#18

That’s what I was toying with tonight. I set up the A4, MM, OT, and Volcabeats and figure I’ll just sell the MD and figure it out later. I might not bother with anything else for a while.

#19

I vote 2nd OT.

You already know it, and it can do so much.
If its the random you like about conditional trigs, LFO designer can give you that.

4 outputs is just two less than MD, and twice as much as DT.
No reverb on first FX slot but resampling takes care of that.

Of all the options you mentioned, it has the least cons, can do the most to samples, and can can wear the most hats.

2 Likes
#20

That’s kind of what I’ve been thinking. That or just finding a beefier but still small footprint drum machine to replace my Volcabeats. Basically a VB on steroids. Or I’ll wait for a REAL OT2 and not that BS MKII they announced that adds nothing of any real excitement. GIMME MY DAMN CONDITIONAL TRIGS!!! There’s even a space for it on the interface under the AMP page!

1 Like
#21

TT-606 is a moderately priced beat option with a few tricks up its sleeve.

#22

That looks pretty cool. The individual outs are nice. I could see rocking this with the VB for extra bass on the kick. Though it looks like there’s limited actual sound design. It’s def. something to keep in mind.