Using AR mainly as a sample player

Right. I wanna wake this thread again.

So I’ve done some thinking and some research and some testing and some tweaking, and I’ve come to this conclusion:

Even if you bought a Rytm mainly for its sample playback engine, it’s still a pretty powerful device. Given the quality and feature set of the amps, the filters, the lfo and fx, you can do some serious damage with those eight voices, even if there are other instruments out there that can spit out more polyphony and other nifty features at less of a price.

But the Analog Rytm still seems in a class of its own even when it comes to sample manipulation, given the power of its sound engine. So buying it mainly to use it as an eight voice sample playback instrument doesn’t sound like such a bad idea to me, seeing that I can’t think of any other instrument that right now offers that kind of approach and quality to sample playback. The flexibility it offers to shape the samples and build tracks from them, is only matched by the ESX as I see it right now. And I guess the ESX2, but we’ll see.

Thoughts?

Yup, and also radically morph and filter and pitch those samples, and make performance macros on the pads. Analog filter, overdrive, compression. Done.
The AR is sick as a sample player.

My Science Lab Challenge track below was on the AR. It was surprising how much you could alter one simple vocal sample.

I have both the Rytm and the Volca Sample.

From '99 to around '04 I used an MPC2000XL for everything. Rarely used it to sequence midi synths, but rather sampled the synths and used it that way. Then with Ableton Live v4, I set my computer up similarly to my MPC, and used Live in that mindset.

I use a lot of samples on my Rytm, and the Rytm reminds me a great deal of that old sample-based groove workflow, but it is more refined due to the Elektron sequencer. Also the filters, overdrive, distortion, and compressor just put it over the top, sonically.

Because of my previous workflows, I came to the Rytm with the perspective that it is a great sampling drum machine that allows one to layer in some quality analog drum sounds, which is kind of reverse what it is promoted as. That layering capability, combined with the sound locks makes it incredibly versatile.

I just wish it had one more LFO per voice (perhaps in an OS update down the road?), but long realtime recording passes are a decent work around.

I disagree with the notion that it’s the wrong tool for the job. The fact that it is capable of doing what you need, and has additional features, will no doubt make it a unique solution with much room for creative exploitation. Chances are what you’re doing will sound incredibly unique due to it being a less conventional use.

GO FOR IT

The Volca Sample is fun, but 10 tracks and 10 patterns means you are quite limited for extended use. Still, it can serve an auxilliary purpose.
If you like the LOOP sample feature, and the quick pattern changing on the Volca, the Rytm will just feel like a Volca Sample that got into Lance Armstrong’s medicine cabinet.

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I play my AR like a spec’d up SP1200 with analog drum synthesis. There’s a lot of demos made by ponytailed IT guys online and very few examples of people spanking the AR for all that it’s worth.

You could run a track with its analog kick & snare/claps and samples alone - it takes up a lot of space.

Hats are nice but limited - you couldn’t run them in too many tracks in a set.

For the music I make (dirty little gems) it’s a big winner.

On a side note, you should never play an instrument like this in the way that the designer intended it. I doubt Roland engineers heard Madlib or Jeff Mills in their head when they were making the SP303 or TR808.

Hear, hear, to all of you. Very sound advise and opinions.

I own an Electribe2 and have grown rather fond of it over time. And it offers more depth than you’d think, despite its limitations.

The ESX2 is very similar in what it offers in terms of editing. Not a bad value proposition.

But when it comes to sample playback, I’m thinking it’s harder to get away with the limitations of the new Electribe series, if your intention is to really twist and transform the samples. You can do a lot, but no matter how you look at it, the Tribe don’t come near the Analog Rytm in terms of transforming something into something else.

I’ve got a small rig, don’t want to bring much when I’m playing live, and right now it’s an Octatrack and an Electribe 2. Octatrack for loops and other non-harmonic stuff, Tribe for bass, leads, pads, everything with clear harmonics in them. Anything that develops over longer periods of time goes into the Tribe as well, opening and closing amps and filters slowly while the track’s playing. Stuff like that. I’m sampling mostly my own stuff, from a Tempest, Tanzbar, composed loops from the Volca Sample (love the grind it produces), some fx manipulation through a few minifoogers and into the Octatrack.

I’m thinking the Rymt could replace the Electribe2, I rarely use more than eight tracks anyway and polyphony (chords and stuff), I don’t use much, there’s always ways to get around anything when you’ve got an Octatrack anyway, but the filters, the amps, envelopes and all that, just sound so damn great, and I’m thinking that this whole organic, slowly developing aspect of my tracks, stuff you just can’t sample, I’m thinking perhaps the Analog Rytm will replace the Electribe for that purpose.

@AndreasRoman: The Rytm is incredibly good at providing sample-based melodies or doing anything else with samples, and these analog circuits are great. Wait, there’s no A4 more in my setup? I don’t hear that.

The Rytm is THE ultimate groovebox!

Great to hear.
So you replacing the A4 with the Rytm would be the equivalent of me replacing my Electribe with the Rytm. Very reassuring.
Gonna make myself some coffee now, make breakfast for the wife, be very nice to the kids, and gently slide this proposition into the relationship economy. They won’t see it coming.

Great to hear.
So you replacing the A4 with the Rytm would be the equivalent of me replacing my Electribe with the Rytm. Very reassuring.
Gonna make myself some coffee now, make breakfast for the wife, be very nice to the kids, and gently slide this proposition into the relationship economy. They won’t see it coming.[/quote]
:smiley: good luck!

I love my rytm as a sample playback device really if it could do layering, chords and real time loop pitching it would be a complete solution on its own. I use mine extensively for creating long and interesting atmospheres with my mpc 1000 as mychord playback and layering device.

It does seem like a complete track instrument, like the Tempest or the Electribe. Very appealing.

You can use Midi routing tools like a MidiPal to play chords via an external keyboard.

The main limitation you’ll encounter is 127 samples per project.
I wish it were per kit, but sadly no.
And managing samples takes some time.
I find it best to sort them all on the computer, for one project at a time.

AR is very good as a sample player (though the sample management, lack of full project backup, etc. suck). I made this EP w/ the AR alone using it primarily as a sample manipulator:

Like Kotare said, I was trying to treat it like an SP-1200

I’m not familiar with the OT enough to say for certain.
But, perhaps with the Strom iPad app that is possible?

Anyone else want to chime in?

I’ve not got this far into the RYTm yet - is it possible to use sample chains in the same way as the Octatrack?[/quote]
See this thread:
http://www.elektronauts.com/t/waveform-chains/10519

@jamrod,
I’m very impressed with your work. I’ve listened to Grandma Tapes several times since it was released, and now I’m going to enjoy this new EP you’ve made.
Come to think of it, it’s about bloody time I pay for this guilty pleasure, too.

Thanks Andreas! Got more projects planned in a similar vein. Good luck with the AR, interested to hear what you do w/ it

So this all ended with me going ahead and buying a Rytm a couple of weeks ago, and this was the fallout, my first track with it:

Feedback is much appreciated, if you’re so inclined.

All the best, have a good evening.

Andreasroman,

Really great stuff there!

On a side note - you stereo ran those minifooger pedals? Love the sound of that…i have almost all the moogerfoogers but haven’t been able to that great old school vibe. Is it just a combination of drive and the lowpass filter on the drive pedal? Do you have any moogerfoogers (maybe i could work more with my mf 101…)

Thanks!

Thanks for listening, I’m very happy you like it.
And yep, so what I did was I bought an extra Minifooger Drive and put the left and right signal paths through one of them each. So from the Rytm into two Minifooger Drives and then into a small Tascam portable recorder.
I did quite a bit of tweaking with all the parameters to get the sound to where I wanted it, the Lowpass filter being one of them. The Gain dial had a bit to do with it, since I wanted juuust a small amount of natural distortion, and then the tone to make it deeper and a bit muffled. It was a bit tricky, not helping that my daughter kept playing with the dials when I was looking the other way :slight_smile: