What’s up Elektron community???!!!
I’ve had for a year now OP-XY and finally started to really open it up. I’m coming up with sick minimal hypnotic type tracks. I want to get your thoughts on what Elektron would best pair with it. I’m thinking one of the Digis or the Syntakt. Looking for a small foot print. Torn between samples and synth manipulation.
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I enjoy pairing it with the Tonverk best, but I’d probably choose Syntakt if I had to pick a different box since they can each do things for the other. You could use the XY with it via usb to get main audio from syntakt and midi between them and the multi-out to run XY tracks through the fx block. XY can play arps into the syntakt sequencer, sample syntakt sounds, and syntakt gives a nice analog thickness. Run XY as the end of chain to get the comp/limiter on syntakts output.
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As the owner of both Syntakt and OPXY I’d go that route or Digitone. Either one will give you better synthesis than OPXY has on its own. Digitakt would be almost entirely redundant.
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Are you happy with the sequencer in opxy? If yes pick Syntakt, if not take a Digitone.
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That’s some 3D chess strategy right there! Especially routing the aux out from the XY to the SY’s effects track! So much to play with!
Thanks @jeffroman
I see why you suggest the DN, the cord programer and arp. The XY has its own tricks but I think Elektron still has a slight edge in the sequencing department.
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The DT does so much more with sample tho. Sampling on the XY is kind of basic to be honest.
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I have a DNII and M:S
Haven’t used the M:S much with XY, but love the DNII as a companion piece
Let’s me utilize the chord player and scales, making things a bit easier to know where I’m at musically
I also have a lot of packs I enjoy on the XY, most of the time use those with maybe a x0x or 101 and some effects
Norns is also a really fun companion for the XY, I use that a lot also
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One thing I really wish the OP-XY had is a drum synth.
But I have a Syntakt! So I have been taking ST drum sounds I love and sampling them into the OP-XY.
It’s a pretty great pair! With one thing that’s been bugging me…
@m0ld while we’re here, I have a technical question:
Have you found a good way to sequence your ST from the XY? As in triggering any track from one OP-XY track?
I know that I can play the lower range of the XY keyboard sending MIDI notes to the ST auto channel, but even the lowest XY keys only trigger tracks 8-12 of my ST.
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Hmmm. Like if you octave-down all the way it won’t trigger the ST? I haven’t tried in a while, but I can check tomorrow!
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Yeah that! But it just doesn’t seem to want to do tracks 1-7. I tried to see if I could reassign what notes trigger the tracks to no avail.
I also might be getting the specific tracks wrong too. Might have been 1-5 didn’t work with 6-12 functioning. I can’t remember and I’m away from home.
I’d appreciate it if you can give it a shot too!
I’ll mess with them some more this evening after work.
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it’s the same on rytm as it can only play the upper instruments on the lowest octave and hell yeah, Elektron could really change that…hopefully custom firmware will get there at some point…
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A somewhat detailed log of my tests before I needed to start prepping dinner
From the Syntakt’s manual page 26, on interacting with the Syntakt:
“Of the 128 notes in the standard MIDI range, Note numbers 0–11 correspond to notes C0 through to B0, the leftmost octave (which is sometimes called C-2–B-2 in certain applications). These notes will trigger the sound of track 1 through track 12, respectively (provided they are set to their default channels 1-12). These notes values map to each of the 12 tracks, regardless of which track is active.”
Aaand just reconfirming with my ST being controlled by the XY, the lowest possible note that I can hit on it is an F after hitting the minus key until it indicates -4.
This plays track 6 on my ST where MIDI settings are mostly default, confirming that tracks 1-5 are not receiving note data because they’re simply out of reach in this configuration. C0-E0 are just not there.
The OP-XY manual doesn’t seem to mention anything about the octave ranges and MIDI note values of its keyboard.
I tested making a very simple sequence of 7 notes on an instrument track turned into MIDI, notes F through B, and in the track settings by holding shift and pressing the far left “sinewave 1-8” button I attempted transposing the sequence down some steps, and it did not affect which note data was sent to the ST.
I repeated this test on the auxiliary track, but this dedicated MIDI track does not feature the ability to transpose.
Then I tried seeing if a normal instrument track is also sending out MIDI when it plays. I couldn’t find a way to make that happen, however I did discover that the Epiano engine makes pretty excellent bass tones!
So, maybe we are stuck with this little disconnect between the two.
Shall we blame TE’s choice of starting the keyboard with an F instead of C? Elektron for not allowing us to reassign what note values trigger the track buttons?
I do of course still really like these two together! Getting this sorted would just be a nice plus. Recently I tend to make ST drum sounds as a mix of digital and analog tracks, which is still possible.
We’ll just be short by four ST sounds triggered with one efficient OP-XY MIDI track.
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Can the XY’s midi track reach bottom C by dialing it in?
TLDR: nope…
Unless there’s something I missed, lowest I could get it was F.
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That tracks with my memory. I’ll try to get to my own test tonight. Rough day.
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A follow up:
I switched the order of MIDI.
Using my Syntakt I sent MIDI notes C0 through C1 into a sequence of steps on an instrument track on the OP-XY. 13 sequential notes, TR style, into the sequencer.
I switched the instrument track into a MIDI track, reversed the MIDI configuration to where the OP–XY was sending again and set it’s channel to match the Syntakt auto channel again.
AND IT WORKS!
OP-XY can indeed send the right notes to the ST to trigger each individual track if they are recorded into it with a different MIDI device!
But I think this is the kind of dumb way to do this. Maybe there’s something smoother I’m not thinking about. In the meantime, I’ll just keep using them together as I have been.
@Digino , I’d still definitely recommend a Syntakt!
I love mine!
But I hope my explorations with their connections help you understand a hurdle I’m experiencing with perfecting them together.
Or maybe if you are new to Elektron stuff and want to try it out cheaper, the model:cycles is very good too and shares a lot of design principles. It’s almost a Syntakt lite.
I would recommend contacting TE support, they are fast to reply, you gotta explain it 3 times, but they will answer 
Maybe it depends on the problem, but in my experience, I never had to explain things multiple times to the TE support. If you provide a thorough explanation written with the reader in mind, they should be able to help you right away.
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