What non-Elektron gear do you think Elektron users prefer?

The Lounge Other Gear
#1

Kind of a sociology question here. I’ve been watching the community and trying to get a feel for what loyal Elektron users buy when they don’t buy Elektron.

What I notice people like:

  • Desktop multitimbral synths/samplers: e.g., SH-4, MPCs. Built-in sequencers are optional here since Elektron gear (DT/DN) can sequence the synths.

  • Samplers that sample and process quickly, to use in a performance: 404, the TE mk2 KO, and similar.

  • Gear that lends itself to making cycling electronic music: loopers, fancy hardware sequencers.

  • Part of the community really likes textural, unpitched, or droning music—so, Lyras and such; maybe modular.

Not much interest among ‘nauts re worrying about analog vs. digital, nor any preference for older stuff. Little interest here in romplers/workstations, which are typically song- and band-oriented.

Anyone else have thoughts? What? Why?

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#2

I think M8 tracker is pretty popular, as is some TE stuff. Live + Push is also a standout I think. It’s either something that complements, or has similar workflow, or is portable. Push and Live are a DAW and it’s box basically, and Live plays nice with overbridge.

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#3

Yes! stuff that fits into the Elektron “ecology.”

I totally forgot about trackers, and trackers seem very Elektron somehow.

#4

fancy sequencers with deep programming, controllers with lots of assignable knobs, various standalone workstation type things as long as it’s not called a “workstation”, tiny displays, mono synths upon mono synths, anything that was released yesterday or tomorrow, any sampler that invokes nostalgia. Nacho cheese dispensers, the kind that heat the cheese internally.

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#5

You forgot the hoppy beverage

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#6

Nord

DSI stuffs, especially the older DCO based machines that feels very in line with the older boxes

OTO- biscuit, bam, bim, boum all very popular

Eventide/strymon pedals

Erica Synths (kind of a similar aesthetic / vibe, also serving more electronic / techno audiences)

Akai/MPC - complements elektron stuff well with different limitations and more bread and butter workstation features like massive polyphony and piano roll etc

Access Virus

Any Roland machine with step sequencer, i know when i first laid hands on a 909 i felt really at home with the layout and 16 step keys

and Stroopwaffles :hugs: :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: :joy:

4 Likes
#8

Interesting. I’ve always heard the Analog Four (at least the Mk1 I have) as sounding like the Prophet08/Rev2. Different features but a similar mid-rangey core sound that some people like and others don’t. One bonus of getting an A4 cheap was that it filled the Rev2 “vacancy” in my home “orchestra.”

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#9

agree. the evolvers and tetra, mopho also all sit realllly really well with the elektron boxes imo as well

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#10

Yes. As I think about it, the Dave Smith DCOs and Elektrons I’ve been in a room with (DT/DN/A4) all lean toward a kind of saturated, dark, rough sound. The unpolished side of the timbres appeals to my small-town, mid-American white trash side, the part of me that wants to start arguments or get a whole bag of Burger King food and eat it all at once, while it drips onto my t shirt.

Of course you can also clean those Elektron and DSI synths up somewhat, run them through the shimmer on a Big Sky or whatever … put a tie on them, so to speak.

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#11

:smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

put it here, brother :fist_right:

if anyone is reading this, stereo pultec - magic, butter, expensive etc. it’s amazing what passing the cold digital of elektrons/dsi signals through tubes does. would recommend to everyone, even if it’s passing it through a tube preamp (make sure you attenuate through something like an H pad to bring your impedance to correct levels) there’s a certain hi-fi thing that happens to the mids and highs that i really think levels up the sound. anyways i’ll shut up now dips nugget in sweet and sour sauce

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#12

Good info. Never tried tubes on an Elektron.

And yeah, It’s always useful to think of the whole signal chain as the synth—the instrument, plus any external effects, plus whatever preamp or mixer the signal passes through on its way to the recording device. I wish I had learned that sooner.

I’ll stop here as well, and see if anyone chimes in … good discussion, thanks.

2 Likes
#13

Polyphonic Synthesizers, eurorack and effects in my opinion can’t be replaced by Elektrons. I love Elektrons, I have a lot of Elektron devices but in my setup it’s important to have at least one polyphonic synth with keys, some pedals and some modular equipment.

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#14

Which are your favourite external effects?

#15

If you compare trackers and the Elektron workflow you might find out that Elektron Sequencer is basically a horizontal running tracker. It makes totally sense if you look into Elektrons history. Their first (or one of the first) machine was a SID based Maschine. In „that“ time Trackers were really really popular and dominated game music and some dance Musik too because of its accessibility and independence from experience hardware devices.

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#16

Started with the Access Virus, got my Elektron gear and thought that if I were going to buy anything else it need to be something that does something that nothing else does. At the time, that seemed like the Moog Subharmonicon was the only thing that fit the bill. No regrets.

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#17

Hmmm in my experience the A4 mkii sounds different to the Mopho and AS-1 i have. But I haven’t really gone for it and tried to make them sound similar so that’s on me. Worth looking into

#18

I think of the Virus as sonically the anti-Elektron synth—that clean sound (in a good way). But still with knobs like an Elektron.

I can see how they would totally complement each other …

#19

Is the A4 mkii “cleaner” or more polishd in sound than the mki?

Also—I’ve played Mophos briefly but don’t take my word for it. I tend to think of the various Dave Smith DCO synths as being in the same sound “family,” based on what I’ve heard from them over the years. And the mki A4 reminds me of that sound.

#20

this is the answer probably, I think most people here are solo and want tools that better suited for solo artists, tools that can do more sonically within a single device. also, potential portability and space for music gear, you can’t go around the house with 19" stuff… and not everyone has infinite space for racks…

I think this is because most people here have or had Elektron gear and Elektron made both digital and analog very good synths, A4/DN, AR/MD, so I think people in general prefer solid synth with great workflow/ui over the pointless digital/analog debates.

techno!

again, going back to being solo artist, you need to fill the spectrum, so these are perfect for either solo weirdness for the soul or to fill gaps in the track.
and drones, people love drones and these are perfect to just play a sound and mangle it on the way…

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#21

Just half the Voice Count. Sound is great Tho.

1 Like