OT > MD > MM. Nul points for the AF or AR, so far.
This is not based on only the individual merits of the machines, but also from my history and existing set-up. I started with the MM and soon afterwards got an MD (UW). When I was ready, I added an OT.
The MD is such a brilliantly-conceived instrument: take (almost) all the best features from all previous drum machines and package them in a stand-alone box, then provide a long stream of free new features that greatly expanded its capabilities. It didn’t skimp on pro-level features like audio ins and plenty of individual outs. The groovebox format is perfect for a high-performance drum machine: simple sequencer plus easy interaction with sound generator. The synthesis machines have parameters that not only make it easy to tweak drum sounds, but also to allow for much more unlikely (from a drum machine) sounds.
The MM is a work of eccentric genius! Take a great drum machine UI, and build a uniquely-freaky digital modular synth/effects instrument that feels like having the whole of Kling Klang studio in one box. That’s a tough mission to fulfill, and some of the functions are strained because of the limits of the step sequencer paradigm for melodic compositions. The features that are exposed given the limited number of parameters available are cleverly-chosen. The MM will always surprise people. Any of the sysnthesis methods can generate a huge number of different-sounding results. The trick is to envision what is possible given the flexible audio routing architecture: it needs time to explore, and (for me) a flexible patchbay system to use it to its fullest with other gear.
The OT is different to all the other instruments. It’s the ultimate “what if …?” (for unwary new users maybe “WTF?”) instrument. Seemingly, everything that Elektron learned from people using the MDUW and MM got piled into it. The presence of a ‘Personalize’ menu means that Elektron couldn’t quite nail down an optimum configuration. Working with audio rather than synthesis means that anything can happen - it can be a basic drum machine or an entire compositional system, the hub of the performance or a nice add-on. The price to pay is the number of key combinations to remember in order to use all the functions, and some time to understand why it’s so different from other samplers. I really hope that it gets a bit more development and polish, and a different type of manual. It’s my favourite Elektron because nothing else, from anyone, so far can quite replace it.
I was never excited by the AF. The synthesis engine is ingeniously done, full of small touches that shows that Elektron has payed careful attention to what’s available in the existing market. But I don’t have the same excitement for analog synthesis that many other people have, the UI seems a bit less sensible, and four voices is too few for me in a standalone package, and I already have a five-voice DSI Evolver set-up that is very nice for both mono- and polyphonic work. In terms of user interface and some hardware features, it seemed that Elektron went back to basics after the complexity of the OT: the size of the screen and the lack of individual outs (maybe Overbridge was expected to be ready much, much sooner) made it seem that the design was driven by a vision of expanded market share, which the premise and low initial price certainly gave them. The AK fixed some of this, but I don’t need a keyboard like that.
The AR might become the most technically-accomplished and all-round playable instrument that Elektron have produced so far; it’s helped by having Strom on iPad as a great companion. I haven’t yet heard much stretching of the capabilities of the instrument that the Elektron-Users pioneers eked out of the MD. If I didn’t have the others already, an AR would be great. If I have an MD and an OT, why would I need an AR? I think it’s too soon to say.