Which to buy?!

Elektron Gear
#1

Hello all. First time poster, and newish to the world of groove boxes and elektron gear. I imagine this question has been asked before but here goes.

I want a brain for my Dawless setup, I am looking for either the Syntakt/octatrack/analog rhythm to complete my setup.

The music I want to make is improvising techno live, changing the sound as I go and having fun. I have a history of buying the wrong thing so thought I’d check here first. The box I buy will be used for the main rhythm/body of the sound.

Thanks all.

#2

my favorite is the octatrack but tbh I always suggest going for a digi sized box first. hence I would say go with the Syntakt.
it’ll be much more instant for getting techno gratification when new to elektron stuff.
you can always move on to a more complex box like the octa or rytm in due course.

it has audio in & midi machines so is a great little brain for a setup.

5 Likes
#3

Syntakt all the way, especially for a first box.
Pricey, but you get what you paid for.
The right balance between easy and deep enough.
And it sounds.

4 Likes
#4

Welcome!

Aren’t we all haha.

You’ve written you wanted to complete your setup so what is your actual setup? The answer might change accordingly.

Each boxes do different things so to be sure:

Octatrack

sampler/sampling/fx/mix box/MIDI

You can play stereo & very long samples (like hours long), one shot samples, live sample up to 4 inputs (2 stereo machines?) and use the sequencer to mangle them, add fx, use it to play the recorded loop while transitioning to something else…

It has also MIDI tracks to control external gear.

it has the most feature rich Song mode.

It is very powerful but with great power comes… complexity. It can be used at a very basic level to begin with (playing one shot samples a la Digitakt) and then you can go deeper.

Analog Rytm

analog drum machine and one shot sample player

The analog engine uses “machines” which are synth engine dedicated to a certain type of sound (kick,snare, clap…) and you can layer one shot samples too. You can also sample.

It can send MIDI notes info (but nothing more)
and it has Song Mode too.

Very performative with the pads.

Syntakt

It has analog engines from the above Analog Rytm (the best ones in fact) and digital machines from the M:C and some new ones to create drums, virtual analog, chords, etc.

It has 12 tracks and you can use each track as a MIDI track to control external gear (more powerful than the AR).

The master effect and the sound is dope imho.
You can literally produce entire tracks with this box alone.
No song mode.

So the main question is: Do you need samples and is song mode important?

If you don’t need samples and are fine with no song mode, I’ll go Syntakt. This is the best machine to start your journey into the Elektron world.

If you need samples… The OT but as I said it’s not an easy box to begin with.

The AR, I’d say… get it if you want a mix of sampling and Analog engine

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#5

When you say “brain of my DAWless setup”, does that mean you also intend to sequence other devices with it via MIDI?

If so, I’d take a hard look at the Digitakt.

Otherwise, if you’re looking at a groovebox / drum machine first, then Syntakt.

#6

Rather a thought than a recommendation…

I love the A4 mainly for the performance mode. Creating a pattern, you already think about the parameters that make sense to be tweaked and once set up, you can go pretty far tweaking live.

With this in mind, I would have voted for the Rytm. You can create your basic kick-bass-fundaments and add samples for percussive and melodic stuff. Combined with the performance mode and modulating the sample slot positions, live tweaking should be super fun and give great results. Should as it’s been a while I had the Rytm and back then I didn’t go that far yet with the performance mode. I’ll get one again sooner or later.

You might get a cheap MK1 to see if it works for you as at the end we all have different needs and tastes.

#7

What do you consider wrong buys?
You can improvise with a tape recorder and hit pots with forks too.

:wink:
Tell us more!

2 Likes
#8

If you are concerned about making a bad decision, I would avoid the Syntakt on the principle of not being an early adopter. Discussions of the ST are rife with irrational love and hate. For example: I just got my Syntakt. Played with it for 5 minutes, and all I can say is, this thing is incredibly deep! Or, I just got my Syntakt, been playing with it for five minutes, and all I can say is, the sounds are kind of meh.

Leaving aside the irrational stuff other people say, my experience with the Digitone has been rainbows and unicorns. It is the perfect piece of equipment for my needs. The sound output is amazing, there are so many ways to balance the texture, and polyphony per track is a must for me.

#9

One need only listen in on the happenings in this thread: Syntakt standalone music to dispel all that corny bullshit.