Worth getting a Monomachine?

Seeing accomplished musicians jamming on the Monimachine, it seems very capable and worth owning.

I can get one for a great price. I don’t really need another synth (well, nobody really does…),but who knows, one day in the future it would come in handy :slight_smile:

Would you say get one if the price is good. Or “stay away - the A4 or Digitone can do the same and better”.

Cheers

Thomas

I say absolutely get one, it´s a very different beast than the A4 and even if it´s digital and has FM it´s also different than the Digitone. I have them both and they overlap a little, but Digitone is awesome at FM and monomachine is awesome in just about everything else digital.
The monomachine is my “take to the grave” synth. But, it´s not for everyone, not immediate at all, you might hate it or love it, but if you like digital it´s a must-have.

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MM has greater range than A4 or DN. Requires a lot more effort to make it sound big / punchy / warm, but you might be surprised how quickly you can dial in an analogue-sounding monosynth tone with plenty of bass.

The MM’s routing and FX system means it’s a big bag of tricks. It’s a very accomplished 6-note polysynth if you want it to be. And it has a few certain timbres that are totally unique, that are impossible to recreate on other synths or in software. This is down to the way the synth and fx algorithms work, especially when you slide or interpolate the values. It’s a kind of fizzy/tearing/metallic tone.

It’s my favourite synth, but it’s definitely not for everyone.

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i would say definitely get one if you can, even if it’s going to stay somewhere in the corner :smiley: (which won’t probably happen)
it’s a really capable and versatile machine. this might help as well :smile_cat:

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I love it… It’s one of the most inspiring pieces of gear I own. It’s my second box after the MD, both of which I got a few months ago. Every time I sit down with it something magical and new happens like I’ve never heard. I also use it to create backing tracks for my gigs where I play covers. Here, take a look:

Every track having its own dedicated delay and being able to send an LFO to any of those parameters, or p lock any of them is really great. Being able to make chords with the ensemble machines via clever p locking is also great. The arp is fun.

When I got it I sat down with the manual going back and forth–reading and playing and reading and playing. Did this for a few hours/day. I’ve got a little cheat sheet on my phone of common copy/paste functions lol.

If you want to know the range of how the thing can sound listen to the first Sophie record, listen to Avey Tare’s Down There, and listen to Autechre. All totally different but equally awesome.

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Like some others have said, Monomachine is the piece of gear I’d hold on to the hardest. It’s a strange box, for sure, but really wonderful and unique. Especially if the version you’re coming across is a mk2 with +drive, as you can load in single-cycle waveforms into the DigiPRO machines and that can help expand the sound even further.

Nothing out there today can do the same as Monomachine.

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I’ll join the happy (6 voice) chorus! Got one a few months ago, and while I am not in any way very deep into it yet, it’s one of the most fun and original synths I’ve owned. I am in no way always in control of things, but just as with the MD, it’s a beautiful box of happy accidents. Sound great in it’s very own way too.

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It’s still my favorite Elektron box. Give me a mklll that changes nothing other than the new sequencer stuff and I’d buy it again in a heartbeat, I already have 2 :cowboy_hat_face:

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Just in case you haven’t seen this…insane 46 minute set using only the MonoMachine

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I’d like to know if one could consider a digitakt + digitone as a kind of makeshift monomachine (single cycles aka digipro engine in digitakt + fm in digitone) or am i hallucinating. obviously minus the vo-6

…and a bit of sampling maybe? :scream:

one would probably get close to it but mm…maybe not tooo much as probably won’t have the same amount of machines and the routing flexibility the MM has

Bbox machine with user samples would be killer.
And 12 tracks! All would be gold.

12 tracks?!? I have a hard enough time filling up all 6 sometimes! 8 or 10 sounds nice, though…

New, juicy reverbs, flanges and choruses would be oh-so-sweet. Though I’m partial to the FX on the MnM as is :wink: If we had FX that somehow didn’t take up individual tracks then there would be no need for more than 6 or 8 tracks imo.

But we can dream…

12 tracks so you can have an effect for each instrument! I loooove the way the neighbor tracks work for sound design.

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Yeah I like the neighbor tracks too…I just end up not using them all that often on account of them taking up a whole track and all. Usually have a reverb send set up on track 6 and call it a day. Sometimes a neighbor flange/chorus if the sound needs it!

Come to think of it I haven’t even touched the compressor or ringmod yet…

The Monomachine is a strange one for me. I don’t use it nearly as often as I should, yet I can’t bring myself to sell it. For sound design, I find my Nords (G1 Modular and Lead) fit in with my workflow a bit better. But there’s something about the Monomachine, every time I come back to it, that is so strange and interesting. I have a love/hate relationship with the sound, tbh, as it’s very temperamental. Having said all that though, I’m about to enter the next phase with it, finally paired with my Octatrack, so maybe I’ll start opening it up a bit more!

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It took me a while to understand, but the ring mod is crazy cool. Same with the sync and ring mod on the sid machine.

I cannot wrap my head around the sync in any of the machines… It’s not like a hard sync like you think of on ANY other synth. I was gonna make a thread about this actually

I don’t get this! Yeah some of the static, starting sounds may be a bit raw and uninspired–it’s definitely not an analog. But as soon as you start p locking and adjusting the filter and delay settings, routing an LFO or two… It all comes to life very quickly.

People say the VO machines are lame but send an LFO to their voices and you get neat stuff. Pair them with a flange or a chorus and you’re off to the psychedelic races.