Your biggest gripes,problems and disappointments with the MnM?

Elektron Gear Monomachine
#21

My biggest gripes was how limited it was for the money it cost, how weak it sounded most of the time, the obnoxiously bad envelopes, all the button combinations involved, and how lame the MIDI sequencing it offers was. The box was high quality but the rest was pathetic. I hated it. But then I 'm into making fat tunes to be played on big soundsystems and this is geared towards lo-fi and chip tunes and lounge electronica, which I hate.

tl;dr : the hate was strong because of how much it cost me for a box that looked good but was otherwise useless to me.

#22

I kinda liked the arpegios but sold it after making a track with it

I didn’t like most of the machines, only the substractive one was really useful for me.

3 Likes
#23

The hate is wrong. The machines are ace. People who don’t like it are just boring :stuck_out_tongue:

3 Likes
#24

Boring thin weak live music predominantly monomachine.

Lo fi crap with envelopes that are just sooo unusable (all monomachine, reverb and touch of overdrive from A4)

I seriously don’t know of any of my other synths that can do anything close to that. Monomachine is queen and I will defend her forever, weird warts and all.

6 Likes
#25

Some of the best music I made was littered with MM.

But these are tools to me, and as such I look at them more utilitarian than romantically.

#26

If a tool is good you don’t get rid… still got my MnM after 9+ years

#27

I think my biggest struggle with the :elmm: is sometimes selecting it to do something it isn’t good at. It is good at digital sounding synth sounds. It is good at digital sounding effects that are sequenced. It has a unique tone.

Usually if I want a poly sound, deep sequencing, warmth, analog drift, classic analog synth sounds, or tons of other things, I look elsewhere. That’s not where this machine shines.

But, if I want a digital sound that is cold and maybe even cute, the :elmm: does it. If I want to process something using effects that quickly take me back to my high school days, this does it. It has a sound, which is unique, and that’s why I keep it.

#28

dude did you ever disable the HPF on the key tracking?

check out some autechre PAs circa 2008-2011, MnM pounds on a big rig.

#29

I’m always a bit confused by the thin and too digital sounding feedback. I’m aware of what the typical monomachine usage is but once one learns how the synthesis methods in the machine work the possibilities are almost endless.
I’ve gotten rumbling baselines, dense drones, and warm strings. All thing I commonly hear people say can’t be done with a monomachine.

I think the real problem with the machine is it takes time to learn, and has a reputation for only being good at certain things.

2 Likes
#30

Well, you can make anything pound with enough fx and compression. I doubt Autechre recorded the thing dry.
But yeah I didn’t give it enough time as it wasn’t what I was looking for.

#31

Digitone is out. So…I guess I’ve made my choice ! :stuck_out_tongue:

#32

I agree. Some of the biggest basses I’ve had in tracks were from :elmm:. That being said, I still reach for a different machine if I’m going for “big” or “phat” sounds. I like the monomachine for twinkles and cold sounds. It just gets there faster than other machines I have. I wouldn’t say it is ONLY good at certain things, but it is definitely optimized to get to those places faster/better than other machines.

I love my monomachine. Quirks and all.

#33

I did say I’d defend :elmm: to death. And I still will. But I’ve already ordered the Digitone as supplement that gets me all that modern goodness! (I really can’t wait to sit on the couch with my Digitone and Modor NF-1m and bring about a new ice age).

Still - the surprising utility of the SID machine, the surprising utility of the DigiPRO machines, the per-track delay and ability to do tuned-delay synthesis, the thickness of the Ensemble machines. Even with a Digitone, I’m not expecting to leave the :elmm: behind any time soon. I’m just glad to have more!

1 Like
#34

And it has addressed a lot of what I missed in the MM.

Hmmm !!

#35

make sure the encoders are in good condition. they are the weakest ares of the silver boxes. i say that at any possible opportunity.

#36

MnM can be one of the most insane thick gnarly ugly sounding beasts right out of the box with no additional processing required. Sounds amazing through a giant system.

all synths here are from MnM, a few of them resampled into OT, but most of them are raw

3 Likes
#37

So apart from that was it ok otherwise?

2 Likes
#38

I struggle with the other elektrons like the A4 because of layout and fiddling with combos, the mono is just about perfect for me and it’s second nature; feels like an electronic body part…almost part of my brain and mind…

I wish it had poly per track
I wish you could load samples into the beat box engine.
And effects per track would be amazing.

But I can get around all these wants and wishes with programming and using the midi engine and hooking it up with ableton. Or just buy a digitak to go with it.

#39

that i don’t have one -----------------:smiley:

3 Likes
#40

Have never understood why micro timing and all the new things are so pleasing for everyone

The mm can do a lot of it and more by hand and song mode

I just can’t stand doing the conditional trigs and micro timing stuff on the black boxes - hold, shift, turn knobs…it feels unco, ha. I must just be strange or something

I guess the mono is like some eccentric tripper friend.