To keep the device specific info separated there will be other threads in respective areas of this forum.
As the Challenge is over now let’s share our learning.
ANALOG RYTM
What new techniques, processes, tricks or approaches did you learn during the production of your track?
Feel free to share your project data/sysex files here 
I have no AR so nothing to share from my side :-/
As I bought my machine in December I really learned alot!
Here is what I´ve written in the Lab-trhead already, notes to myself what to do next time:
-Do not rush yourself, give it time to settle and have fresh ears
-Stop making tracks with headphones, it will sound shitty on a stereo compared to other tracks.
-spend more time about reading stuff about frequency ranges, giving each sound more room, compression, ambiance etc.
-learn mastering inside the sound creation machine (AR) properly
-find a solution to record the tracks you make, better than the shitty mic-in mini jack provided by your computer.
-less vowel formants, more bass!
And here are other things I learned:
when you set startpoint end endpoint of a sample it set the sample to loop it makes a nice synth-like sound. Choosing that exact same number for both start and and lets you choose the timbre of the sound. So it is something like Wavetable-synthesis. Neat! I thought, I Performance-lock that. So I put both start and end to 0 and in Performancemode I made +127 for both parameters. The thought was, when I push the Perf-Pad it will scan through the entire sample always with both start and end at the same number, resulting in different timbres over time. But unfortunately it does not work. Sound gets messy due both parameters not changing exactly at the same time.
when kits have different delay time you can hear a slew which is a nice tapedelay-effect. Normally digital effects don´t have that, the AR does. Though it would be nice to switch off that feature cuz sometimes you don´t want it, for example on very short delay times for drums, where turning the knob shouldn´t have a slew factor.
-save your kits often (yes+kit for quicksave)
-the filter section is your friend. And also your enemy. Found myself always turning down the resonance on each sound the next day with fresher ears. It can get nasal and vowelish so fast and your fatigued ears don´t hear it anymore after working on the track for over four hours.
-in the amp section, try to set the hold parameter to 1 or something like that (it is preset to automatic which results as holding it for the time the pad is pressed) and then play with the decay value. Result can be very different from what you´d expect. -> You could also Perf-Lock this.
-Don´t overdo it with the compressor, it could give you those superloud transients on an overall silent mix. Ugly.
I´d loveto read other peoples tips also! Keep it coming!
Btw, here is my submission again:
https://soundcloud.com/tonfarben/ar-tonfarben-sciencelabfeb15-journey
Had a lot of fun doing the composition on the AR:
Shameless Plug:
Here’s my submission on SoundCloud for those interested:
Not really winning material since I ran out of time to go back and polish overall mix but still a lot of fun.
Anyway, what I learned:
[ol]
[li]Setting the volume levels to zero on all synth engines I still had some leakage. Needed to set the DEC parameter to zero as well.[/li]
[li]You can get some really solid effects using the retrig, especially if you trigger your sound at a low volume and retrig to 127 for a crescendo (or the opposite for a decrescendo part). You can hear that effect in the first few bars of my piece.[/li]
[li]Having so many of the tracks auto-choking is quite a limitation to work around. I get that it has to be that way for the analog synth engines since one engine powers both tracks (I think) but for the sampler parts the choke should be optional[/li]
[li]Less is more. While my mix may still seem over-crowded at times it really did seem to help to go back and keep removing things to create more space.[/li]
[li]Play your mix on different speakers: headphones, computer speakers, quality speakers.[/li]
[li]Don’t be afraid to save a different kit per pattern. So many times you edit the fx on one pattern and forget that it’ll change for another pattern with the same kit. I started to name my kits after their pattern: A1, A2, …[/li]
[li]The quick save sound key combo should really be changed to actually quick save changes to the current sound instead of just opening up the sound browser (and most times to some random place in the +Drive). This was a real hassle for me as I wanted most of my sounds saved in the pool and would have to search and save over the existing sound name over and over again.[/li]
[li]When using Song mode you can programmatically mute tracks for patterns individually. You can create a busy pattern and then incrementally unmute tracks to build tension or do the opposite for a transition from one pattern to the next.[/li]
[/ol]
hmm, I didn´t experience that leakage you mentioned. Maybe ask others for their experiences and do a calibration process if needed?
And yes that retrigger feature is wicked! I only miss being able to change the time of retrigger during it´s duration, like continuosly morph from 1/16 to 1/64 for example. That would be a much appreciated feature.
^^^This!
As comfortable as it may be to find a cozy place on the sofa and get into the headphones, unless you’ve got $400 open back cans or aren’t really wanting to turn the things you are working on into a song… it’s rarely worth it. Great for experimentation, but for composition, not so much.
Whenever I compose in headphones, I end up spending far more time having to correct the mix on my monitor speakers afterward than had I just started the composition process in front with speakers to begin with.
By the way, your track reminds me a lot of some of my favorite Funkstorung tracks!
The competition was super fun. I really like that sort of thing.
What I learned:
The delay time change effect is very cool. I used it with performance mode, and it was very fun.
Parameter locks are one of the best sequencer features ever. Trigless locks and slides are the business.
= I have a lot to learn about the effects routing, especially the compressor.
The arranger and chains are really quick. I had no idea how long my song was going to be, and it took about three minutes in the song arranger to figure out my structure and length.
The pads are much more sensitive than I initially though. I was able to get vibrato and subtle delay changes by just barely pressing the pads.
= I’m glad this machine has multiple outs. I use them on my own productions often, and not being able to use them here was tricky. I wish there was a faster way to mix all the levels for the different tracks.
+++ This is an inspiring machine. I arranged a song in the song editor. Then, for the recording, I performed that song. This isn’t something I often do with the DAW. It was super fun and yielded all sorts of creative results. I really felt much more like my recording was a performance of a song rather than a static thing from a DAW.
Exactly, that is the problem. Also in my track you can clearly hear the muddiness, I could have spent at least a day to get the sounds cleaner and nicer frequency spectrum, but time was running out. Proper speakers, maybe active ones is high on my list now.
And yes, Funkstörung, I love their remix of björks “all is full of love” track! Thanks for that compliment! 
Hey!
You have some very valid points there,
I found that using external controllers to expand the input mechanism of the AR is amazing and leads me to creating more musical sounds and melodies, better drum breaks and greater effects with the Performance’s and Scene’s.
[ul]
[li]Connect your rytm to a MIDI Keyboard and play Chromatic easily.[/li]
[li]Use a MIDI controller with faders assigned to the Performance pads, Delay Time, and any other parameter you will want to tweak while watching and altering other pages or sounds.[/li]
[li]If you have a hand pad or digital drum (i have a roland HPD-10) use it to control your AR also.[/li]
[/ul]
Ps: Here is mi try:
https://soundcloud.com/fortes/ar-fortes-laboratario
and a little useless video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd1D50IyDPg
Just to follow up, I got this message back from support:
The three tom-voices of the Analog Rytm (BT, LT, MT-HT) are cv-controlled T-bridged network and therefore by nature instabile and sensitive to temperature. This is why a high-pitched tom can feedback uncontrollably while in warming up-phase of machine. This is just part of the analogue nature of the machine.
That said, we are working on improvements to this section and hopefully this will be remedied in a future OS.
Funny thing is that it is winter where I live and my home studio can get quite cold so maybe that was it?
I often connect my AR to my domestic stereo. That is all I have, but people listening to my music at home would probably listen to it on a similar device anyway so it makes no difference as far as I’m concerned.
But people who intend their music to be heard in a nightclub or concert hall will need better speakers. This is where gigging DJs have an advantage because they may have access to a nightclub sound system and so can test out how it sounds.
(I didn’t enter the competition in the end, my effort was too puny 
.)