Was seeing this video which just came out
At around the 6min mark he calls out Elektron Manuals, which i found an interesting opinion.
What do you think? 
I used to be quite happy with the Elektron manuals, altho i agree that a lot if stuff is learning by doing.
Cheers
I thought it was a bit harsh. Technical writing is one of my few strengths. Elektron manuals are very well written. But they are not written like other manuals. They are not tutorials, there’s no real “quick start” section, and you can’t easily dip into them as a reference. They are meant to be read, more than once, and in longer chunks (not all at at once, but certainly more than a paragraph or two). And there’s not much redundancy. Sometimes important information is only said once, and it’s somewhere in an appendix. You could use this as the basis of an argument that the ordering is wrong, but I think that’s simplistic. It’s a particular style, and I wouldn’t want to attempt to improve on it. There might be room for some alternate approaches by fans.
I agree. Elektron’s manuals aren’t easy to read, but they are comprehensive, which is more important. The answer is always in there somewhere. The problem is when you’re new to the devices and their terminology I think, so it’s hard to recognise the section you need.
Elektron manuals are extremely clear and easy to follow, never had any issue with them.
I might argue that the answer isn’t necessarily always there. My specific gripe is with the Syntakt Chord mode, the manual doesn’t say exactly which notes are part of which chords, you have to intuit it from the chord names, like what is the difference between Major, M7, and Maj7? Luckily the chord mode in the model cycles displays the notes on a keyboard so occasionally I will grab that just to look at which notes are in which chords.
I have no opinion on Elektron manuals but always liked Mackie’s manuals. They feel like they are written by musicians for musicians.
The Japanese brands probably have the worst manuals in my opinion (I’m looking at you Korg Volca). As a professional translator (albeit not of manuals), I wouldn’t blame that on the translators necessarily as the original Japanese manuals aren’t really any better.
…the swedish manuals are like the swedish devices…unique boutique…
elektron play in their very own league and no matter which one might be ur first entry to their world, u gotto get used to it…
and some get it right away while never take a read, some need some time to check back and read a little, while others really wanna study the whole manual at first in sheer respect…
i needed quite some reading time when i started with my first swedish device for sure… it was the ot back then…and it was a good read…still had no real clue anyways…but with all later elektron devices i never needed any manual for real again…
and i don’t think blush really did…that’s just him talking in pink…
T-Mobile is doing YouTube videos now?
Telekom beats is not new, no!
I’ve never been unhappy with Elektron manuals, I just need more time for some of the convention of the devices.
I’ll check out the vid though.
Who stole whose logo?
Deutsche Telekom ==T-Mobile.
I’m happy they’re still putting some energy into music, at least.
Edit: US Tmob is so fixated on sports bullshit that i can understand the confusion!
Gotcha!!
I hadn’t realized that Syntakt didn’t do the display like M:C. You’re right, the chord names can be a little too cryptic. There’s room on that manual page for some additional parentheticals. Why don’t you post in the Elektron documentation thread a request for clarification, with some examples, like Maj (triad), M7 (root + seventh) [guessing here, I sold my M:C {edit, wrong, fool}], Maj7 (triad + seventh)? My sense is that they actually do listen to suggestions, and it’s a lot easier to fix a manual than firmware.
I can’t sleep so let’s answer this:
Major = regular major chord
C-E-G
M7 = major chord with added minor (flat) 7
C-E-G-Bb
Maj7 = major chord with added major 7
C-E-G-B
They could have added the explanations of the abbreviations in the manual indeed.
On topic: The elektron manuals are very useful in my opinion, even afters years of owning their boxes, so I don’t agree that they are “completely useless”. I read them fairly often. Sometimes the terminology and word choices are a bit odd, but with the right context still understandable.
The manuals for the MD and MnM were fine enough for me to follow even with its quirks in language.
The OT manual did step up the quirk factor by a few notches. Some wording is off, some sentences are convoluted, constructed in a way that feels a little bit unnatural to me and require a double take, labeling Parts as “Parts” is a strange choice, etc.
I think Elektron and Moog write the best manuals. They always seem well-thought-out, organized, and easy to follow.
Roland on the other hand…
Yeah hard disagree from me, the manuals explain everything quite clearly, they are quite technical but I vastly prefer that to scant hints and dumbed down walkthroughs. Additionally they are well indexed and have plenty of screenshots. The Octatrack pickup flowchart is Elektron’s attempt at humour though.
Agreed.
Confession time.
I rarely read manuals.
I’ve never read one all the way through.
I think if they had a few vivid and highly descriptive passages of lovemaking then I’d probably pay more attention.
Whatever though.
Ditto
Ditto