I said, I dont care about the name, you can call it whatever you want.
But giving us an exact copy of the old MKII is not possible anymore, the components are not available.
Fix what, specifically? Don’t get me wrong, i’m by no means an OT fanboy and there’s plenty about it that I don’t personally like, but I can’t think of anything about it that, 13 years into its existence, would require fixing now
Despite it’s maturity as a 13 year old machine, its still received substantial updates up until very recently.What more updates do you propose, and how much more would you think it would be reasonable to expect given the maturity of the tech that the OT is built from?
The MD (and MnM) were shelved in 2016 because, from what I can gather at least, there wasnt enough of a market for them to keep manufacturing financially viable. It wouldnt make any sense to put all that effort, energy and cash into what would essentially be a new product launch if that product had already tired itself out market-wise barely 7 years previously. I’d love to be proved wrong on this as i was quite fond of my MD and MnM, but i also think you should look to the future rather than obsess about the past.
Visionaries tend to create anew, not rehash the old…
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First off, it would be nice if the midi note before CC was fixed. (After I dont know how many years now) Midi CC before note data should be an option for each track or global.
Then a FX cleanup could be beneficial, and then add more and or remove some that doesnt see much use.
Fixing the compressor and the noise associated with some of the FX.
Have the fader work on midi tracks, add CTRL-8P if that is not possible.
Add VU meter and tuner.
Route LFO to other tracks
Swing on arp, add custom scales
etc. etc. There are lots of things that could be improved.
For the MD MK3
As mentioned before, I dont care what they call it, just make it better and more flexible than the Syntakt. See my comments above. The Syntakt to me is rather boring as the sound just isnt there, it’s not even close to the Nordrum in terms of quality of the barebone sounds. Maybe hire in Émilie Gillet to do some work.
Someone with a vision and know-how
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This.
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Something the new then?
It’s great that you as a consumer bought the Syntakt and support your buy, because this the human nature. Like buying a specific car brand or model and supporting that.
But be honest here, the Syntakt is not in the same league as the Machinedrum or the MnM, maybe in time it will be. I think a lot of people would have hoped it would be a replacement, but it sounds like the model:cycles and is a rehash of that same engine.
I am not sure why what I am saying is looked down upon, I can only speculate, but let alone that this is a Machinedrum specific thread that must mean that someone reading this have the same view as me. I am not trying to say that Elektron machines are not great, I have a lot of them and maybe I sound a bit hard in my writing. I just down see why it’s wrong for me to wish something would get improved. There was a time where it was possible to get in contact with support, you could talk to the developers directly, come with suggestions and report bugs, they would listen and say “yes, I can see this bug” or “yeah, we will talk about that improvement” This was of course a time before a lot of people has bought into this hardware resurgence and the product range was a lot smaller.
See comment above
There’s a difference contacting a dev re a bug vs contacting them and requesting that the remake a legacy product 
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Have never tried the Syntakt, but it looks and sounds fine to me.
To me, the problem is not what you’re saying but the apparent sense of entitlement you’re saying it with - which is based on … what, exactly? Just because you bought an Elektron device doesn’t mean you now own a controlling stake in the company. Send a feature request ticket to the devs, with a precise definition of what feature it is you want to be added to whatever device you want it on. Just don’t expect Elektron to grant your wish if it doesn’t make commercial sense to their sales department.
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I don’t think the MD or MnM sound that good.
I’ll see myself out now.
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Never really contacted Elektron in regards to anything else than bugs, they dont really care anymore unless it’s a larger topic here on the forum. I can kind of understand that, it’s a pain in the ass to deal with customers calling in with all kinds of questions and I dont think they have the manpower to reply to everything.
Maybe its an internal company structure where the company is now largely split between support and development, or just bigger dept. and communication is not always easy. This is maybe why companies hire someone to meet face to face with consumers and that person makes suggestions for a roadmap on the next product.
I think perhaps my intention is mistaken, first, I have some emotions towards a company that I think used to make groundbreaking products, I mean, I am pretty sure that part of what makes people want hardware is that Elektron made it desirable again. I am really thankful for that.
Maybe you are right, maybe the new devices and the way the company is run is not something I should support. Guess all the innovation is happening and has been happening in the eurorack community for the last 10 years. The smaller companies that are willing to risk putting out something that might at first not be a commercial success and not to create lots of cash for each and every product.
Sorry for my rant here.
I just wish they would do something experimental.
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Max Marco explained very well in one of its videos:
- If you trig the sounds from internal sequencer Release is useless, it has the same role of Decay
- If you trig the sounds from external, Hold and Decay at maximum held the sound till you release the key, and then the release of the MM act as a “proper” release
I feel like Elektron were “damned if they do, damned if they don’t,” with the Syntakt.
If they had omitted the Model: Cycles’ machines, people would have been asking why they were missing.
But because they were included from the start, some people have this idea that it’s little more than an M:C with more tracks.
So yes, it does include the same basic machines as the Model: Cycles.
And anything you make on the Cycles can be recreated on the Syntakt - though there might be (mostly subtle) differences due to increased precision and headroom on the ST.
But the Syntakt adds a lot:
- 35 machines vs 6.
- 8 digital + 4 analog tracks vs 6 digital tracks.
- 2 LFOs per track vs 1, with more destinations.
- Full ADSR control vs Decay and a Hold toggle.
- A multi-mode filter with envelopes, and a base-width filter, per track.
- Global FX block with analog filter/overdrive, and two LFOs for the effects.
There are a lot of other features that make the machine easier to play/use/integrate in a setup, too; but those don’t affect the sounds it’s capable of (things like line-in, overbridge, keyboard scales, the modifier buttons, etc).
Now, maybe you find the synthesis options limited compared to what the MachineDrum/MonoMachine can do. If they were to reissue them, or modernize them (updated UI, overbridge support etc) I’d be in line to buy them too.
But to say that the Syntakt “sounds like the model:cycles” is misinformed. You have considerably more options for sound design.
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I miss some of the machines from the Machinedrum but not much else. I never made that much use of the UW features and prefer the workflow of the newer boxes. I loved the metal faceplate aesthetics of the MD and MM but it wouldn’t be enough to make me buy them again.
Syntakt is almost there. If they could add some of old MD machines (PI especially) then there wouldn’t be too many complaints about it sounding “limited”… and we’d get some decent hi-hats at last.
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I’ve found this not to be true. It clearly cuts when holding down the key for a longer period of time… for instance maxing hold and decay wont hold the note for 2 bars at 90 bpm
Not asking to bug you, I only tried it at my friends place for 20 mins.
Maybe it has been updated, do you have some good videos you would like to share?
For now I am thinking that the Perkons is something I need to look into, but I am not sure.
One at Nightlife Electronics in Vancouver. Great shop. I’m sure they tuned it up too.
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No one is serious. iiUW can be found for far less than what reverb/elektronauts forums sell them for. If they wanted a machinedrum, they would be exploring that avenue. If they want elektron to start selling them again, then they want a new product, not an MD.
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I checked: if I press a trig and the machine is 127 for hold and 127 for decay the sound continue for the time the trig remain pressed… For ever
Maybe I didn’t explain well… but i’m sure I had some “drone” gig where I “played” notes with infinite sustain and 0 release…