I wasn’t paying too much attention in the Rytm MKII (as I already own a DT and Rytm 1). But yesterday I saw the short video from Cenk showcasing the machine and, suddenly, he quotes this Dual VCO synth (for basslines and such). Best of all, also available (soon) for MKI!
It was a surprise, as I never heard of it. But for me this is a HUGE game changer. The bass sounds of the Rytm are amazing. I was looking for a small synth to create my basslines (Minitaur or such) but with an internal melodic synth engine, that really changes the use of the machine for me!
I searched for more information about it and as far as I can tell it is not available yet in the MK2. Cenk answered my YouTube comment saying that it was going to be available “soon”. Does anyone have any info? Anyone heard it?! Really looking forward for it!
Some of the newer lower 4 tracks’ synth machines are already tailored to be chromatic synths (just dial off the sweep and choose from very nice osc shapes) - the new dual option sounds like it’ll be exciting, so we can use the machine as a mono voice in its default state rather than dialling back the drum aspects in those newer machines - it’s already mighty as a bass synth sound wise
Yes, I usually use the toms track for basslines with the sweep turned of and a bit of noise for top end. But a dedicated engine is a completely different thing, as you said. In the short examples in Cenk’s video it sounds really interesting. Rich waves should sound great with the filter.
Genius… i simple love Elektron… Also fo MKI-users like me… now after tig conditions for my octatrack…best service ever… :-))
i hope they did find a way to get the synth-engine in tune… (drums engines only bad side was - to me - that they were based on drum tuning and not usable in a melodic scale)…
not the new ones, like I said, these were specifically set up to play VERY nicely chromatically
the only thing you need to know is that the tuning is in 1/4tones for the engines, so to get an octave in the source osc you dial +24
but the default tuning is a C and they do play properly in chromatic mode
some of the new machines introduce stunning oscillator shapes at their core, all lovely through the multi mode filter
maybe the new D VCO has more regular shape options, but those in the newer BD/SD track machines are nice - the older ones do not work as well without a bit of tinkering as you mentioned
The issue I find with the current synthesis methods is that it is very hard to get higher pitched sounds. The decay of the engines get really short when high pitches are used. Hope this engine solves that as well.
but that’s just for the resonant filter iirc - you can max the release on the various machines and then use the filter/amp to shape
but it’s definitely going to be a better machine for sure, keen to see the parameter options (and how the oscs interact), at least the wasted param dials for sweep etc will be set to normal osc behaviours (though click from drums is nice)
Oh, sorry, I didn’t made it clear: I was talking about the Tom engine. When it is very high pitched, the decay decreases for some reason! Nowadays i’m exploring the FM for melodic lines.
but the toms are sorta resonant pinged filters are they not ? - the decay is not by machine design, it’s by physics (so to speak)- it’s not re-codable (plus it’s natural, but that’s not what you’d want)
every machine has nice ways to tweak it, it’s not so much a dissection of the toms (my chit chat here) so much as it’s a reminder we already have a few nice chromatic synth machines
I didn’t know it was possible to add voltage controlled oscillators with a software update? Seems Elektron are stretching the term “VCO”. Are we sure these are not VA?
the oscillators are already there (on those tracks), they’re analog, they’re controlled digitally, so I guess it’s DCOs - it ain’t VA unless they’re adding an additional soft oscillating element to the party
Right now, I use looped waveform on the sample side, or impulse with high filter resonance, to get a “synth” part. This and aforementioned latest BD machines.
There are already quite a bunch of possibilities to have a melodic synth part in this machine
Yeah, I already use it with some single cycles, but I also got pretty excited about that. Maybe it will be more flexible, I don’t know. Anyway, great idea by Elektron. As people is already using those tracks for melodic bass, why don’t make something designed for it?
I kind of wonder if multiple Synth machines will be loadable. According to the manual the Bass Drum, Snare Drum, Rimshot, and Clap are all Dual-Oscillators (bottom 4 machines). Maybe 4 voice polyphony is a possibility? Seems kind of unlikely since Elektron would want to incentive purchasing both the Rytm and the Analog Four.
I’d be happy with just a capable mono synth built in but 4 voice would be even better. What do you guys think? Is polyphony a possibility? If the new synth is considered a machine then logic suggests you’d be able to load them 4 times.
Yeah, wouldn’t want to have to tweak each voice individually. Could lead to some interesting results that way though actually.
Mostly would just like to just play chords. As long as the circuits and hardware are there for a polyphonic analog synth it’d be great if Elektron wrote the code to make it happen. Still not complaining though, was gonna buy the Rytm one way or another!
Polyphony would just save me from having to purchase another polysynth for chords. Need me some Prince style wavy funk stabs! Would like to get a DSI Rev 2, they’re just so 'spensive. Hard for me to justify that after dropping $1500 on the RYTM.
As for the direction of the device that’s up to Elektron but for my workflow the Rytm going in that direction would be dope lol. Imagine a single device for Mono Basslines, Poly Chords, and fully fledged Drum Synthesis and Sequencing!
