Elektron Syntakt - live user reflection

Simple question : Do you know a Synth or a Groovebox that can produce the amount of Distortion that you want? There are specialized pedals or units for this. Blaming the Syntakt is kind of unfair.

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Novation rhythm, Erica db-01, Moog sub-25 and minifreak to name a few. I think a lot of people are forgetting, the syntakt still runs the whole bands live set up. I like it, but itā€™s not enough distortion.

I see, this thread has the same problem many threads have.

It wouldā€™ve been useful if you provided one or two audio examples. Others have provided some and guessed what you want, but no body knows what you really want and we are just wildly guessing around for nothing.

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I donā€™t wish to sound rude but, Iā€™ve titled this as a user reflection because Iā€™m not looking for advice, I just want to throw my thoughts out there. Thereā€™s a bunch of empty slots on the Syntakt, if I had the choice I would like the distortion there as well. Not complaining, just stating how I, as a user in a live situation with a live band have found it.

I think most whoā€™ve shown, especially you have done really great things with it. But Iā€™m just writing up my thoughts.

Thank you, but the curiosity to hear which kind of sound/ā€¦ you are missing is almost unbearable :wink:

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So the distorted sounds the DB-01 is famous for are made via a combination of (pre-filter) drive, filter settings and output gain. Itā€™s all about that relationship between drive, filter and VCA, which, to be fair, owes a lot to the filter. Elektron make nice filters, both digital and analogue, but none of them crunch up anywhere near as satisfying (or easy) as a Polivoks filter (or the Steiner Parker type that Arturia use).

If Elektron were to try to make a 12 track groovebox with a signal path anything like the DB-01 itā€™d be a complete disaster. So we have to try different ways to achieve similar results. We canā€™t just rely on drive or disistortion settings, as all thatā€™s really doing is amplifying and clipping whatā€™s already there. We have to create uncertainty and asymmetry, something for that drive to cling on to. Itā€™s all in there if you spend a bit of time attacking the filter with audio rate LFOs or arrange tracks that fight each other for space and start collapsing in interesting ways.

Or just stick a Boum on it.

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Or one of these:

:metal:

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ā€¦ a single track of SY RAW :wink:

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Drums, bass, synthā€¦ all from SWARM. Demo jam and tutorial.

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Isnā€™t there 2 tracks (additional kick)?
Or maybe it is the delay sent to AFX that give that impressionā€¦

Ok in OG recording, reverb is sent to AFX isnā€™t it ?

2 tracks then. :pl:

the-dude-lebowski
I have endless encodersā€¦

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delay as resonator, but put into fx drive:

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:grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:
Added delay ?

@Jeanne Oh my goodness whatever you are doing on that machine PLEASE keep doing it. These clips are awesome.

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Holy shit

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Sounds a bit thin and weak to me.

:wink:

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Iā€™m sorry, i can do only clean and mellow :wink:

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This is amazing, definitely deserves to be a full track!!!
Strong basics for little melody played by this monster synth part, imho.

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