Personally, I don’t get the ongoing attraction to Roland gear. It’s just is not my style. But the Machinedrum? Man I love that machine. So in the name of making pointless dates out of numbers of things, why not make September First: “SPS-1” day in celebration of what is REALLY the best drum machine of all time?! 
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Definitely talks to me more 
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+1
I’d pay $3k for an MD before $1k for an 808.
So versatile, so inspiring. It never lets me down.
It’s become my go to for experimentation.
I go to my Rytm when I have a specific sound and composition in mind
But when I have no particular destination in mind and just want to be along for the ride and see where things go, MD always surprises me with a unique journey. Especially using the E12 machines as phase modulated mono synths.
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you should try a SH-5 or an SH-7 or a Jup-8… you might “get it” at that point
This really happened this evening, on 808, at exactly 8:08 p.m. while jamming, the power flickered on and off and my in the wall oven with it’s large LED screen was flashing 8:08. And no, I do not drink. However, my birthday is tomorrow, 8:09.
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I am very intrigued. Care to share some details of your fave tricks? Been experimenting a bit with modulating EFM machines - would love to know more about your approach!
assign an E12 machine to a track - for a bassline, try E12 BD
then - turn the STRT parameter on the synthesis page to around 26
this takes off that attack a bit
turn RTRG on the same page - ALL the way up
now set RTIM to 13
Start triggering the track with the step buttons to hear it.
turn the RTIM parameter
this becomes your pitch
go into the Effects page to use the filter to shape the buzz
back on the SYNTH page… tweak the PTCH parameter and it’s like phase modulation
you can p-lock the RTIM parameter on your trigs, to make different notes.
Play with the decay for longer notes.
set LFO , FREE “UPDATE MODE” to Synth - PTCH
This gives a phase modulation sound.
I use LFOs from other tracks, assigned to the target track to modulate FLTF and DEC parameters as well.
E12 LT is great for big brassy horn kinda sounds. E12 HT is a good little lead synth.
E12 Cowbell for a detuned sound, and so on…
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That E12 Cowbell is some wicked fun. Setting some PLocks on the Retrig, Retrig-Time, Bend (one of the more unique settings among sampled instruments) and Pan, and turning on ‘SLIDE’ makes for some fun ‘metal ball bounding around a tin pan’ sounds.
Heck, even on one single trig, try (E12-CB):
Pitch: 16
Decay: 124
HP: 34
HPQ: 89
STRT: 3
RTRG: 15
RTIM: 127
BEND: -56
Gives a fun little metal bouncing ball effect all on its own. That ‘BEND’ setting E12-CB (can’t remember if it’s on others) makes it fun.
Here’s a little sampling:
And also: modulating those EFM machines is damn fun. Few, if any, other drum machines can make those sounds.
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Some nice tips here guys! Thanks!
Wow that’s awesome! Thanks @AdamJay and @jshell. These are precious creative insights (I honestly never really thought about). Wonderful
I could go on and on about this machine. I’m just over six months of having it but it’s definitely one of the best gear purchases I’ve made in a long time and my only regret is not getting one earlier. I’ve already gotten so many sounds out of it that I’ve struggled to make with prior pieces of gear and put together complex sequences nearly akin to some of my Renoise (tracker) experiments but much more fun and hands on. I love just sitting on the couch with it, working on kits and patterns.
It’s got some surprising low-end too. I’ve been making some Alva Noto / Ryoji Ikeda inspired clicks and cuts with heavy bases and cutting through them with high tones. They sound great on my headphones, and then make my little Akai 3 inch monitor speakers break down in tears when I plug the MD into my mixer(s).
This kind of brutally minimal but sharp clicks’n’cuts is something I’ve struggled to make with other pieces of gear - most (cheaper, smaller) drum machines don’t have something like GND-SIN that can go as high pitched as the MD, or long enough envelopes on their bass drums, nor effects like SRR and AM that can be used to add some extra glitchy tones. Most synths don’t have things like mute groups that make it easy to use a high pitched tone to aggressively cut off the bass, and so require careful programming.
And then I can change to banging big beats using the PI drums mixed with EFM and samples of my DSI Evolver without missing a beat.
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I only got the MD because the last MM’s had been sold.
I couldn’t afford the UW, and $599 for a classic digital drum machine seemed like a good investment, even though I didn’t think I needed it at the time.
There was concern about the lack of micro-timing, fills/trig conditions, scenes, trigless locks, massive sample memory, and all the other things that make the Rytm so great.
But the flexible track count/assignments, freely assignable LFOs, and massive variety of synthesis machines all contribute to make it its own unique thing that continues to stand the test of time.
In hindsight, I don’t know why I ever doubted it.
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yes I love the MD. I’ve been working within it exclusively since I got it and honestly it’s the first hardware device to inspire me to do so
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My greatest thanks to @AdamJay for his amazing and absolutely inspiring tips.
Thanks to you I have discovered a bunch of new ways for making melodies, basses, and effect sounds as well, so I am able to use this great machine more and more creatively.
Here is a small teaser from my last patterns that I have been building lately using only the basic machines of the silver box.
Cheers!
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Just used my MD live for the first time over a big system at a festival, it’s the best box I’ve used period!
So punchy and sits perfectly with very little work, really gave my performance a lot more energy, had lots of compliments on my new drum sound from people who have seen me play numerous times.
Not as easy to do group mutes as the MPC was, but it’s a small trade off for that sound and the live tweaking nonsense fun!
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happy MD day everybody!
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Wooooooo!
Happy 9-1!
A couple tunes with heavy MD E12 Karplus-Strong style synth work:
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Sadly I haven’t much to add and it was my proposal for a day and it should be a day because (in my opinion) the Machinedrum is far cooler and more interesting than any Roland thing! I’m busy wrapping up some work stuff in preparation for a northern adventure and didn’t make the time to put a cool video together but props to Adam Jay for some good ones!
I did take a little Instagram video earlier of some old patterns, playing with being in classic mode (no p-locks) to full proper extended mode. Such a rich machine. Even in a pattern using only four tracks, it was quite lovely and melodic and etc etc yay !
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