How do you use MNM live?

Elektron Gear Monomachine
#1

Hi guys,
I am contemplating incorporating the MNM in our live-rig. I am just curious about a few things.

  1. How do you get it back to “saved state” between gigs ? On the Dark Trinity I just re-load the project, and all is back to starting point, but the MNM doesn’t have a project, so.
    (I was thinking I could possibly use some kind of sysEX dump for this, but that would mean I’d have to have access to a computer between gigs.)

  2. Do you bring a keyboard controller for it? (I am mostly thinking of the actual keybed which is really hard to play since all the keys are in a straight line) - I was thinkinh of maybe buying some white stickers to mark the white keys - which would make it a little more visual at least. Or, maybe hooking it up to my Beatstep Pro, or a keyboard - but that means one more thing to carry. - Any thoughts?

  3. Since it doesn’t have any performance macros of any kind - does it make sense to make track 6 a kind of master track and just route everything through that one?

Any tips are welcome.

Much love
Vegard

#2

  1. Dark Trinity project = MD/MM snapshot

  2. XKey37 plugged to ICM4+ controls A4 or MM or OT depending on the channel I choose (immediate switch on the XKey side).
    (MM keys = no velocity.)

  3. Routing is the key for MM.
    I use one for external FX, the other for internal FX.
    Yet I don’t have any configuration close to performance macros.
    I should investigate this, thx.
    Only thing I do once in a while is swithcing from Mono to Poly, which is easy.
    This may you solo the active track and can bring some instant change.
    There must be more to do with velocities for instance.

I guess point 3 is the real subject here :slight_smile:

#3

SNAPSHOTS!!!
Thanks :slight_smile:

Yeah, I could bring ICM4+ too… but I am trying to size down, due to flights etc. But yeah, the keys on the MNM is difficult to play…

  1. You are right. I guess we could use a midi controller to make our own macros. I used the ICM4+ and just made some midi templates on my iPad on our last rig. The MNM seems pretty open for CC, so that could be achieved… But agian, for my purpose, I need to slim down the setup, not make it larger :stuck_out_tongue:
#4

I don’t play live often, but:

  1. Save early, save often, and reload kits as needed. Maybe someone else has a better answer here, but I find this to be the least amount of hassle in the long run.
  2. The MNM really does benefit from a knobby keyboard. I personally use a Novation X-Station which can map up pretty much 1:1 with the Mono. The joystick-X/Y pad also gets you 95% of the way towards those controls from the keyboard version. That said, you can use whatever input you like, but I do find it easier to use like a synth instead of a groovebox, at least for programming melody.
  3. That’s the best method I’ve found, usually a reverb or compressor on the last track as a pseudo-performance track, which is more even fun and expressive with some way to utilize the joystick controls.
#5

I don’t play live often, but:

  1. Save early, save often, and reload kits as needed. Maybe someone else has a better answer here, but I find this to be the least amount of hassle in the long run.
  2. The MNM really does benefit from a knobby keyboard. I personally use a Novation X-Station which can map up pretty much 1:1 with the Mono. The joystick-X/Y pad also gets you 95% of the way towards those controls from the keyboard version. That said, you can use whatever input you like, but I do find it easier to use like a synth instead of a groovebox, at least for programming melody.
  3. That’s the best method I’ve found, usually a reverb or compressor on the last track as a pseudo-performance track, which is more even fun and expressive with some way to utilize the joystick controls. [/quote]
    Thank you!
    Keyboard looks to be a solution :slight_smile:
#6

I used a Qunexus keyboard with the MNM. Worked really well, and is a very sturdy little keyboard that takes up almost no space in my bag. Although, annoyingly I had to bring the MIDI expander to use it without a laptop, not a huge fuss though as its small.

I wrote patches knowing exactly what I wished to change in the set, so I didn’t really need a master track. I routed all tracks out individually, so i could mix and eq on a mixer - this worked really well. Most of the time though I had no more than 2 or 3 MNM tracks playing simultaneously.

I routed a drum machine through the MNM too, which allowed me to do some fun gating, shaping and compression of the signal with the MNM. This worked really well live

What I liked about the MNM live is it being a great master clock and MIDI sequencer, easy routing of channels and i think it sounds great over a system too

What I wasn’t so keen on in a live setting is the knobs. Personally not a fan of endless encoders in the live setting.

#7

I hear you.
I used to bring an iPad and the a midi converter thing to get some more control over my machines, but cut it out to save some space. Now we travel with the following:

  1. Elektron Octatrack
  2. Elektron Analog4
  3. Elektron Analog Rytm
  4. Hardwire – stomp boxes
  5. Moog SlimPhatty
  6. LA Audio – channel strip
  7. Arturia Microbrute
  8. Roland Aira MX1
  9. Roland Aira TB3
  10. Roland Aira TR8
  11. Korg Electribe ES2

Plus all the cables, so I am real keen on keeping it slim.
I was going to change the MicroBrute with the MNM as a “jam-machine” - Reason is that on the MicroBrute I have to constantly make the sound/patch, which takes time - where on the MNM I could save the kit, and just tweak that, and it would swap easilly in the flight places with the Brute…

Not too sure though any more if it’s a good idea though.

#8

Maybe sample the hell out of the Brute and play it with the OT ?
I do this with my tiny synth. OT filters + FX is enough to bring some life to the sample I’d say.

#9

Connect to the stage mixer, bring the volume up, press play, tear down the walls! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

#10

you could definitely have some fun and it might offer something different in sound to your setup which looks mostly analogue… that can be a good or bad thing, depending on what you’re looking for

i’d always suggest to keep a live setup as simple as you dare… somehow i always got the best results when i was only playing live with a limited setup

#11

I agree - I always make out live rigs playable-drunk!

Anyhow, I am allready considering getting rid of the MNM - whatever I do to it, I can’t get it to sound anything but cheap, and after using the A4, AR and Octatrack extensively, it just feel like a let down to me.

I might be wrong, but, everything just seems a little bit more cumbersome and less intuitive on this machine. I’ve gone through a few demos from Lem which sound ok, but it still sounds a bit “weak” or something… I don’t know, I thought I would love it, I’ve tried to love it… but… it just sounds “dated” rather than “old” to me…

I know a lot of people love it though… Just don’t think it will get much use from me. So I think it will go up for trade. And of course the bastards at Elektron dropped the price on it, just a month or two after I bought it… haha!

Thanks for all input guys… Oh, and I might be looking for a System1 or a Minilogue for some kind of trade deal, if anyone is interested… :slight_smile:

#12

I hear you.
I used to bring an iPad and the a midi converter thing to get some more control over my machines, but cut it out to save some space. Now we travel with the following:

  1. Elektron Octatrack
  2. Elektron Analog4
  3. Elektron Analog Rytm
  4. Hardwire – stomp boxes
  5. Moog SlimPhatty
  6. LA Audio – channel strip
  7. Arturia Microbrute
  8. Roland Aira MX1
  9. Roland Aira TB3
  10. Roland Aira TR8
  11. Korg Electribe ES2

Plus all the cables, so I am real keen on keeping it slim.
I was going to change the MicroBrute with the MNM as a “jam-machine” - Reason is that on the MicroBrute I have to constantly make the sound/patch, which takes time - where on the MNM I could save the kit, and just tweak that, and it would swap easilly in the flight places with the Brute…

Not too sure though any more if it’s a good idea though.
[/quote]
geez, that’s an insane live setup. I get upset taking 2 desktop boxes and a controller keyboard. Surely if you wanted to you could reduce that heaps. 1 drum machine 1 lead machine with keys, 1 bassline seq, 1 sampler, plus effects. Not that I would complain if i went out to see someone play live with that kind of kit.

#13

I hear you.
I used to bring an iPad and the a midi converter thing to get some more control over my machines, but cut it out to save some space. Now we travel with the following:

  1. Elektron Octatrack
  2. Elektron Analog4
  3. Elektron Analog Rytm
  4. Hardwire – stomp boxes
  5. Moog SlimPhatty
  6. LA Audio – channel strip
  7. Arturia Microbrute
  8. Roland Aira MX1
  9. Roland Aira TB3
  10. Roland Aira TR8
  11. Korg Electribe ES2

Plus all the cables, so I am real keen on keeping it slim.
I was going to change the MicroBrute with the MNM as a “jam-machine” - Reason is that on the MicroBrute I have to constantly make the sound/patch, which takes time - where on the MNM I could save the kit, and just tweak that, and it would swap easilly in the flight places with the Brute…

Not too sure though any more if it’s a good idea though.
[/quote]
geez, that’s an insane live setup. I get upset taking 2 desktop boxes and a controller keyboard. Surely if you wanted to you could reduce that heaps. 1 drum machine 1 lead machine with keys, 1 bassline seq, 1 sampler, plus effects. Not that I would complain if i went out to see someone play live with that kind of kit.[/quote]
Of course we could reduce it, but we are 2 people, so it’s not that bad. The main reasons for bringing so much stuff is:

  1. it’s more fun for us
  2. I imagine it’s more fun for the crowd
  3. I am not so good with multitasking on one machine, I think it is always easier if one machine has one task, or is one instrument

All this said, of course we could chop it down. We used to play with far less, but this set up seems to allow us enough control for the gig to be coherent, yet enough freedom to experiment and make every gig, somewhat unique :slight_smile: