Introducing Syntakt

Thanks for the headsup. Will be looking for it. Great machine.

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And POW is not dead. :face_with_monocle::nerd_face::worried: SCNR

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Yes it is like those instruments on classic drum machines. Distinct instruments with several parameters to tune to your liking - within reasonable and mostly good sounding limits. TR-909, JoMoX XBase 888 and the like. The combination on the ST is veeeery usable, esp. with the filters and bandpass filters and FX track. Dub techno, EBM, Detroit style techno, and minimal work very well.

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I donā€™t understand that reference, excuse my ignorance.

Yeah, seemed funnier when I wrote it. :face_with_monocle:You know ho they are sometimes - puns, the lowest form of humor. Guess I was distracted by the Johnny and Ex-Wife trial. Maybe you Heard of it :cold_face:

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  • Either you put delay and/or phase inversion onto the dry signal until it fits

  • or you do it just like the ST - mute the dry signal when sending it to FX.

  • Maybe sending via Ableton out - Audio in ST ā€”> FX could work, too.

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Iā€™m loving the vesa mount, allows for this little corner ensemble :slight_smile:

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Iā€™ve tried quite a few non-Elektron drum machines.

I think the ST is fairly amazing.

Yes Iā€™d like separate outs, and dual mono in. And parameter slides.

But it sounds brilliant and is incredibly easy to use.

The variety of sounds is close to dedicated synths, yet it is 12 voices and some extra filters because why not.

Thanks to the Elektron team for all their hard graft developing and producing it.

:kissing_heart:

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Can someone explain how sound locks work on the ST? When sound locking are you committed to sounds within a particular machine? I understand that the analog and digital engines are not interchangeable but is that the only restriction?

Donā€™t have an ST (consideration phase), just curious because sound locking is such an integral part of the Elektron workflow. Thx in advance!

If itā€™s like the AR, you should be able to sound-lock using different machines (but you need to store a preset and load it into the sound pool. You canā€™t p-lock to switch machines). The 3 first analog tracks are the same voices but not the last one so you canā€™t use the same presets between the 2 voices.

With 12 tracks, sound-lock might not be that necessary (compared to say the A4 or DN). P-lock will of course be very useful : )

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Can anyone explain the velocity mod setup for me?

In the manual it says this: -

Opens a menu where you can assign up to four PARAMETER page parameters to the velocity parameter. Both the VEL parameter on the TRIG menu and the velocity of incoming MIDI notes sent to the Syntakt from external devices affects the assigned parameters. Press [YES] to open the menu. Selecting parameters and setting modulation depth works in the same way as for PITCH BEND.

Turn LEVEL/DATA to test your settings.

So, I make some changes with the knobs to set velocity to impact filter cutoff or whatever, then I use the trig keys to trigger the sound and try to use the level knob to adjust the velocity to see how it sounds, but the sound just triggers with the velocity set in the TRIG page. How am I supposed to test the sound with different velocity?

Is this a bug?

No, I asked for a feature request in this one, but so far Elektron has mainly addressed bugs to enhance the stability of the machine, I think.

Use the M2 modifier, which is set to four different velocity levels.

Thanks for the tip, but it still doesnā€™t make sense that the manual says Turn LEVEL/DATA to test your settings but it does nothing. I actually did a search and found my own post (from quite a while ago) asking the same question about the Digitone, and never getting an answer there either.

Very odd.

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Also, (while Iā€™m here) can I turn off (or scale) Velocity -> Amp so I can have e.g. fixed note volume but vary velocity for velocity mod of other parameters?

First impressions. I was hoping for something like a MachineDrum meets NordDrum. Unfortunately I feel like this is a Model Cycles with overdrive. Not really what I expected. While itā€™s advertising touts lots of sound machines, itā€™s really rather limited, only a few of the digital and analog percussion channels are useful. The synths and cymbals not so muchā€¦ Could a software update adding glide and arpeggiator help? Of course, do I want to wait for that possibility? Meh. Itā€™s a great entry level groove box for someone picking up their first piece of hardware. Iā€™m sure some folks will love it. Going to sleep on it, and experiment with the randomization button some tomorrow, before my final decision, whether to keep it.

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Lately Iā€™ve been using mostly dual VCO machines on 9-11,
Noise UT on 12 to make maracas/shakers.
And a mix of clap machines (for making interesting hats, andā€¦ well, claps)
and SY Bits (for that detuned square)

But yea pretty far from Cycles vibes.

YMMV.

Give it more time. More than many other Elektrons, itā€™s what you make of it.

Re: arpeggiator. Scale fold mode, with quantize can be a bit of a ā€œlive play arpā€, if you want it. And a far bit more programmable.

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Set one of the Velocity Mods to Amp Volume and set at around -35, you you can use the other three mods without affecting note velocity.

Thanks @x0x Iā€™ll give that a try.

Regarding what @android says about the machines, Iā€™m having a similar response to some of the digital synth machines which Iā€™m finding very limited and sound ā€œthe sameā€ no matter what I do, but Iā€™m aware that I have a tendency to get buyers remorse without giving these things enough time and I know thatā€™s a me problem, not an Elektron problem.

Our friends here like @AdamJay and @DaveMech (among others) show us what is possible with these boxes given the application of time, effort and experimentation. We canā€™t always get instant gratification and sometimes you have to dig a bit to get the best and figure out whatā€™s possible. Most of the demo patterns sound great so I canā€™t complain that it doesnā€™t ā€œsound goodā€.

Iā€™ve had my AR MK1 for a little while and although itā€™s not perfect Iā€™ve found that bending the drum synth engines to make other types of sounds is a lot of fun and you can find a few hidden gems in there if you go ā€œoff pisteā€ a bit. I think someone else on Elektronauts (probably in another thread) said that itā€™s worth going to the extreme settings with synths to see what you find, and I think thatā€™s good advice. I also think that the envelopes, LFOs and filters are inherent to the sound design of many good patches and although the ā€œrawā€ sound of the synth engines might not float your boat, start doing some e.g. extreme filter resonance or audio rate modulation (with the LFO) of other parameters and you might find something you didnā€™t expect.

Yesterday I had some very hard kicks coming from the SY Bits machine and also found that putting some very ā€œrinky dinkā€ FM sounds from SY Tone through the Analogue block made all the difference. I totally understand why some people are saying ā€œthis is an expensive Model:Cyclesā€ because the raw synth sounds can have a very similar metallic tone but I think that is to neglect the rest of the machine and how everything works together.

Iā€™m partly talking to myself here because I donā€™t want to make the same mistake Iā€™ve made before of sending gear back (or reselling it) prematurely because I didnā€™t get instant gratification.

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Yes, the ST is far more capable. The machines can be used on their own (like with the M:C), or treated as the sound source, like the oscillator section on a regular synth, to then be shaped with the filter and amp section, and then modulated to get the sound and movement you want.

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