Spent the last couple of months revisting the world of DAWs, but recently got back to the Syntakt. It’s a very special instrument.
Thank you for designing this machine Elektron, I think it’s becoming my all time favourite 
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Thanks for the kind words! The Syntakt can do just about any sound! Unfortunately the machines’ names never say what they actually can do. Unfortunately the T99 cover’s stabs were a bit blurry since I did use too much reverb and delay. My LA Style cover James Brown Is Dead Syntakt Cover - all synth, no samples - YouTube is much more punchy. I’m really proud of the initial stab - originally a whole string orchestra playing a glissando down (and of course, each player at a different random finger speed)!
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Starting an online petition for a @Jeanne Syntakt sound pack, and I don’t even own the damn thing
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Happy 1 Year Birthday!
When can we open the presents? 
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Happy Birthday! 
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So one year in, how does the community feel about the Syntakt? How did it establish itself in your setups/studios? How has it developed? Which features did make it special or were issues for you over time?
I had bought one after it launched and thought it could maybe replace my Digitakt and Analog Four. I‘ve sold it after a month since I didn’t use the analog drums too much and found that I could already do everything it does with DT/DN plus an analog (A4 has also left the house since, as I never vibed with it). The thinking was that it‘s better to spread functions amongst dedicated machines that do a specific thing really well rather than having one machine that’s a bit jack of all trades but master of none.
However, thinking back on my time with it makes me realize I was really productive with it, since it has so many flavors in one box and so many tracks. That makes it really fast to come up with sketches. I‘ve recently also become more interested in FM drums on the Digitone. Combined, it makes me think about whether Syntakt could now have a place in my setup and maybe replace Digitakt. I run everything through OT anyways but don’t go extremely wild with samples, so OT could fill in some drum samples I would miss on Syntakt. If a good offer for a used unit comes up, I might just try it, since there is nothing lost if I sell it again. The added machines also make it much more attractive for melodic stuff.
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I love it.
fastest, most enjoyable workflow in the west.
tbh most music I’ve heard on it sounds dull and generic, but it can be pushed into interesting territory. some great examples of that pop up now and again, though it is rare.
it’s great for melodic stuff imo. and hard techno. and acid. and distorted industrial? stuff.
if it gets a few more updates in its lifetime it could be a total classic (some more noisey machines for hats & percussion, polyphony, expanded modifiers etc). woop 
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Love mine, too. I had a long run with it last year, and used it a lot for sketching whilst on trips and commuting.
This year my Analogs have taken my focus, but I will most likely keep the Syntakt for playtimes and in reserve for another project. Now I write this, I realise it could be my end of chain warmer/widener…
Yeah, love it.
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It’s a deceptively productive device. When I say that I mean it can easily give you more than you expect to get out of it.
I really like the depth of the Digitone, and understand the limitations of the Syntakt when compared to it, but Syntakt easily overtook everything else last year as a music making powerhouse. I have the trio so 24 tracks to work across total. Oftentimes my experience is that I won’t feel a strong need to include the Digitone or Digitakt, because if I did it would be by force. So some compositions that I envision at the start will use all 3 devices only end up using the Syntakt. And to the Syntakt itself, I will rarely find myself using all 12 tracks as well. The analog tracks are the exception here, but I feel like I can easily get all the movement I want within 8-10 tracks.
Never gonna sell.
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Syntakt has lots of cool sounds in hidden corners. Guess the machine of the bass/lead:
?
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chord ?
One of the hihats? Plastic kick? I’d say the Chord machine but it seems too obvious.
Cowbell.
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If chord machine was that bright, no one would complain 
It’s one of the so-called “Analog Cymbal Machines” of Track 12, CB Metallic
yesssssssss
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starting from 1.20, Syntakt is in my top-3 of favorite gear.
and a minute of blasphemy: with RAW synth it can be a cool goa trance machine 
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I still really like mine, and the addition of the full-featured portamento (legato-only every time) and the RAW and SWARM machines really completed it as a multitimbral mono synth with drums for me, and made it a lot more fun to play.
I’ve found the fx section, sound macros, and routing options to be deep avenues for sound design and exploration. It can have that early-Digitakt feel of immense-power-through-elaborate-workarounds sometimes.
I’ve found myself using it alongside the DT, where DT spots it with sampled pads, hats on occasion, vocals, samples from my other synths. Playing to its strengths (I love the analog mono synths, kicks, snares, toms, fm, swarm, and toy), the ST is lightning-fast but still Elektron-deep.
I’ve also really enjoyed using it a lot as a hub for playing techno on a semi-modular setup, where Digitakt used to be, where it does 4 midi tracks plus analog drums, plus punch-in fx and a 1- or 2-bar transition looper for the other hardware, which is great fun. Recently I set up a RMX-1000-style fx template where LFO2 knob is always set to a performable parameter, similar to the RYTM’s perf knob or the rmx big knob.
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It’s probably my favorite device, something I knew as soon as I got it - I can turn it on and more or less immediately start developing an interesting pattern. Sound design is so quick that I almost never feel like I need to bother with the presets. Initial complaints about drums lacking punch forced me to rethink how I use drum sounds, and taught me to layer sounds for more impact, knowledge I’ve used in finished recordings and on other machines. It’s primarily a drum machine for me, although when I’ve traveled with it I’ve made melodic content that I wouldn’t have otherwise made.
Programming melodies can be a bit of a chore - I often work in 16-bar phrases and need 16th-note resolution much of the time. But that limitation isn’t much of a barrier since it’s usually paired with my MPC and at least one polysynth.
I think even if I sampled the hell out of it and threw those samples in a DT, I’d miss it (also DT and ST make a ridiculously good pair). There’s just something about ST that draws me in like few other instruments have, and it would take several boxes to do what it does, even if it doesn’t do most things as well as a specialized box - it’s more than the sum of its parts.
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Well said.
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I can’t really add much to what has been said, but if I want to do a whole piece of music, it’s really easy and fun on the Syntakt. As often as not though, I use it as a utility kind of machine to fill in gaps.
My current rig is a smallish (7U x 104HP) modular that is mostly for either mono synths or fx via Arbhar & Data Bender.
I use an Oxi One to sequence that as well as an EssenceFM. It’s also the master clock for an OT & ST. I use their internal sequencers. Basically, I’ll start on Modular, sample into OT, use EssenceFM for pads and FM sound design stuff and once I feel like I have a good concept for a tune, the ST ‘fills in the blanks.’ It’s been a fun way to put together tunes
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Audio Pilz also seems to really like it btw
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