Mine is still in Oude Meer
just kidding
8 Likes
I agree with others here, the Syntakt is just a joy to use and Iām by far the fastest at going from nothing to a great sounding song sketch on it. I think it sounds great too - distinct and untamed.
I wish it allowed note sharing across tracks (polyphony) and an arp though.
And I wish Elektron would make something like this in a more portable format. Battery and usb power, plastic/model build, lightweight. I could live without true analog circuitry in a device like that.
5 Likes
Feel good. 
Didnāt use it for a while, busy other gear updates, work.
Tonightās sketch on the couchā¦
5 Likes
Iām still absolutely thrilled with the Syntakt. Often my go-to song starter because of its immediacy and flexibility.
It ended up being more important to my setup than I originally thought. I first bought it mainly to ācompleteā a missing analog aspect of my preferred Digi workflows, since I already owned the takt and tone. I was resistant to getting an A4 or AR, mostly because I felt that the takt and tone were already in my Goldilocks zone of usability vs power. So Syntakt was basically and insta-buy.
But the more I used it, the more it became a song starting point and centerpiece of the Digi trio. 8 tracks of digital and 4 tracks of analog, all with a chunky variety of configurable machines, sent into an analog fx block, and packed with the same sequencing workflow and hardware interface as my other two beloved digis? Yes please!
Also, the updates, especially the new(ish) machines and song mode, really solidified things for me with the Syntakt.
GAS has been pretty much non-existent since I locked in to the trio as my main hardware setup. Syntakt was the missing puzzle piece and then some.
Side note, getting updates on the other two boxes, especially the latest Digitakt machines and bit reduction, are really keeping GAS at bay. I keep asking myself, what do I want to do OTB that I canāt do with these three machines? And for me, the answer is always ānothingā or ānot muchā. YMMV
3 Likes
have it since day one, even though iām mainly occupied in the sampler territory (i get lost in synth land and get zero work done, thatās why i lately constrain myself to single cycle waeforms on DT and OT, but Syntakt being ācuratedā in the synthesis land is perfect for me) iām loving it to bits. i only need 2 features to make it perfect for me and thatās it:
- having 4 midi tracks on 13-14-15-16
- an upgraded chord machine with a couple of additional wavetables for a more diverse flavor
6 Likes
11 months in and still loving it. Very immediate and gets nice and aggressive when you push it.
It was my first dip into the Elektron world and inspired me to add a Digitakt to the roster as well. The updates and new machines are just icing on the cake.
Will 2023 be the year I get brave enough to post music on this forum? Maybeā¦.
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Just the Digitakt and the Syntakt pairing alone is beastly. Good choices there.
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Yes, this. I really dislike the 1/1 sacrifice of audio tracks for MIDI, and I rarely use 13-16 for their intended purpose as modifiers. Four MIDI tracks, independent of the 12 audio tracks, would be amazing. Maybe itās mostly psychological, since personally, I might just sacrifice a track or two, driving either my MicroMonsta2 and/or another synth. But I see a lot of people hooking up many more pieces of external gear to one of the Digi boxes, and having 4 dedicated MIDI tracks on the Syntakt would free it up to being even more of a music-making hub without sacrificing any of the 12 audio tracks.
1 Like
The Syntakt is the most creatively inspiring electronic instrument Iāve ever had the fortune of owning. Today I had a deepened epiphany around just how amazing ctrl+all is. This is possible on the Digitone and the Digitakt too of course, but the way the Syntakt lets you do this across 12 tracks means you are more likely to end up in new places you would never conceive in the DAW. I was working on a chiptune song sketch and through a couple of ctrl+all explorations, I ended up in a really dark and gritty underground techno vibe instead. So just like that, one song led to another idea in a genre Iāve never explored before.
Thatās the true power of the Elektron workflow, I guess. And itās pure magic! No other gear comes close to this.
13 Likes
So I found a really good deal on a used one and couldnāt resist to try again how I feel about it a year later. First impression: oh my god, how could I ever sell this thing? I really love the sound of all of its machines. SY Raw is an awesome addition, itās a lot more straightforward to patch than the Dual VCO only because it allows for a straight selection of waveforms. It inspires me to get a sketch going immediately in a way that so far only Digitone has managed to do. Ctrl all is also really great with the carefully seleced option of parameters on the synth page.
The only thing it really seems to lack now is an arp and polyphony. Really curious to see if Elektron has the guts to implement these at the risk of cannibalizing DN/A4. I would say people donāt buy DN/A4 for their arps or limited polyphony but more for their deep sound design possibilities.
I think what might have changed since Iāve last sold it is that Iāve become more interested in beats/grooves and appreciate more kinds of drum sounds, particularly FM.
Curious to see what that means for the rest of my base setup (DN, DT, OT). I can see ditching DT as OT can also provide samples and Iām not too crazy about mangling samples. Or I ditch OT an embrace the digi trio while also saving space, as I mainly use OT as a glorified mixer. No impulsive decisions though for now, as I dontāt need to sell or buy anything. Itās nice having the muscle memory for Elektrons nowadays that applies to all of these boxes.
9 Likes
Lots of good bass monosynths in the Syntakt, I found.
Swarm, Tone and Bits are as interesting as the two Analog types.
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Yes, itās become a lot more than a drum machine for sure! With all the complaining and wishing for more, we tend to forget to take a moment and appreciate how many options for synthesizing melodic sounds Elektron has given us inside of this machine that says ā12 track drum computer and synthesizerā.
3 Likes
My main criticism of the syntakt is that it is a bit too much piped into a single stereo output. Itās great standalone but I have trouble pairing it with other devices. I tend to want a drum bus and a synth bus, and I can hard pan the outputs to do that but then I lose out on the built in reverb. I think I just need to limit myself to using it just for drums or just for synths to make this work well, but having 12 tracks I always want to do synths and drums at the same time.
1 Like
Iāve been fighting the itch to sell mine after buying it for the second time.
Thereās really just one thing Iāve made with it that I love. All of the rest kinda feels samesy and as though Iām just pretending to be the kind of musician for whom the Syntaktās sound palette is a natural fit. Or maybe Iām just feeling uninspired!
Sorry for randomly raining on the parade. Curious if anyone has similar feelings and/or tips for approaching the Syntakt in a fresh way.
7 Likes
I notice that Syntakt is really good for making intense music with weird or abrasive sound design. Heavy use of plocks, retrigs, maxxed out lfos including audio rate. Typically Iām not too impressed with chill out or minimal music made on syntakt - indeed sounds a bit samey, but really subjective obviously.
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For me thereāve been rewarding discoveries in layering tracks, using the fx block or doubled tracks for chorus effects and chords, the analog shelf filters, the sound menu macros, and using the LFOs as modulation envelopes.
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Yes, I planned to do it more. Recently I layered 11 kicks, Ctr All. Massive.
Important part of ST sound design imo.
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Yeah, being able to use the exponential LFO (or any other, of course) as a one-shot envelope is super useful.
Anyway, Iām going for it and selling the poster.
By the way, greetings from one human/computer hybrid to another. 
1 Like
I think I mostly agree with that, in the context of sounds in a machine, but not in the context of comparing the machines with each other. If you spend enough time with the device, you can absolutely hear what machine is being used in most cases. I think the samey sounds are usually encountered when parameters are set to their extreme values. There is a lot to be found in the middle with slow exploration. Some of the parameters especially can be radically different with the change of 1 value, and can also change drastically when other parameters are changed incrementally.
Like others have mentioned, some sounds actually work quite well when layered, especially digital with analog. I think itās natural for some to not want to layer, but you have 12 tracks to work with. A lot of the unique sound design also comes from usage of the FX block, which isnāt something that can be saved as part of the preset. This is very much a DIY playground in my opinion.
3 Likes