I’ve been struggling for years to find a good drum machine (for me).
Here are my criteriia of choice :
Playable via MIDI :
I want to sequence from a DAW. I don’t know how else to make music. Must have CC control of parameters.
Have kits (and memory) :
This is how I want to work. Design kits when I’ve got time, save them, try a few on a running pattern, recall them with MIDI PCs or CCs.
Have some fun performance controls :
Delay, reverb, CTRL+ALL, global filters, this kind of stuff. But the original kit must be recallable instantly.
An AMP envelope with Sustain for hits :
In other terms, if the sounds are “triggered”, that’s bad. I love playing with the length of hits.
Synthesis :
Nothing against a few samples, but not interested in a 100% samples instrument.
There are 5 Drum Machines that I own/owned that are close to match these criteria :
Syntakt :
Love the sound, the performance aspect, the fun and the variety of machines.
But the data structure annoys me a lot : there are no kits. I can make kits. in empty patterns, but the autosave way of working is unnatural to me. If you leave changes on your patterns when you power it off, then you loosed the ‘temp’ saved versions, have to reload from project, etc… Is really easy to mess up your kits by saving the project at the wrong moment, etc. Hate it.
Machinedrum :
No sustain for hits. Not the sounds I’m into these days.
Kit structure, playability is wonderful.
Pulsar-23 :
No kits, no memory, to big, too heavy, to few sounds.
Playability and ‘sustain’ are wonderful. And that sound…
LXR-02 :
Love this machine. But no ‘sustain’. and maybe to few voices. In fact, I’m definitely keeping it for live, but looking for something to complete it.
Analog Rytm :
Awesome instrument. Kits are here, and they can be automatically reloaded when a pattern is launched. This is great when using empty patterns as ‘storage’ for kits. ‘Sustain’ is present.
I dig the sound of the Kicks, snare, claps and hats, but the rest not and the voice structure is a big limit.
It’s too big (the mk2).
There are very cool performance aspects, but in practice, I find them unintuitive to set up.
That’s it. I’ve looked everywhere, and I guess I’ll never find the perfect instrument, but who know, maybe I’ve missed something ?
I pair machines together to get the best possible hybrid instrument. My current go-to is the A4mk2 and DN together.
I see you find the menu/file srtucture approach a bit painful on the Elektron machines - I hear you on this, but the more you spend time with them, the more fluid your interaction becomes.
I’ve been using Elektron boxes since 2017 and am only just getting to know them on a more deeper level.
There’s nothing really out there that offers the best balance of features and stability.
In terms of using the DAW to control your drum machines - I’ve been there, so understand this approach, but you are missing out on a whole universe of functionality/sound/fun if you don’t use the Elektron sequencers/p-locks etc. - I’d start getting into this more and then decide if you think they aren’t enough.
Thanks for the answer. I’ve bought my first MD in 2006 and owned every Elektron instrument except the SIDstation, so I’m pretty sure on my opinion about the sequencer !
Shit. I could have picked one up for half that when I got the AR. I actually prefer the Temp, but fell victim to the bad hype at the time. Maybe the cessation of production has pumped the price.
This is an underrated thing and I honestly thought I was alone in loving this feature. It’s one of the main reasons I love the Pulsar-23 as much as I do. Sadly I can’t recommend the P23 to you based on the specifications you mention!
Nord drum may be quite interesting to you. Or Ableton drum rack with a combination of samples and synthesized mdoels (sonic academy kick 2, sonic charge microtonic, roll your own with any VST)
Yeah, it was not that bad. But I tried to incorporate in my DAW workflow, I used it intensely for more than a month, and realized it was restraining my creativity for some reason.
