Apart from the oddly faint and anemic LEDs on my new unit, it feels very, very off to me having just come from the DT. I was happy with the DT but wanted all of the performance features and kits of the AR. I’ve never had something feel so immediately off before. This one is not for me
So it goes back tomorrow and I’m ordering another DT. Question now is, do I also get an ST? I sold my DT/DN in the last few days to fund the AR. I can live without the DN but the DT is sorely missed already. With a DT/OT, my sample game is more than covered. Thoughts on grabbing an ST though?
Lol, Im reading you, being far far away from my synths with ARMKII among them. And I imagine how I return back and switch on the AR and start p-locking stuff, accenting and sliding it and cant imagine how one could dislike this beauty so fast
Looks like you’ve gone astray… lost in the darkness with all these sellings and buyings…
I had an A4MKII for awhile so the workflow has some familiarity. I also have an OT and had DT/DN (which I sold both for AR).
I wanted the AR for the scenes, kits, and performance macros. I would’ve been happy just using samples (though I’m sure I would heavily levarage the analog voices) but the lack of the base width filter, which I was fully aware of it not having, is killing it for me. I leaned pretty heavily on the two filters for sculpting samples on the DT.
It’s just something that immediately felt…not right after using it for a few hours. And it wasn’t a lack of familiarity thing either. I didn’t once feel like I was lost on it. It just felt really off. Gut feeling type of off. Maybe it’s the panic of not being able to create the grooves that I was really liking on the DT.
It would have to go back regardless because of the faint LEDs and I think it was the last one my shop had in Canada. Not sure I’d want to take a $2400 CDN gamble on something that my gut told me pretty quickly wasn’t a good fit. It’s not a slag on the machine itself.
Quite sure you will regret that decision soon. The only right GAS based decision is … ‘AND’ but not ‘OR’
Meanwhile I 've collected so many ‘ANDs’ so I don’t get nervous when a new Elektron like ST is released:
Definitely not an ‘OR’ decision. AR is going back if only for the LED issue. I’m trusting my gut as well and not ordering a replacement. DT is definitely being ordered though. The ‘AND’ is the only thing in question and I’m not sold on it yet. I use euro rack with DT/OT and I wanted AR to replace DT for the performance features so I could noodle the ‘knob-per-feature’ part of my setup; euro rack.
I’ll chat with my rep tomorrow about the ST when I bring the AR back. Might just put that money elsewhere.
Yes, the DT is actually nice.
I bought it as a quite downstripped interim solution while waiting for an OT MK3 but now I wouldn’t sell it because it’s so usefull and provides a fast workflow.
I have the DT/DN combo and got an AR thinking it would be so dope to have drum synthesis and the performance knob, but I ended up always using samples and then maybe layering a drum synth in there to p-lock on and off to get more accents and variation on the drums, but I didn’t really enjoy the drum synthesis on it’s own. I also didn’t need the live performance stuff (I use my boxes to generate ideas and do some sound design to sample from and then build tracks in Ableton). It really just felt like a big DT. I couldn’t justify locking up that much cash in something I didn’t really need, so I sold it and bought on OT! (which was a great decision) I do wish DT had slides though!
If I were in your position, I could definitely see the ST taking the place of the DN if you’re looking to augment your percussion sounds and get weird glitchy stuff. But if you want melody and arpeggiators and other “synth” sound stuff, I don’t think that’s the way to go. Maybe the A4? Or use the DT midi to sequence a SH-01a?
I’ve been experimenting with the AR for three years now, and I did create some things I’m happy with.
But from the first day, it felt off.
I was wondering whether that might be because of the machines being limited to be used on certain tracks, whereas OT and A4 allow you to instead configure each track without any limitations – but I don’t know what the reason is.
We wonder, but we can’t know.
At the same time, the A4 and OT are instruments that sing to me in ways that the AR doesn’t. It’s not about GAS, it’s about finding instruments that work for us.
My point is: we’ve all held a guitar or played a piano and KNEW that that’s the one. Of course we want the same with electronic devices
Honestly I’d also return it and get a DT + ST for the same price. Unless you really want the performance controls, the all-in-one-ness of the Rytm or the tom engines the DT+ST offers way more.
If it feels off to you, and you miss your DT, by all means go back to what you had.
I will say the AR felt off to me coming from a DT as well… it took me some weeks to get into the workflow and develop some muscle memory. The AR is kind of weird in its setup with different machines on different tracks, the mutegroups, weird stuff in the amp, no mixer page etc. After sticking with it it started to grow on me and now its second nature, and the DT feels small and cramped. Also: the moment I switched back to the DT to compare after a week, it sounded so tinny and lifeless to me compared to the AR, even as a sampler, that I decided to stick to the AR.
Just saying: this might happen to you too, so trying it a little longer might help. You should do what feels right though, sometimes you just know something isnt for you…
