hello! i have a monomachine sfx-6 (the keyboard version) that i bought a few years ago for a pretty good price. ive used it a lot but not really done a lot of research on the machine itself and its versions. a little while ago it came to my understanding that the keyboard versions never originally came with the + drive upgrade (?) and i was wondering if this is correct. mine has a plus drive installed, but not the other extra wave functions that came with the mark 2 versions. Could this maybe have been a special version (or something like that) or a custom upgrade to my machine specifically?
it’s probably an upgrade done at Elektron, there are only some number like 7 of the one’s your question is in regard to. very limited production is putting it mildly.
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Correct, from my understanding there are about 500 sfx6’s which are essentially mnm mk1’s. There are a handful of sfx’s that share the mnm mk2 guts that do have a +drive. When i say handful, i think its like 10 max but not entirely sure
the factory did upgrades for a while, according to “enrique” there are 3 monomachine mkII + SFX6
I remembered where I saw the limited number hooplah, here is a golden egg for the OP.
but realistically, someone shipped yours to elektron and had it upgraded. They were doing it for a while with machinedrum mkII also I believe, adding plus drives as a service.
I didn’t know you could add a +drive to the mk1’s and sfx’s. Wild. Sounds like the op has a rare bird indeed. @technogutt What’s the function of the drive if it doesn’t hold the extra waveforms/wavetables?
my understanding is that it’s a way to access snapshots/projects. Being that I don’t own one, I could be corrected if someone with better information wants to chime in.
according to this thread the cost was 289 euro:
Yes, indeed. I happen to have a plus drive sitting in drawer that was from an upgraded machinedrum mki. When I have time it is going in my sfx-6!
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Is it possible to swap the guts of a SFX-60 mk2+ with an SFX-6?
If so, I might be tempted one day.
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ok! i understand. so most likely it is an upgrade done at elektron, although it is a rare one. im not looking to sell it, so the rarity doesnt really concern me. im just looking for information!
the plus drive makes it possible to save up to i think 127 or 128 instances of the machine in snapshot format. a little bit like sets on the octatrack. so it basically extends the pattern and kit storage 128 times
they also offered an upgrade (or transition?) for mk1 MD’s to turn them into MDUW’s. I don’t think they ever offered a similar option for MnM’s though, to turn them into mk2 units.
@andreash Hey man, sorry to ping you for something so small, were you already doing hardware with Elektron HQ when the +drive upgrade service was being offered? Can you comment on whether it was a service offered for both Machinedrum and Monomachine? If you don’t have the answer it’s no problem, we’re only trying to unravel the mystery of this Sfx6 owned by the OP, hope all is well for you these days, thank you.
No worries @shigginpit. But unfortunately I haven’t been at Elektron for such a long time as the +Drive. Will dig around in the archival tomes of knowledge and see if I can find an answer though, but no promises. The mists of time are sometimes quite opaque.
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no! hadnt heard about that! do you think it is safe to try that if i am not sure if my machine is mk2?
I can’t say for sure. But I believe that both the MK1 and the MK2 share the same FW so it “should” be fine.
Never fear, unless you have one of the 3(?) custom made mkII monomachine sfx6, your model is essentially a mkI with a +Drive added. The addition of the +Drive is not an upgrade to mkII as has been implied, there are hardware differences such as an AC - AC power adapter in mkI vs AC - DC power adapter in mkII, the SFX6 is unique in that it has a 3 prong adapter with a switchable voltage “The SFX-6 has an IEC 60320 C14 3-prong inlet to connect to a grounded main power supply using either using 115V or 230V (please see “ADDITIONAL REAR CONNECTORS,
SFX-6” on page 8 for further details)”
In desktop versions the deck height (63mm mkII) is also greater on the mkI (77mm). Luckily this information is all available in the user manual and additional differences are detailed on page 114.
here is the information from page 114:
There is also a difference in the signal to noise ratio, and inputs on mkI are unbalanced vs mkII has balanced inputs, so you can check that if you are in doubt:
“The S/N of the outputs on the Monomachine MKII is 100dB. The outputs of the MKII units
are also impedance balanced.
The S/N for a MKI unit outputs is 91dB and the outputs are unbalanced.”
here is an thread with some info about checking balanced vs unbalanced and ways you may achieve that with or without a multimeter.
Trick to identify a balanced or unbalanced connection ? - Gearspace.com
Also if you watch the video I linked, in the first 30 seconds there is a closeup showing that the front panel is that of an SFX60 MKII and not that of an SFX6 on the custom factory made MKII Keyboard.
So now that it is established beyond argument or guessing that a mkII is not just a mkI with the addition of a +Drive, there are some factors here which you can investigate to see if your sfx6 was given the internals of a mkII or if it is a mkI with a +Drive.
As for whether or not the addition was done at the factory as an upgrade to your model at the request of the previous owner, or if it was done with a +Drive that someone had in their drawer, harvested from some other model (as tr909 indicated he is planning to do) that is still an unknown factor, but since we have certain evidence - Ricky Tinez works for Elektron in the US so whoever this keyboard was borrowed from probably knows what they have, he may not always know what he’s talking about but he is showing a legit product one can at least assume.
Hopefully if andreash has time and the resources are still available at elektron HQ he may come up with some other evidence that indicates whether or not a +Drive upgrade service was officially offered as I seemed to think it was, or if this was done as a user upgrade - but either way it is safe to assume that without the user waveforms, digipro, the mkII firmware, the lower signal to noise ratio, the balanced outputs and any other detail of difference - The sfx6 is much more a mkI with a keyboard and a modulation stick than it is a mkII. I wouldn’t upload or change anything without conclusive proof it is compatible with your specific machine and won’t cost you money so unless you are willing to accept that risk and live with whatever consequence the safe thing to do is move slowly, look at the available resources online just as I did to find your information, and proceed only at the rate you are prepared to be set back.
I was going to leave this topic alone but people are giving you bad advice, not sure what else to say.
thank you so much for the reply! i am not going to try the update i think even someone says it should be fine. i think i can live without the extra functions. what interests me now is that it is possible to swap out plus drives from one machine to another? if that is the case. i might even take it out of the monomachine and put it in my machinedrum, where it would be a lot more appreciated, since i use it both in the studio and with different sets for playing live
Yup, Several peeps on here have moved +drives between the md and mnm.
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Since the actual hardware drive used is the same, I assume it only needs to be reformatted back to no data for this to be done. I do not have the expertise to tell you how the reformat works but I think if there is information on how, it will be on this forum. It is probably simple. You will need to determine first if there was a software upgrade which allowed sfx6 to access the +Drive, and whether original SW must be reinstalled. Then same for MD, whether it requires SW to work with the +Drive because I assume it does and it exists.
The physical change? I think it is only a screwdriver that is required, I don’t believe these drives require soldering, but again I don’t know.