No, single envelopes
Hmm, does each partial’s volume have a slot in the modulation matrix? Perhaps an LFO, mod wheel, or velocity could at least be used to control the volumes of a couple elements. Would really go a long way.
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I really love the square wave here. “Can it acid?” was my last burning question, and it can! Was that just one oscillator on the 3d engine?
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Yes, just one oscillator of 3d
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Yes, it varies per model, but in the 3d/4d model each partial (Osc 1-4) has destinations for Level, Pitch, LFO-Pitch, PW, PWM, FAT and SSAW Detune (if using supersaw).
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Looks cool and would be a try before buy piece of kit in my book along with Korg Drumlogue and Roland Juno X.
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So, I purchased this on a complete whim… I was interested-ish in it and had sold a couple of things recently, I was browsing yesterday and saw this was in stock at Scan in the UK (nowhere else seemed to have them) so I jumped on it and it turned up today.
Probably not the best way to purchase gear but there we go… I have a MPC live and a SP404 mk2 currently and was looking for a ‘synth’ style box to pair with them. Initially I wanted a syntakt but that seemed a little overkill, so was looking at the model cycles, then this cropped up and seemed like a good middle ground.
Tldr:
Initial impressions:
Looks - It looks pretty good in the flesh - I much prefer it to the recent Roland Aria stuff. Feels nice and solid. Size is interesting - On one hand I like the form factor-they have crammed quite a lot in as well, but it is also not small enough for me to consider it fully portable (it’s quite a bit bigger than a circuit, MC101 or model cycles for example). Not hand luggage for me.
Buttons - was on the fence about these but they feel pretty nice and certainly mean you can fit a lot in for the size of the unit. They are also quite quiet, certainly not elektron ‘clickey’!!
The screen - the screen is a big improvement on the MC101/TR8S/6s screens and a bit better for me than the MC707. I like my MPC in spite of the screen and would rather have less screens on my desk (I spend enough time at work on a computer) - this one is a good balance.
Ease of use - navigated easily enough to a blank pattern and started adding drum parts pretty easy, worked out how to do variable length patterns and started sequencing melodic parts. All very intuitive, and pretty fast and fun. Still very new to this, but within the first 10 mins I had a loop going.
Sounds: it sounds great. Really, really good. It does sound like a classic Roland synth though so I guess if that’s not your thing then it might not be the best option. I’ve only really scratched the surface, but so far for pads and bass sounds are amazing. Also surprisingly good in terms of percussion. I really enjoyed creating beats with this and enjoyed the sounds. The rhythm element feels far more than an ‘add on’ to me.
The cons: ok, so all of the above is pretty positive. Very positive in fact. There is just one real issue I’ve found so far, to be fair I think it’s an issue for any ‘knob per function, preset based synth’ but its proving an issue for me here. I am really struggling to get my head past the knobs never all being in the place they ‘should’ be for the sound. I really wish it had endless encoders.
I’m jumping between sounds but get no visual feedback for where the values are, which I’m finding frustrating if I am trying to tweak things on the fly. I’ve had this issue with gear before, but having this many knobs, and 4 (5 with percussion) different voices to jump between is really escalating the issue for me.
I have perhaps been spoilt without even realising it by the screen on the MPC/Force. Obv when you open up a plug-in on that the screen acts as a real time display of the relevant parameters and moves per sound. Not having that visual feedback is really throwing me off. I think this is where elektrons work so well - the endless encoders and values on screen. It may well prove to be too much of a hurdle and see me not keeping this, it’s that annoying at the moment but I’ll see how it goes, I may get used to it.
Totally get the above is a personal issue though, and overall I think Roland have done a great job with this instrument, it looks, sounds and feels great and is a really powerful multitimbral synth at a decent price. But also a more than useful groovebox (even if they say it isn’t one) for laying out sketches and creating loops. My one gripe aside I think Roland have done a great job with this.
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Don’t think you understand what TLDR means… 
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I do, though I accept it’s a little out of context. I meant it ironically in advance of my (too) long post … as in it’s ‘to long:don’t read’ (unless you are really interested in the first impressions of a random guy from the internet)
Think of it as a warning!
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Just pulling your leg a bit! I’ll consider myself warned, haha 
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Is there no indicator on the screen for saved knob position? For example on some sequential or korg synths I’ve seen a little dot . on the screen.
I’ll have to check. There is for some parameters (the faders) but not all I don’t think. I think maybe if you move them there is a visual indication on the top the screen, but it’s numerical so not that clear/visual (for me anyway)
For a sample based product the latest from Roland is SP-404 MKII? How about a sample based device based on SH-4D form factor? They incarcerated almost all their ghosts of the past with respirited MCs, JPs, SPs, MVs and SHs etc. what else?
One thing I find strange about the SH-4d is that the end of the keyboard has C, D instead of C, C#, D. Seems odd they added this extra D note.
The only thing I can think is that they wanted 16 notes along the bottom of the keyboard (white notes), possibly to allow for the addition of two full octaves of chromatic scales (major, minor etc.), which would be nice.
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Just throwing my first few hours impression into the ring.
Pretty much loving the sound and the amount of voices available. It’s nice to have knobs for almost
everything and it’s pretty easy to get your brain about (I’ve not actually checked the manual since it arrived yesterday). It’s smallish, light and portable and I was experimenting with running it off a USB power bank last night and it looks like it’ll last for a LONG time.
I’ve found the whole structure of the machine to be pretty annoying though in terms of the way that sounds and patterns are or aren’t stored. I fully accept that it’s a me problem and I just need to learn it like any instrument - it gives a real appreciation of how streamlined and well executed the Elektron boxes are. I also keep pressing the wrong button and accidentally loading a preset over the sound I was working on instead of pressing the other button that lets me dial into the extra settings on an osc.
On the main though, it is a LOT of roland synth (and a very useable and diverse drum machine) for it’s price and I can see me never even thinking about most of my boutiques again (apart from the SH01a and the JU06a because those are just too cute).
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Probably because of the sequencer (16 steps per page)
I’m not talking about the sequencer, the mini keys and sequencer are separate.
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Oh right, I overlooked that there is already a row of 16 buttons for the sequencer!
Maybe just aesthetics? To line up to the row of the sequencer?