Yeah it will allocate what’s needed. So if you’re not using the drum part at all you’ll have more voices available for the four synth parts.
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Voice = Oscillator as far as I understand. So one note 4 oscillators = 4 Voices.
Still plenty of voices though
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This is a bit in the weeds, but do we know if Sync, Ring mod, cross FM use multiple voices like 3d/4d do? Does turning on the square/sub/saw on the 101 also use up to 3 voices?
Obviously there are enough voices for most uses, but I’m curious.
Based on the architecture of all of the zen core stuff, I would say yes with like 90% certainty. I realize they are not marketing this as zen core, but I suspect it’s the same but stripped down.
Preset Rhythm Kits (know what it sounds like)
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I think it is 8 notes maximum of drums per step, so 52 left for the synths.
Or should I say voices 🫤
Edit thanks to @x0x it can have two samples per drum so 16 voices leaving 44 voices for synths.
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How does that square with the 26-voice maximum allocation for drums? I honestly haven’t paid too much attention to the drum side of things. Like you can have 26 drums ready but only 8 play at once per step?
I just communicated with Thomann, they said I’ll get one in June.
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I wonder if demand is higher than anticipated? Perfect circuit has no idea when I’ll get mine.
Don’t forget each drum can use two samples, so it could mean that 8 drum notes uses 16 voices. This would leave 44 voices for the synths.
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Totally agree with this. I’ve been using it just like this today. It is so easy to use as a hands on 4 part synth. It’s basically like having 4 separate hardware synths to sequence from the MPC all in a tiny box. It’s a great MPC partner and to my ear better sounding and more easily adjustable than any of the MPC plugins
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I don’t know if anyone else will find this useful, but I put together a quick voice-allocation spreadsheet because I hate doing math myself while making music. It isn’t perfect but it should be useful enough for getting a rough idea of things. You should be able to make a copy and play with it as long as you have a Google account. Let me know if I’ve made any mistakes, as I haven’t actually gotten my hands on one yet.
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For designing your own sounds, is the menu diving soul destroying?
It’s very well designed and all menus are short (not one big long menu) and specific to each function. You don’t even need to use shift with a lot of them, just long press the relevant button (e.g arp, delay, chorus, reverb, tone, mfx). Each menu also remembers where you were last which is handy.
On the sound design side, you do need to use the oscillator menu to adjust each partials pitch (if you want to have them at different octaves or for 5ths, 7ths etc.), but most of the other parameters for each model can be accessed from the front panel/sliders.
The mod matrix is super easy, you can assign source and destination for most things just by twisting the relevant knob.
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Thanks.
And a few other questions 
- can you have different pattern lengths for each part?
- is the per step parameter recording Electron style or do you need to reset the value on the next step manually?
- do reverb/delay tails cut off when changing patterns?
Also, just so I’m clear, each part can have 1 insert FX and then each pattern has 4 send FX (chorus, delay, reverb and 1 other)?
Yes, Parts 1-4 and Rhythm part can all be different lengths, playback direction and resolution (1/8, 1/16 etc.). You can also set start and end step for each part.
The latter, like automation lanes. But if you motion record a whole sequence first at your base value you can then adjust each step Elektron style.
The send FX (reverb, chorus, delay) are pattern based, so get cut off when you change pattern. The tone effects do not get cutoff though, and they include chorus and delay (but no reverb).
See my video showing the send fx getting cutoff
Thank you so much. Super helpful. That pattern change behaviour with the send FX might kill my GAS for this thing. I don’t know how you would change patterns smoothly when it behaves like this.
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Is it capable of some proper lush dub chords?
Yeah, it really depends on how you intend to use it. If as a sound module/synth then it’s not really an issue. Likewise if you intend to jam with a single pattern (as I tend to do).
It also depends on how you use the effects. In the video I use an extreme example, but in real world use you don’t always notice. Obviously depends on the pattern, reverb length etc.
Some really nice sounds in here.
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