Syntakt + a nice half-rack sized rompler like a Korg NS5R, Roland JV1010, or XV2020 would be a good alternative. Syntakt being roughly the same size as a half-rack unit means it can sit on top and all of the polyphonic sounds can come from the rompler. Not quite as readily editable, but I find that good poly pads don’t usually need to be tweaked much.
I’ve had a Syntakt and it didn’t gel with me. I think I’m fully tired of the Elektron system and those hats just grated with me constantly. I’ve ordered an SH-4D. The workflow looks pretty smooth to me for the most part with a relatively flat menu system. Time will tell I suppose…
edit: I dislike the metal hihat machine too, I always use something else for hihats
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I get some of his gripes, but others seem to be him not learning it properly 
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Maybe, but a big company like Roland definitely would have the budget to do some user research when developing a product like this. No matter how much you learn an interface, cumbersome is still cumbersome.
I know I’ve said the same thing in response to people saying the Octatrack is hard to learn, but the SH4D is a new product and not something that has been substantially expanded over ten years.
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Elektron employee Ricky T always gives unbiased reviews and opinions on gear from other manufacturers. Especially when it comes to products that might be direct competitors.
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Everybody has biases, no need to imply something sinister is at play.
Definitely not implying anything. Like I said, I’m sure Elektron employee Ricky is just being honest.
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You definitely aren’t implying anything when you state something as a negative, even though it presents the concept into the conversation. That is definitely not a rhetorical technique anyone in the elektronauts forum would ever stoop to using.
/ambiguous sarcasm to preserve plausible deniability.
Come on. It’s clear I’m being sarcastic and it’s also clear that you must take into consideration who pays Ricky T’s bills when watching a video like this. To ignore this fact would be naive at best. Unconscious or unintended bias is still bias.
I quite like Ricky’s videos and watch them regularly. But I’m also careful not to believe everything I read or watch on the World Wide Web. Also, don’t be so offended on Ricky’s behalf. I’m not attacking anyone’s character or defaming a reputation. The fact is he is an Elektron employee and spokesperson. Make of that what you will.
Edit - to not state that in his video is actually misleading in my book
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Try directly addressing it then, sarcasm gets lost on the internet as per Poe’s law. I agree you have to take all media with a grain of salt, especially on the synth-tube side of youtube where lines are blurred everywhere and there is an intrinsic conflict of interest created by the constant need to get new gear to create content.
I mean, I just pointed out that there was the implication that Ricky was being misleading in your statement. I’m not offended on anyone’s behalf or offended at all. Just another day on the internet. My apologies if I have given offense to you 
I look forward to hearing of your experiences with the SH-4D as I value the perspective of anyone. interested in IDM production.
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I’ll probably sell it within a month, but that’s another can of worms…
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mc-101 then ?
I don’t think there is such thing as an unbiased review in the “synthfluencer” game. As soon as you get the gear for free, even for a limited time, you feel compelled to soften your opinion, and I know this from my experience as a radio dj receiving promo copies.
I think he has a few good points in his review, however some of his gripes are a bit ridiculous, even more so now that I know he is related to Elektron… our favorite boxes are filled with key combos, pages, hidden menus, etc.
Anyway, I’d say the Elektrons are still much faster to operate than any Roland box. That doesn’t mean the SH-4D is bad, I found it much easier to operate than a mc-707.
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Been toying with the idea of the SH-4D but experience with the MC707 is making me very cautious.
Good to see more front panel controls appearing on the SH-4D. Hopefully, at some point, they’ll remember all the good points of the MC909 and build something which improves upon that too. The MC707 has a lot of power under the hood but the UI was a massive step backwards, IMO.
Still think I’ll end up with an SH-4D though.
G
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I watched Ricky’s video and yeah, i get his issues with it (and still suffer from several of them) but I think it’s a learning process. I find that the Elektron workflow has really spoiled us, especially once you’ve learned it is insanely fast and flexible, just look at Ricky’s videos where he’s absolutely flying around the function button presses on the Octatrack.
With the SH4D It took me until about week 2 or 3 to actually work out how the saving structure works (badly) and work out my own approach to how I was going to use it and pretty much every time I use it, I discover something new and useful. I also still frequently change patterns without saving, forget to OK a sound and it reverts to a preset or some other dumbness. It’s just ‘learning an instrument’ to me I think.
Yep the SH4D is not nearly as refined as the Elektron workflow but for me, it feels like it’s worth putting in the time to learn and I do find it fun to use.
Absolutely no criticism aimed towards Ricky, I love the dude and genuienly respect all his work, he must come into contact with loads of new machines on an almost weekly basis and some are going to stick better than others. That is also cool.
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Also it’s V1 of the SH-4D, Roland has an excellent record of significant updates. Look at the 404 V1 compared to V3…I think this is a big product for Roland and it is already feature packed but I have no doubt it will be tweaked and improved over time. If you are not keen on the Groovebox workflow it makes an excellent 4 part multitimbral module for the Digitakt to sequence!
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Exactly how I’m using it. I use patterns to store “banks” of sounds for different songs, essentially. Completely circumvents most of the saving/loading issues. Also mostly avoids potentially running into polyphony issues unless I go nuts with supersaws or something.
That said, not having even 2 more outputs is killing me, but I know complaining about that isn’t helpful because it’s not going to change.
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I had a chance to play this as a floor model at a shop yesterday.
I was pleasantly amused that there was a preset named “November 2019”. It was appropriately dramatic and somewhat foreboding.
The funny thing is Ricky’s video was what made me most interested in this thing. I’ve been getting the “no” feeling from Roland since about Aira. I tried to watch the promo vid for this when I saw the thread blowing up, but that was like when someone shows you a game trailer with no gameplay footage.
So I watched his video and it was like, damn, there are some real sounds in this box. Too bad about the UI. Was this design by committee? Like, someone was like “people love Elektron boxes” and someone else was like “yeah but there’s a learning curve” so they concluded to do an Elektron Thing the Roland Way. Mission accomplished, I guess, there’s not much curve when things start out rough and don’t improve much.
No idea how they left out microtiming. I guess that’s another Roland thing? Seems like a missed opportunity to create frustration in the UI though. Like maybe a separate thing you need to save? Okay, you got me, at this point I’m just being mean for sport.
I do hope they sort this business out in the OS. Sonically this thing could be a gem, and I hear y’all when you say multitimbral sound module.
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