Just a thought.
I would like to free up desk space and limit my gear, especially on the drum compartment.
I own a quite a few drum synths (Drumbrute, TR6s, …) and I already have a few Elektrons (DT, DN, A4, Models), so I really dig the Elektron workflow.
Would it make sense to replace all the smaller modules (including the Models, actually) for a Rytm Mk2 ?
Pros and cons ? I believe if I could focus more on this one machine vs the time I spend on the different modules with different workflow could already be a big plus.
So on the pro site (as far as I see it):
Less desk space
Less different workflows
Another device with the workflow I probably know best
Makes sense to me.
I think if you’re going to have just one machine to focus on for drums, the Rytm mk2 is hard to beat.
If it was me, it’d be a toss up between the Rytm and a TR8S.
I always think of the Rytm more as a music making tool/groovebox, and the TR8S as a pure drum machine.
The AR isn’t really what I’d call a “character” drum machine, but it’s very capable, it just takes maybe a bit more programming to really dial things in the way you want, but you can really take it to a lot of different places.
I agree with most of what you said, but I’d have to disagree about the character part. The overdrive, distortion and compression in the signal path does have a sound character for sure.
What I meant was it’s not a drum machine where you’re going to be listening to a track and go “that sounds like a Rytm” in the same way that you would with a 909 or whatever, but it has a lot of character, especially in the distortion and compressor.
Id say yes less is more. But its a fickle business. You could well end up disappointed. You can always sample in 808s or a Linndrum. Nothing to lose on the sound front.
I almost exclusively use the drum synths
I know @Tchu is similar.
If you spend some time learning how to get the most out of them, they are quite good. Also if you use the analog outputs or overbridge, you can process them individually as well.
I find them to sound like an analog drum machine. Most analog drum machines don’t sound great only raw, or in individual isolation. The filter and lfo/decay envelope really let you shape the sounds much more than it seems on the surface.
They need careful mixing, fx, and bus processing to sound like a record.
Basically, they can sound great in a mix.
I do use samples if I want some hand percussion or acoustic drum sounds. I also use samples for experimenting or layering.
If you dedicate yourself to just the Rytm, I think you’ll find it to be more than capable for most drum tasks.
Re: the analog engines sounding good or not, I’ve found, as others have said too, that the rytm benefits from warming up for a few minutes just like a lot of old vco synths. I had a mk1 and now have a mk2 and it seems to make a difference on both machines.
I personally like the analog side but it’s the marriage of the two that makes the front end special. Sometimes the samples support the synthesis, sometimes it’s the other way around, but it’s always best when they meld together which the machine lends itself to given all of processing and amazing gain staging downstream. @Bionicvinnie definitely sample the holy hell out of any machine you might sell, or even stuff you might not. I’ve found I like the sound of some drum machines more when they live inside of my rytm in the form of samples.
I don’t know you, your sound or your approach. but I can weigh in with my experience using it…
I’m a big fan of using drums from multiple sources in a given track. 808 kick with a DX snare and Syncussion hats or something… whatever the track needs or is inspiring me at the time. so in that mindset, a sampler and a lot of drum machine samples is the best path anyway. the RYTM provides that with analog sounds to augment it when the sample isn’t quite working. and I actually mainly use it in that manner: sample selection first, then round it out with the analog engine.
that said, I still have several drum machines. just because it’s nice to have the simplicity of that workflow, versus scrolling through sample menus, tweaking the sample for several minutes, finding out it doesn’t work, moving on to another sample, then another, etc… before all that, just sequence a TR sound in seconds and it either works or it doesn’t. and I’m not a huge parameter lock user when it comes to drum sounds.
