So 14 Months later, I’m now in the possession of a Monomachine.
I think that there is some merit to my earlier statements… you can clearly hear the Monomachine doing really weird things in the upper and lower octaves, just like the Nord Lead 2.
Maybe the processors aren´t equipped with enough power to handle the data, fuck do i know!?
what i can say is that while you get reeeeally close with DN, the extra oomph to really get there is due to effects. specifically DYNAMIX and CHORUS. these two are integral to get that SOPHIE sound. and those effects can be found in its spiritually evolved state in the Octatrack.
But MNM does effects tracks so much better then OT because you can link Trig, Velocity and note data from one track to the next. so the modulation of the effects track is so much greater then on OT. especially if you plan to run DN into OT.
Seemingly not mentioned in this thread but you can get relatively close using the Analog 4. You have to have a little more experience in subtractive sound design but a lot of the weird bubbles, squeaks, screeches and clangs are easily achieved by abusing slide trigs, pitch modulation and the FX track. Here’s a little bit I have in there from working on a live set:
I’d never claim that it sounds anywhere close to what Sophie was doing or that it’s a reasonable substitute for a Monomachine, but so many people are buying those just to make Sophie rip off tracks when there’s a lot more scope to try ripping off her work with other, cheaper machines. You might not get close but you will discover something new.
Indeed. The main thing that makes the Monomachine attractive for this sound, unbeknownst to most, is not the sound shaping possibilities on a machine level but rather a unique interaction between its arpeggiator and sequencer. People can be bold with filters, resonance and pitch without a Monomachine, for some reason many of them just don’t dare to try. (I’ll admit the chorus imparts a unique sound though).
On a side note, I actually think the Analog Four is better suited for the job than the Digitone.
ive heard this elsewhere. but i dont understand what its all about.
as i understand it, it has something to do with the SID style arpeggiator. And while i understand how it works with notes on and off and so on… i don´t fully understand how this elevates the sequencer as a whole. I would be glad to be enlightened!
The arp on Monomachine can be programmed has a 16 steps sequence, which is played for every trig with the trig pitch.
You can choose if the amp, the filter or the LFO are retrigged.
It’s fun on bbox.
Here is where my science ends ^^
Apart from this, the way lock slides are implemented is pretty nuts, I would think this was one of SOPHIE’s power weapons.
IIRC the slide occurs on the parameter between two plocks, so if you have a trig in-between that isn’t plocked it slides across it.
A sort of linear LFO between distant trigs, across non-plocked trigs.
Turn the filter tracking off, the bbox with the arp turned on ran through a chorus with short decay and desired feedback. It can sound like you’re dropping 10 kits on a sheet of steel. It’s a fun time and what I end up doing a lot of the time with my MnM.
It’s a difficult box. Sometimes I’ll turn it on and create something out of this world. Then, the next time i turn it on, I can’t get it to sound anything but flimsy whimsy.
For clanging metal percussion (or metallic synth lines, or whatever else), the OT is great. Chorus (set depth and speed low, feedback high) on pretty much any percussive or noisy sample will get you really close, and you can run that into Lofi to make it more aggressive. For bubbly/wet synths, go crazy modulating a filter with the resonance cranked. I usually use DN for this since the LFOs are so flexible and filter keytracking is available. I still haven’t really worked out rubbery sounds, but I think FM with higher ratios would be a good place to start.
