The Syntakt ruined everything for me!

Elektron Gear Syntakt
#42

Yeah I understand this post. I too just used the DT and DN then along came the SY and found myself just using that on my lap for months then I found I struggled to bring the DT and DN back into play as it just slowed things down.

What I tend to do now is the SY is centre to everything that I’ll use DN to add pads and chords (still don’t use the SY chord machine as I can’t find any use for it, kills my live recording only work flow…probably only reason the DN survives…). Otherwise I’ll use the SY with the DT for more live drum kit sample sounds.

In summary, yep the SY is awesome.

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#43

…come on…all u really need is a little bit of polyphony options, some sample worx, some analog meets digital hybrid thing…and that klak klak zak zak simplicity makes complexity workflow of swedish sequencing to live a fulfilled sonic content creator life…

and u got it all in front of u…while all the rest is “nothing” but a phunky mindset…
good sign that st boosted ur creative juices and got u cooking, but always keep in mind, on the long run, u would miss the other two digi’s…and that day is always about to come…
and never underestimate that huuuuge advantage, that u got THE swedish muscle memory established and all three work the very same way…

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#44

Oh I know. After 20+ years of producing, I have accepted that the Elektron workflow is best for my brain. It’s not perfect (yet), but I love them. I won’t get rid of the DN/DT unless something were to replace them as the same but better. Haha.

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#45

As far as I’m concerned, I’m tempted to sell my rytm and replace it with the ST to match it to the DT and DN !! :cold_face:

#46

Digitakt sells plenty of units and is older and cheaper than Syntakt. If they give Syntakt a sample player, and it starts outselling digitakt, whose loss is that? I’ll never buy a digitakt either way (no offense to it) but having the simple and basic feature of sampling would make me want to evangelize the Syntakt a lot more. And having a simple sampler that’s “not good enough” on Syntakt would just invite the same response people give on Digitakt: if the sampling isn’t good enough, just get an Octatrack. Seems like a win win. People buy the more expensive Syntakt and maybe the more expensive octatrack.

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#47

That’s pretty much what I’ve done. Far prefer the implementation of the analog voices on the ST, 2nd LFO etc. I preferred the DT to the sampler side of the Rytm too.

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#48

I’m not too keen on the Syntakt chord machine either. The process of entering various chords is clumsy and it always kind of sounds the same. I’m also noticing that I tend to use the DN mostly for pads when paired with the ST…

…which is a pity because I know I can make pretty much a whole arrangement on the DN standalone – I can really relate to the OP!

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#49

It’s a tricky chess game we have here, let’s get mathematical for a sec :

We have the Dark Trinity, the Digi Trinity and the Model Duology.

If the Dark Trinity = the Digi Trinity,
then :
A4 = DN
AR = ST
OT = DT

-> The AR got the sample engine of the DT (the DT does not overlap with the OT)
-> The ST got the synth engines of the M:C (the M:C does not overlap with the DN)

so, we have :

(AR x DT) / OT
(ST x M:C) / DN

If we want the ST to have a sample engine, it must not overlap with the DT, so it might have the sample engine of the M:S, then :

√M:S ((ST x MC) / DN) = ST²

BUT

if ST², then the equilibrium of the two Trinities would be compromise, because there is no AR², so if we want ST², it should be ST² = AR²

to have AR², the AR should have the synth engine of the DN, so it should go like this :

√DN ((AR x DT) / OT) = AR²

and then √DN ((AR x DT) / OT) = √M:S ((ST x MC) / DN)

the equilibrium of the two Trinities is restored.

To sum up, it’s a big thing to add a sample engine to the ST.

Oh, by the way, I hate maths.

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#50

Yes

#51

I’ve settled on Elektron for hardware, and Reaper for software. I don’t generally mix the two during production. Just in post for the hardware setup.

I also like and build analog sequencers, but for building full tracks, Elektron is the best hardware that I’ve used.

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#52

I think potentially giving Syntakt sample play back could basically put a hard cut off on new machines coming to the device because of sample space allocation… it might make it a better solo groove box but it could hold it back from being the best unique device it could be. Especially given the idea that many people will be pairing it with a sampler anyways. As they made additions to the DT the price has steadily gone up over the years (from 600 to now 859) although probably some other factors at play there also.

I don’t really think elektron is as worried about product overlap as often people claim, sampling might just not be what is best for the syntakt overall in there vision but if it is I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see a sampler machine come to it in an update.

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#53

As someone who has had countless hours of fun with the Syntakt in standalone and getting a Digitakt tomorrow to fill the sample mangling gap ‘Elektron style’, this part worries me a little too. My plan is to keep using the Syntakt as the primary device so I can still unplug it and sketch out songs in standalone, and then the idea with the Digitakt is to play a more secondary role of “filling in the gaps” through things like textures, percussive elements and maybe sometimes more prominent things too. But I really enjoy the standalone aspect of the Syntakt and feel that there’s a risk of the setup turning into something a bit too complex as soon as a second device is introduced. We’ll see how it goes, but there’s no doubt that sampling capabilities in the Syntakt would turn it into the ultimate groovebox!

Edit: rather than going off topic, I created a separate thread for a related topic: Best sampler to pair up with the Syntakt - Digitakt or SP-404 MKII?

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#54

One of the very cool things about the ST/DT pair, is that you can route one through the other, and use the additional effects. Using the analog FX on the ST to duck the inputs for example. Or, if you have a Digitone, you can add its chorus to the DT or ST.

With the DNK it’s even cooler, because you can route something into it, and then use the individual audio outputs on top of that to separate things out a bit.

These combos are ridiculously powerful.

As to pairing up a second sampler to the Digitakt, I’d find one that goes the opposite way. Less sequencing and locking tricks, and more pure sample editing, mangling, effects, etc. Then you have the best of two worlds, rather than more similar stuff.

I had a Digitakt and Blackbox for a while, and while that seems somewhat similar, the BB allowed just enough extra mangling and features (not to mention huge sample storage) that it really was quite complementary.

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#55

That’s cool indeed, but I’d probably prefer to have the outputs of the Syntakt routed into the inputs of the Digitakt, for quick sampling of phrases and glitches that can be mangled and turned into percussive elements. So I guess the analog FX bus wouldn’t be used by the DT much in my case.

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#56

I have the Model:Cycles and used it extensively before the ST so I’m very used to manipulating the Chord machine. There’s a lot of manipulation potential in that machine and the ST took it to another level. I know a lot of people don’t care for it but I really like it and continue to get great results from it. For anyone that reads this, I recommend looking beyond its limitations and diving into it :grin:

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#57

The issue that arises for many when they want to use the DT in this way is that the stereo input sums to mono when sampling.

#58

Yeah, that part is a shame, but with the LFOs and trigless trigs, it’s relatively easily manageable in the end, for my purposes at least. If I really wanted a true stereo representation of a loop, I’d have to devote 2 tracks for it. Given that I plan on using the Digitakt mainly as the added spice to the tracks I make on the Syntakt, it shouldn’t present much of an issue. I’ll use the Digitakt for things like crashes/cymbals, risers, glitchy noise stuff, background textures, and the occasional voice/acoustic sample maybe. In other words, not the defining parts of the song, but rather the ear candy.

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#59

I agree that the chord machine does encourage some techniques that one wouldn’t think of when sequencing chords “manually” (e.g. some cool sounds can be made by p-locking the chord inversion).

For me it’s annoying when I have a chord progression that I came up with on the piano and just want to implement it as quickly as possible (as opposed to starting composing on the ST from scratch).

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#60

I can absolutely vouch for both sides of this lol. I sold my M:C for a Syntakt and the chord engine is 100x more usable on the latter for me, but I do find myself wishing I could hold down a trig and just play in a chord like I do on my DT’s midi tracks. For someone like me who’s still teaching himself theory, though, the chord engine is perfect as a starting point to program in progression ideas and experiment with variations to then play alongside on a different synth.

Routing the LFO to the inversion balance is fuuuuuun, though. Had to edit to add that lol

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#61

I’ve been in that same chord progression situation :rofl: The trick I found for myself is to turn that part of my brain off when I use the chord machine and really take advantage of the inversions and P-Locking… and also using more than one chord track.

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