I’ve never touched a MD, but definitely can see where it and the AR differ and overlap. I’m on the AR mkI, and don’t find any of the engines ‘limiting’, but you definitely need to have a plan in mind on how to use them depending on what you want to achieve.
As far as chromatic stuff and the range you can get out of it, that is somewhat dependent on your own ears. I find even high register stuff can sound good when properly tuned and filtered. the DVCOs have a huge range in line with simpler monosynth like the SH101 and Moog Rogue. Plus using stuff like the cowbell as a synth can really sound nice especially once you start layering a sample behind any of the machines.
Also programming melodic stuff is pretty easy in my opinion. I don’t particularly gel with how something like the Digitone or A4 works, but with the AR you can hold down a trig and tap a pad in chromatic mode to enter the note. This also lets you preview it so that you can get the velocity how you want it.
In my opinion the MD is far superior to the Rytm. I’ve owned the AR twice (both mk1 and mk2) and it’s by far my least favourite Elektron whereas the MD is my absolute favourite electronic instrument. So I’m biased like that.
But don’t take my word for it (and obviously you shouldn’t). —>
For me MD shines with it’s flexibility. Surely one can do lots and lots with the AR, but having endless trig-chains, variable mute-chains, 16 LFO’s to throw anywhere, Outputs assignable as one wants, Master-FX to be trig-locked or LFO assigned is something that can be dreamt for on the AR!
Whereas the AR is most def performance orientated I really like the MD for its quirkyness.
Furthermore the performance aspect of MD’s C-8 and C-ALL is not to be discarded! MCL just enlarges this with a proper mixing page and all sequence features of the newer series. But this won’t give you analog warmness of course ^^
Based on your description in the OP, I think you will like the AR a LOT. There are also some things that you will find frustrating, coming from MD (and vice versa) – having only 8 tracks/sounds, having some machines only available on some pads, etc, doing melodic work is still kind of a hassle)
If it’s possible, I’d add the AR and then after a few months with it, decide if you want to sell the MD or not. I did this in the other direction, and I definitely was not convinced I want to sell my AR but I’m glad to have the MD.
For sure try the AR first. Reminder: you can fetch a pretty penny for the MD, but getting it back if you aren’t into the AR would be as many pennies as you sold it for.
Man, I love max marco. But I gotta factor in, he doesn’t make the same kind of music I make.
I too am massively in love with the Machinedrum, but, paradoxically, it can feel like it takes me away from what I really want to be doing, which leans more on the side of plain old traditional songwriting. I spend a lot of time just concocting ways to use it, or tweaking sounds, rather than thinking purely about music. Sometimes you just want some tried-and-trues to come up with new musical ideas, rather than new sounds.
Guess my brain isn’t big enough for Machinedrum
OTOH you can’t deny its flexibility.
I’m attempting to figure out one way or the other if I’m on the verge of a breakthrough because of this desire for greater simplicity when greater mastery might fulfill the desire much easier than adopting and learning a new machine.
Also, preset storage with MCL might effectively cure my tweakaholism.
Someone correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t the MDs song mode far inferior to the AR? Edited: No. Exact opposite. My b.
Plus with conditional trigs and Direct start/jump, you have lots of structure and composition experimentation. And the pads make for better means to play in sequences.
For me, tweaking sounds is half the fun of making music. I do a lot of this with my AR. I don’t have many self-made presets that I reuse from track to track; I don’t often use the supplied presets. I make custom sounds for tracks… more accurately, I make tracks around my custom sounds/kits.
Not everyone uses it this way.
But if you are of the “tweaking for fun” character type, you might find the AR as much a trap as you’re saying the MD is. Maybe you (and maybe me) need a more structured process. Set some time for sound design; set some time for songwriting; stick to the time slots as much as you can (and make notes of your ideas whilst you’re doing one task that you can’t do if you’re following the rules).
It’s actually the opposite
MD song mode is very similar to OT, and more complex than the simplistic one which is in AR (specifically you can create different loops, nest them etc)
I got rid of my MD and replaced with ARMK2 on this exact basis: I wanted to do more traditional music, geared toward songwriting. But looking back, at the end of the day, I wish I still had an MD in addition to the ARMK2. The MD taught me that i like making and listening to more complex electronic music than i realized, unfortunately i just didn’t realize that until it was too late and the MD had been discontinued.
If you think there’s no chance you will ever want to make evolving complex groovebox patterns and sounds with great variety (that sound/exist in a world of their own imo) with your drum machine, then swap them and never look back.
No doubt about it. That’s why I’m not selling a kidney to get the MD back. AR just takes some diligent tweaking and samples to get the spectrum of sounds MD offers, if one is comfortable with that.
Honestly if you don’t love the Machinedrum then set it free. You’ve had long enough to decide whether you click with it, and your gut is usually right in these situations.
However, there is something to be said for scarcity and price inflation for discontinued gear. So much so that there are definitely situations where holding on to something isn’t a bad idea, even if you’re just putting it in the closet. That said I like to think that the Machinedrum has hit its ceiling and that prices can’t get more ridiculous than they have as of late, but you never know.
Curious that you dislike the Machinedrum for being too plinky and digital, but love the M:C.
The M:C secretly has a very wide sonic range! It is digital, but I’d characterize what I get out of it as round and growly. I use no default or factory sounds and I make extensive use of DIST and the ENV mode of the LFO on DECAY to alter the envelope curve.
EDIT: To add, I suppose its the relative ease of getting it out of its default plasticky, clicky sound that allows me to use the M:C as much as I do, for all its other nice features. I think it’s Elektron’s best box since the Machinedrum.
