Thinking of ditching MD for AR

Elektron Gear Analog Rytm
#145

Rytm is mine

This is a very interesting box

It’s more or less exactly what I expected and I think it’s doing what I needed from it

So different from MD, much less sound sculpting possibilities for sure. However it sounds very good. Except for the fixed highpass on the snare machines. Wish that could be adjusted. The toms are also extremely basic.

Pads are not terrible. They require a special technique due to the aftertouch. Once your finger is on it no further hits until you lift off. Can make it seem unresponsive.

Qper is ridiculously cool. Scenes are fun too.

Chromatic synthesis blows. I don’t see the point of even attempting it with the analog engines except for bass and atonal noises. Samples, or single cycles plus filter, sounds pretty analog to me. Well not really… Since when pitch is low samples get muffled, no surprise there…

The severely limited pitch range is wild. Biggest surprise by far. It seems to go against one big point of analog (no aliasing) and limits song writing and sound design possibilities.

Sampling seems the way to go for song writing. I don’t plan on using this for continuous sets because I’m not a dj, so I think the 64mb is fine. Though that is a very meager amount for 2022. Then again loading and saving is butt slow. But that is also pretty archaic. Eh.

It is clear that this gives you an insane amount of control compared to something like MPC. In exchange you must accept limitations…

God do I wish for an analog four (beginners edition) with sampling. That would be it for me. This thing is quite a powerhouse though. Feels VERY boutique. Love the form factor.

Is there a way to trim and chop samples already in the +drive?

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#146

As far as I know, you have to resample to do that (sample main out then chop it).

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#147

So yeah ARMKii is really good and I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a box that they can put entire songs into that they can alter while they are playing, or just jam and improvise beats with a great interface. I wouldn’t recommend it for general purpose synthesis as I can see that that is not its strong suit at all and it can barely do chromatics with samples (4 octave range).

I got a good deal and yet I feel a bit off… my closest musician friends think I am wasting time spending large amounts of money on fancy gear they don’t think I need but they aren’t electronic artists so they don’t have a full appreciation of how awful setting up a computer based rig (even a very minimal one) at a show can be. So I’m just trying to reaffirm my rationale. Having as much as possible doable in a single box is preferable and I like Elektrons for their immediacy.

The part that I may not have thought about enough is my somewhat self-contradictory desire to perform on other gear as well. So I’ll be switching gear in different sections, different songs. Playing some chords on NL3 while singing, or some MIDI synced arps, then tweaking QPER perhaps while doing a little finger drumming, then scooting to the Drum 3P to bang out a drum solo or some kind of incidental, like a sick fill or crash. Model:Cycles taking the hot seat for some songs since that’s where they live and no point in resequencing.

Wow I sound silly. It’s like … 30% theoretical. I’ve done some of this but not all at once and who am I some kind of one man band? Was never the intention… I want to be seen as a social, flexbile musician, not a lone nerd with a bunch of toys that have dubious purpose. A 4-piece rig isn’t crazy, right? With a 5th later, when I get a monosynth. And nothing is mandatory apart from AR and MC (depending what songs I am playing). That’s a pretty good plan right?

In my opinion, ARMKii is a sampler with analog drums (and filters/OD/compressor), not an analog drum machine with sampling. The drums are not exactly a galaxy of possibilities and yes that’s what I wanted but I didn’t realize I would care so much about the toms and hats, they really are just 808. Resampling the “advanced” circuits is one good option. Sampling external gear is absolutely a given, at least a little bit of sampling.

As somewhat expected I reach for MD’s sculpting so I may spend a good amount of time sampling sounds from it. The money would help, but I would rather not sell it. Yeah it comes down to money… how sad is that? I think I would be making a mistake as MD is kind of a part of me at this point. Made this mistake before… so I thank all the people who urged me not to rush selling the MD or at least comprehend that once it’s gone it’s gone. Also I had to see for myself the difference between the two and while the DNA of the MD’s structure is there, they do not overlap sound-wise.

So if AR is to be the core of a setup then you just need sampling sources as it is what it says on the tin. I’ll never sequence other stuff on it, just MIDI sync out, or Ableton, and sample.

Using samples for almost everything is not my ideal but given my requirements I may have honed in on the best way for me. Whew!

At least I hope …

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#148

I don’t think the AR has ever been advertised for general purpose synthesis or even first and foremost as a sampler/sample player. In my eyes it is simply a very good analog drum machine that allows to layer samples…

#149

Yes, I should expect non-consensus on this :laughing:

No, it was wishful thinking that it would come close to fulfilling my melodic needs. But what it can do is usable and the sampling fills the gaps.

You realize that those samples can be as long as you want right? I’m already doing 8-bar passages. So using it like a simplified Octatrak. Quite nice and easy to freeze something down and virtually add another filter and LFO etc. Just arm record and hit play.

I’ve seen plenty of performances where they use long samples. It’s what inspired me to look at the AR.

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#150

I’m unsure of what you mean by “general synthesis” , but I would contest that, as a synthesizer in any generality the Rytm is actually very flexible. Each machine and each voice contain a universe of sounds and even within each trigger can be a world.
I have a fairly extensive collection of hardware and software synthesis options, but often reach for the Rytm for what it can do as a synthesizer.
Dig in, you may be surprised!
Cheers.

3 Likes
#151

Oh I’m sure, the problem is the tuning. On mine things start to go out of whack anywhere above middle C.

#152

That is a fair concern. I guess when I think synthesis, I’m not necessarily thinking in terms of quantized note values; moreover interesting sounds.
Cheers.

#153

What do you use to sequence melodies other than the AR?

#155

Ableton, Model:Cycles and Machinedrum.

#156

Eventually you may want a dedicated melody maker that’s not in drum machine or Ableton. You should be able to use one of the AR tracks as a midi out channel to control an external synth. Then you’ll have access to the entire note range.

#157

Can you sequence one track from MC from the AR? To access the chromatic scale?

#158

What I’ve been doing is to sample a sound or waveform and sequence the melody on the AR as a sample, then tuning is not an issue of course. Also I’ll sequence or play on these other devices and sample the result in and that’s been working pretty well. Controlling something with a groovebox, besides MIDI sync, is something I find inconvenient and complicated. In Ableton it’s worthwhile. Then it’s the same deal sample the output back into the AR. No problem.

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#159

Do I sell my MachineDrum?

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#160

I use to own a AR a few years ago and samples sound great on the AR. I’ve moved to the Digitakt because I found the workflow to be better for me but I do miss the ARs sound with samples. The analog filters gives it that special sauce.

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#161

Wasn’t impressed y AR soundwise
Keep the md
Recently got shot of mine and kinda regret it

#162

Don’t count on it!!! :joy::rofl::sob:

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#163

I’ve been gelling with the AR’s sound a lot, it is an adjustment coming from how varied MD is but the ease of getting fat useful sounds out of it is great. The philosophy is totally different, MD’s definition of a drum is way more “open to interpretation” while AR is mostly sweet spots and they are all drum-y.

That said I’ve been thinking that maybe both it and the MD are actually overkill and I might make the drastic choice of selling them both and getting some kind of overdrive pedal. Run stuff through that into Koala sampler and play it with a PadKontrol. I’d have enough money to get a bunch of cheaper fun things that I’ve been wanting, to make my best work with while I wait for Elektron to come out with the analog + sampler groovebox of my dreams. And still have a few months’ rent left over.

It is a fancy as hell device, I almost hate how much I like it. It definitely fulfills a lot of my needs in a one-stop-shop. The pads could be better and I think a software update could help. The velocity curve is way weird.

Wish I thought of trying the Koala route again (ran into frustrations previously) before putting down >$1K but I forgot. Lmao.

#164

image

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#165

Hope I’m not hijacking the thread but would I be asking too much if I want to trade (straight swap) my MD mk2 non-UW for the AR mk2?

Seeing how much they normally go for these days…