No, not with the current firmware. The Scenes (one of the pad modes), can control many parameters, but not the Condition setting.
You could get some way towards what you want by making use of the choke tracks. Set the same sound on both tracks of a choke group; have similar trigs on each track in the group, with different notes or conditions etc; unmute the higher precedence track when you want the alternative condition to apply.
…if that swedish trio still does not give u all, it’s time for perkons…
don’t open the modular pandoras box…u sound like the guy who would get lost along the way…
stay away from that…get urself that erica perkons, get really jiggy and dirty with it and be aware of the fact, from that point on, there is never more another reason why u should ask for more heavy hitting drums and badass bass lines again…
oh and by the way…sure ur dtone is there for harmonic stuff in first place, but there are also unheard drum and percussion sounds waiting for u only fm can bite off the sonic tree…so, from time to time u should really dig deep there and catch some with ur dtakt…no more drum terretory left to discover…
even if u would add a rytm…so spent that money on erica and never look back…
but before that, really try some quicj and dirty dead simple metronom like short fm drum patterns and sample those into takt, use the new slice engine there and go bonkers…
‘Conditional’ and ‘Probability’ are two distinctly different things. The former is a powerful way to add complexity while the latter is a means to add randomness.
From my quick read of this thread, you want fast and easy but you also want deep and complex. You have three powerful tools to do this but are somehow finding excuses not to dig into them. More gear isn’t going to fix this. Modular definitely won’t fix this. Drums in modular are a weak proposition at best.
I’m not sure why the TR8S didn’t make the cut. It is, in my humble opinion, the most performable drum machine out there. It is dead simple and fast to program. It sounds amazing. It’s also pretty deep on sound design. This is only made easier with the editor. It has a boatload of individual outs, dual mono or stereo input with the ability to sidechain off of any of the instruments. It’s just a beast of a drum machine. Simple when needed and complex all the same.
Personally, I think you have more than enough to cover anything drums-wise. You have GAS-colored googles on.
If it’s one thing you’re ‘missing’ then it would be sequencing that differs from the Elektron style. A Torso T1 might spark some creativity if you feel like you need an ‘ideas’ machine.
I am loathe to recommend gear when you already have a powerful and flexible setup though.
I mean, sure - I have all the drumming potential in the world with XO and a massive sample bank, but I just don’t like working that way. As for the TR8s - I disliked editing the FM drums on the front panel and using the editor for that was annoying (and I don’t really care for TR style drum sounds as my bread and butter - the ability to not do that is one of the things I like so much with the elektrons). Ditto the effects; fiddly and frustrating. I actually like the tr6s more than the 8s as the chord combinations made programming it faster (for me). If I was going to use the TR series sounds, I’d use them in sampled form on the DT (and I like the TR6 samples from mars for that).
I know the rational choice is to just stick with one or two electrons and maybe a keyboard synth. OTOH the more rational choice was to remain ITB. Hell, the rational choice is to dump this money in my 403(b).
I like the (Digi) Elektron workflow, but I don’t think I like it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
So, that’s the AR out unless the DT+ST go, at least.
The Torso looks interesting, I’ll need to dig more into it.
AI Drum Machines aren’t out yet.
We, and by current standards AI/ML drums would just be simple derivations of whatever they trained on. It’s easy enough to just use stock patterns in that case (like Logic’s drummers), but that isn’t really what I want.
Sounds to me like you are after an instrument with immediacy. Like sit down and start playing sort of thing. Perkons is great. I’m very happy with mine for this.
Polyend Play seems good too if you are into using samples. Oxi one + something (drm1, Pulsar 23 , endorphins drum modules etc also work
I was about to suggest the polyend play but might not be what you want.
A grid based sequencer like the Hapax, Oxi One could be a lot of fun. I have the Hermod module from Squarp and it can be used with MIDI so easy to setup with the Elektron boxes(Well, you could go with the Hapax or Pyramid of course). What I like about the Hermod (true for all their sequencers) is the MIDI/CV FX. That can bring new ideas and it’s easy to lay down beats and create triplets too.
The Torso also seems fun.
I’ve been wanting a tanzbar because I love that sound but also because you have all the knobs to modify each sounds right in front of you. Not as powerful as the AR but to play live… yes!
I can’t recommend the BLCK_NOIR though.
The interface was cramped and the FX switching was cumbersome. The kick was great though.
I have 2 Plaits and a Surface that I use for my drum duties (and other things!) with the Hermod or Mutable Grids. Plaits offer so many CVs, it can create crazy drums. You could try Grids and 3 Plaits with some LFOs in VCVRack/MiRack and see if you like.
There is nothing immediate about modular… even when it comes to using synth voices.
Maybe get an algorithmic sequencer like Torso T-1 to get a sequence going quick
Yeah, the effects looked really fiddly to me; what I liked was multiple drum voices in one unit. Almost a semimodular drum module. But I don’t think I need more than 4 voices to start out; so mixing and matching could work (though probably cost more).
In the DAW right now I use a combination of HY-RPE2 and XO (with the recently on absurd sale everything from samples from mars plus all the other odds and ends I’ve ever collected).
Much as I despised people who said this to me before I fully understood the octatrack, the octatrack is one answer here. If you just have static machines playing drums from CF card you can have a template with sliced chains of every drum your heart desires and lots of performability, better than ar2 for that.
LXR-02 bangs.
Perkons is your solution. But I love my Rytm MK2 as my main drum synth. You have the tools just master them to put your GAS at bay.
you could always sell your digi’s, buy perkons or jump down the modular hole n then learn from your mistakes. it’ll cost you but there’s no real harm done other than that.
it does sound like gas to me tho.
The money is calling you to spend it. It seeks to leave your dank, dark, moist pocket. You need not listen to it. If it takes you two hours to program drums, the answer isn’t more gear, it’s more practice. Do not go the euro route. I know it seems cool and all but it is a long series of labouress task. You will not enjoy it and will fall into a never ending cycle of buying new modules to make it easier, it’s not. I speak from experience. I’ve bought two rack, all of Elektrons stuff several synth keyboards, and desktop modules. Close to a million different efx units and pedals, and a never ending list of plug-ins. For what? Nothing. If I could go back I’d have just stuck with a smaller assortment, including the boxes you have right now. Or you, don’t listen to anyone, go blow that money, and continue your search for the perfect machine, that doesn’t exist.
It is probably a bit too far fetched, but I found that for me, the simplest and most playful way to lay down a quick groove with a decent amount of variations, but without anything that feels like programming, is the Erica Techno System. The basic sound palette is focused towards 909ish sounds, but the fx and modulation options allow to go a bit beyond. As I have written elsewhere, I would not call it a modular system in the traditional sense; all modules are very straightforward and there are in fact not so many cazy modulation options. And even when I patch it from scratch, it just takes few minutes to get a good groove going. I found mine second hand; they tend to show up quite regularly, as do the modules. With respect to functionality, it is expensive (but so is everything modular), but since I have it, my AR stays mainly on the shelf, and my OT mainly serves as fx module (I must admit that I have never fully been into sample based music making). In other words: the Techno System invites playing and has boosted my electronic music making tremendously.
Volca Beats
I’m currently rocking the DT/DN/ST trio, and for the most part, feel like I have all the drum options I need, both sonically and in terms of creative sequencing.
All that being said … I do sometimes still like to break out my Circuit Mono Station and get into analog percussive weirdness on it, with its nearly 1-1 control-per-function ratio and quirky yet easy to use sequencing. Sometimes it’s easier to get onto “modular” sounding territory within the confines of that single paraphonic + sub voice, the direct controls and the trivial to execute patch flipping.
So I kind of get the attraction of the Perkons and its immediacy. There would likely be some similarities to the weirdness I can coax out of a CMS, but in a versatile high-end 4 voice/4 track form with additional goodies and built like a tank. Kind of hot, actually … hmm …
Seriously though, the Digi trio is beastly as-is. Whenever I get GAS, I always ask myself, what music can I not create with my current setup that this new thing would “fix”? After some consideration, the answer is pretty much always that I already have what I need to make the music I want to make.
But if something like a Perkons would inspire you and make you more inclined to create, then it’s simply a means to that end, no issue there.
But with the boxes you already have, I would avoid looking at a new drum machine or modular system as a “fix” for something that doesn’t really need fixing. IMO, you already have some of the best drum machines/synths/groove boxes on the market.
Absolutely, these machines are really amazing, and if I had had them back in the 90s…
If I am honest, drum programming has always been more of a necessary evil than my true love, I like rhythm, and when I play bass I tend to play it more rhythmically than melodically, but drum programming has always been a PITA. I’ve made tracks that took me weeks to program, and I liked the results, but the process not as much. It’s not bad at all on electrons, though, and I like them. If I am not going to do that in a DAW, that’s a good alternative.
At the same time, when I am playing with some arps, getting into the zone, arp with one hand, bass with the other - damn I want some drums, and I want them fast.
Model:Cycles with the free URRRS project of 96 original kits with 4-bar patterns. Dirt-cheap device (used), patterns are sorted by BPM, M:C is totally tweakable without effort. When you want a change, it’s one button chord away. (I get bored easily, and this was a godsend when I wanted to concentrate on another device, and, like you said, I wanted drums fast. But now that I’ve sold my M:C, I have to build up something like this on the TR-6S…)