I’ve been out of the game for a few years, sold all my gear apart from my MnM which I could never part with.
I’m getting back into making tunes and want to get some other pieces to compliment the MnM. I backed the Goliath 16 on kickstarter so that should be arriving soon, I always loved the control all functionality of the MD.
Looking for advice on other gear that plays nice with the MnM?
Try sequencing your MnM with Numerology - opens it up wonderfully. I’d recommend printing out the CC table and keeping it handy, goes well for crazy automation that’s not all fixed to the same length. (As it is, I find the Monomachine’s sequencer to be almost unusable. No way to record velocity - really?)
Maybe the Roland Boutique could be something to investigate… 4 voices is a good match, they sound way better than Volca series… You can easily find second hand ones for a good price, and they are robust, despite their plastic look.
But really consider top-end FX such as Heat or Space : it really gives a whole new depth to the synth, and as MM as plenty of outputs you can even have both and still route some tracks to the dry output !
Don’t buy any other gear. Spend years alone mastering the monomachine, it can do everything. Do not leave your apartment/house. You will have no friends but you will save tons of money. Create sounds that don’t even exist yet. Take over the world.
Do take a look at routing five of the tracks to an fx track on the same pattern. Lots to be found there.
Edit - hit go too soon -
I pair mine with the chorus effect on the inputs of the A4. I think the chorus does a good job of sweetening the tone and the a4 itself holds down the low end with great kicks and polymeters missing from the MNM.
I often dedicate 2-3 tracks just for processing other tracks. IMO that is where the MnM really comes alive and shows it’s special sauce. The reverb and chorus blocks can give you really nutty stuff.
a couple of my favorite mnm examples. nord drum obviously for the 6 tracks that are conveniently sequenced by the 6 midi tracks on the mnm. tetra/space sounds great accompanying the MNM as well.
I like working with a lot of randomness and happy accidents, that’s why I like the MnM so much… lots of switching patterns and kits and seeing what results I get. The Goliath’s control all and random features will help with this. I’ll also give numerology a go in the meantime as I have this but never dug into it.
Maybe the only other thing I need then is a sampler… I’m thinking an MPC might be the way to go as I can record the MnM back into it to chop up.
Great thread! My Monomachine is my favourite piece of gear, and is paired with an Octatrack as the centrepiece of my rig. The OT is great for sampling/chopping/applying FX to the MnM, so I always have one pair of outputs going straight into the OT. As others have mentioned, the Eventide Space paired with the MnM is pretty much pure heaven, so I have my Space on outputs C-D. It’s great to hear people say that the Heat sounds great on the MnM, as that is my next purchase for that 3rd pair of outputs.
It’s such an amazing and versatile machine, that spending some dough on some nice FX is totally worth it.
I think a nice reverb can do wonders for the Monomachine. Love running it through my Oto Biscuit or Analog Heat. Octatrack is probably my favorite partner for the MNM though, since it allows me to use all six tracks for one sound, or to use poly mode (I looove the MNM as a poly synth).
A desktop Mopho works well with the MNM and can be found cheap.
Has its own filter input and Sequencer. Responds well to Midi CC and takes up very little space. Although I tend to dail in presets since its not easy to program with limited knobs. But if you can score one used it is an option.
I’m always surprised the range of tones it has.