Elektron Musical Instruments

...it's not that simple to turn something like that on and off, we're
dealing with a multiprocessor (DSP) system that need to work on audio
in chunks, and we've adjusted them according to listening tests and
going through all available BeatBoxes on the market.

Also, people who have read my posts for a long time probably kow very
well that I'm not any fan of user options. I want an instrument to be
a generic tool, and if you find a Machinedrum it should be exactly the
same working as yours. I've explained this better in previous emails,
just thought I'd drop a note.

The following basic idea is catching the idea quite well: The goal of
the Machinedrum is to make the "worlds best drum machine" not to make
the "worlds most versatile drum machine".

..and I know that people will hate me for that. :) But I'm very much
of the belief that too many options and choices easily stand in the
way of creativity. When we intruduce a feature we always think hard if
it would have any negative impact on the workflow.

And we're talking about small, almost audible delays here, something
noone has really heard until they meassured the timing. However, maybe
they have _felt_ that they prefer a beat from a certain machine before
another.

Another hint of that the small timing fluctuation is deliberate and
hosted by a very high precision timer (We're talking MHz that's
divided down) is that it's never ever drifting, and the different
delays follow a special cycle. Not exact each turn, and nothing we've
pushed as a feature, rather something that we'd honoured if someone
said that the Machinedrum for sure has it's own sound, like the
dynamic 12-bit UW machines for sure has there own characteristics. We
could have done 16-bit with a straight frequency response, but then
everything would have sounded like on your computer, and is that why
you decide to buy an expensive drum machine? We want to provide
something "extra" or at least "special" in all parts.

Another note on the guy that got that 120bpm on the Machinedrum
doesn't agree with Protools 120bpm. This is actually the exact result
we have got. 120bpm ran alongside Protools for hours (or if it was
100bpm). But what you have to know that in the digital world you
always have at least one digital master clock. In the case of running
the MD beside Protools, Protools must get it's masterclock from
somewhere. And usually that is from its sound card. I know that we
have the Machinedrum very tighly set to "real time", but when you have
two different master clocks there is always the risk of that one will
drift. Therefore the use of MIDI clocks, or distributed digital
signals (WITH clock for gods sake! :). But then you'd loose part of
the Machinedrum sound as it is to a at least some part influenced by
the overdriven audio sub system.

What would be very interesting would be if people would do test tracks
with different drum machines, and see if they enjoy the timing better
from one or the other. I read about one guy that rest and sampled each
microsetting of the an and got so pissed it didn't sound like an 808
at all in his sampler - a typical example where the sequencer plays a
part of the sound. He bought one later (808 that is). :)

Daniel, Elektron - Pro mysticism and undocumented secrets that users
dig up sooner or later :)

PS. About the kit edit implementation - I agree it's not optimally
designed. It's so tight with buttons & functions though. The up/down
is probably the only ones left!


--- In elektron-users@yahoogroups.com, Leo Cavallo <leocavallo@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Daniel
> 
> Thanks for your clarification regarding the timing "issue".
> 
> Are you saying that the timing variations we experience in the MD 
> playback are 100% deliberate?
> 
> You make it sound like it's a real feature...
> 
> If that were the case, why don't you guys give us the option to 
> switch off that timing model?
> 
> I'm sure many other users would agree on this.
> 
> Best Regards
> Leo
>