Elektron Musical Instruments

On 4/30/03 11:18 AM, "simon leclerc"
<Simonvolt@...> wrote:

> Ok, so far what i read about what users think of MD FX:
> The distortion is weak.

I think the distortion is fine for modifying timbral color, but indeed, for
all-out full-gain distortion it is not so satisfying...but that said, can
you name a DSP-driven device that has a distortion that *is* satisfying?
There are not many, and for those that are, they are usually dedicating a
significant amount of DSP to do the task. Given the fact the MD has two DSPs
and is doing so much otherwise, it is no surprise the algorithm is not the
be-all, end-all distortion of everyone's dreams.

The MD does have individual outs though, and a nice analog pedal with rich,
creamy distortion is not much more than the price of a good lunch with
friends, hehe. ;)

> The Sample rate reduction is unusable (not strong enough)

No, it is more than stron enough...the problem *as I see it* is that as an
effect, it is of varying use depending on the drum sound, the effective
range of the effect is fairly small, and it is of less use than bit-depth
reduction would have been...but again, that is just me. I have many, many
tools that do sample rate reduction and bit depth reduction, and in general,
I nearly always love the sound of bit depth reduction and nearly always
dislike the sound of sample rate reduction...so this is a very personal and
subjective thing for me.

> The reverb is cheap sounding.

Hmm...it doesn't sound like a dedicated reverb box (see above comments re:
DSP resources in regard to distortion) to be sure, but that said, I quite
like the sound of it in the MD context, and this is coming from someone who
freely admits to being a reverb snob and making use of spendy dedicated
external reverb.

> The delay takes one 1 bar to adjust to different delay settings.

I can't comment on that, as I generally do not modulate delay-time settings
in the course of playback. Perhaps the MD takes time to do it because it is
interpolated so as to not introduce artifacts to the audio signal?

> This seems like a great collection of FX :(

Actually, it is...I am quite pleased with what Elektron chose to implement.

It seems you are focusing on subjective details and abstracting those things
into your total conception of the device.

Tell me what gear you use, and I am sure I can take any one of those devices
and play the same game with them.

> Is there one good Fx i can use in this machine ?

Many.

Don't get me wrong...I know you wish to be careful in making a potential
purchase, so I am not at all suggesting your questions are not valid. Nor do
I mean to suggest the MD is for everyone, because it is not.

That said, $1100 sounded expensive before I bought it, and quite a deal
after I had it for a week. ;)


cheers,
aeon