Elektron Musical Instruments

Hi!

Read this thread with interessert and amuse! Thought I might add
something to the rumble.

I think you might benefit in checking out the machinedrum before you
decide. I find it easier to tweak and be fluid on the machinedrum than
the mono, there's something, very subjectively, better for realtime
operation in the interface. The shift/function knob makes most of those
things a one-hander on the 'drum, not so on the mono(why is it on the
left side???). The machinedrum only have three windows, with two
normally in use(synth/filter), so it's very easy to jump around in it.
And a few more small things that gives it the edge. Doesn't make the
mono any bad, it's brilliant as well, I just find the drum better in
the realtime department. Have had the drum for a year and the mono for
a few weeks, so I'm biased, take it as you want.


I don't have a car licence, only motorcycle ;), but I'll add something
to the debate anyway. Ever tried a computer car simulator with a
joystick? It drives, turns and brakes better than I do in a real car!
Hehe.. 

There's a lot to be done with several knobs or sliders - but you can
only do that much at once with two hands. The joystick and it's
flexible assignment lets you do more simultaneously. 

That said, I've been pondering a small controller for the mono as well.
But I can't make up my mind if it's worth it. Might not pay off in
extra creativity, just lead me into spending too much time assigning
midi CC's and doing boring setup stuff! There's too much to control, it
feels like locking a few parameters to external knobs wouldn't do much
of a difference. There'll always be a hoard of other parameters that
are not assigned. 


>Also the knobs is unusable ...

I hereby challenge you to find better! Gimme a shout if you do,
especially in a midi controller, would be very nice. 

They're actually quite wonderful. The elektron machine knobs are a neat
solution to virtual knobs, perfect for tweaking parameters in different
windows fast. 

Recently did a 16 hour machinedrum session to finnish off tracks for a
festival and trust me the knobs won't hurt your fingers.. You can
definitely go from zero to max with an easy twist! Just push down, not
hard(..), just enough, and it jumps around fast. 


>Has someone experianced this? Is it hard to assign it external 
controllers?

Depends on the controller. But I would look into those endless rotary
before buying, have a hunch they might be built for computer use only.
Might need processing before being compatible with normal midi if it's
sysex or something other weird format. 


Just my .14 norwegian krone. :)


cheers,

Andreas / Norway