Elektron Musical Instruments

Dear all, 

I am about to put together a compact live rig. I want to prewire/mount the whole thing in a cool aliminium suitcase, ie I should only have to open it, plug in the power and get busy.

I don't own any hardware sequencers, and I was thinking about buying a MachineDrum for sequencing & drums. I have a MicroModular (mm), SidStation (ss), microKORG (mk). The idea is to have a signal chain similar to this.

SS into MD
MK into MM
MM into MD

I will probably replace the MK with something smaller, like another MM or maby even a G2 engine (if I can afford it) when they are available.

This way I don't haveto use a mixer, and the MD and MM can act as fx boxes to.

I should be able to squeeze in atleast one more synth without adding a mixer. but I can always buy one of those tiny mixers if I really need more instruments.

What do you think about sequencing other gear with the MD?
Is the MD easy to work with (live)?
Are there any quirks I should be aware of?
Any other sequencers I should consider?
Blablabla etc?

regards,
David

hi,

I'd like members of this list who use Song mode on the
MD regularly to tell me if this idea makes sense to
you and if you would see any benefit in it:

currently in Song mode, there are two different ways
of displaying the inofrmation on the
currently-selected pattern, depending what page you
are in. in the "Edit" page, it displays the pattern
info by "Start Measure" and "Length". when you are on
the main Song page, it displays these same values as
"Start Measure" and "End Measure". to me, this is a
little counter-intuitive. I figured it out after some
trial and error and am ok now that I'm used to it. 

however, my feeling is that it would be appropriate to
use "Start Measure" and "End Measure" parameters for
both pages. this is for two reasons: 1) it would make
it much easier to keep track of what's going on when
jumping between "Edit" and "Playback/Overview" pages
in the Song mode, 2) it opens up to the idea of being
able to set the "Start Measure" higher than the "End
Measure", thus allowing a portion (or all) of the
pattern to be played in reverse order. note: I am not
talking about reversing the envelopes of the drum
sounds here, just reversing the order of the triggers
and any associated parameter locks. I think this would
give the song mode far greater flexibility in terms of
coming up with variations on existing patterns. 

of course, I have no idea how feasilbe #2 is on the
code level... but I would at least like to see some
consistency between the "Edit" and "Playback" pages in
how these parameters are displayed.

I hope I explained that well. 

anyone else agree/disagree with this?

cheers,
kevin

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The MD is a good sequencer.  It takes some programming however.  I
requested to have live recording into the sequencer and Elektron said
they cannot do this.  This is the only thing I wish it had.  The
programming is simple but if you have to use external gear you have to
program each note.  All I want it to do is record these notes live
from the keyboard, but like I said.  Other than that it's a reliable
sequencer.  I use it with only an Indigo 2 an a Reaktor in the future.
 Oh yea and you can only program chords with two harmonics.  Is this
right?  One fundimental and two harmonics?  Well, up to three notes on
one channel for each step.  The time signatures may have it's
limitations because of the 16 step sequencer.  You may have a problem
with 3/8 time for example.

The MD is ok for effects but you have to give up a channel for this. 
But you can also use the MD's 16 lfo's on your other gear.  It's not
your best effects box however.    

Hopefully Elektron will come up with an update that enhances the
sequencer.  I do run into some strange happenings with the MD but they
seem to be getting better with each update.  I can't elaborate on them
because I just forget what's happening and work around it.  Then I
just go to sleep.

Hopefully someone will back me up with what I said in the first paragraph.

--- In elektron-users@yahoogroups.com, David Brännvall
<davidbrannvall@h...> wrote:
> Dear all, 
> 
> I am about to put together a compact live rig. I want to
prewire/mount the whole thing in a cool aliminium suitcase, ie I
should only have to open it, plug in the power and get busy.
> 
> I don't own any hardware sequencers, and I was thinking about buying
a MachineDrum for sequencing & drums. I have a MicroModular (mm),
SidStation (ss), microKORG (mk). The idea is to have a signal chain
similar to this.
> 
> SS into MD
> MK into MM
> MM into MD
> 
> I will probably replace the MK with something smaller, like another
MM or maby even a G2 engine (if I can afford it) when they are available.
> 
> This way I don't haveto use a mixer, and the MD and MM can act as fx
boxes to.
> 
> I should be able to squeeze in atleast one more synth without adding
a mixer. but I can always buy one of those tiny mixers if I really
need more instruments.

> 
> What do you think about sequencing other gear with the MD?
> Is the MD easy to work with (live)?
> Are there any quirks I should be aware of?
> Any other sequencers I should consider?
> Blablabla etc?
> 
> regards,
> David