Elektron Musical Instruments

Hello,
I 'm thinking about ordering a machinedrum, and want to ask some 
questions.
It's what the pdf manual DOESN'T say that interest me most:

.I read many messages from people complaining for a major
 hardware failure: taken that the only service center is in Sweden
 this is a very big problem.Anyway overall how would you rate the  
MD's reliability? Does it frequently crash or the few crashes are a 
result of strange operations?

.if I trigger the drum sounds from external sequencers, will the 
incoming note's velocity be recognised? for example will a drum roll 
with gradually increasing velocities sound the way it should? 

.are all 16 drum sounds of a kit in the same midi channel?
if not can you program them so?

.is the current global setup loaded on startup? or is the MD reset to 
a "default" global setup each time you turn it on?(this would be a 
problem because you would have to set the MD to your own custom 
global setup each time) 

.has anyone asked about service parts policy from electron?
a machine this expensive should have service parts for a long period 
of time.

.is the MD'S output quiet or noisy?

hope this isn't too much but i think that this is big decsion that's 
why i'm asking so much 
thanks in advance.

On Wednesday, August 13, 2003, at 01:11  PM, fotofono wrote:

>  this is a very big problem.Anyway overall how would you rate the
> MD's reliability? Does it frequently crash or the few crashes are a
> result of strange operations?

I have one of the first 100 and I've never had a crash.

> .if I trigger the drum sounds from external sequencers, will the
> incoming note's velocity be recognised? for example will a drum roll
> with gradually increasing velocities sound the way it should?

I believe it does.  Maybe someone else can back me up?

> .are all 16 drum sounds of a kit in the same midi channel?
> if not can you program them so?

The drum trigger is all on the same channel (ie. if it gets a C1 on any 
of it's 4 channels it triggers the BD) but the CC's are spread out over 
the 4 channels it uses.  I believe the manual has a midi implementation 
chart in the back.

> .is the current global setup loaded on startup? or is the MD reset to
> a "default" global setup each time you turn it on?(this would be a

It uses your custom setup each time it powers up, so you don't have to 
constantly change it.

> .has anyone asked about service parts policy from electron?
> a machine this expensive should have service parts for a long period
> of time.

Can't comment on this.

> .is the MD'S output quiet or noisy?

Completely silent.  The only noises that come out are the ones you make 
:)

> hope this isn't too much but i think that this is big decsion that's
> why i'm asking so much
> thanks in advance.

It's a lot of money but it really is worth it.  If mine was struck my 
lightning today I'd order a new one tonight.

hth,
c.

--- In elektron-users@yahoogroups.com, "fotofono" <ar98043@m...> wrote:
> .I read many messages from people complaining for a major
>  hardware failure: taken that the only service center is in Sweden
>  this is a very big problem.Anyway overall how would you rate the  
> MD's reliability? Does it frequently crash or the few crashes are a 
> result of strange operations?

I'd rate the MD reliability very high.  I've had great luck with mine
so far (knock on wood) and it's over a year old, I believe.

I've never had it crash.  It has acted weird on me a couple of times,
but not locked up or crashed yet.  And that's normal for electronic
(especially digital) instruments, in my experience; none of them are 
100% perfect.

Overall, I think it's very reliable.  If you have a problem, Elektron
will help you through it.  But I would recommend buying a new one,
*just in case* you need them to make good on their warranty; and it's
worth it just to avoid paying the shipping fees, really.

BTW, I know they've kicked around the idea of outside service centers
in countries other than Sweden.  When and if that will ever come to 
fruition, I do not know.
 
> .if I trigger the drum sounds from external sequencers, will the 
> incoming note's velocity be recognised? for example will a drum roll 
> with gradually increasing velocities sound the way it should? 

IIRC, this can be done, but velocity is just mapped to volume.

Have you played an MD in person yet?  I would highly recommend doing
so.  Check out Elektron's partner page
(http://www.elektron.se/partners.php) and see if there's someone near
you with one you can demo.  Because honestly, other than the
incredible depth of sounds, one of the greatest things about the
machine is the interface.  And that includes the sequencer.  So I'm
not sure if you'll want to use an external sequencer very often, once
you really get into the machine :-)

Joe.