Elektron Musical Instruments

Hi.  

I know this is somewhat belated, but we're just getting our act into 
gear and uploading this to the web.  Back in February we promised to 
make available an example of a live set that we did consisting of 
two MonoMachines and one MachineDrum.  Well our promise has been 
fulfilled!  The only other piece of gear we used for this show was a 
Yamaha 01V mixer.  We had the MD as the controller.

The project/band is Freq Modif on Obliq Recordings 
(http://obliq.net) and the show was Wobble on Valentine's Day 2004 
at the Fiske Planetarium in Boulder Colorado.  The link to the audio 
is in our News section.  FYI, our new Multicast release which is due 
out in early August will also feature the MD and MonoMachine on most 
of the tracks as well, I'll have audio samples of these tracks up 
very soon.

One thing we used extensively through the show was the joysticks on 
the Monos.  The only thing that I would love is if the joystick's 
MIDI implementation would be assignable like everything else (so 
that we could use continuous controllers for all directions).  
Another gripe I have is that the Function key is used so much but 
when performing live you only have one hand available to press the 
buttons and tweek parameters (because the other hand is actually 
playing the keyboard); the physical distance is too far for my small 
hand for many of the functions I need (like muting tracks, etc).  
Perhaps a foot pedal switch could be integrated that would function 
as the "Function" key.  I actually beg for this modification and 
would be willing to give up an individual in to have this.  Finally, 
the machines are a bit noisy too especially on the MD; but we can 
live with that because our stuff can bee somewhat noisy anyway!

For us the MonoMachine & MachineDrum have both been revolutionary 
from a performance perspective.  They have taken the pages and pages 
of complex programming out of the experience and give you full power 
to quickly be productive and creative!  Elektron has two huge fans 
in Rural Colorado USA!!!  The FM, SOS and definitely Grooves reviews 
don't do the MonoMachine proper justice, btw!!!  

Please geel free to give us any feedback as we *always* welcome 
constructive criticism and would entertain any questions!    

Enjoy!  

--davealex/nathan
freqmodif [@] obliq.net
http://obliq.net

Very cool Dave! I'm very impressed with the filters in
the MonoMachine. It sounds like Monolake in parts. I'm
way more interested in the MonoMachine now than
before.
Thanks
sr.minimo
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 



		
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hey dave'n'lex,

this is truely deep stuff - live music made with elektron gear.
good combined structures. did you just played in the pattern mode or
did you used the song mode too?

thanx 4 sharing this great piece of live.


cheers
re :  p   e    t      e

=> => => => => => => => => => => => => => =>
maetrixsolution - musicaly platformed
pete leuenberger

http://www.maetrixsolution.com
<= <= <= <= <= <= <= <= <= <= <= <= <= <= <=

> Subject: 2 Monos and a MD -- Live Set uploaded
>
> Hi.
>
> I know this is somewhat belated, but we're just getting our act into
> gear and uploading this to the web.  Back in February we promised to
> make available an example of a live set that we did consisting of
> two MonoMachines and one MachineDrum.  Well our promise has been
> fulfilled!  The only other piece of gear we used for this show was a
> Yamaha 01V mixer.  We had the MD as the controller.
>
> The project/band is Freq Modif on Obliq Recordings
> (http://obliq.net) and the show was Wobble on Valentine's Day 2004
> at the Fiske Planetarium in Boulder Colorado.  The link to the audio
> is in our News section.  FYI, our new Multicast release which is due
> out in early August will also feature the MD and MonoMachine on most
> of the tracks as well, I'll have audio samples of these tracks up
> very soon.
>
> One thing we used extensively through the show was the joysticks on
> the Monos.  The only thing that I would love is if the joystick's
> MIDI implementation would be assignable like everything else (so
> that we could use continuous controllers for all directions).
> Another gripe I have is that the Function key is used so much but
> when performing live you only have one hand available to press the
> buttons and tweek parameters (because the other hand is actually
> playing the keyboard); the physical distance is too far for my small
> hand for many of the functions I need (like muting tracks, etc).
> Perhaps a foot pedal switch could be integrated that would function
> as the "Function" key.  I actually beg for this modification and
> would be willing to give up an individual in to have this.  Finally,
> the machines are a bit noisy too especially on the MD; but we can
> live with that because our stuff can bee somewhat noisy anyway!
>
> For us the MonoMachine & MachineDrum have both been revolutionary
> from a performance perspective.  They have taken the pages and pages
> of complex programming out of the experience and give you full power
> to quickly be productive and creative!  Elektron has two huge fans
> in Rural Colorado USA!!!  The FM, SOS and definitely Grooves reviews
> don't do the MonoMachine proper justice, btw!!!
>
> Please geel free to give us any feedback as we *always* welcome
> constructive criticism and would entertain any questions!
>
> Enjoy!
>
> --davealex/nathan
> freqmodif [@] obliq.net
> http://obliq.net
>

Hi Pete.

>did you just played in the pattern mode or
>did you used the song mode too?

Glad you enjoyed listening.  We actually prepared by creating 
a "palette" for each one of our songs.  A "pallette" for us is one 
pattern on each MonoMachine and MD, but is "loose" to allow for us 
to improvise and read the crowd.  We pre-programmed the joystick 
mappings, some basslines and melodies and had tracks ready with kits 
to play on the keyboard.  We used between 1 and 3 MM tracks per song 
per Monomachine.  Between songs we'd just jump to a new bank and 
we'd be ready to go...oh we also had to adjust the tempo too since 
this isn't stored with a pattern.  

We each were in charge of percussive and melodic elements on the 
MMs; of course the MD was just percussion and sometimes bassline.  
For the performance we then just stayed in that one pattern on the 
Monos and tweeked parameters, arpeggiations, the joysticks and 
played on the keyboard--we had several tracks to mute/un-mute to 
allow for flexibility (there were some tracks designated 
as "backups" that we never used).  The MD we just mute/un-muted 
machines and pre-sequenced patterns and tweeked.  

With these palettes set up before hand it allowed us to go with the 
flow and have a good time.  The MonoMachine definitely allows for us 
to be spontaneous and perform!  Guaranteed that we'd never be able 
to recreate these tracks exactly! 

This is the power of the MonoMachine in my opinion, is the ability 
to create a palette (kit) and then use the arpegiations, knobs, 
joystick and keyboard for flexible performance options.  I 
personally prefer some kind of performance rather than a laptop 
performances where the person could be playing solitare while he's 
watching his pre-sequenced stuff role along.  The MM allows you to 
perform if that is your thing while also have some pre-sequenced 
stuff for back tracks or backup if needed.  This is truely a 
revolutionary performance machine if you ask me!

I'd be even happier if I didn't have to remove my hand from the 
keyboard to use the Function button to mute/unmute tracks, or do 
anything that requires the Function button...hence my suggestion for 
a function "pedal" switch or something similar!  <hint hint>

I have never played with Song mode by the way, so there could be 
some big pleasures awaiting me there!

--davealex

On Jul 1, 2004, at 9:03 PM, davealex_obliq wrote:

>  I'd be even happier if I didn't have to remove my hand from the
>  keyboard to use the Function button to mute/unmute tracks, or do
>  anything that requires the Function button...hence my suggestion for
>  a function "pedal" switch or something similar!  <hint hint>

Dave,
You can mute/unmute tracks with one hand.  Just press FUNCTION and bank
to enter the mute page (just like on the MD).  Then you can mute/unmute 
tracks
with one hand (one finger, really :-) using the trig/step buttons.  
Just leave it
in mute mode while you play the keyboard/tweak knobs and you won't have
to touch the FUNCTION key at all.

This wasn't on the MnM when it was first released to us lucky 100 beta 
testers.
But we immediately griped about it and they included it in the next OS. 
  So
therefore if you have one of the early machines there is no panel 
indication of
this mute mode.  But the recent machines have the inverted block saying 
"Mute"
where the bank button is.

BTW, I really enjoyed the live set.  I plan on listening to it today at 
work, on
headphones.  That should provide a great state to get some work done! 
:-)

Joe


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

hello back,

this really sounds familiar to my art of MnM using.
dow my biggest inconceivable problem are the
outputs in the "edit" mode: i just prepared my pattern
with all machines, tracks and knob moves and the i would
like to send my track number 6 to the outs C-D and when i
push the ENTER button all the settings are gone. <hint> :-)

and again: JOE knows what to do! thanx! i am very thankfull
to get a helping <hint>. whats even more important to see and hear
how other people work. i am also corious 'bout joes 
tech-using-interpretations...?

the one point of dave'n'lex 'bout the "notebook subject" i can't share:
the main positive point about this to me is, you can add so mutch pre
created functions with a laptop. you can get more output and complexer 
sounds than
with just "MnM hardware". ok, in this point we are not familiar then i 
am just
using one MnM, i just started from a few weeks ago to use the NUMEROLOGY
software and it seems to worked it out exatly the way i need. sometimes 
it's kind
of frustrating using NUM - less intuitive then the monomachine... but 
still,
you kann add polyphone sounds with al LAP wich is great to mixit up 
with monophone
analog sounds from the MnM. i am just preparing for live but it's not 
so stabel yet. lot's
of times the MnM crashes when NUM tries to sync to the MnM sequencer 
(over a amt8).

> => => => => => => => => => => => => => => =>
> maetrixsolution - musically platformed
> pete leuenberger
>
> http://www.maetrixsolution.com
> <= <= <= <= <= <= <= <= <= <= <= <= <= <= <=



> Glad you enjoyed listening.  We actually prepared by creating
> a "palette" for each one of our songs.  A "pallette" for us is one
> pattern on each MonoMachine and MD, but is "loose" to allow for us
> to improvise and read the crowd.  We pre-programmed the joystick
> mappings, some basslines and melodies and had tracks ready with kits
> to play on the keyboard.  We used between 1 and 3 MM tracks per song
> per Monomachine.  Between songs we'd just jump to a new bank and
> we'd be ready to go...oh we also had to adjust the tempo too since
> this isn't stored with a pattern.

>
> We each were in charge of percussive and melodic elements on the
> MMs; of course the MD was just percussion and sometimes bassline.
> For the performance we then just stayed in that one pattern on the
> Monos and tweeked parameters, arpeggiations, the joysticks and
> played on the keyboard--we had several tracks to mute/un-mute to
> allow for flexibility (there were some tracks designated
> as "backups" that we never used).  The MD we just mute/un-muted
> machines and pre-sequenced patterns and tweeked.
>
> With these palettes set up before hand it allowed us to go with the
> flow and have a good time.  The MonoMachine definitely allows for us
> to be spontaneous and perform!  Guaranteed that we'd never be able
> to recreate these tracks exactly!
>
> This is the power of the MonoMachine in my opinion, is the ability
> to create a palette (kit) and then use the arpegiations, knobs,
> joystick and keyboard for flexible performance options.  I
> personally prefer some kind of performance rather than a laptop
> performances where the person could be playing solitare while he's
> watching his pre-sequenced stuff role along.  The MM allows you to
> perform if that is your thing while also have some pre-sequenced
> stuff for back tracks or backup if needed.  This is truely a
> revolutionary performance machine if you ask me!
>
> I'd be even happier if I didn't have to remove my hand from the
> keyboard to use the Function button to mute/unmute tracks, or do
> anything that requires the Function button...hence my suggestion for
> a function "pedal" switch or something similar!  <hint hint>
>
> I have never played with Song mode by the way, so there could be
> some big pleasures awaiting me there!
>
> --davealex

On Jul 2, 2004, at 4:23 PM, pete leuenberger @ maetrixsolution.com 
wrote:

> hello back,
>
>  this really sounds familiar to my art of MnM using.
>  dow my biggest inconceivable problem are the
>  outputs in the "edit" mode: i just prepared my pattern
>  with all machines, tracks and knob moves and the i would
>  like to send my track number 6 to the outs C-D and when i
>  push the ENTER button all the settings are gone. <hint> :-)
>
>  and again: JOE knows what to do! thanx! i am very thankfull
>  to get a helping <hint>. whats even more important to see and hear
>  how other people work. i am also corious 'bout joes
>  tech-using-interpretations...?

I'll try!  :-)  But what do you mean by 
"tech-using-interpretations"?.....

You don't need to press enter, I think that's the problem.  If you go 
into the kit
menu (of a kit you've already set up) and want to send one machine to a
specific output, just use the up/down arrows to select which output you 
want
for the machine.  Then press exit and try it out.  If you press enter 
in the kit
menu, you reload the active track's machine from the factory preset.  
So that's
probably what you mean by "all settings are gone."  If you don't have 
the machine
already set up and you're assigning the output while you're selecting a 
new
machine, then there's no problem with pushing enter.

Hope that helps!
Joe

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

> You don't need to press enter, I think that's the problem.  If you 
go 
> into the kit
> menu (of a kit you've already set up) and want to send one machine 
to a
> specific output, just use the up/down arrows to select which output 
you 
> want
> for the machine.  Then press exit and try it out.  If you press 
enter 
> in the kit
> menu, you reload the active track's machine from the factory 
preset.  

This on e really should be changed. I'm used to live with it and it's 
ok, but sometime in a hectic process I just hit enter and the machine 
is gone! Really frusrating. I think it's also weird, becaus I'm used 
to hit enter in MD's machine-window and Md is ok with that. They 
should change it to same way in MnM.

> You can mute/unmute tracks with one hand.  Just press FUNCTION and 
bank
> to enter the mute page (just like on the MD).  Then you can 
mute/unmute 
> tracks
> with one hand (one finger, really :-) using the trig/step 
buttons.  
> Just leave it
> in mute mode while you play the keyboard/tweak knobs and you won't 
have
> to touch the FUNCTION key at all.

Thanks for this tip!  I still can't do stuff like Swing/Slide with 
one hand, but that is not a big deal like the muting!  

> BTW, I really enjoyed the live set.  I plan on listening to it 
today at 
> work, on
> headphones.  That should provide a great state to get some work 
done! 

I'd be curious of your opinions after listening on headphones.  We 
played this set in a planetarium and we did a lot of panning 
(perhaps too much for headphones).  

Thanks!

--davealex

> the one point of dave'n'lex 'bout the "notebook subject" i can't 
share:
> the main positive point about this to me is, you can add so mutch 
pre
> created functions with a laptop. you can get more output and 
complexer 
> sounds than
> with just "MnM hardware". 

I definitely agree here.  Computers definitely have cool software 
written on them and can really aid in the creative process which I'm 
all for; and they sure are easy to set up and lug around!  I think 
we will actually be using one in our set doing effects processing in 
the future.  Laptops are just not all that fun to watch someone 
perform with!  ;)  That was my gripe!

> am just using one MnM, i just started from a few weeks ago to use 
>the NUMEROLOGY software and it seems to worked it out exatly the 
>way i need. 

Yeah, I met the writer of Numerology and asked if he was ever 
planning on a Windoze port; he said no.  I bet this is a fun combo 
with the MnM.

--davealex