Elektron Musical Instruments

I finally sold my mc909 on ebay. I was thinking hard about getting 
the machinedrum. can anyone answer a couple of quick pestions for me?
One is can the machine drum controll other synths. Say i want to wrie 
a melody and have it play my jupiter 6 is this possible? I have about 
5 synths and would like to knowq if the machine drum can sequence all 
of them if i like. also can the machine drum record CC imformation. 
say i want a knob to turn at a certain point in the melody. thanks to 
all who reply. Love the contest entries btw.

--- In elektron-users@yahoogroups.com, "analog_geek" <marsholie@h...> 
wrote:
> I finally sold my mc909 on ebay. I was thinking hard about getting 
> the machinedrum. can anyone answer a couple of quick pestions for 
me?
> One is can the machine drum controll other synths. Say i want to 
wrie 
> a melody and have it play my jupiter 6 is this possible? I have 
about 
> 5 synths and would like to knowq if the machine drum can sequence 
all 
> of them if i like. also can the machine drum record CC imformation. 
> say i want a knob to turn at a certain point in the melody. thanks 
to 
> all who reply. Love the contest entries btw.

The Machinedrum has sequencing possibilities, but it's not like a 
regular soft sequencer. There are 16 parts in total, and they can be 
assigned to either internal MD sounds or MIDI sequencing parts (there 
are other possibilities as well, but they're not relevant here). 
Which means you can control a total of 16 external synths. 

A MIDI sequencing part is basically monophonic (one trigger at a 
time, one basic note), but each step can play up to 3 notes 
simultaneously (triggered as one note). Which means that if you like 
to play big chords, you're in trouble. You wouls need a multitimbral 
synth, and set it up with the same sound on several channels. Not 
ideal..

It's not the most versatile of MIDI sequencers, but it does have its 
strengths, like the ability to set all parameters separately for each 
step (like CCs, eight per track). If you're using something like a 
modular analog synth with a MIDI-to-CV converter, you'll have a 
serious step sequencer. I've tried it with a Korg MS-20, and it works.

Hope this helps. You'll never regret buying a Machinedrum. :-)

Regards,
Nils

seconded. you will love it. the sounds are REALLY good, and the 
sequencer is really powerful.

in combo with a JP6 - you will be very happy.

even happier if you have the JP6 upgrade.

/m

On Sep 30, 2004, at 2:58 PM, Nils Odegaard wrote:

> --- In elektron-users@yahoogroups.com, "analog_geek" <marsholie@h...>
> wrote:
>> I finally sold my mc909 on ebay. I was thinking hard about getting
>> the machinedrum. can anyone answer a couple of quick pestions for
> me?
>> One is can the machine drum controll other synths. Say i want to
> wrie
>> a melody and have it play my jupiter 6 is this possible? I have
> about
>> 5 synths and would like to knowq if the machine drum can sequence
> all
>> of them if i like. also can the machine drum record CC imformation.
>> say i want a knob to turn at a certain point in the melody. thanks
> to
>> all who reply. Love the contest entries btw.
>
> The Machinedrum has sequencing possibilities, but it's not like a
> regular soft sequencer. There are 16 parts in total, and they can be
> assigned to either internal MD sounds or MIDI sequencing parts (there
> are other possibilities as well, but they're not relevant here).
> Which means you can control a total of 16 external synths.
>
> A MIDI sequencing part is basically monophonic (one trigger at a
> time, one basic note), but each step can play up to 3 notes
> simultaneously (triggered as one note). Which means that if you like
> to play big chords, you're in trouble. You wouls need a multitimbral
> synth, and set it up with the same sound on several channels. Not
> ideal..
>
> It's not the most versatile of MIDI sequencers, but it does have its
> strengths, like the ability to set all parameters separately for each
> step (like CCs, eight per track). If you're using something like a
> modular analog synth with a MIDI-to-CV converter, you'll have a
> serious step sequencer. I've tried it with a Korg MS-20, and it works.
>
> Hope this helps. You'll never regret buying a Machinedrum. :-)
>
> Regards,
> Nils
>
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>

On Thu, Sep 30, 2004 at 07:58:54PM -0000, Nils Odegaard wrote:
>    A MIDI sequencing part is basically monophonic (one trigger at a
>    time, one basic note), but each step can play up to 3 notes
>    simultaneously (triggered as one note). Which means that if you like
>    to play big chords, you're in trouble. You wouls need a multitimbral
>    synth, and set it up with the same sound on several channels. Not
>    ideal..

I have a couple of details to add to Nils's excellent reply:
you CAN make the MD into a polyphonic sequencer, if you're willing
to dedicate the MD tracks to it.  see, you can choose to dedicate
a track to a MIDI machine, which is named after the channel you
wish to send messages on.  each track is monophonic in its
triggering but can trigger chords as Nils mentioned.  but you can
overlap additional chords/notes by adding another MIDI machine
for the same MIDI channel on another MD track.  in other words,
if you want for example three notes of independent polyphony,
you'll have to dedicate three MD tracks to three MIDI machines.

oh and no the MD cannot record incoming CC messages.  you use the
parameters of the MIDI machines to set up 8 parameters you wish
to control.  you can then tweak those from the MD and record
the tweaks as locks.