Menu diving for days.
@nowaysj Honstly I’m not looking for a special kind of sound or what have you, I’d just like to have most bang for my buck. But the menu-diving you have to do on the Analog Keys seems pretty horrendous compared to the Moog, which seems waaaaay more hands-on and simple to work with.
Analog Key Pros:
-Polyphonic
-Multitrack: Bass on track one, lead on track 2, drums on track 3 and 4 - makes for a more “out of the box” style when it comes to making music.
-Overbridge coming this summer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFejcwOgrSU) Basically enabling you to use Analog Keys as an analog vst.
-Cheaper than Sub 37
-can store presets
Cons:
-Tiny LCD screen for programming (this one is kind of big for me)
-Small knobs, so i.e manual filtersweeps require some weird hand movements
Sub 37 pros:
-More hands on and phsyical when it comes to programming
-Extremely simple to set up modulations
-moog filter
-Can store presets
Cons:
-pricy?
I know which way I’d go, just based on interface. I’ve never laid hands on elektron gear, but the same thing is repeated again, and again, and again, interface blows donkey balls.
In a hybrid setup, or a setup that uses a comp as a part of the process, I just can’t menu dive too much, or I’m back into vsts. There are some incredible sounding vsts, and I can link mpk49 to controls I like to play if need be… The hardware has to sound great, and I have to have fun, groove, and get to places with the interface that I wouldn’t do on a comp. The gravitational pull of the comp is too great. Gotta have something close to 1:1 to get me otb.
The Parva is an interesting synth, because it is very close to my line of menu diving/sound/playable control… I’d have to try it out, work with it, listen to it… But for the price, I think it smokes the AK.
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Spent the day making some beets, been a while since I’ve used any of my hardware. Got me feeling a little gassy 
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Jelly of that 4 track.
electron does have lots of menu diving…but it’s the most intuitive menu diving I know of…when I had a mono machine I hardly needed the manual
Really wish I could get to spend one week with the Sub 37 and one week with the Analog Keys just to see what would fit me most. ://
I wouldn’t mind spending some time with those either.
Really would like to get the Moog sound in my studio. I was considering a Taurus. Sub 37’s look so dope though. $1500? That’s quite a bit but I just spent $2000 repairing my car over the last couple of months. Maybe I could swing it in a few months.
I rarely spend that much on an instrument. I built my studio using my technological detritus hypothesis.
The only two instruments that I have ever spent more than that were my upright bass and my first proper sampler, an Akai S5000 new in 1999.
Yea. I think the Sub 37 is similar to the Sub Phatty, but has more synthesis options and is duophonic yea? For whatever reason Moog seems to cost a lot of for a line of all monophonic synths (there aren’t any high polyphony count Moogs are there? I could be totally wrong…). While I like the Moog sound the price point is just so damn high…when I feel like you can get so much more out of other boxes.
@mks what is some more modern detritus though?
Really, it seems to operate in a 15 - 20 year cycle. I personally think romplers like the Roland JV’s have been some good detritus. Legowelt was talking about that; that there are so many new analog monosynth’s being released that everyone is going be be sounding similar. Now, you and I know that is an exaggeration but it is similar to how I felt in the early 2000’s when Reason and VST’s started coming on the scene and a lot of my friends were selling off their hardware gear. I thought if everyone was using the same programs that there was too much sameness to it all. I thought that each studio should be it’s own unique entity coming down to the instruments in the studio and the operator behind them. I chose to keep all of my hardware then, and I’m glad I did.
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Glad you gelled with it, why you sell?
This is contrary to what even elektron fan bois have said about the elektron line. Many people buy elektron and just ditch it cause they can’t wrap their head around it.
I’m just repeating what I’ve read hundreds of times, I have no personal experience.
Further, from all the demos I’ve heard, they really are techno boxes, or at best, excel as techno boxes. Was just a thread on GS, asking if like the octatrak could do hip hop, everyone was like SURE! and posted up videos of the most stiff ungroovy beats. herf.
I don’t know. Moog is inflated, and I feel elektron is inflated. Or they’re for a different segment of the market, up market. I’m downtown nwjbrown.
But, there is something to be said for just getting a good sound immediately, not having to finesse it into sounding good. Also, mks, think of your time restraints, going forward, your time is going to be incredibly valuable. And studio time even more so.
With that said, I’ve got stacks of toy instruments: MicroKorg, MicroSampler, sp404sx, volca bass, volca sampler, I think you can get good sounds, and have good flow with them.
Anyway, super tired, don’t even know what I’m writing. My bad. Silence is golden.
This is a link to another post, the forum is fucking up and not loading the content of that post.
Can click arrow to get to post.
OK, full disclosure… I am a full on Elektron fanboy…I’ve been using their instruments for about 13 years and may just be so immersed in Elektronese that it’s warped my brain to fit their way of thinking, but I’ve never really understood people who say that the Elektrons have a bad interface. For me, they are by far the most intuitive drum machine/groovebox type product out there today (other than the Octatrack, which is such a deep and complicated beast). On the A4, all the synthesis is laid out on 10 pages of 10 parameters (some pages don’t use all the soft knobs tho), so its much like the waldorf or DSI synths in terms of creating and editing sounds. The menu diving on it is only related to sequencer and system settings stuff that you usually don’t need to get into all that often. The only synth related stuff that requires any menu diving that I can think of off the top of my head is assigning stuff to the joystick, aftertouch, or velocity. The Moog stuff sounds great, and their are certain advantages to having all parameters laid out in front of you, but in the end, using hardware triggered from the DAW is a more incremental step to going entirely OTB. You still wind up sequencing and editing the audio in the DAW. I love things with their own built in sequencers, and the elektrons do it best IMO because of the highly integrated nature of sound and sequencing. No need to set up automation lanes for CC’s for every parameter you would want to tweak, its all just there and immediately accessible.
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I feel the same - there’s always so much I forget that I want to incorporate into my tracks. Gotta make a list too!
That video is great. I agree with his take on leaving those imperfections and happy accidents in there, things that you maybe wouldn’t have come across if you were working in the box with a completely sterile perfect environment.
I’ve wanted a Korg Poysix & Roland Space Echo for ages… lust is expensive!
Agree, but with the caveat that you can still get fucked up things happening itb. Happy accidents and what not.
Very much so.
my M-Audio BX8 are great, I’d recommend 'em over the Rokits any day. Nice low end response but I often crave a sub! Got em for about £300 on thomann
I wouldn’t call the Monomachine a strictly “Techno” box…but I can kinda agree with you to an extent…there original trio kind work best for certain kinds of music.
Seriously the only reason I sold mine was because we thought my grandpa was not long or the world and it was the only way I could a round trip ticket to FL to visit…he is still alive and kickin’ …but at the time it seemed like the right thing to do…
In retrospect I think I would have sold it anyway, even though I think its a great machine, its vibe is very…like…I dunno “European Minimal” lol…sorry you lot…I dunno how else to describe it…no insult intended.
I’d love to have an A4 and a RYTM at this point…I’d even give a Machinedrum a shot at the right price!
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