So who's got a Monomachine?

[six_o_clock_crow]

Soundwave is right on.

Parameter Locks are 'automation' in a very general way, but drawing automation lines on a grid could never compare to the tactile nature of using the Elektron machines. There are no other instruments on Earth with such a seamless marriage of sequencer and synth/sampler. And then you throw in Slides... oh man.

[Crow sits, reading more and more praise heaped upon Elektron products, and slowly gets ever more frustrated that he has wasted so much money on gear in the past and could have started saving for an MD and MnM ages ago ]

[interceptor]

I had a monomachine a couple of months ago. But didn´t like the sound and workflow of it. So I sold it. It´s a very digital sounding machine. And I hated the filters on it.
It was very hard to get any good virtual analog sounds on it. Sounded more like a gameboy on youtube than a virtual analog. Everybody says you gonna be disappointed if you expect to get any kind of analog emulation out of it, and this couldnt be more true.
That said, I really liked the FM+ synth on it. Great for basses. And the space echo delay was awesome.
But all in all a very limited machine that´s probably is great in the right hands. But not in mine.

[Thinktanx]

But all in all a very limited machine that´s probably is great in the right hands. But not in mine.

True enough, the sound is not for everyone. If you want 'analog' sounds, buy an analog! But to call it limited is crazy, imo. We're talking about a machine with six different types of synthesis, wavetables, a drum machine, amazing built-in fx (the delay is my favorite delay ever, and I have real analog delays...), etc. This is an extremely deep machine, that frankly, you're not gonna get your head around in just a couple of months.

Elektron gear is very much about creativity and unique digital sounds, not recreating 30-year-old synth patches. Though I gotta say you can do that pretty capably with some experience.

The Machinedrum has been with me going on 5 years now, and the Monomachine around 3, and I still learn new things about them constantly. For me, that says it all really. If you're an explorer, these machines are extremely gratifying. But buyer beware: if you're wanting a Moog, go buy a Moog.

[soundwave]

[Crow sits, reading more and more praise heaped upon Elektron products, and slowly gets ever more frustrated that he has wasted so much money on gear in the past and could have started saving for an MD and MnM ages ago ]

Don't despair you can allways shuffle your gear, and get a second hand md-mnm, just don't listen to opinions from people that never got into it...Listen to tracks made on those machines..
Get a MD-UW, it's a bit of a sampler too, and for the $$ difference it does 10x more...
(i wish i had an UW, I got SPS1 MK1, but love it anyway)
Like TT says, it takes time to learn them, you won't get bored in a couple of months!!!

[six_o_clock_crow]

[Crow sits, reading more and more praise heaped upon Elektron products, and slowly gets ever more frustrated that he has wasted so much money on gear in the past and could have started saving for an MD and MnM ages ago ]

Don't despair you can allways shuffle your gear, and get a second hand md-mnm, just don't listen to opinions from people that never got into it...Listen to tracks made on those machines..
Get a MD-UW, it's a bit of a sampler too, and for the $$ difference it does 10x more...
(i wish i had an UW, I got SPS1 MK1, but love it anyway)
Like TT says, it takes time to learn them, you won't get bored in a couple of months!!!

Thank you for taking the time to make me feel a bit better I just get frustrated at having bought stuff that I no longer need. Particularly software wise: I must have bought about £2000 of software that I either can't sell (because of licence reasons, e.g. Sonar) or has very little resale value.

If I'd just gone for the Elektron stuff from the start...

Then again, I guess I wouldn't be where I am now without having tried other options. I may have always thought "I wonder what I could have done with 'x' piece of gear/software?" It's all a journey, I guess. I'm just having to put in the time saving up now...

I'll never lose Live though. I'm aiming to have a hardware set-up, and to produce stuff using just hardware with no computer input. But I collaborate with some people who use Live, and I'll keep Live for projects I work on with them. Or for, say, the odd remix that a mate wants doing. And I'll always need Sound Forge for editing field recordings, to then use in my collaborations or to sample with the hardware...

...which leads me to ponder about the MD-UW. For the difference in price, between a MD and the UW version, I could get an MPC500. I know that the MD-UW would offer some unique creative control over samples, but I'd be able to use so many MORE samples with a MPC500.

[tw1nstates]

Gonna pitch in with my 2cents.

I have got one.

They are good but massively overrated (IMO).

In comparison to Live the workflow is much much slower. YRMV however,

You can get much much better sounding results with Live and a bit of synthesis knowledge.

For example I reckons that I could come up with much better stuff using uTonic and Soundtoys and Live. . .

However, you can sit with it on your knee and watch tv and programme beats.

It's rock solid, mine has never crashed.

Oth, it's got a stupid pitching system for the machines which means that you need to refer to a chart everytime you want to pitch something. So it's slow in that respect.

Honestly somehting like maschine and uTonic and soundtoys might give you much better sounding results.

At the end of the day it's a drum machine, it's very digital, unless you process out of the box it's never gonna sound that great (ditto for XOX and every other drum machine going so donno if that is that valid).

Try one first if you can, don't be swayed by the hype.

I am not selling mine, partly cos I bought it 2nd hand quite cheap. I would have been a bit gutted if I had paid full price though.

[Amanita]

[polyslax]

Nice one Amanita!

I agree with you and Thinktanx that the Mono grows on you. Or not. It may turn out that it's not what you're after, but definitely don't write it off too quickly.

I understand where interceptor's coming from... if you were expecting to plug the Mono in and be blown away by this big fat monster synth sound you could be disappointed. The Mono reveals itself to you over time. The sound can be cold and thin, but it also does pretty awesome bass imo, and tons of great unique and quirky sounds. Most of all it's a lot of fun to work with!

[Tarekith]

...which leads me to ponder about the MD-UW. For the difference in price, between a MD and the UW version, I could get an MPC500. I know that the MD-UW would offer some unique creative control over samples, but I'd be able to use so many MORE samples with a MPC500.

Couldn't disagree more, there's things you can do with RAM and ROM machines in the UW version that no other gear can do. IF you're getting a UW for the option to load a bunch of samples, you've got it all wrong. I can't imagine getting a SPS and not getting the UW version, it's SOOOO worth the extra money.

[WaveRider]

I got one. A MnM....

I have been reading the comments, some do not know what they got into...

...I find the Elektrons a bit expensive to get, but they are wonderful machines. I love sequencing X0X style, and the Mono is a damn good XoX sequencer. Soundwise, sometimes when I design sounds it like visiting the digital pit of hell, but I proudly return from it with unique sounds. but I could also have enjoyed a sequencer only version with no internal sounds... I come up with good stuff when programming music that way, especially melodies.

That kind of gear is by no means essential... but to me an XoX programmer was a must. I bought a bunch of older machines/grooveboxes, but they all have limitations either in sound or programming workflow. Elektrons have a great workflow. So that a bit more functionality than a 150$ used groovebox for a lot of money but it smooths out the workflow a lot compared to most older units. That to me was enough. But it is not like we have a lot of choices with that kind of gear anyway. There are really few available XoX machines nowadays.