Elektron to replace... Everything?

[syntheticsolutions]

I used to own a Machinedrum UW however, I was in a very different place musically so decided to sell it on.

Since then, I have been doing a good few live shows and the hassle of taking all of my gear out is wearing thin.
I use a Juno 6 in conjunction with the Dark Time to trigger arpeggiator sequences. It is sometimes used for string sounds however mostly arpeggiators.

The Oberheim DX is used as a sound module being controlled via the MPC's MIDI.

Then there is the CS-15 that is either used for bass or to carrier the Roland SVC-350 vocoder.

I am sure you will appreciate how much of a pain in the a*s all of that is to transport to and from gigs on a weekly basis :/ I have been thinking about buying both the Machinedrum (master drum machine/sampler) and the Monomachine (Arpeggiator, Vocoder carrier and bass synth) in order to banish the Juno, Dark Time, DX, CS-15 and MPC not to mention the numerous keyboard stands.

Does anyone have any experience with both the Monomachine and Juno arpeggiators? how do they compare? does the monomachine have the same glistening beauty of the Juno? Is the Monomachine capable of making a classic synth bass sound?

I think the change could be an incredibly efficient move for me. Having some multitasking machines that can fit into one bag must have some great benefits?

[Stab Frenzy]

I think the Analog 4 and Octatrack would be better replacements for what you have than the MD and MNM, just in terms of tone and functionality.

[Sir Nose]

I think the Analog 4 and Octatrack would be better replacements for what you have than the MD and MNM, just in terms of tone and functionality.

I was going to say the exact same thing. A4 and MD could work too, but more limited.

[zoomtheline]

I change my setup depending what I'm playing. But at the minute my live setup is a machinedrum, analogue four, Blofeld desktop and CS01. I have my favourite sounds from all my analogues sampled into the machinedrum which makes for interesting synthesis. The A4 handles a lot of the main. Melodies and pads while the Blofeld handles some digital glisten with effects or doubled up with the A4 and the CS01 is used when a line or melody exceeds the confines of the sequencer and add a human playability to the sound. It's a fun little setup and works well. Sometimes I'll add an SH09 cv'd to the A4.

The arp on the A4 is quirky but good and quite flexible so I imagine it's going to get you closer than he mono, plus it's easy to poly the voices as long as you are in the sequencer.

The MD would be better as a drum machine than the octa but you are limited to shorter samples.

[edfunction]

Does anyone have any experience with both the Monomachine and Juno arpeggiators? how do they compare? does the monomachine have the same glistening beauty of the Juno? Is the Monomachine capable of making a classic synth bass sound?

I have both MM and JU60. The monomachine is very much capable of creating good bass sounds. It really depends what you mean by classic. I never really tried to do a Juno type bass on it but I don't see why not. I use the sid-machine a lot for bass and found that I could get very deep and tight bass sounds. FM bass is also possible and nice. The plus is that the different machines offer quite a variety of sounds (chords, fx, bleeps, bass...)

Haven't tried the A4 but I can imagine it's also quite good. If it was me I would probably also go for the octatrack/A4 combo (monomachine would also work but maybe it would be nice to keep an analog guy in there too). I would suggest to keep the mpc around for normal drum machine duties. You can do it on the octatrack but it's not really geared for that and it's not as fluid as a dedicated drum machine/sampler.

[Headphones.40]

If I was going to need to keep a rig at it's most basic, yet functional, and have less to bring, then without a doubt, it'd be Elektron gear. MonoMachine and A4 would cover the synths, and MD/Octatrack for drums or samples. You could throw a MPC2k/1k/4k/5k in the mix if you wanted to have 1 piece of equipment that wasn't elektron, but other than a laptop/AI and a keyboard controller, it really shouldn't have to be more complicated. (Oh yeah, let's not forget some decent mixer, either dj/studio) Bringing vintage synths might be a nightmare, since I've heard horror stories of how in a hot environment, they'd get out of tune because the room got too hot, or too cold, and not only that, vintage synths are expensive to get fixed. The less they need to even be on the road, the better. Not many companies are filling in so many blanks for you in 1-4 machines, so even though Elektron gear isn't exactly cheap, you do get what you pay for.

[bluntedcircuit]

I wouldn't ditch the mpc, a machinedrum pairs very nicely with the mpc. Besides the obvious triggering and sequencing the individual parts, and using the mpcs note repeat on those parts, you can also sequence MD sequences. I'm not particularly a fan of the song mode on elektron gear for chaining patterns for anything longer then one bar

[phesago]

A4+MD is pretty sweet, for sure. Octatrack is a beast too. Too bad no one has been able to come up with a sweet design fitting those three in a custom flight case. That would be totally f**k baller, to be able to easily carry the three around like that.

[Sir Nose]

A4+MD is pretty sweet, for sure. Octatrack is a beast too. Too bad no one has been able to come up with a sweet design fitting those three in a custom flight case. That would be totally f**k baller, to be able to easily carry the three around like that.

A regular keyboard case flipped upside down so that the deep side forms the top works a charm. Pop the top, connect power and the OT main outs to the PA, everything else already hooked up, ...

Not 3 Elektrons but close enough to get the picture:

[phesago]

Seems simple enough. Thanks for making me look lazy

[2manydrummachines]

Yeah. What's up with that. It's like some software controller manufacturer bought them out, to ruin their handmade equipment business. Elektron was still quality 8 or 9 years ago.

[2manydrummachines]

The Oberheim DX is used as a sound module being controlled via the MPC's MIDI.

I presume you mean the Oberheim DMX? Or what is it you are using to sync it?

Those first Elektron products are nice. You know there is a keyboard version of the MonoMachine, that way you could eliminate an empty MIDI controller.

[syntheticsolutions]

The Oberheim DX is used as a sound module being controlled via the MPC's MIDI.

I presume you mean the Oberheim DMX? Or what is it you are using to sync it?

Those first Elektron products are nice. You know there is a keyboard version of the MonoMachine, that way you could eliminate an empty MIDI controller.

You presumed wrong, the later DX models came with factory midi and I use either midi clock from the MD to sync it or I just sequence it directly from the MD