Elektron-Users

Hi, just a quick thing I wanted peoples opinions on, I'm getting a Machinedrum soon and I'm also looking at getting a desktop synth to either be sequenced by the machinedrum or in the case of something like a monomachine or analog 4 sequence itself synced to the MD.

What are some key things that each of the previously mentioned synths bring to the table that the others wont. Is the difference in price between the blofeld and the MD/A4 worth it?

Any help is appreciated,

Conor

You know how different those 3 are?

All 3 work well with the MD, MnM/A4 obviously, B can also be easily sequenced by the MD. In fact, the MD's limited/special MIDI sequencer offers some nice unconventional possibilities. I prefer MD+A4 though, because the A4's strong sound is more robust to bad sonic environments, crowded rooms, not so good sound systems. The B has a very brilliant sound, I like very much, but doesn't cut through properly when sound conditions are not so good. MnM offers nice raw mids plus a lot more, e.g. all those delays! Decide by sound. Btw, I had a lot of fun using the B as external input for the Minitaur. As a side note, I can recommend the MT a lot, layered with any of the 3 synths (in my case, A4)! The MT sounds great on iPod, small PA, large PA, full rooms, empty rooms, and transports a huge amount of energy (makes people move).

Thanks for the reply, what are you referring to when you say MT?

Hes talking about the Moog minitaur

Ah yes, thanks. Anyone else got any input? I'm looking for whatever has the biggest, nicest range of sounds. Am I right in saying that I could only have one sound coming from the blofeld?

Blofeld is multitimbral, so in theory (depending on number of voices used) you could have 16 sounds.

I just went through this exact problem myself. I played with all 3 a lot. The first to drop was the Blofeld (I already owned a virus and I found the virus to be superior than the blofeld). After that it was between the A4 and the Monomachine.
In the end I went with the Monomachine.
I'm REALLY happy I did. It's NOT an easy synth to learn, but it is highly rewarding. I love to program synths and this thing is just great! My advice: play with them all as much as you can.

i have a monomachine, and an analog four. If I had to pick one i would pick the monomachine, but the analog four is amazing. They compliment each other PERFECTLY. the monomachine can sound soft and warm, but also really cold and clinical sounding. The analog four can sound brutal, or very clean. The choice is yours. I have no blofeld experience, but the mono can probably do similar things.

Hi, I use all three together, A4 sync with the MD and the MD piloting my Blofeld, Prophet 12 or other hardware synths I have here. I am also looking to complete my Elektron collection with the Mono machine. All this to say, that they all have their own typical sound

The Blofeld is quite nice, and cheap in regard with sonic possibilities. It has also a very rich arpeggiator. But if you sequence it from the MD in multimode you will probably be limited to 5-7 sounds not more (because the more complex the sounds, the more you will be limited by to the amount of patches you can play together, so 16 multitimbrality is limted to very simple patches only), and BTW you need your other tracks for beats and drums. Note also that some of the BL encoders may be buggy from time to time (they probably fixed this in the recent production, but I doubt). Surely a nice addition to the MD. I used it mainly for FX and Pads chords, less nowadays because I have other gears.

The A4 has a particular sound I love, and could not live without it. Everywhere I travel, I take it with me. One hour in a hotel room with this machine is just a perfect moment to create new sounds, patterns and ideas.

My advice : start with MD-UW & A4. Then expend as you like, maybe with the Blofeld desktop because it is not expensive at all. Or why not the upcoming Pulse 2 (if it goes gold one day).

yes 16 simultaneous patches on the blofeld certainly only exists in the theoretical domain... in reality you'll probably start having trouble with any more than a few if you use wavetables, comb filters, etc. and the implementation is obviously nowhere near as seamless as the elektrons.

in general you should also think about the interface. blofeld's is not bad for a small, very cheap synth, but there's still quite a bit of menu diving to do, with limited visual feedback. e.g., you can't figure out where that annoying sound is coming from and then 20 mins later you find out you accidentally set mod destination 15 to pitch or something like that (ok maybe that's just my problem...). also keep in mind that blofeld is a MIDI dead end -- only has an input port, no out or thru. same goes for audio, whereas you could process the MD thru the MM/A4 filters+fx.

all that said, the blo is a very deep synth, and an absolute steal at the going ebay/forum prices. so it's a good option if money is an issue, but the interface on the elektrons is in another league.