Elektron-Users

Hi! I'm about to get a MD as soon as I can and I'll use it for live performance mainly. I've got a Nord Rack 2 and I'm sure that they will become good friends. just having some loose thoughts for ways to get this to work nicely.

I'm propably gettig a small MIDI keyboard like the Ozone or something.

I read that the MD sequencer isn't all that great for synths, but I was thinking of letting the MD control some NR stuff and play chord etc. live using the keyboard. Can I do like Keyb->MD->NR and let the MD route MIDI from the keyb. to say NR ch 1,2, while the sequencer handles ch 3,4?

If not, I still want the keyboard connected to both units as I understood you can do som cool stuff with a keyboard and MD. I guess I can get a merge-box and mix the MIDI THRU and OUT into the NR but.. other ideas how this could work? Is there maybe a small cheap poly-sequencer that I could sync up and control the NR with instead?

Sorry for beeing unclear, thinking out loud here.. also, can I even control note-length for midi out or how does this work? oh so many questions..

Cheers

/Christian

hmmm....I wouldn't really recommend the MD as your only synth sequencer. it is fairly limited with what it can do for external sequencing. for example, you can't record midi notes from an external box (correct me if I'm wrong!).

you might want to take a look at the yamaha rm1x...a nice little midi sequencer, quite cheap, and with a few usable sounds on board. (semi-usable).

F the RM1X, please my friend, do not get one of those! They have a great seq in them, but the whole thing will go to shit on you cause its built like garbage.

And no, you can not enter in sequenced to the MD with a midi keyboard - you have to do it one note at a time using parameter locks with midi machines - the MD is really not intended for that type of sequencing, however, it does an ok job with like a monosynth, or I have used it with my MidiNES sucessfully. The MPC flat out does a better job - however, I think the monomachine is even better than that at least for what I do.

Its all about what works well for you - but seriously, the RM1X is a boxed headache that sounds like an early 90's pop tune. Gah! Its horrendous...

milkmansnd wrote:
F the RM1X, please my friend, do not get one of those! They have a great seq in them, but the whole thing will go to shit on you cause its built like garbage.

And no, you can not enter in sequenced to the MD with a midi keyboard - you have to do it one note at a time using parameter locks with midi machines - the MD is really not intended for that type of sequencing, however, it does an ok job with like a monosynth, or I have used it with my MidiNES sucessfully. The MPC flat out does a better job - however, I think the monomachine is even better than that at least for what I do.

Its all about what works well for you - but seriously, the RM1X is a boxed headache that sounds like an early 90's pop tune. Gah! Its horrendous...

Don't agree with you there. The Rm1x has a metal body (like the machinedrum) and knobs with strength comparable to those of the machinedrum (i really think the machinedrum knobs are one of the weakest things of the machine).

The Rm1x has a very capable sequencer (more capable than the MD's sequencer for sure). The only gripe there is taht it can't switch play/record mode without pressing "Stop".

The Rm1x sounds are quite Lo-fi which renders them useless for most stuff but it's excellent for techno/elektro composing. And the price cannot be beaten on the second hand market. Highly recommended! I only sold mine to get a Rs7000.

well, I guess I am specifically referring to the "keys" on the RM1X being bad - they are loose, and similar to the Alesis MMT8 - they will start to wear out after a while.

Also, the general feel of the pots are nothing like the MD! The MD has nice encoders - the RM1X has cheesey cheap pots that are going to corrode on you.

There is no comparison between the 2 in my opinion - the MD has serious keys, and high quality encoders, and sounds amazing whereas the RM1X has crappy components, sounds terrible - ugly aesthetics, and is really something that ought to be skipped. Decent sequencer though!

true, my rm1x did develop some grumpy trig buttons. had to hit them with a hammer to get them to trigger after a while! and sounds are crap. but he was asking for a nice hardware sequencer, and I think the rm1x fits that role pretty nice.

I accept the consession - yes, the sequencer kills in that thing, but everything else kills that!

Thanks for all the input, didn't realize that it can't record midi notes from external... too bad. But drum sequences can be rec. I hope - I mean from another sequencer or trigger pads?

Yeah I was actually asked to buy a RM1X the other day when I mentioned that I might need something, haven't looked at it but it's a bit broken (audio out part) so it might be a cheap deal.

Anyway, maybe Monomachine is the choice for me after all then.. how much better is MD than MM when it comes to percussion/drums?

yeah, the MD can record drum patterns, but not midi sequences...the difference is that it is set up so that each track is assigned to a midi note...so recording drums (where each drum is on a different MD track) is a breeze, but there's no way to input a melodic line with different notes into one track with a midi machine on it.

by the way, an rm1x with a broken audio out would be a great steal...hopefully you could get it for under $200...as long as the midi out works, you're in business...

but a monomachine would be sweet...it goes SO well with the MD...

the MnM does percussion, but not anything like the MD does it. The percussion in the MnM is really there to round out the "beat box synthesizer"

however, since the mono is more of a synth, the sequencer is way better than the MD's percussion based seq - and yes, you can record midi from a keyboard.

$200 for a broken RM1X is still too much. I would pay $50 for a broken one - otherwise, just get an older sequencer for $50 without the sounds - like an MMT8 or something. I would not even pay $200 for a mint condish one - trust me, they are not worth the headache.