Elektron-Users

poly - i also stay away from MIDI for everything except sync and the occasional soft-synth triggering. When it comes to sequencing, I will sequence on the Elektron boxes but rarely if ever record MIDI in a computer-based sequencer.

I've played with the MD/MM song mode simultaneously you just program them both and start them at the same time and it's all good. I think of Song Mode as a third hand and part of a brain.

if you like a workflow of a DAW sequencer where all the patterns are nicely laid out visually for you, then you CAN do that with sequencing mnm pattern

all you gotta do is use PROGRAM CHANGE from your DAW to tell the mnm to change pattern. it's kinda like song mode, except you do the pattern sequencing from your DAW (which seems to me to be your preferred route)

basically, just send a blank midi sequence to the mnm with a program change at the start. for example, in live, you play blank midi clips with different programs in them. so for example the first clip can be program 1 (pattern A1 on sequencer) and the next 4 bars you set the clip to be program 2 (pattern A2 on sequencer).

i start one or two patterns to give me ambiance and sound direction on monomachine ( sometimes it's a big part of trax, sometimes not )
record all the separate trax in wav on Live, add some new mono part and play along with other instruments (vst or ext synth )
monomachine give me the sequenced part, and i record audio from mopho or cz, played by hand or sequenced but the main part of the song is done in Live not in the Monomachine.

i have another way to compose is too make a maximum of sounddesign on the monomachine and the mopho without having a trax in mind and without turn on my computer and use it like material for songs after and a lot of time the sound leads the trax

song mode heuuu try it, use it sometimes to retrig pattern and mix them but often i don't use it

HK

Another audio only freak here, everything I do i midi is rendered to audio as soon as possible. With the MD, I tend to work in two ways:

- Record everything as audio (stereo track only) live in one pass into my DAW. Doing all the part muting, tweaking, you name it all happens live for the length of the song. Obviously this means you have to balance all the parts of the MD internally, but I have no issue with that.

- Record different mute combinations of my main pattern into my DAW as audio, then use the DAW to arrange and edit these together. For instance I might have a 4 bar pattern with just the percussion, or some percussion and HH's, or all the drums and any samples, etc. Just different combinations I think work well together as a song structure base.

Sometimes I use a combination of the two methods too. I always record the MD at th same volume, so it's easy to go back and record a new pattern into the DAW if I think of a different idea.

Audio only... I do everything in the box in song mode, usually on both machines and just record tape player style into DAW. If Ive made a big mistake Ill edit it out sometimes... though usually it stays.

song mode is new my best friend! thanks for the tips all!

^ Its a great friend to have... get stuck in you will soon figure it. Function and down/up arrows help.

Tempo fixes can be fun depending on what style youre doing- I often set glitchy bits using short sections repeated at double or triple (or random) clock.

Also dont forget to use the mutes and transpose on the mnm.

it took me a bit to figure out the how the LN setting works, but I figured it out. i only dove into the MD song mode tonight. i'll try it out with the MNM tomorrow. but this is exactly what i was looking for.

@ general bigbad: really nice work. especially little rave.keep it up. are you on soundcloud? check soundcloud.com/emtex. greez

GYS wrote:
Song mode is where it's at. Love it to death. I wrote this all from the MD's song mode, sequencing the internal sounds plus external synths:

http://soundcloud.com/gys/tyrants

Did the efx and mastering using Logic, but the song structure and all sequencing was 100% from the MD.

I came from using Reason for everything. It was nice to see the "piano roll" and get a big picture, but I've found that song mode in the MD makes me work differently and get more creative with what I've got.

Try writing a few patterns, then cutting them up in song mode to create fills; for instance for a 16 step pattern, go 5-8, 1-4, 9-13, 15-16, 15-16. My track above uses a total of like 4 patterns, but cut up creatively using song mode.

I love this track