Elektron-Users

tIB wrote:
Function and down/up arrows help.



Bloody hell. This one I missed in the manual. What an enlightenment.

good old EU. thanks TIB

I too have had issues smoothly integrating the elektrons into my current songwriting process.
Usually I get a solid loop or two on both boxes and record a few sessions of live tweaking, muting, etc. Then I go back to my familiar DAW environment to sequence other gear, synths, etc.

Song mode is something I always avoided, but this thread has inspired me to crack the manual and work it out. I think breaking a comfort level with a particular workflow can open some creative doors which have been ignored.

I am moving my studio soon will only leave the MD and MnM unpacked during the process. I think this will force me to focus purely on these two machines. I would love to be comfortable with them both in song mode to write a modest track using only these machines.

for those reluctant to or avoiding song mode, try it out. after all the feedback on this thread, i spent some time on song mode and it's another reason I continue to love these machines. does exactly what i was looking for, and it couldn't be any easier to use song mode. it really is very intuitive using this feature.

i still have not tried song mode either. i generally build a few patterns into the md + mnm + mpc and start improvising while recording all the separate tracks into Logic 9. i then will cut chop and mix the audio in there and add more synths/ drums if need be. i keep logic synced to the mpc all the time. i love this work flow, but i do need to try out song mode in both the md and mnm. take a week or so with each unit and just get lost.

Hello everybody, this is my first post! I just got an MD Mk2 and as you can imagine I was programming patterns like crazy today! I need to rest my ears now...

Tarekith wrote:
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.


Hi Tarekith! I'm not sure I follow you. Are you saying that you don't really process every MD element in your DAW individually? The basic sequencing part is one of the strengths of the MD, so that can be done without a DAW, but a whole mix? Maybe it is too early for such a statement, but my first impression tells me that I won't be eq'ing, compressing and reverberating anything inside the MD, unless it's a live situation...

Tarekith wrote:
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.

Does this mean that you work with extremely low levels inside the MD and your "Master Volume" is at max. all the time? Or do work with MD internal levels that are as loud as possible and attenuate the output somewhere along the way into your DAW? Just wondering how you work...

tIB wrote:

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.

Hi guys, first post here. great forum.(lots of muffwigglers here btw! )
Have my MnM for a week now. >>

Tib; "random clock"?? do you mean "whatever clock" or ...?

Yes, I do everything in the MD usually, and just record all the parts playing at the same time via the stereo outs in my DAW. Pretty rare I need to do any EQ or other dynamics processing once it's recorded in the DAW, though of course that's always an option.

My master volume is always at max and I turn down the levels of the individual machines to compensate. I wouldn't say it's extremely low level, though if I get heavy handed with the EQ or filters it might look that way. Still nice and loud coming out of the MD though.

Song mode is awesome. Being able to program in all the mutes, tempos, pattern repeats (as well as how much of the pattern you want it to play) gives incredible flexibility when it comes to writing and arranging. When you need to have a dozen MD and MnM tracks simultaneously mute, it's a bit easier to let Song Mode take care of it than try and be a 4 handed ninja on the Function and Mute buttons!

As much as I love Song Mode (hate/love relationship),
I think I'd love a software editor more,
it gets a little hectic as soon as you've got different lengths on each machine (MD/MnM).

Sometimes the song-pointer-position is completely wrong!