Bought an elektron machinedrum early this week

[Xonetacular]

Yeah I guess I'm just not sure how programming sounds works on it- I tried searching around on youtube to get an idea but didn't find much. If it is easy to create sounds then that's no problem I'm just not sure how it works in practice- I would have to do more research. Are there any videos showing sound design on it?

[Tarekith]

Think of it more like a synth than anything to do with drums. You're going to basically start out with a very raw sound, and it's up to you to shape it into something you like. Theres basically 5 different synthesis types you can use for all the drum sounds:

- FM
- TRX (think 808)
- E12 (emu sp1200 style samples)
- physical modeling.
- user samples

So for FM for instance, the Machinedrum has a basic starting point for kicks, snares, cymbals, percussion, etc. Ditto with each of the other synthesis types.

[diezdiazgiant]

the patch programming is basically 3 pages of up to 8 controls - youve got "synthesis", "effects", and "routing". there is also assignable lfo's which i know are saved as patch info but really havent gotten deep with that so cant comment much on that.

dont let its capability seem daunting, i would definitely recommend this drum machine.

[ThinkAboutIt]

I wanna ask this since you use them both. I can't decide between nı Maschine and Machinedrum MKII (or Octatrack). The price difference is huge. 400€ vs 1440€ here in Vienna, you can literally buy 3 NI Maschines and you still have 240€ left
I admit I haven't watch a lot of video about Maschine but as far as I know you can tweak awful lot with Machinedrum. Like you can get a "signature" sound. I can't be sure if you can play with your "samples" that much on Maschine.
What do you say that huge amount of price difference is really woth it. Is Machinedrum a lot more pro gear?

[Tarekith]

Well, I'm not sure I'd say it's more pro or not, and really they are very different types of machines. The MD is based on a drum synth structure, and while you can load your own samples in the UW versions, everything will be converted to 12bit mono. Personally I think both units can work in terms of performance, but I'd have to say the MD is a lot more hands on and streamlined on that front.

I think it's probably more fair to compare the OT and Maschine, since both are samplers. On that note, I had Maschine and sold it for an OT and I couldn't be happier. But I'm pretty used to the Elektron way of doing things, and it can be a bit much for some people. Some more thoughts on the two:

http://tarekith.com/maschine/

http://tarekith.com/elektron-octatrack-review/ (note that most of my issues with the OT in that review were addressed in the 1.2 OS update)

http://tarekith.com/octatrack-preview/

[ThinkAboutIt]

Thanks a lot for the reviews I'm gonna read them for sure. Its really gives me headaches to create a drumline at Ableton (impulse or drumrack) that's why I'm looking for a gear to create it. What I saw and liked about MD is that you can chane the sounds however you like and create a different sound that you can't even believe it's coming from THAT sample. I'm not sure If I'm able to do it with the Maschine. I really hate to stick the samples.

[Tarekith]

The big difference is that on the MD there's really no presets to start from per se. So each time you create new beats, you're going to be starting from a very basic and boring starting point. If you want a bunch of really nice sounds at your fingertips with little tweaking, Maschine is the way to go. If you want to shape and sculpt your own sounds from scratch, the MD is the ticket.

[diezdiazgiant]

Depends what youre after, what you already have and your experience. Me personally the more I use maschine the more I just use it as basically a vst synth rack and the more I want to buy another mpc1000 and just use that for sample duty. The more I mess with computers the more I just want my laptop to be a "wild card" and the more I appreciate having dedicated hardware surfaces for certain tasks

[ThinkAboutIt]

Damn OT is 1200€ and the UW version of MD is 1440€. If I had to choose between these two I would probably go with the MD. I'll read Tarekith's review check out some more Youtube videos maybe I can be more comfortable about buying the Maschine.

[diezdiazgiant]

Yeah I've read some of his posts, his writing is very thorough. definitely words worth considering before sinking money into something.