Al has a Monomachine (a journal)

[Al N Aafiysh]

I have an Elektron Monomachine SFX-60 MKII.

Until very recently it was in storage because I was afraid my young children would destroy it.

It is now running the latest OS (1.32b).

I have basically forgotten everything about how to use it (not that I ever knew a lot to begin with).

So, I would like this thread to serve as a sort of journal as I figure out how to use it again.

Today I am going to try to relearn the relationship between kits and patterns:

build a kit from scratch (AlBasic01)

assign this kit to a pattern (Bank G, pattern G01)

make a fairly simple sequence using all 6 tracks

copy both kit & pattern to the next pattern (pattern G02)

make changes to new pattern/seq in terms of beat, melody

make changes to machine settings on tracks (amount of delay send, cutoff, etc) but not changes in terms of which machines are used on tracks

So, if I remember correctly, I should be able to go back and forth between pattern G01 and G02 which both use the same kit. I shouldn’t need to make a new kit for the second pattern if the only changes between patterns to the kit are basic parameter tweaks to things like amplification page or filter page.

If I actually changed the assignment of which machines go on different tracks this would require a new kit.

I guess I will find out.

[cloudbreaker]

I like this. Elektron gear makes for a deep journey, and sharing is always welcome. Cheers!

[psn]

If two patterns share the same kit, the kit is reloaded for each pattern change. Which means tweaks made to the kit will be lost if you change pattern without saving the kit first.

[digit]

yeah - save yourself a lot of grief and just use a new kit for every pattern. the mkII has plenty of memory so no worries.

 

1 kit per pattern. even if only making slight changes - just copy the old kit & paste it into a new slot and give it a new name.

 

remember to save any tweaks to the kit before you switch to a new pattern (and therefore to a new kit) or your changes will be lost.

 

this will become 2nd nature after a while and will keep you from losing work.

[Al N Aafiysh]

Thanks you very much for the feedback.

 

I did indeed figure this out (the hard way?).

 

Then I got lost for awhile in routing configurations for using FX tracks.

 

So far, it is all fun.

[Al N Aafiysh]

Ok, I haven’t had as much time on the Monomachine this week as I would like.

Most of the time I have had in front of it has been trying to figure out what is going on in this video:

It looks like the rhythm and offset track of the arp is set to 16 steps.

But I can’t tell if “chords” of drums have been set on the first of every 4 beats (1. 5. 9. 13)

or, if a sparse drum pattern has been set up, but it is “thickened” with the speed and range settings.

any ideas?

[psn]

You see the sixteenth notes running by on the LEDs. Every time there is a drum hit programmed in the actual pattern, the arpeggiator is reset to the first step, and you see the LED start from the beginning again. Green light in the arpeggiator is an "on" step (hit), and red is an "off step" (pause).

 

It looks like the pattern has some chords, since the "on" steps in the arpeggiator isn't always repeating the same sound. But that behaviour could also be done with offsets on the arpeggiator.

 

At around 6 minutes he goes into pattern mode and removes a trigger on the third page of the pattern. There is only one trigger in that whole bar, so you can tell how much of the rhythm is actually programmed from the arpeggiator.

[Al N Aafiysh]

You see the sixteenth notes running by on the LEDs. Every time there is a drum hit programmed in the actual pattern, the arpeggiator is reset to the first step, and you see the LED start from the beginning again. Green light in the arpeggiator is an "on" step (hit), and red is an "off step" (pause).

 

 

 

ah, this is crucial info. Thanks.

[Al N Aafiysh]

Not much to report journal wise. The winter has left me dealing with a lot of snow that I have to shovel, so I am not getting a whole lot of time with the Mono in the first place.

I am mainly just chipping away trying to find a 6 track set up I like in terms of structure that I can then apply that structure to a whole bank of patterns & their separate kits.

I would really like to create a bank that uses three stereo pairs for the outs (ab, cd, ef) but then treat one of these pairs as two separate mono outs.

I would like to send bass lines out of their own mono out into an analog filter, i would like to use the other mono out for a vocal machine into an ancient Lexicon Vortex.

Also trying arp on different things, still trying to figure out how to reverse engineer drum grooves I already know onto an arpeggiated chord. I am probably overthinking it.

I enjoy this person's MonoMachine videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwPczeizuWs

No matter where you go, there you are!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNEBrq9zNeA

Go where you no matter, are you there?

.

[modey]

Yeah that guy's demos are really great. The one that is just a bunch of wicked techno patterns is lush as fuck.

Hopefully I'll be joining the monomachine club soon. I ordered one back in december during the black weeks sale and the distributor has been continually stalling me, basically saying "just wait another week" every week. I've considered just getting my money back and getting an A4 or even a spectralis but I can't help but think I'll be a bit disappointed if I did that.

(though the A4 is super lush and I'll probably end up getting one eventually)

[awepittance]

the past 2 times a store pulled that backorder shit on me i got my money back, Sweetwater is notorious for it

[modey]

Yeah, thing is though I saved $500 in that sale. And there are no monomachines on ebay that ship to Australia so it's my only option really. I'll wait until next payday and get an a4 instead if it's not here by mid-march

[Guest]

I'm curious about The MnM myself, seems well awesome for videogamey & glitchy things...

A4 is totally great

but personally the Rytm is my fav, can be used for great synthie sounds as well using samples in a kind of wavetable way..

[modey]

yeah I mostly want the MnM for the SID and FM machines, and the assignable outputs. The A4 sounds super lovely; I played with one in a store last week for about an hour and managed to get some good lushness out of it. Very good for Berlin School type jams.

 

Really hoping the MnM is worth the wait. I ordered nanoloop for GBA lastnight so chances are that'll arrive first and I can get into doing some minimal chip tech stuff to tide me over!

[sweepstakes]

I thought I'd use the Monomachine's SID and FM machines the most, but so far I haven't. They'll probably grow on me but they're not as instantly gratifying as I expected. The FM does cool basses, of course, and really noisy stuff, and both are decent for drums.

 

I thought after using the Octatrack, the BBOX machine would seem pointless, but it's probably my favorite. Even though its drum sounds themselves aren't the best, it's so fun to use with the MnM's architecture. It's like a mutant TR626 with enough processing and modulation to get as beefy or as weird as you please.

 

I like the ensemble machines too, it's fun to play chromatic chords.

 

Coming from the OT, the coolest things about the MnM are polyphony, keytracking, trig tracks (forwarding trigs), trig mutes (amp/filter/LFO), and the ability to lock LFO shape and destination. Also the arp, although more limited, is more fun to use and seems tighter, probably because it's sequencing internal machines.

[modey]

Interesting. Yeah actually I always think I'll use a piece of hardware in a specific way and then end up using it completely differently (e.g. I bought the Beatstep because I wanted a pad/knob controller, but got distracted by the sequencer).

 

I've heard mentions of kits resetting when patterns are changed. Does this behaviour still apply to song/chain mode? If a few patterns are assigned to the same kit, and I tweak synth/filter settings while the song/chain is playing, do the settings carry over to the next pattern, or do I need to save the kit every time before the pattern ends?

[psn]

do I need to save the kit every time before the pattern ends?

 

Yes. But it quickly becomes second nature.

[awepittance]

but personally the Rytm is my fav, can be used for great synthie sounds as well using samples in a kind of wavetable way..

never considered it could be used like that, but thats a really goddam good idea.

[psn]

Yeah, just make some single cycle oscillator samples.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP0URLe2pz

[modey]

 

do I need to save the kit every time before the pattern ends?

 

Yes. But it quickly becomes second nature.

 

Ah, it's strange but not a dealbreaker I guess. I probably won't be doing *too* much in terms of tweaking, except for plocks, which as I understand are destructively saved into the sequencer? It's bizarre that they didn't have it the other way around (ie. kits update automatically, and patterns must be saved). I'm sure it'll inspire a change of workflow anyway..

[Guest Joergen]

Check out this guide : http://tarekith.com/assets/monomachine_tipsandtricks.htm

 

When you learn to save kits for every pattern, it's not that big of a deal. But it can be really frustrating when your jamming and you forget to save. Dig into the FM machines, and trigless trigs !!! The FM machines are the only sound machines is use, fantastic for bass, metal, ambient, pads, klang.. Everything ! Also the different routing options can get shit going. I'm way to drunk for this right now :) Good night

[digit]

these vids are some of the best i've seen. sound quality isn't great because it's recorded using the cameras mic, but the quality of what this guy is doing with the monomachine is really apparent:

 

 

 

[Guest skibby]

[modey]

these vids are some of the best i've seen. sound quality isn't great because it's recorded using the cameras mic, but the quality of what this guy is doing with the monomachine is really apparent:

 

 

 

woa, those videos are wicked

 

 

For some reason when I finally get my MnM I want to try replicating this with it:

 

Would be a good exercise, I reckon the bassline would be very achievable with plocks

[YEK]

sounds like autechre