Elektron Model: Cycles - FM Drum Machine/Synth

[Críoch]

Either Robin Williams is still alive, or Joey needs to be booked into St.Clabberts asafp.

Think it could be a stage 6

Cool vid. I like what he's done with it. Sounds v.nice

[Ben Kohonays]

if it wasn't elektron you geeks would be jizzing all over it

Couldn't give a monkeys who makes what*, it's either good/useful or it's not.




*Having said that, I'm not a huge Behringer fan, mostly because I don't like some of their business practices.

[Jean Luc Cougar]

Ok, I got mine today - about 45 min of hands on time so far. Early review:

The Good:
- Sounds great! Genuinely. Kicks are huge. Percussion is crispy. I much prefer the cymbals on this to the Rytm. Kicks are different but just as big.
- Super fun. Quite frankly, it’s easy - the simplified interface brings the best of Elektrons depth to the simplicity of the Roland TR series
- Product build. While I don’t care, it’s less ugly in person. Build quality is good. A lot of people like the feel of encoders, I find them to be stiff, but I have no issues with quality

The Bad:
- The way they have implemented chromatic notes is nonsensical. The 16 pads starting at the bottom I believe start at an “E” note, not “C”. I can’t understand why they wouldn’t make this easy and follow standards.
- Furthermore, I don’t think there is any standardization between presets which means even hitting pad 1 and expecting an “E” may not deliver - just seems esoteric without purpose. The lack of predictability in pitch is admittedly annoying.

The unknown:
- I can’t tell how much range this thing has yet, but for the price I am positive. I just played around with a clap preset and found two distinctly different sweet spots. I’m gonna do the same for other engines next.

[Críoch]

That sounds really cool man!

Nice to have a box that can do anything from kicks to cymbals.. then the synth stuff too. Very impressive.

[ekwipt]

Root not starting with E (Elektron) perhaps

[Jean Luc Cougar]

Yeah, they sure are "clever"

I need to check, but I am not sure the Kicks are set up to start from "E", or if even all the current patches are set up that way.

TBH this is the kind of nonsense that always annoys me with Elektron, but I bought this knowing that I am always annoyed with some element of their UI, so no one to blame but myself.

[Huck Farper]

Ok, I got mine today - about 45 min of hands on time so far. Early review:

The Good:
- Sounds great! Genuinely. Kicks are huge. Percussion is crispy. I much prefer the cymbals on this to the Rytm. Kicks are different but just as big.
- Super fun. Quite frankly, it’s easy - the simplified interface brings the best of Elektrons depth to the simplicity of the Roland TR series
- Product build. While I don’t care, it’s less ugly in person. Build quality is good. A lot of people like the feel of encoders, I find them to be stiff, but I have no issues with quality

The Bad:
- The way they have implemented chromatic notes is nonsensical. The 16 pads starting at the bottom I believe start at an “E” note, not “C”. I can’t understand why they wouldn’t make this easy and follow standards.
- Furthermore, I don’t think there is any standardization between presets which means even hitting pad 1 and expecting an “E” may not deliver - just seems esoteric without purpose. The lack of predictability in pitch is admittedly annoying.

The unknown:
- I can’t tell how much range this thing has yet, but for the price I am positive. I just played around with a clap preset and found two distinctly different sweet spots. I’m gonna do the same for other engines next.

They improved the rubber in this series over Samples. I really like the build quality for the cost. Worth mentioning the delay and reverb quality is really good as well. I wish the distortion and volume were separate knobs but oh well. It's a lot of fun.

[over9000]

Is it possible to sync this to ableton? How do you guys use it?
Seems like a savage machine soundwise

[Huck Farper]

Is it possible to sync this to ableton? How do you guys use it?
Seems like a savage machine soundwise

Yes, it's easy to sync over usb to ableton. When I record clips from it, it records perfect from the first ms and stays in sync. I'm sure it depends on interface, etc. but basically it's really easy to work with w/a DAW.

[over9000]

Is it possible to sync this to ableton? How do you guys use it?
Seems like a savage machine soundwise

Yes, it's easy to sync over usb to ableton. When I record clips from it, it records perfect from the first ms and stays in sync. I'm sure it depends on interface, etc. but basically it's really easy to work with w/a DAW.

Awesome thx!
That makes it more and more tempting..

[over9000]

Is it possible to sync this to ableton? How do you guys use it?
Seems like a savage machine soundwise

Yes, it's easy to sync over usb to ableton. When I record clips from it, it records perfect from the first ms and stays in sync. I'm sure it depends on interface, etc. but basically it's really easy to work with w/a DAW.

One more question to clarify: so you can have it runing in sync with other stuff in ableton? And when you want to record it you just do so in real time?

I have a mfb tanzmaus and there you have to run it over midi with the usamo to get it in sync and to record is quite a hassle because its always off a few ms and it can kill the groove..

[Huck Farper]

Is it possible to sync this to ableton? How do you guys use it?
Seems like a savage machine soundwise

Yes, it's easy to sync over usb to ableton. When I record clips from it, it records perfect from the first ms and stays in sync. I'm sure it depends on interface, etc. but basically it's really easy to work with w/a DAW.

One more question to clarify: so you can have it runing in sync with other stuff in ableton? And when you want to record it you just do so in real time?

I have a mfb tanzmaus and there you have to run it over midi with the usamo to get it in sync and to record is quite a hassle because its always off a few ms and it can kill the groove..

Syncs over USB so that shouldn't be an issue.

[over9000]

I have one now since a month or so and its great.
was a bit of a fiddle to get the single tracks recorded into ableton, but iam always slow on the uptake with these things
i love it to lay in bed with the machine and make some loops, it is very versatile, sequencer is great, one lfo per track etc etc.
Has the typical clean fm sound somehow, but you can dirty it up a bit. Will see on how to process the recorded audio in ableton now.
Really nice to create tight grooves with microtiming and swing, its all there and easy to access.
I heard alot on elektron gear before, and i was sceptical, but i have to say i dont find the workflow irritating or fiddly at all.
I had a tanzmaus from mfb before and oh boy that was fiddly though, also alot less versatile. But it has the beefy mfb analog sound that the MC certainly lacks. Cant have it all i guess

[orchard]

Picked a cheap one up a few weeks back. Love it!

This is proper next level shit.

youtu.be/NNfbFepnPf0

[Amøbe]

Picked a cheap one up a few weeks back. Love it!

This is proper next level shit.

youtu.be/NNfbFepnPf0

hahaha I legitimately began to feel vertigo from that jam

[orchard]

Picked a cheap one up a few weeks back. Love it!

This is proper next level shit.

youtu.be/NNfbFepnPf0

hahaha I legitimately began to feel vertigo from that jam

[Amøbe]

Picked a cheap one up a few weeks back. Love it!

This is proper next level shit.

youtu.be/NNfbFepnPf0

hahaha I legitimately began to feel vertigo from that jam

It wasn't because of the quality of the music - it was the intense panning in my headphones

[orchard]

I don't know how well this works but could be the answer to our prayers...

Underbridge!!

https://bklronin.github.io/underbridge-pro-doc/

Elektron Model: Cycles

Record six seperate wave tracks and midi files in one go. Single or multiple pattern in project mode.

Accelerated transition to DAW for mixing.
Record a complete project within one BPM tempo across one bank
Comfortly browse through your patches within the app
(same for Model: Samples)

[over9000]

damn should have had this when i had the cylcles
its a nice machine, maybe i should consider getting it again

[Amøbe]

I don't know how well this works but could be the answer to our prayers...

Underbridge!!

https://bklronin.github.io/underbridge-pro-doc/

Elektron Model: Cycles

Record six seperate wave tracks and midi files in one go. Single or multiple pattern in project mode.

Accelerated transition to DAW for mixing.
Record a complete project within one BPM tempo across one bank
Comfortly browse through your patches within the app
(same for Model: Samples)

It amazes me what people are able to create! This is massive!