Any Elektron Monomachine users here?

[namnibor]

Finally got a manual for my Elektron Monomachine sfx-60 mk1 and it's a very very deep instrument with 6 internal and 6 external midi sequencers(can be used at same time), audio inputs, 18 lfo's, each internal and external track has dedicated arp that's incredibly versatile, with 5 different types of synthesizers within it, to include a WILD FM+. Will take some studying and a lot of practice but wanted to share this youtube example of Monomachine sequencing a Virus Ti, with of course the Monomachine's inherent synths as well. Has incredible midi specs and with this video there's just cool visualizations that go with audio but more importantly, please take time to read the comments and answers from this musician to virus owners, et al, to see the massive possibilities. There's also a poly and poly chord mode, even though it's name is MONOmachine, I really think this beast is a great match for any Virus, esp. a 61 key Virus as it fits with space to spare on the landing strip to the right of our lovely knobby surface!:D
Wondering if anyone on this forum have employed and/or experimented with the monomachine? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG99Mokk48s&feature=endscreen&NR=1 and from same musician, a more trance style with virus Ti and monomachine....cool stuff http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=Xf2q93Wpw3M&NR=1 another http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEFc8sLdsB4 and one last one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6EGfWD86Jo

[MBTC]

Honestly wasn't even aware of this particular device, it looks something like a groove box, is that right?

[namnibor]

;) Don't be shy! I KNOW there's other infeKted Virus lads and lassies that must have some experience in-use...?

[namnibor]

:cool: Honestly wasn't even aware of this particular device, it looks something like a groove box, is that right?

Yes but way WAY more than what that definition would employ. From wavetable synthesis, FM, SuperWave, VO--consonants and vowels formant synthesis, drum kits, dedicated effect engine, SID (commodore 64) Synth...12 sequencers with from what following manual through exercises, display exceptional midi timing....a very deep machine and I bought an used first/MK1 version for a gr8 price, they have a newer version that even allows one to import user sample waves. The manual is very well-written, while encouraging freedom and creativity. Admittedly, it has it's own 'work flow' that I will have to learn but like anything, once the interface is learned, it's like a musical instrument that's malleable as moist piece of clay in it's potential uses. Elektron is a very small Swedish Co. and would say much smaller than DSI, BUT they have QUICKLY answered every question almost immediately.
I learned about them when the Elektron Analog 4 was released. My DSI Mono Evolver Keyboard covers that territory very well but what Elektron employ on their "machines" is something called "Parameter Locks" and probably best to go to electron.se and read/watch their videos to see why this is SO cool! Deep! These 5 different synthesis engines have various machines within them and yes, you can connect a midi controller or any synth via midi OR via audio inputs and use Parameter Locks even on that...it's brilliant in it's complexity!

[namnibor]

Here's an example of only Monomachine doing Depeche Mode's "Wrong", and it's not a microphone type vocoder here as one of the synth machines is VO which actually has all consonants and vowels to do what you here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_QHqsjLMryY

[TweakHead]

Looks super nice. Liked the videos you posted. :)

[MBTC]

:cool:

Yes but way WAY more than what that definition would employ.

I figured it was quite a bit more and that I was running the risk of over-summarizing, I just thought it seemed to have the fundamental characteristics of a groove machine (lots of sequencer functionality, monophonic nature, etc).

[namnibor]

I figured it was quite a bit more and that I was running the risk of over-summarizing, I just thought it seemed to have the fundamental characteristics of a groove machine (lots of sequencer functionality, monophonic nature, etc).
Yes, but you *can* have poly-mode with the six internal and 6 external sequencers AND you have the flexibility to even choose from Major/Minor/Aug/Dim Chords in 'stacked' machines on a given track. I am not saying it's the panacea of sequencers but as a versatile tool to augment one's DAW with hands-on immediate control and of course sound design....whole, held notes over whatever one wants is possible, not being limited by the 'monophonic sequencer step paradigm', and am seeing that it's a very versatile modulation sequencer using those very Parameter Locks.
Let me just say it has actually opened-up a creativity universe and fact it not only speaks fluent midi, but also can rec'v say sysex or nprn data from the DSI Mono Evolver Keyboard...frakin' sick!

[namnibor]

Honestly wasn't even aware of this particular device, it looks something like a groove box, is that right?

To be fair, one of elektron's other machines, The MacineDrum is more definable as a "groovebox", as the Monomachine is a combo of 5 different proper synths with very deep modulation, that also happen to have 6 internal sequencers and 6 external midi sequencers that can be used at same time, plus using external audio anything as an input to this monstrosity! Hope that helps!

[namnibor]

Thought I'd tell you why I have been experimenting 'outside the computer' at the moment with hardware, but ultimately hardware will get inside the DAW. Although have a separate pretty massive DAW PC build that's dedicated only to music and some video work am learning, and am indeed learning Reaper as I really love that it's customizable in every way to what I personally think to be 'intuitive', as it were, and not CPU-hungry as many of others are, as I am working with audio, and slowly wrapping my head around the importance of having 'sister midi track' for automation, of which to this been-away-from-music-tech for few decades because of military obligations; let's just say I am glad I have no 'deadlines' other than my own personal motivation because as crazy as this world can be, am a bit full of trepidation in whom would possibly trust to tutor at my home, synth-based man-cave studio, without fear of getting ripped off by zombie crack head types. (I moved 2 1/2 yrs ago to this considered to be safest, quaint, semi-upscale village for safety and before even starting home studio once the Veteran Admn. finally got my pension sorted rightly) So perhaps my inherent military training has made me a bit overprotective! Purchased some Reaper professional tutorial dvd's from http://www.groove3.com/str/ , which wanted to share because they have a lot of other daw and vsti tutorials at a great price and purely helpful learning without bunch of 'fluff'.
So to my orig. point here: I love the Virus KC (using the Virus KB as both controller for waldorf Q and XT and effects), but was really hitting the proverbial wall with Multi-mode, so when an excellent deal came my way on first version of elektron's monomachine, has opened some mental doors in the hardware synths communicating, while realizing the more one learns, the more one realizes how much more there is to learn! (this is not a complaint as tend to roll that way in loving to learn knew things)
The idea has struck me that the Virus Ti2 total integration is incredibly tempting and if Virus Control was such that it worked without a snag 100% in all settings, would surely sell the KC for Ti2 61 Keyboard. However, from what I read on this and other great forums in a lot of issues with VC in-use; would it be pragmatic to just wait and see what Access may release next incarnation while I properly learn all that's on my learning plate? I definitely have the wavetable stuff covered as well as diverse synths until I may weed out a few possible redundancies. Would Virus Control 'play nice' with other hardware like Monomachine and other midi synths at same time?
This post is prime example of how electron monomachine has facilitated looking creatively 'outside the box'.

[dubathonic]

I am pretty much an Elektron head, and when I decided to get a synth, it was a hard choice between the Virus Snow and the Monomachine. I borrowed a Mono for a few months before deciding, and in contrast with the Snow the Mono proved a tough instrument to love at the outset ... Elektron presets are notoriously bad at demonstrating what their instruments can do. I found that while the Mono has many sound design possibilities, it took a lot of effort to wrap my head around them. So I went for the Virus.

Sadly, I haven't gotten nearly as much use out of the Snow as I'd hoped, mostly because I travel a lot and I find it easier to compose by whipping out a single piece of self-contained hardware that has an integrated sequencer. And Elektron's built-in sequencers are quite flexible and inspiring. In fact I'd say that's one of the best reasons to go for an Elektron device: the sounds can be phenomenal, but they require digging, and good results are tightly dependent on complex sequencer interactions.

If I were more of a DAW kind of guy, I'd probably be giving the Snow more attention. If I could tweak and sequence the Snow with an iOS app, I would *definitely* enjoy it more. But these are my personal issues. If you're a happy Virus user, I doubt the Mono would give you much you don't possess already in terms of broad synth power.

Its sequencers, on the other hand, will likely blow you away. Integrating Elektron devices with DAWs can definitely be done, but that's not the direction the company is focusing on -- they're more about getting away from the computer than wrapped up in it.

If you're curious about what the Monomachine can do, I highly recommend searching for Cutoph on Soundcloud (he has several pages), plus check out this: http://soundcloud.com/lemnic/mnm-demo-sound-bank-from-lem

[MBTC]

Would Virus Control 'play nice' with other hardware like Monomachine and other midi synths at same time?
This post is prime example of how electron monomachine has facilitated looking creatively 'outside the box'.

My personal experience with a Virus Ti2 desktop was several years ago and with a specific DAW (FLStudio on PC at that time). I returned it within my 30 day window because:

1. I found the Virus Control too latency prone, unreliable and generally wonky when used over USB (the way I wanted to use it), and it would have been so disruptive to my existing workflow compared to soft-synths
2. I found the overall sound to be competitive with but not substantially better than higher-end software synths
3. I found the overall power of the Ti2 to be disappointing given the price tag, as one of my primary reasons for purchasing it was to remove some load on my CPU due to heavy pads and the like. This determination was based on experimenting with the presets only, I never did try third party sounds, and I have very few synths (soft or hard) where I was happy with presets.

However, some things like #3 might have been a side effect of lack of experience with it, and might have changed over time. #2 was judging how it sounded, overall via USB. In theory if all of that wasn't configured optimally, I might not have been hearing the Virus at its best, but it was how I planned to use it at the time.

In short, my recommendation would be to be thankful if you get VC working well with the DAW. I would not expect VC to work well with other hardware, because I doubt Access tests VC beyond a few officially supported hosts.

That is one of my reasons for moving to Cubase, supposedly it is the DAW that the Virus works best with based on feedback from others here, and I am seriously considering giving Virus another chance in one form or another (I've been dabbling with eBay auctions but have not yet had great luck there). In addition to the Virus, I also like the fast that the VST standard is defined by Steinberg (also inventors of the ASIO driver) and therefore VST format plugins tend to be very well tested inside of Cubase (see also my thread called DAW Discussions where I've been discussing my recent DAW thoughts).

I do not know how the success rate with VC and Reaper is but I would definitely research that if you have fixed on Reaper as your DAW of choice. Some folks have been reporting good luck with Ableton Live on Mac as well.

[namnibor]

I am pretty much an Elektron head, and when I decided to get a synth, it was a hard choice between the Virus Snow and the Monomachine. I borrowed a Mono for a few months before deciding, and in contrast with the Snow the Mono proved a tough instrument to love at the outset ... Elektron presets are notoriously bad at demonstrating what their instruments can do. I found that while the Mono has many sound design possibilities, it took a lot of effort to wrap my head around them. So I went for the Virus.

Sadly, I haven't gotten nearly as much use out of the Snow as I'd hoped, mostly because I travel a lot and I find it easier to compose by whipping out a single piece of self-contained hardware that has an integrated sequencer. And Elektron's built-in sequencers are quite flexible and inspiring. In fact I'd say that's one of the best reasons to go for an Elektron device: the sounds can be phenomenal, but they require digging, and good results are tightly dependent on complex sequencer interactions.

If I were more of a DAW kind of guy, I'd probably be giving the Snow more attention. If I could tweak and sequence the Snow with an iOS app, I would *definitely* enjoy it more. But these are my personal issues. If you're a happy Virus user, I doubt the Mono would give you much you don't possess already in terms of broad synth power.

Its sequencers, on the other hand, will likely blow you away. Integrating Elektron devices with DAWs can definitely be done, but that's not the direction the company is focusing on -- they're more about getting away from the computer than wrapped up in it.

If you're curious about what the Monomachine can do, I highly recommend searching for Cutoph on Soundcloud (he has several pages), plus check out this: http://soundcloud.com/lemnic/mnm-demo-sound-bank-from-lem

Thanks and thank you for the shared link to music. I will be using a DAW mainly for recording audio as I learn more on utilization of midi automation. However, you are correct in that the Monomachine is quite deep and has a different work flow but as you said, those sequencers (external midi and internal) coupled with Parameter Locks, seems to be a nice match on paper with my Virus KC or KB. I provided examples in earlier posts where the Virus is used integrated with Monomachine. I got such a great deal on Monomachine MK1 that I am sure would make a small profit if I decided to sell it in future.
No question on fact Virus synth engine is deeper and more immediately tweakable to get great sounds BUT in my limited experimenting with Monomachine, doing some deep diving, can also get great sounds but as you stated correctly, the extremely versatile and utilitarian sequencers on Elektron are their strong point and notwithstanding, their superb customer service and constant updates. Also, all OS updates to newer Monomachine also applicable to my first version and the user manual is same way--very smart.