Elektron makes my day

frawal · 2022-03-24T14:41:03+00:00

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I bought the Model:Cycles (an FM synth based groovebox) and the Model:Samples (a sample based groovebox) a couple of month ago and immediately rediscovered the absolute happiness of making music that I had kind of lost with NI, wasting so much time and energy picking the right sounds, the right plugins, the right instruments instead of making music and often when I finally had it all, I had lost the feeling, turned it all off and left the studio.

Now, when I want to make music, I pick the Model:Cycles, the Model:Samples or both, plug them into the audio interface and play. I don't need a DAW, I don't need a computer, I don't need this, that and God knows what else. I just want to play and enjoy myself and that's exactly what happens.

I believe that music is very closely related to happiness. I am glad it all came back.

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Comments

Nico_NI

Good to know your inspiration and joy of creating is back! You gotta enjoy it when it's there.

But honestly this is getting back to the old debate 'hardware or digital' thing. I don't think you can compare Elektron hardware and NI due to their features and format differences.

Maschine+ could be the only NI gear worth to be compared to Elektron stuff IMO, if at all.

frawal

I am not comparing anything. I am just enjoying Elektron hardware as a bowl of fresh air, immediacy and fun.

Nico_NI

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/10701#Comment_10701

Fair enough! 😊

Always felt like Elektron was a lot of menu diving but the Model seems to be more straightforward than the Octratrack and co. What do you think? Didn't have the chance to try these out yet.

Jeremy_NI

Loving Elektron's stuff too! My favorite piece of gear is my Digitone Keys, I'm even thinking of getting a second Digitone box. It's way more intuitive than Octatrack is and it's always musical.

Nico_NI

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/10746#Comment_10746

Was really tempted by the Digitone for a while! Eventually decided to go hard and build a modular case for a more flexible and durable piece of gear. Gotta try it one day tho.

frawal

Both Models are extremely easy to understand and to play with. It's an easy entrance into the Elektron world. They both have the fantastic sequencer that you find on all of their hardware, they have an excellent sound, they're intuitive and they're affordable but of course, I now want to buy a Digitone and a Digitakt, the big brothers to the Models .

frawal

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/10757#Comment_10757

A modular... Wow, that's a different story altogether. How is it? Is it complete? Do you spend a lot of time on it? How's the feeling with such a machine, one you've assembled yourself according to your needs and tastes and last but not least, did it cost you an extravagant amount of money?

Studiowaves

Yeh, I know what you mean, do you feel up to programming? Or, do you just want to play. This digital age is great for making sounds but who really needs an infinite variety of sounds. I made an FM synth just to fill in the missing sympathetic resonance that samplers suck at in a real piano. It was a ****** to do but well worth it in the end.

Nico_NI

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/10772#Comment_10772

That's definitely a long journey. I completed it once and changed most of it a few months later to adjust it better for my needs. It's now getting to a point where it's pretty powerful and flexible.

I don't spend as much time on it as I would like to, but everytime is really rewarding as you always discover new ways to patch. It's also interesting to do sessions with friends, because they'll have a different perspective and approach you may haven't think about.

Considering the price, it's for sure not cheap. But you can have a solid case for the price of a great analog synth (1k to 2k). You can then renew your case without really spending additional money by selling your modules to buy new ones.

Some good learnings worth to keep in mind with modular in my opinion are:

Make sure to know what's the purpose of your case beforehand, why do you need it (monosynth, FX, sequencer...)
Don't fall in the classic module addiction that will eventually make you spend a ton of money for modules you'll barely use.

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