My MonoMachine review...
From the original Analog Industries archive. Some links and images from that era no longer resolve.
Okay, after having this thing for a few days, I think I have a fairly good handle on it. Obviously, there are many “official” reviews available on the Intertubes, from SOS, FM, CM, and even the American magazines if you want to go that route. (Personally, I’d skip ’em, like I have been for the past decade.) Since that is the case, and most of these reviews go in to great detail on the various features of the MonoMachine, I’ll just jot down a few quick impressions and we can move along. In no particular order:
1. If there’s an opposite to “phatt,” when using that tragic term to define some hazy sort of audio quality, then the MonoMachine is it. Can I propose “thynn” as a viable alternative? This box is not “phatt,” if that means “warm, analog-sounding juicy goodness.” It is very digital sounding. This is most definitely not a bad thing. But if you were gonna buy this to be your main Bass Box, you’re gonna be making some thin-ass music down the road.
2. So, assuming you’re hip to the little bleeps, boops, and bloinks that the MM is good at, the provided engines are quite capable, and I really appreciate the fact that they can make a pretty good synth voice in five different flavors with just 8 parameters to control it. I haven’t found a use (nor will I, most likely) for the voice thing, which I find somewhat silly. But the others are nice. Superwave is coolest, I think, but I’m warming to the FM.
3. It has the same filter as the MachineDrum. I had a hard time warming to this filter topology in the MD, and I’m having the same hard time here. The “BASE” knob, which sort of controls the center frequency, isn’t logarithmic, but rather linear. This means that the Good Part is a very narrow band of about 2/5th of the knob’s total travel. I like the general idea of their filter, but the execution leaves something to be desired. Quite frankly, I would prefer a normal MMF. But, that said, the filter is part and parcel to the MM’s unique sound, and is appropriate to the application at hand, other than the point I mentioned with the scaling, which is a silly oversight IMO, as these guys are on their DSP game otherwise.
I’ve been an Elektron customer since there was an Elektron. I bought one of the very first SIDstations, and with this latest acquisition I’ve now owned every product they’ve made. I’m quite comfortable with the way they do things, and once you realize that they don’t really follow industry norms for the way their kit works, and you get in to their vibe a bit, you’re gonna be well-served by all their products. If you want something that sounds like a MiniMoog or a 909, you’re shit outta luck. The MM and MD sound like, well, an MM and an MD. I’m fairly happy with the purchase, but it will take a while to fit it in to what I do, just like the MD (which sat unused for maybe 6 months before I really got in to it.)
42 comments
regarding the 'phatt'
does it always sound thin? have you experimented going thru your Moogerfooger FX rack?
I can easily chunk it up, through many different means. It isn't permanently that way. The Moogerfoogers, well, if you want it to sound like a MonoMachine through a Moogerfooger, that's what they're good for. They don't just Make Things Better by being in the chain.
-CR
you can do great subs on the MM.. not just sinewave things but things w/texture. i've gotten some rather nice analogish basses out of it but only by accident and they tend to reveal themselves as not analog pretty easily once you reach the filters edge or cut off. but it still throws out some really gooey basslines that i probably couldn't get any other way.
i love the drums. may seem like a one trick drummachine but once you get into modulation and the delay you can get some really liquidy drum loops
the FM stuff great. it took me a long time to get cozy w/the monomachine but i've grown to really dig it and am surprised but it all the time.
Bah. I have analog synths if I want an analog bass. I see your point, though. In the previously linked video, the bass is actually rather paint-peeling in its intensity; obviously that doesn't make the compression transition, but it was there, and moving air. I used the SID engine for that. (It should also be noted that the SID engine in the MM doesn't sound any fucking thing like a SIDstation. It _reminds_ one of it.)
My only real meaning was that a lot of these little boxes are really just for bass, while they can do other things. The MonoMachine is really just for other things, while it can do bass. One should make that distinction.
-CR
The one thing that I like the most about the MM is the way it makes FM synthesis usable and (I really didn't think I'd actually write this) immediate.
Thx. I guess the real question I had to ask is, are you able to fit these into a mix with other sources?
All the crazy digital FM ringmod noise I've made with my DS Evolver sounds really interesting and cool, but getting it to fit with other sources is another story.
What I've found myself doing is making pieces that are 100% evolver. Which is a cool exercise, but...
That was the reason I dumped the Evolver. It was fun and all by its lonesome, but getting that lil' fucker to sit in a mix was damn-nigh impossible.
To actually answer your question with the experience I have thus far would be lying, so I'll skip that. Don't know yet, as I haven't tried to do a full mix that has MM elements. The MM and the MD are very happy together, sonically, but I don't use the MD very much in my normal workaday routine, so it's hard to see where this is gonna head. Rest assured I'll post about it again, though.
-CR
CR i know what you are saying and i agree more or less. i have analog synths too and use them for the things they are good for (which is sometimes everything) but sometimes that 'wrong' bass sound is the right one.
i've made several songs w/just the monomachine and find that after a bit it's easy to make music w/it and not have everyone who owns a monomahcine say "oh, that's a monomachine". bah.. my coffee is doing the talking for me now.
point being.. i wouldn't use the monomachine to try and emulate something like a 303 or even a basic juicy analog saw wave bass but instead i'd just make a new sound and find what works for the track...
so, yeah.. it's versatile but it's not a moog or a jupiter and won't do that weedy filter thing a 202 will do etc. and i don't think people should bother trying to make it sound that way because i agree w/your sentiment "it's for other things"
sid voice- is totally weird! great gritty mechanical textures and weird leads. easy to be obnoxious with it for sure.
i think the Monomachine more than any other device taught me the art of sound design, or at least my version of sound design. by default the MnM sounds very digital to me. like you said, that's not a bad thing but it's definitely its tonal starting point, BUT i think the each of the machines really can get quite warm and fuzzy with some careful knobbery.
i absolutely love the SID machine on the MnM btw. i have gotten so many nice leads, bass sounds, and snare/hh's.
there's body underneath it's cool exterior but you gotta whisper sweet nothings to her. she'll warm up
(what a weirdo) ;)
anyone know of any commercially released tracks/albums that make use of the MnM or MD? The only ones I can think of are parts of "We Are the Night" by the Chemical Brothers, specifically most of Saturate is MnM in action. Apparat's "Walls" album uses the MD to good effect for most of the drums.. one of my fav albums in the last year or so.
Any others?
My MD also sat unused for more than 6 months before I got into it. I would never use it for "standard" electronic drums, because it blows for that. Once you start tweaking knobs and recording in the parameter locks, then add a ctrl track and tweak that.. whoo boy.. complete madness. It definitely wants to do glitch more than anything. All of the knobs are tricky to adjust.. the decay seems to be "normal" between like 62 and 66 and anywhere else is either way too short or way too long.
I find it very tweaky.. you really have to adjust EVERY knob just "so" to get normal sounding drums, which is annoying.
Gibbon, remember it's a drum synthesizer not a rompler or for the preset-bandit.
Yup, you right about that. I've had it for most of a year (over a year?) now, and can say with certainty that it is definitely its own thing. I find it to be most useful for making percussion noises, especially grindy kind of shit. Early on, I was fairly disappointed at the foot ability (or lack thereof), but I've got the knack of making a good one now. I spent far too much time fooling with the TRX engine, which frankly isn't very good, at the expense of the EFM engine, which is far better, except for hats, which it can't do very well. The EFM foots are so much better than the TRX ones it's almost comical.
Gibbon is right about the decay, though. Every permutation of each engine has a specific area of comfort that it works best at, and once you get the hang of these, it is a breeze. I imagine the MM is more or less the same; my experience thus far seems to prove this out. Once the initial giggles are done with, I'll either get deep in to it, or set it aside for a while and come back to it when I'm ready to get deep.
The thing to remember, if you're sitting on the fence about either (or both) of these instruments is that they are their own thing, and fairly complicated. They are not simple beat- and noink-boxes that you can just fire up and get cool shit out of. (My videos of this weekend serve as an excellent QED of this point.) But they don't have as narrow a focus, either. Which is why I haven't yet sold my MD. My patience with gear is notoriously limited, but it seems to have held my attention so far, and that should speak volumes.
-CR
Oh, and, speaking to the parameter lock issue, using the internal sequencer with the MD is fairly sad. I tend to sequence the box from Cubase because the timing of the internal sequencer is so bad. When used with internally sequenced material, it drifts many MS around the quantizing points, from maybe 8ms in front to 15ms late. This is fairly noticeable, especially at higher tempos. (15ms is nothing at 100bpm. At 180, it is a 32nd note, practically.)
So, if I want to automate any parameters while I'm recording, I do so with MIDI CC, rather than parameter locks. "Live jam" stuff like in the videos is fine, though. Nobody notices that shit.
-CR
Actuel,
Of course I know it's a drum synth. I'm not a fan of presets and I don't own any romplers, but the MD is extremely tweaky and requires work to get decent sounds.. you gotta tweak the standard pitch, decay etc, then flip to the next set of knobs and tweak the filter and then on over to the other screen and tweak the lfo and back to the decay and so on.. it's easier to get garbage digital sounds than something that instantly makes you go "wow, awesome".. unlike a 909 where you turn it on and it goes "booom boom boom" no matter where you set it. Not that I'm expecting that from the MD.. if insane digital noises are your bag, then the MD is king.
Chris,
If you haven't explored parameter locks, particularly in live recording mode, then you're really missing 90% of what the MD is all about. Specifically, adding a ctr-al machine allows you to tweak the parameters for all machines at the same time (ie. filter sweeps). Ctr-bp tracks are also handy to for customizing the knobs with 8 tweakable parameters taken from any machine. The MD also transmits CCs, so you can do the parameter locks and record them in to your DAW, then clean them up or whatever.
If your MD really is drifting 15ms, then it must have something wrong with it.. 2ms, maybe.. but 15ms? You sure it ain't broken? There's no way in hell mine drifts that much.
With the TRX machine, adjusting the lfo can really add a lot of body to the bass drum. It takes a lot of tweaking to get it to sound decent though. One trick is to layer it, or any other machine with the gnd machines (sine, impulse and noise). Quite handy, but they are also very tweaky and cover a pretty broad range of whacky sounds.
There's nothing wrong with it that isn't wrong with everyone else's. I just took the time to measure mine, while most of the posts I've read on the subject are something to the effect of "ZOMGWTFBBQ THIS SHIT IS WHACK!" (Insert stupid-ass jumping emoticon x 25)
Do this for fun. Make an internal sequence of closed hi-hats, every 16th note. Record that sequence tempo-synced to your DAW. Now, once you've compensated for the latency of your DAW, pick four at random and measure them (or do all 16, or several measures, or whatever). If you come up with an average total +/- of less than 20ms at 44.1, I'd be utterly shocked. 2ms is within MIDI's normal drift, and isn't worth mentioning. I wouldn't have brought it up otherwise.
Or don't do it. I don't particularly care, to be perfectly frank; if the box is working for you in the task you've set it to, the timing issue obviously doesn't affect you, and you don't need to worry about it.
And I'm fully aware of what parameter lock and CTRL-All are capable of. I just don't particularly like them, or need them. I don't make glitch or powernoise or whatever the fuck the kids are calling it these days, and I don't find the resulting (incredibly unpredictable) soup sandwich very useful in the kind of music I make. The main thing that annoys me about CTRL-all is the fact that the buffer carries through neighboring patterns that use the same kit. I hate that in so many different ways, it's not even funny. Accidentally destroying 8 patterns because I went on a tweak-fest on one of them isn't my idea of a good time. The MD (and the MM) break the cardinal UI rule of never over-writing saved data without alerting the user, and this is a very nearly unforgivable sin. But luckily, I'm a patient motherfucker.
-CR
"anyone know of any commercially released tracks/albums that make use of the MnM or MD?"
Rumor was at least that Autechre's Untilted from year or two ago is full of those bastards. At very least, they have used MD + MM + MPC1000 in their live sets since then.
Obvious Monomachine tracks:
<a href= http://www.discogs.com/release/401784%3EGosub%3C/a%3E
Some obvious Monomachine tracks:
Gosub - http://www.discogs.com/release/401784
Dexter - http://www.discogs.com/release/514155
You can hear healthy doses of Mono on the last Air album, and of course both Elektrons are all over Autechre's _Untilted_.
ellen allien has also reported to use the mnm quite a lot.
i love her stuff.
Arg.
Anyway:
"The MD also transmits CCs, so you can do the parameter locks and record them in to your DAW, then clean them up or whatever."
Parameter locks do not transmit as CCs. They never have, and likely never will. Which is lame, but not as lame as Elektron's justification for the behavior, which is that there'd be too much data for a MIDI interface to handle.
In re: timing, the fluctuation has been demonstrably the same on every unit that Elektron users have taken the time to stop arguing and firing off ad hominems on elektron-users.com to meaure. Elektron themselves admitted that it was there, claimed that it was deliberate, and the discussion ended. In my experience, the only "rock solid" timing can be found in the MIDI clock, not in the MD's sequencer.
I never bothered comparing the Mono - I rarely use it for percussion duties and I didn't see the point after the MD discussion, anyway.
I went over that in the other thread, when Chris bought his MD. Yeah, the timing fluctuates, but on mine, I have never had a variation greater than 108 samples at 44.1. That's less than 2.5 ms, not "8-15ms", which is why I suggested there might be something wrong with CR's. I've done this a dozen times, with repeatable results.. depending on the machine and the pattern, every hit is within 70-80 samples of "perfect" and only occasionally will it drift beyond 100 samples.
The assumption is that the MD is digital and digital = precise and perfect but that's simply not the case. If this were an anlog drum machine, the randmoness would be considered a desirable feature and they'd charge more for it. But some dumbass decided to record his MD, zoom to sample level and declare it to be totally useless. Hire a real drummer someday.. he sure as shit won't be that accurate.
The drift extends to pitch and amplitude too, not just timing. Recording ten minutes of 16th note hi-hats and not a single one will be exactly the same.
I used to have horrible midi timing on my computer back in the day and the MD sounds like a nuclear clock in comparison. I don't even like the sound of the MD that much, but the timing is a non-issue on mine.
"If you assume something to be impossible, first re-examine your premises."
"At very least, they have used MD + MM + MPC1000 in their live sets since then."
I have one of those sets.. it's not very good. Crap in fact.
Chris,
If I can only buy one, which one should I buy?
Which one makes you smile more?
Tom
Here's a quick 30 second demo I just made of two random drums patterns synced and running together live. One is the MD and one is a vsti they are running together and the outpot was recorded live.
www.kinimat.com/md_sync_with_vsti.mp3
So CR,
Would you contradict or concur with the often-expressed opinion that the MD and MM are "IDM boxes"?
If you would concur with the statement that a modular synth is for prog rock.
Tools don't define music. Never have, never will.
To Tom, if you could buy only one, right now I would say that the MD is more useful than the MM in general. But I haven't had the MM long enough to back that up with empirical evidence. Just my gut feeling.
-CR
A guy I know (a pretty known IDM musician as far as they go I guess) bought both MD+MM at the same time some point and ended up loving MM and selling the MD. Never asked why though.
"I have one of those sets.. it's not very good. Crap in fact."
Yeah, I have kind of same experience, sounds straighter and more danceable than their usual stuff and infinitely boring to listen to. Never been to one of their gigs though so maybe it would be more interesting if you could actually, like, dance to it at the same time. Dunno.
I guess my music is too slow to notice the timing issue... they feel just as tight as the MPC's I've used. The MnM is capable of bass... maybe not the analog, harmonic distortion, type of bass, but still decent bass. You can always run a sine wave underneath your bass for sub bass. Also, routing a slow LFO to Amp (that retriggers with each note) env gets that nice attack. Lastly, turning off filter tracking helps at times. The MD is very capable of some classic boom bap as well. It is not just an IDM machine...though I guess because of how deep it can be synthesis wise, it excels at that genre.
Dance? to Autechre? Jeez, why do people only like things they can dance too? Boring is one thing... but music can effect other things other than the body.
I saw Autechre perform at the Detroit Electronic Music Festival in the underground cave thing. I was above them and could see them setting everything up. They spent more time downing a forty ouncer of vodka under the table than actually getting ready.
I always wanted to know why they took the knobs off everything when they had it all packed up.
The live MD+MnM+MPC set from Glasgow is the one I have, it sounds like the musak version of the DEMF set. It's all kind of soft and fluffy.
I've seen Autechre several times, and never found their live sets particularly inspiring, even though I quite like their records (specifically Untilted and Confield, like everyone else.) Frankly, I can't see how one could get away with performing that stuff with an MM, MD, and MPC.
But, that said, actually being in the venue, with the lights and video and a group of like-minded people has a lot to do with the enjoyment. Listening to live sets of such sparse music in your car or on your iPod while you're grocery shopping can't be very interesting.
-CR
CR, right on. i saw them in Boston on the Untilted tour and it was _amazing_ live. it blew me away.
soundboards of the tour don't compare. imo they really considered very carefully what works on a PA system at a club vs. what would work on a record when building that set. it really does sound weak and puffy after the fact. but it did not sound like that at the club at all. it was incredible.
I've got a 256kbps mp3 rip of the Glasgow 2005 set and it's pretty incredible imho; I actually like it better than the set I saw them do in NYC on roughly that same tour.... I know a lower quality rip was floating around as well, which considering how tiny/gritty most of the sounds already are, I can only imagine sounds like ass.
"Dance? to Autechre? Jeez, why do people only like things they can dance too? Boring is one thing... but music can effect other things other than the body."
Um, if you are referring to me, I'm pretty certain you didn't understand me right. I own and love quite a bit of their output (at least Tri Repetae, Anvil Vapre, Cichlisuite, LP5, EP7 and Confield on the top of my mind), but the recent live set recordings I've heard pretty much have affected no part of me.
My point is that the sets don't really sound quirky and interesting enough just to listen to, and not really rockin' enough to dance to - even though it sounds pretty obvious to me that for a change they want to get people to actually move their feet instead of just stroking their beards in 13/16 + 5/4... Their recent gigs I've heard have been really straight and repetitive stuff compared to anything they've done since god knows when.
Which is not in itself a bad thing at all, but I still thought the gigs still sounded pretty bland and boring compared to some of the older live recordings I've heard. But:
"But, that said, actually being in the venue, with the lights and video and a group of like-minded people has a lot to do with the enjoyment."
That's pretty much what I'm missing from my judgements since AE have been playing around here only once in years (ever?) and I missed that one. Add to that the fact that I don't really like Untilted that much myself - obviously you could say it's no wonder I haven't really liked the stuff they played at their shows recently
But anyway, I digress.
I saw Autecre several times... The most aweful sets they did was in their Powerbook era, standing and playing with a mouse (no light show, just a table, two notebooks, a mixer, and two drunk british guys moving around a mouse... they could have been doing their taxes). One of the shows was the DEMF show in the underground cave that Gibbon talks about, and the performance was yawn inspiring, and the kind of experimental noise they were making was totally lost in the Parking Garage style accoustics (lots and lots of natural reverb combined with piss poor mixing... imagine taking some sort of electronic music, putting it through a maxed out overdrive pedal, and then through a reverb pedal at 100%). Talk about phoning it in, geez.
I have a bunch of bootleg recordings of their early live performances I downloaded from some website though, and they were totally rocking... I would really really like to see/hear the Elektron/MPC live performances, if they are closing to the old school performances they should ge great.
vae, I was referring to what you said, but I think I did misinterpret what you said. sorry.
i saw autechre for the Untilted tour here in portland. i loved it. they turned off the lights and it was all about the music. no video or anything. perfect for me anyways. i only spied a MD and MnM. didn't see anything else. after listening to the Glasgow set (recorded from the FoH) it all sounds obviously MD MnM to me and they obviously spent a shit load of time mapping out their set. their are some really brilliant moments and i enjoy listening to it from time to time. oh, and i danced all night at the show.. just found it hard to stand still... it was some heady shit to hear live.
the previous time when i saw them was in LA during the Ti Book + nords tour and after the first 20 minutes i sat on the floor and listened to the craziness. i've heard other versions of that set and it's totally different and quite rocking. w/the max/msp thing happening they could probably play a unique set every night.
back the MD/MnM- yeah they're great. i love the MnM.
God, I felt sorry for everyone who performed in the DEMF parking garage. Kraftwerk themselves wouldn't sound good in there. The DnB guys sounded like Merzbow imitations because of the echo. Not to mention the head injuries from slipping on the sweat-soaked concrete...this has nothing to do with the monomachine (which I hate personally hate but to each their own), but that garage thing totally sucked.
I did a show at a deaf college once, in their parking garage. The PA company (who were quite competent, and used to doing gigs at this school) brought only subs for the mains. The only audio above, let's just say, 250Hz was coming out of the monitors on stage. It was, needless to say, an inspired show. The audience seemed to have a good time, although I would say that they obviously weren't used to going to concerts. Between songs, instead of clapping, they'd wave their hands at us. It was bizarre, but fun.
-CR
"The main thing that annoys me about CTRL-all is the fact that the buffer carries through neighboring patterns that use the same kit. I hate that in so many different ways, it's not even funny. Accidentally destroying 8 patterns because I went on a tweak-fest on one of them isn't my idea of a good time. The MD (and the MM) break the cardinal UI rule of never over-writing saved data without alerting the user, and this is a very nearly unforgivable sin. But luckily, I'm a patient motherfucker."
Chris,
If you've recorded parameter locks to a pattern and want to temporary get back to the basic pattern without the locks, hit classic mode and all the locks will be disabled. Hit extended again to use the version with the locks. Doing this on the fly gives you plenty of techno.
If you've messed up the locks completely and want to revert back to the original pattern, hold down exit/no and push the relevant data entry knob while in live record mode.. all the locks for that knob will be erased.
It doesn't prompt you to overwrite your existing data because you have to expressly go into one of two modes to edit the locks in the first place plus and you can remove them anytime you want. I'm not sure if that's what you were talking about or not.
At any rate, when using the ctr-al track, save a clean kit first. Go ahead and munge everything up with the ctr-al and when you want to get the clean pattern/kit back just load the saved kit back in. It will revert back to the original settings. You can do this on the fly.
I know all that; it's just annoying that it affects any adjacent pattern that uses the same kit. I think I understand the reasoning behind this, but I don't particularly care for it.
-CR
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