For the last several months, I’ve been tinkering around with my SP404 MK2 and Arturia Microfreak. While I enjoy both of these things, I felt that I was lacking a drum machine and a dedicated sequencer.
Sure, the SP404 has a sequencer, but it’s just not intuitive for me. I’ve tried it, but it doesn’t click and I find it hard to use and not functional in the way that I imagine other sequencers being helpful. My musical background, as a kid, was in piano and violin. So, while the SP404 is a great beat-maker, I had started to wonder if a more straight-forward grid would help me understand beats and their structures better.
The Microfreak, of course, also has a sequencer. But it can’t sequence multiple tracks or external gear. This is all a matter of perspective of course, but I’ve started to become interested in having what some people call a “brain”.
Pretty quickly, I decided on three possible options:
- Arturia Drumbrute Impact
- Elektron Model Cycles
- Elektron Model Samples
The Drumbrute had the positive of both having a sequencer and working as an analog drum machine with multiple line outs. The freedom here is that I could hook up individual portions of the drum kit to different effects pedals.
The catch is that I don’t yet own any effects pedals. So dry sound or sound going mostly through my SP404 would be my limit at this point. Still, I like the idea of analog drums and the Arturia Drumbrute Impact even seemed to survive the Bad Gear test:
The other contenders for me were the Elektron Model units. Both the Model Cycles and the Model Samples interested me because of their ability to serve a dual purpose of sequencing external gear and performing as a drum machine. Both units also brought the potential to expose me to the much talked about Elektron workflow. Ultimately it was the p-locks and workflow possibilities that led me away from the Drumbrute.
Why Elektron? Why Model vs. “Bigger Boxes?”
First, let me address the choice for going for a Model unit versus just jumping full speed into one of the “bigger boxes” like the Digitone I or II or the Digitakt I or II.
Part of the choice is cost related to me. Of course there are arguments that you can find a used anything for 5 dollars (hell people will pay you to take their used gear if you’re posting on reddit). These exchanges happen somewhere on the internet or out of the trunk of a car at the edge of a parking against the backdrop of a dystopian landscape that somehow blends the aesthetic of Only Lovers Left Alive and Hackers.
Sadly, I like to buy new stuff when talking about complex electronics where a lot can go wrong. Sue me. If it’s broke or messed up I can send it back and get a refund or a new one. It’s a peace of mind issue. I’ve had some luck buying used things that I could try out, but sight unseen? Nope. Burned too many times.
The other reason I considered the Model series is that so many people said they owned a bigger box, but still enjoyed the immediacy and performability of the Model units. I’m still learning how I like to make music and what works for me. So, the Model checked all the boxes:
- Drum machine capability
- Sequencer with a high level of customization and ability to also sequence external gear
- Chance to try out the Elektron workflow in a low risk way
- Performability and knob-per-function-like UI
Cycles or Samples?
If you’ve ever considered one of the Model units, the Cycles or the Samples, you’ve probably heard the arguments. But I’ll summarize them here:
- Samples is more versatile because it can sound like anything, Cycles just sounds like Cycles.
- If you get the Samples, you’ll hit the limitations (namely that you can’t record samples, you can only load them) pretty quickly and just want a Digitakt, so you might as well do the Cycles first.
They’re valid, logical arguments alright. But more than that, they caused me to consider what I already have and where I can see myself going in the future.
Since I already have an SP404 to record and chop and mash up samples, I don’t mind that the Samples can only load samples. I’m primarily, again, interested in having a drum machine and sequencer with the added bonus of trying out the Elektron workflow.
If I fall in love with Elektron, join the online cult and start posting “Buy a Digitakt or Digitone” as my answer to every question I see in an internet forum from How to bake the perfect bread? to Why is my engine light on?, I imagine that I’ll probably get a Digitone II before I would get a Digitakt. This is especially true since I can’t actually tell the clear lines between the Digitakt and the Tonverk. And that’s all assuming that I decide to really shell out, instead of sticking with the smaller and relatively less expensive component approach that I’ve been pursuing so far.
So those are my reasons for buying the Model Samples, which is currently on some kind of infinite back-order. Arrgh! Here’s a couple videos that I found really useful in my journey.
If you have any tips, experiences, counter-logic on the whole selection process, or just want to say “Hi!” Drop a note in the comments.
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