Banging on the Elektron Machinedrum

Does the Elektron Machinedrum still bang in 2024? Let's find out.
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00:00 intro
01:21 walkthrough and first beat
14:55 beat performance 1
16:31 whoops
16:58 beat performance 2
18:56 second beat making
24:46 final thoughts
26:00 beat performance 3

[@RedMeansRecording]

Fun fact I actually sold the Rytm a week ago after a couple disastrously frustrating sessions where my creativity just fell apart. Syntakt is bae now.

[@OscillatorSink]

Syntakt is, and always has been bae. You should never have doubted Baetakt.

[@pierreb8267]

Excuse my english, bae?

[@dracul74]

Yeah, I sold my Syntakt and A4. Loved them, but it was time. Still love my Digitakt, Digitone and Cycles though.

[@milk_bath]

@@pierreb8267Slang for baby/babe.

[@matthewdavis473]

The Syntakt has the best sound of any electronic music device I own. It’s so dynamic

[@Aqua_1014]

3:53 The knobs are set to 24 resolution by default but in the options you can change it to 32 resolution for a faster knob turn. Love the Machinedrum

[@farty555]

This device gives off such a cool energy; I wouldn't care what it sounded like, it's simply a beautiful machine. Reissue when??

[@KordTaylor]

“Everything must be content” Dang. You are so real on this “influencer” stuff. Love your samples comment 😂

[@user-sx2iw2hq3l]

We all so waiting reissue of Machinedrum in 2024🎉

[@candle_nine]

I love the Machinedrum. Wild that you have the UW and didn't check out the RAM machines. I'm unfamiliar with the mkI so maybe it's not a function but I have the UWmkII and one thing I loved doing was resampling into the RAM machines on the fly and twisting up those resamples against the beat it was resampled from as the original source changes.

[@heathershez]

Bunny is a rider is my favorite song and your version IS SO GOOD! it adds so much to the song, I would die for a full version of that on Spotify

[@chriswhite28]

Loved the tracks. Good to see this back in action. Makes me want to go spend some time on my RYTM.

[@PeppyBerryman]

Love my machinedrum. Feels like an old school drum machine from the future! The red screen burns my eyes. The goggles they do nothing..

[@dmcinnis23]

"You can send an LFO to any track? Why am I just learning this? Holy FUCK"> I loved this moment so much. So human!

[@FairuzOsman]

ALL 16 OF THEM

[@boombap08]

Amazing. The past couple years I got a Digitakt, digitone and now an octatrack largely because of guys like you. Thanks a lot, love the elektron content!

[@dchekurov]

try to hold function and you will be able to change all tracks parameters at ones. go back by function+classic/extanded. Changing the sound on all tracks at the same time can lead you to amazing results. That's its main superpower

[@FairuzOsman]

Ctrl+all on machinedrum is still the best, even compared to the newer machines

[@worstcyberpunkdystopia2188]

Love watching this process, and multiple times in that making of the third track you gave me musical stankface. So cool!

[@cbschrader]

This is definitely one of the content videos of this device. Good job, Jeremy!

[@carlosloor88]

YOU KNOW SOMETHING WE DON´T

[@PawelKaminski-cq1fr]

YES

[@krakamak]

@@PawelKaminski-cq1fr What's next for elektron forum appears here and there :D I was about to comment something similar :D

[@PawelKaminski-cq1fr]

@@krakamak A SIGN, A SIGN, A SIGN! ALSO, I WRITE IN ALL-CAPS TO MAKE IT SOUND EVEN MORE SERIOUS THAN IT ALREADY IS! 📣

[@Drenanimous]

Fun to get your take- and boyo jams 2&3 went hard! I dig the machine drum's character big time.

[@HylanKyler]

Epic machine. Recently found out about the megacommand unit that unlocks so many modern features. Would recommend finding one on ebay or reverb.

[@resetreboot]

Sick beats... is there any piece of gear you can't make do wonderful stuff?

[@floppydisk921]

There's an open source firmware for the machinedrum called Machinedrum X that integrates with a midi expansion thing called the MegaCommandLive. It gives you some modern comforts like microtiming and gives the MK1 devices 64 step sequencers, lets you use the machinedrum as a 16 voice synth with a midi keyboard, is a sample manager for the UW version etc. The list really goes on and on

[@s90210h]

sequel incoming?

[@SpikesStudio3]

Good luck finding a megacommand...🎛

[@ModernDevotion]

Replaces the entire sequencer of the md with a grid. Think more similar to ableton session view with your pattern selection becoming a scene launch control. Psuedo follow actions and machines tied to slots rather than kits means you can really just treat it as a 16 track grid of various sequences. The mega command is truly an insane upgrade

[@ukbloke28]

Conditional trigs too I think?

[@floppydisk921]

@@ukbloke28 yep

[@deastman2]

I have the original, non-UW version. I mostly work in the box, so the one trick I’ve learned is to take advantage of the individual outs… I’ll track all of them into the DAW simultaneously and use that as a basic reference track. Then one by one, I’ll re-record each tracks from the MD, while performing mutes, p-locks, and other parameters in real time for several minutes. At the end of that, I’ll throw out the original reference tracks, and I’m left with a long, complex performance which would normally have required more than 32 beats or a whole lot of hands.

[@moolder]

Huh I never knew this existed. Thanks for broadening my horizon ❤

[@el_dani]

Go out, buy one!

[@mdnghtppl0000]

these tracks are siiick!

[@BoringStranger]

Awesome. Weird machine, fun sounds P.S. do you have pitch correction on your talking bits? Sounds spacy! Around 01:00 it sort of sounds like that

[@Vallam23]

1:56 it's cool that there's a channel for cognitive behavior, since there's definitely no other acronym you could possibly be referring to

[@ChaBawbe]

ikr ;)

[@soupforare]

I scooped up a MkII from the last batch when they were discontinued. I had used them before and was heavily using monomachines at the time. Really wish I had the chance to + upgrade one of my monomachines or had a chance to grab a UW machinedrum but thems the breaks. Two quickies: Function and Classic/Extended will reload the kit from saved, though good technique doing a load by hand, that's how you do on the MnM. You can do mpc style "pad erase" by holding down the trig button and pressing No when you want to remove trigs, when in Rec/Edit mode.

[@net-work-error]

Machinedrum was the first synth I truly fell in love with and I think it still influences Elektron

[@martindirkzimmer]

elektron cancelled Digitakt to come out with Machine Drum mkIII

[@klaun]

you spelled Syntakt wrong

[@papaya160]

I'm so glad I bought an MK2 UW for so cheap like last week. Hope to fix it soon I'm so hyped!!!

[@seanhannan8509]

It’s truly impressive how you can turn out quality tracks while flipping through the manual.

[@BNLNRD]

You just made these beats and sent them out to friends to make some bangers in time for the release of the video? :D That's crazy

[@tobiedoly]

Tips on machinedrum? -It has a custom firmware -Try out the control machines (with parameter lock) -Press function button and change any parameter across all machines and revert (reload the kit) changes using function+classic/extended -Resample on the fly and destroy these samples with ram machines It's a wonderful piece of gear and there are a lot of routing tricks for nerds (like the lfo) Have fun!

[@tobiedoly]

Oh and if the sequencer misses some of the newest electron seq features, you "probably" have a deluge to control the MD 🤫

[@clamberry]

I'm glad to see a vid from you on the machinedrum. It's a cool machine that unfortunately didn't get the MK2 treatment. Rytm is great but the MD totally has its own personality.

[@el_dani]

? Do you know about the history? Machinedrum got the greatest revision ever: UW and then came also the mk2 🥸

[@midiscripts]

Still waiting for Digitakt MK2 here :)

[@PawelKaminski-cq1fr]

THIS IS A SIGN. DTmk2 IS COMING, AS WELL AS OCTAmk3 AND REISSUES OF CLASSICS

[@klaun]

no octa....syntakt is already there

[@smallmovesexperiment1102]

Love Machinedrum. Still has so much play.

[@err_rawr]

Take this video back Jeremy. I did not want to know of this. 😂😂

[@mattkaz9604]

The MD is still the best Elektron box, even if it's old and lacks the features of the new ones.

[@jaygeedeepbro]

The knob turning parameters slow and then faster when held down is the same way in the digitakt- machinedrum might be slower knobs though idk

[@digital_Inside]

DOPE❤

[@krazywabbit]

wiggle whippin zhiggidy goodness.

[@OhHeyK3vin]

The Bunny is a Rider remix is doooope.

[@wickeddubz]

@RedMeansRecording your production and crossovers/collabs with vocalists are lava hot! + Classic RMR comments and workflow/thoughts make this video even more awesome

[@Shohaiko.]

Please get your fangers on a Monomachine!

[@ukbloke28]

21:52 - what trig locking did you do? it sounds great!

[@G_Wheezy]

Maybe not a Machinedrum specific question, but how much of the performances was done outside of the Machinedrum? It seems like the vocals already had some effects on them. I really like how you use mute groups to essentially make a whole song in-hardware.

[@HanjoSynth]

haha I could not belive when this popped! For a secons I thought the Digitakt MKII was actually the MDUW :D

[@futuremontreal]

Love how the third beat was channeling machinedrum the artist

[@LonnonFoster]

Jeremy Blake, gettin' jhiggety wid' it.

[@ukbloke28]

This thing is an absolute monster. It tends to sound a little thin though. I've been researching ways to get it to sound more weighty, for want of a better expression. Anyone have any recommendations?

[@odrithingamajig]

If Machinedrum, then only Elektron🔥

[@robertsyrett1992]

yeah the LFOs being routed everywhere is the standout feature of the machinedrum in every demo.

[@FormerlyOrca]

If you guys like the machinedrum sounds but don't want to overspend on a edm hellbox, puremagnetic makes an Ableton pack/kit that has a lot of the good stuff called Elektrodrum for like $10

[@elemunt-vb1gn]

out of interest i just bought this pack, but was kinda disappointed how haphazardly it was put together, all the macros are left untouched going from default max value to lowest value, was no thought put into sweet spots, the actual machinedrum in comparison is so dialled in

[@TheAtomicTom]

Almost got one when they were new, but ultimately got an MPC 1000 instead. Part of me wishes I would have chosen the MD back then. The MPC is probably the better MIDI sequencer though. I kind of wish Elektron would do a newer version of this, maybe reimplementing the machines with the higher fidelity that modern processors allow.

[@ravemealone]

engaging the algorithm

[@els1f]

Damn I used to dream of getting one of those an embarrassing amount lol🤤

[@el_dani]

Sold Machinedrum UW mk2 for financing Rytm - never looking back

[@ToyotaVangelis]

Slaps!

[@alexlubinski7795]

After hearing crunchy beats in this video I'm like: is drumlogue the Korg's low-key Elektron Machinedrum successor? Because the sound characteristic of this reminds of the Korg (or historically, it should be the other way around) than anything other than this, even newer Elektron stuff

[@MattGreerMusic]

Great video. Yes, it's still totally worth it in 2024 but probably not for everyone. The MD is a brash, unapologetically digital drum machine that will punch through a brick wall. I have one because I bought it when Guitar Center was blowing them out for like $500 USD and that was a no brainer but I don't use it all the time. The sound is rather versatile but the workflow is clinical and kind of well.. boring but I'm yet to put it into a track where it didn't sound great. Seems to always sit in a mix well. Mine sits next to my Monomachine Mk 1 in the "autechre" corner and well, the two of those sort of occupy a sonic territory that none of my other stuff does so I keep them. P.S. The new machines are still "push-down-on-knob-to-go-fast" like this one. The main problem with some of the knobs on this is that the parameter doesn't always change the sound very much.

[@koalemos1679]

Is it worth 3k though. Probably better to get a syntakt at this point right?

[@ukbloke28]

the syntakt is nothing like MD. Nothing is.

[@Kdkjdjewerdnxa]

I wish they’d bring back the flexibility of the Monomachine. Syntakt is the closest thing to it but it’s still missing tons of features and sonic potential from the engines in the monomachine

[@KordTaylor]

“12” usually SP12. But yeah all those classic machines mostly samples too.

[@redcheckeredhoodie3522]

BBNO$ BEAT INSANE

[@Vilendank]

I've been looking at one of these non-uw mkIIs for sale locally for weeks, 1600 maplebucks, but I just can't justify yet another sampler, even if it is that elektron sound and workflow, and a deluge would make more sense because of the cv

[@SpikesStudio3]

If its a non uw, i dont think it samples... not sure. Thats not its core function. Its a machinedrum. Nuf said.

[@MrRachele]

You don't buy a Machinedrum from the sampling. You buy it for the internal machines. That is where it's beauty lies. And why it stands on its own.

[@cooksoni.a]

The encoders work the same in all electron machines.

[@patfinn2697]

I had such crazy gas for this when it came out and I read the SOS review. I was doing everything I could to get ,my HR-16 to do anything I liked. Thanks 4 the video, it satisfied my curiosity and reminded me I have a lot of drum machines that are better than this.

[@spiralminus]

This is the first drum machine/groove box I ever owned. I literally cut my teeth on this box. Mine was the basic model when I got it and at that time I had to send it back to Sweden to upgrade to user wave. I ended up selling years later for probably way less than I should have.

[@iamjamessmith]

I hope your teeth are healing okay.

[@spiralminus]

@@iamjamessmith They’re going to be fine. It’s the bite marks on the machine drum I’m worried about.

[@namethief]

Cannot agree more - it just doesn't feel good to use. Absolutely love the engines, but I've also found that I"m able to recreate the vast majority of them on the syntakt, FWIW.

[@foundriver5162]

Personally, I'd rather hear about crusty old gear than whatever the latest hype is

[@el_dani]

Elektron is always hype

[@Emefak]

I shouldn't have sold mine. Miss those clicky buttons :(

[@WhiteWulfe]

Go watch the video where you wanna do things to Bowser... Okay, how on earth did I miss that one, I'm going to have to find that after this....

[@dirtyduchamp]

I think those encoders need to be cleaned or replaced cause the encoders on my MD work fine. I do have a mkii tho which has a knob resolution setting.

[@sammadden5540]

Classic Elektron Hype

[@nostandingonlydancin]

Someone lend Jezza a MnM stat

[@Emare100489]

Where did you get that uwu sample from? very cute

[@kaihG]

How many times do I have to tell you; bowser is with me now and you gotta stop making it weird

[@VacancyOfDisco]

Two different types of people laughed at the CBT joke😅

[@MrMakingsound]

Very nice tracks ! You used the MD at 60% of it capabilities tho :) Next step is real time sampling/mangling with RAM machines... then update to X and go deep into Mega Command. Also, the combo function + classic/extended reload you previous kit as it was saved, so during a performance you can destroy the sound of everything and come back to the OG kit instantly. About differences between classic and extended mode : when you are in classic mode, you can load another pattern and keep the kit you are using. Could be usefull during a performance. Extended mode = a kit is saved for each pattern, so when you switch from a pattern to another, kits are following. Also, P Locks. Next tip : if you chase one, chase the +Drive version = it's like having 128 MD in only one machine (you can switch all the content of the MD, samples included, from 128 memory states).

[@s90210h]

classic vs extended was just the way to make it old people friendly, for whom p-locks was new fangled magic. do you people laugh at ramps for wheelchairs? I used mine in extended all the time tho. Plus, the open source OS is worth a video, and so is the hardware expander MCL

[@KattKirsch]

mom come get me they're using vintage elektron gear i'm so scared (horny-scared) (leave me here)

[@Sahale11]

this thing is wacky

[@PaulKernOriginal]

Prices tripled during the last three years. I am so happy that I own one for ~10 years now. I always wanted a sps 1 mki as an addition and just for fun, because if it's lower functionality. Like in a team with a UW this would be super awesome. Instead I got myself a sonic potions lxr MKI. This is I think by far a superior drum machine. But I love the Elektron MKIs. Also owning two A4s. Never going to be rich enough to get a monomachine which kind of is the biggest gear dream of my life..

[@SpikesStudio3]

Kicking yourself much. Me too. had plenty of opportunity to get a mnm but wasnt looking for it at that time. Shitshitshit. 🤣

[@ukbloke28]

what is superior about the LXR? I like that there are kit morphs on the 2, but other than that I've not heard anything anyone did that sounded good to me.

[@PaulKernOriginal]

Micro steps are awesome. The combination with 60knobs ist awesome. (OK, you could map any Controller to your MD) And it did not stop to develop... Not many facts. It's just my view on these two machines.

[@ukbloke28]

@@PaulKernOriginal from what I read, owners are skeptical about future updates. I also read that you can't copy pad settings and would have to copy over all the setting manually to duplicate a patch - is that true?

[@PaulKernOriginal]

@@ukbloke28 if I remember correctly you can save or dupe everything or single things as presets or settings separately. And also I think you can manipulate directly on the ad card on the computer. Well when was the last update for the MD? I think it's not necessary, because the machine works. Both of them..

[@MrRachele]

Fair effort punching all that out only having learnt the MD while making the video. Takes some talent. But if anyone thinks that a great demo can be made by only owning this for a short time then you are short changing yourself. People have already pointed out key items you missed, so i will not repeat them. People tend to miss a lot about gear from reviews. Its not until you own something for an extended period of time that you find out if the gear works for you. This box was made for 2000 techno in mind. And if you make techno, then I highly recommend the MD. Do not ask me for specifics, just buy one and push it to its limit. You will find out for yourself. When I hear standard tracks from the MD, truth be told, it bores me. Having every track in the mix sit nicely, is not what the MD excels at. But when making techno, its flaw, is also where the magic lies. One last thing. If people want a sampler, buy a Digitakt or Octatrack. The beauty of the MD is not in its playback and manipulation of samples. Its beauty is in its internal machines, where it takes you from drum machine, to drum synth.

[@ukbloke28]

I'd say it would be somewhat wasted on simple techno. it's surely defined by complex IDM, warp records stuff etc. it excels at intricate, organically evolving patterns and sounds.

[@frankschneider7190]

dont like the background music… senseless

[@aguycalledbunny5186]

Bunny is wat?

[@Bl3nniidae]

furry musicians > musicians

[@quantumblur_3145]

You accidentally spoke a dark truth

[@Solersoler]

One of the most over priced second hand pieces of gear ever. IMHO

[@ukbloke28]

It's one of the all time greats, some would even say the greatest. Nothing can do quite what it does even now. it has an epic legacy of huge artists who made it iconic as hell. it doesn't surprise me at all how much it costs. I got a pretty good deal on a barely used one, very happy.

[@jxtajxta2083]

Shout out for Erik from @lekholminstruments and *E*FM machines (:

[@cockur]

I've had the UWs MKII for about 10 years. It doesn't get used much but I would never sell it. It's amazing how much different stuff you can do with it. I get that you couldn't want to get into sampling in the video but the real power of this machine is in the RAM machines and internal resampling on the fly. It just goes fucking mental when you get that going right.

[@ukbloke28]

I havent delved into resampling on the fly yet but excited to try it. not sure how to approach it ... I know you can sequence it to sample itself - do you have any ideas where to go next with that?

[@SpikesStudio3]

🔥 have you just lit a fire jeremy? Or is this just a nod to one of the best drum machines ever made?🎛🎛