That One Guitar - Christian Nikolaus
Christian Nikolaus
Atlanta, GA
Band name: suicidelane
Instrument: Elektron Machinedrum UW
The Machinedrum is a digital drum machine with 2.5MB of sample memory. Ot can do all the conventional drum machine stuff but so much more. The sample memory is instantly accessible and the inputs can be recorded/played back without stopping the unit. The Machinedrum is very open ended and almost modular in its approach. E.g. single cycle waves can be sampled and played back in a chromatic fashion. Fast retriggering can add harmonics to the sounds which in turn can be tamed by its filter. More mangling can be done by introducing sample rate reduction. If there is such a thing as an expressive drum machine, the MD would be it. All sound settings can be locked per sequenced step.
I have wanted an MD since when they first came out but due to their fairly high price I was unable to afford one. Finally in late 2012 one was procured, and it will stay with me for a long time, much like a good guitar.
I use the MD in conjunction with an analog synthesizer/sequencer from the same manufacturer - digital coldness meets analog wooliness. The stand are custom built by companyofquail to fit both machines.
In the sound example, 3 sampled blips from a modular analog oscillator were sequenced, played back and parameter locked.