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Elektron Machinedrum in the Browser

54 points · 25 comments · risktopark

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tab8000 · 1789988403 · focus · HN ↗
I'm really liking this, I used to own one back in the day. Is this reverse-engineered from the original Machinedrum firmware? Any plans to develop a VST/AU plugin?
1. ngcazz · 1789990734 · focus · HN ↗
  Not OP, but you might want to check out <a href="https://github.com/joelanders/gearmulator-md-mm" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/joelanders/gearmulator-md-mm
  1. MomsAVoxell · 1790006435 · focus · HN ↗
    Note that this is a fork and isn’t quite as great as the original ..
    <a href="https://theusualsuspects.io/" rel="nofollow">https://theusualsuspects.io/
    gravitronic · 1790021726 · focus · HN ↗
    Usual suspects have not (yet) released any Elektron devices as vst
2. wheels · 1789998324 · focus · HN ↗
  It doesn't actually do most features, so probably not.
wartywhoa23 · 1789992739 · focus · HN ↗
I wonder if the author is aware that Machinedrum is also an established American electronic musician.
1. piacos_ · 1789994590 · focus · HN ↗
  The Machinedrum is a drum machine created by Elektron in 2001 the title only reflects this. That's interesting though since I think the musician Machinedrum released his first album in 2001 too
2. input_sh · 1789994803 · focus · HN ↗
  It's emulating an actual synth by that name that was released in 2001. It's also not a very original name. What's next, The Prodigy being named after Moog's Prodigy?
  1. MomsAVoxell · 1790006450 · focus · HN ↗
    It’s not emulating, its simulating.
3. ngcazz · 1790005413 · focus · HN ↗
  I've always thought he named the act after the instrument.
  1. wartywhoa23 · 1790015936 · focus · HN ↗
    I didn't, got my deserved downvote :)
hdb2 · 1789995139 · focus · HN ↗
Those original Elektron machines are just amazing, as are their current devices. This is great!
devin · 1790001856 · focus · HN ↗
This is pretty great. Having the physical knobs to do the step locking tweaks makes the experience a whole lot better, but the fact that this is exists is great. I have an MK1 and this is pretty darn accurate.
polytely · 1790002107 · focus · HN ↗
I love Elektron gear, I have a Syntakt and it is the piece of gear that I'm the most productive with.
dnewcome · 1790002622 · focus · HN ↗
I have a UW (user wave) version. It doesn't look like they implemented some of the more interesting parts of the MD. I wonder if this was a firmware R/E effort? I don't see any details on what's behind this and I can't read the non-english parts of the app. Anyone have more details?
LMKIIW · 1790002736 · focus · HN ↗
Elektron's been bought by private equity so I suspect their legacy devices will continue to gain popularity.
1. throw_m239339 · 1790003513 · focus · HN ↗
  Usual suspects made VST versions of both the Machinedrum and the Monomachine, after doing the Virus series, the JP8000, the Supernova...
  so people can have all these at home without the hardware, if they manage to find the original OS online AND have a computer powerful enough to run all these... they are emulations of the original devices running on MAME I believe, just like console emulations...
  But in theory, someone could make hardware bootleg versions of all these devices...
  1. Teknomadix · 1790005272 · focus · HN ↗
    Links??!!
    MomsAVoxell · 1790006390 · focus · HN ↗
    Enjoy:
    <a href="https://theusualsuspects.io/" rel="nofollow">https://theusualsuspects.io/
    Truly one of the most interesting developments in software synthesis in the past few years.
2. tuvix · 1790004316 · focus · HN ↗
  Wonderful, soon an old Octatrack will be as much as a car
  1. acomjean · 1790047846 · focus · HN ↗
    Maybe behringer will release a similar machine?
    Clones of old synths (or synth likes) is such a weird but somehow important business. They’ seem a little shameless but apparent the quality is pretty good and it’s keeping everyone honest.
    <a href="https://www.behringer.com/en/products/0704-AAR" rel="nofollow">https://www.behringer.com/en/products/0704-AAR
    <a href="https://www.behringer.com/en/products/0704-AAO" rel="nofollow">https://www.behringer.com/en/products/0704-AAO
    tuvix · 1790104108 · focus · HN ↗
    I’ve owned a few clones of theirs and they aren’t bad at all. Build quality sucks though sometimes.
    Didn’t think about that, not sure if the market for an Octatrack clone is big enough for them to go after. Hope they do it though
jamesjolliffe · 1790003482 · focus · HN ↗
Dude. No way.
Way cool. Yes!
But genuinely, thank you!
1. jamesjolliffe · 1790004024 · focus · HN ↗
  Also, by god, the step numbers are hard to read if you want to mess around with sequencing your own patterns.
  I'm assuming that's just authentic to the UX of the original unit, but since this is such a cool tool to play around with, it might be cool to have the option of a "digital" or "high contrast" theme which optimized UX color choices for legibility.
MomsAVoxell · 1790006302 · focus · HN ↗
Having a real Machinedrum right next to me, I jumped right into this for a bit of a play. It’s kind of accurate, but on iPad it’s a bugger to play like the real one.
One of the great things about the real Machinedrum is you can just kind of ‘swipe’ across the pads to mute things - this doesn’t really work in the web version, and its a pity because this kind of live dynamic interaction is why I still have the real Machinedrum for my use.
I also couldn’t work out how to dynamically change the drum set - this is another thing thats really nice about the real gear.
Would be nice to see multi-touch events handled as well, so that I can use 2 fingers to do things and have both actions register - as it stands now it seems it handles only single mouse events.
Still, a wonderful simulucrum for a bit of bopping around. Add a multi-timbral Virus emulation in a new tab, wire them up with a QY700 simulator as well, and you’ve got my holy trinity of devices for jamming .. ;)
gravitronic · 1790022223 · focus · HN ↗
For people asking for details here are some other links:
There's at least two vst options in the works, one extracts just the voices and one emulates the whole machine interface
<a href="https://youtu.be/nY0bRaKWLmk?si=nhi4O6gx8Ld-RMuP" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/nY0bRaKWLmk?si=nhi4O6gx8Ld-RMuP
<a href="https://github.com/joelanders/gearmulator-md-mm/releases" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/joelanders/gearmulator-md-mm/releases
There are other diy projects on github.. honestly with that and modern AI tools you can get something functioning in a day.
A lot of this work is made possible by the following. As well as people hacking on firmwares for current devices like digitone song mode hacks etc
<a href="https://github.com/mischa85/elektron-firmware-tool" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/mischa85/elektron-firmware-tool
<a href="https://github.com/dsp56300" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/dsp56300
There is MAME support for the relevant CPU/DSP and hint MAME archivists are also good at rom backing up...
Also look at the usual suspects and gearmulator for more digital music device emulation

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