Elektron today introduced the Syntakt, a 12-track drum computer & synthesizer that combines analog & digital synthesis.
There are 35 sound-generating machines to call on, covering a wide range of drum and melodic sounds. Some machines have been reimagined from Analog Rytm and Model:Cycles, with deeper sound control for the latter, while others are entirely new.
Syntakt lets you route any of your synth tracks or external audio sources through the FX block. This gives you analog distortion, filtering, LFOs for modulation, Delay and Reverb. And all of the effects can be sequenced with the FX track.
Here’s the official Syntakt overview video:
Specifications:
Digital track features (×8)
10 × selectable machine
1 × Bass drum
2 × Snare drum
1 × Cymbal/hihat
1 × Percussion
1 × Clap
4 × Tonal synth
1 × digital overdrive per track
1 × digital multimode filter per track
1 × digital base-width filter per track
2 × assignable LFOs per track
Switchable to MIDI machine
Analog Drum track features (×3)
15 × selectable machine
6 × Bass drum
4 × Snare drum
2 × Rimshot
1 × Dual VCO synth
1 × Impulse
1 × Noise generator
1 × analog overdrive per track
1 × analog multimode filter per track
2 × assignable LFOs per track
Switchable to MIDI machine
Analog Cymbal track features (×1)
12 × selectable machine
5 × Hihat
3 × Cymbal
2 × Cowbell
1 × Impulse
1 × Noise generator
1 × analog overdrive per track
1 × analog multimode filter per track
2 × assignable LFOs per track
Switchable to MIDI machine
FX track features (×1)
Delay and reverb automation
Analog stereo overdrive
Analog stereo multimode filter
2 × assignable LFOs
Assignable to each track
External in
Performance features
1 × Retrig modifier
1 × Velocity modifier
2 × Assignable trig modifiers
Keyboard mode with 36 different scales
MIDI Machine features
4 note polyphony per step
8 × assignable CC controls
1 × assignable LFOs per track
Sequencer features
64 steps per pattern and track
Individual pattern length per track
Individual time scale multiplier per track
Parameter locks
Trig conditions & trig chance
Retrig
Micro timing
Send effects
Delay
Reverb
Hardware
128 × 64 pixel OLED screen
2 × ¼” impedance balanced audio out jacks
2 × ¼” audio in jacks
1 × ¼” stereo headphone jack
48 kHz, 24-bit D/A and A/D converters
Hi-Speed USB 2.0 port
MIDI In/Out/Thru with DIN Sync out
Miscellaneous
Overbridge enabled
Class Compliant USB Audio
External Input mixer
3 year Elektron warranty
Included in the box
Power Supply PSU-3c
Elektron USB cable
Quick Guide
Exclusive artwork & epic stickers
Pricing and Availability:
The Elektron Syntakt is available now for 10 499,00 SEK.
Now this is a cool new synth! Machinedrum v2. Could have had more outputs, but ok for me
It’s far more like a Monomachine with a small amount of Rytm mk1 attached
It’s great as far as I’m concerned
The back panel in a bit of a let down – a pair of individual outs that can alternate as CV/gate would have been nice
They could make a breakout box with over overbridge input and different analoge outputs for those who need that. Might sell if it was compatible with the other tone boxes and had a solid set of CV and gate outputs
I don’t know if it they could do that technically but they if they can it will surly be welcome especially since Overbridge have quite big latency.
Does overbridge have so much latency that it doesn’t work well with a DAW?
Yes about 20-50ms depending on your system but most owners don’t seem to mind.
You can monitor the instrument analog main out and enable automatic latency compensate for the separate input channels of Overbridge but it’s not ideal.
Sounds amazing, looks like another crappy menu diving Elektron box. Just my opinion. I love Elektron, just think their Menu based workflow makes it hard to work solo when you have other gear that require fast reaction. Unless you have an extra set of arms….
Tim, you are being overly generous with your assessment, Elektron is not menu diving, in it menu mining!
You hear “we want screens” when there isnt one, then “dont make it menu divey”. Id agree if this was the analog Rytm or octatrack, thats menu divey, as for these smaller elektron boxes. You press a button and the menu comes up. I dont even think there is a second layer to any of their menus so where are you diving. Maybe the lfo, you hit the button again to get to the second LFO. Thats like a light swim. Its like 1 ft of water in a pool and you’re complaining about how deep it is.
If your issue is with accessibility of the functions behind a press/hold + button combo, no comment there. Good luck using anything. Sometimes with my polybrute, I want to sweep the filter, crank the resonance and adjust the PWM. I also need more arms, and hopefully those arms have hands:)
Randy, this is bizarre, you and I are in agreement. Yes, I am a proponent of screens, larger the better. I take exception with Elektron’s “Press/Hold + Combo” nonsense.
Cheers to you lad….
You are right… I guess my workflow is sometimes based on mixing and building in a live situation. Depending on how many boxes are running, it becomes more complicated when needing to get to a parameter in time. IF I only have 1 elektron box in front of me, they are super magical in how you can make things happen. Less so when you have 2. A tr8 on the other hand has a volume fader per track.. and I can glance and see where the volume is.. rather than ramble any further… I will just admit that my muscle memory needs more investment to make it less confusing. Like most of the time… frustration comes from user error
I find Elektron gear the most intuitive and withna very fast usability. Perfect for performing.
You guys who call this “menu divey” ?
A term I absolutely despise
I call it it laziness
Having grown up in the 90s and learnt to make music using an Akai S2000 I can tell you that this is not menu divey
If you refuse to learn the Elektron workflow because you don’t want to press a few buttons and look at a screen then it is your loss – and a great loss it is because you are missing out on some great machines
Weirdly underwhelmed by this. Why do many percussion engines? (I know, I know; they can do more than that.) But at least its not a mixer that retails for $1200.
“Why do many percussion engines”
On a drum synthesizer? 🙂
I wish for some analog “melodic tracks” so if thats what you meant i can definitely relate to that.
Fair. But they are marketing it (FWIW) as more than Machinedrum 2.0. Just feeling a kind of disconnect between its architecture and proposed use. Also, I hope Elektron seriously up their manual game with this device. In the past, I’ve found their documentation lacking. Even in the big manuals they only make available for download, some features are not covered adequately.
It is still a very capable “melody maker/synthesizer”
They call it “12 Track Drum Computer & Synthesizer” so i don’t know if they meant a “drum computer and a synthesizer “or a “drum computer and drum synthesizer”,
Anyway i like this instrument is without exact definition, it makes it more interesting
LOL! My thoughts exactly!
On first look it’s a dream machine
I know they have a chord synth and all, but the mostly monophonic nature of it makes it a pass, especially as a Digtaktt/Digitone owner. For first time Elektron users, this might be gold, though. They really made the boxes easier to use since the Digitakt.
Its a drum synthesizer so the focus is on drums.
If it was more of a melodic synth it was more redundant compered to the rest of the series.
It is amusing the a machine with supposed good features as two outputs!! Hard to take this seriously .
Overbridge
Most people don’t even have enough interface inputs for 12 tracks if it did have 12 outs. Streaming the tracks over USB in Overbridge is a win for everyone except the random crazy guy that is still using reels.
An AADAT out (or two) could be nice but i never encounter optical outputs on an instrument, especially analog.
the word “SLICE” in the teaser got everyone thinking along the lines of wavetable/granular/wave slicing … any thoughts now after the reveal?
It would’ve been awesome if there was a granular effect kinda like Scatter on the TR-8 but with more control.
Imagine if Elektron copied the specs of the Yamaha RS7000 that came out over 20 years ago!
It had:
16 tracks that each can be sampler tracks or synth tracks
AND an additional 16 tracks of MIDI sequencing tracks
Add to that, each (non-MIDI) track has more than 6 filter types, reverb send with 12 reverb types, delay send with 24 delay types, and an additional effect slot with a whole bunch of effect types.
And a dedicated ENV and(!!) LFO for each of the following: Amp, Pitch, filter cutoff
Each track (including midi tracks) had per-track swing amount, midi delay! (it replicated a delay by triggering the note multiple times with lowering note velocity), and a really cool generative sequence mode called beat remix that could take any kind of track sequence and add variations according to parameters that you could later discard or keep – and you can do that live.
It recorded live knob movements into the sequencer pattern and the midi data could later be edited – you could record off midi grid or quantized – also obviously can sample – beat slice, edit samples, etc…. the list goes on for so many days.
Seriously, why can’t we revive something like this? Compared to this – all the Elektron boxes look very limited. Octatrack has only 8 tracks + 8 MIDI – Rytm has only 8 voices – digitone is fully digital but only has four synth sequencer tracks. Monomachine only 6 tracks.
You can have all of that *today* by finding a used Yamaha RS7000 on eBay.
The Octatrack only has 8 tracks? Somebody should call their marketing department!
Instant buy for me, every Elektron machine is golden.
Syntakt is like every elektron device condensed into one box!
Swiss army knive of grooveboxes and then it is also an audio interface.
Multitrack Audio over USB is also great! (Wierd that so few instruments from other brands do this in 2022.)
Does anything but sampling.
One Request for the Digitakt, Digitone & Syntakt Trio:
PLZ ELEKTRON! Let us Save Pattern Chains!
I don’t mind menu diving, definitely beats pressing 23 buttons at once while standing on one foot.
in the product video it sounded fine but really came to life when combined with the other boxes. i think there are great rewards if someone commits and dives into their ecosystem but much harder to be a casual user.
“Synttone” next? with polyphony and multiple synth engines digital and analog (!?)
… so that the naming scheme is complete 😉
Still waiting for a pro-grade box that rivals the ancient Octatrack. If someone is not complaining about a screen, it’s button combos. I kinda miss the old Elektron, too bad everyone and their grandmother are having dawless jams with tiny boxes in their two square feet apartements these days apparently.
We can all bitch about the lack of multiple outputs…. Or go on Elektronauts and support that guy who’s trying to built a breakout box for the last 2 years!
I could live with all the omissions, but i am not feeling the sound and i don’t care about making music in the bathroom, the train or the park. Even if i did, i guess an laptop or an ipad would work better. How much does renoiz cost these days? I say fix the sound, stop rehashing the sequencer.