#4

Screencap of Youtube notice "Video unavailable. This video is not available."
sigh

#5

Just search the title on yt, there’s plenty more

1 Like
#6

That explains why I like it so much, nice observation. At the same time though, that chord progression is very much in line with what Thom Yorke and Radiohead does in other works as well.

Time to revisit BOC…

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#7

To add slightly to @ypxkap 's post, the subtle groove in Twist and the fact that these tracks were likely sequenced with Elektron gear highlights the potential importance of timing just off the standard grid points. Especially for syncopated rhythms, a lot can be added by selectively pushing some hits a bit late/early while keeping most everything else rigid.

Typical swing algorithms that delay every other step by a set amount of milliseconds won’t really do this, though. To really make this stuff happen I find I have to either come up with a groove outside a step programming environment then do my best to play it in unquantized, or program something and listen to the groove loop while nudging certain steps to get the intended effect.

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#8

In terms of patterns I’d explore euclidean rhythms and afrobeat grooves to get these kinds of groove

#9

The original version of Twist (known to us) dates back to 2012, and the Rytm MK1 is from '14. So I am guessing it is written on a machinedrum. Not that it takes away from your excellent explanation :slight_smile:

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#10

I love pinging Three Sisters for Eraser-esque drums. Adding slight FM and sequencing Span can yield some surprisingly complex sounds

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#11

Thanks all. I spent an hour or so playing around in Drum Rack, with a tiny glimmer of success near the end of the session. Onward!

I don’t own any elektron gear, and imagine there are some philosophy of use principles that would really inform my efforts here.

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#12

the model:cycles can create stuff like this in like 2 minutes. there is condition per track or step and per track scale/pattern length. so even if you put a trig on each step of all 6 drum tracks, then set the chance percentage to like 20-33% and maybe mix up the pattern lengths, you can get some crazy polyrhythms. the fm drum sounds i get always remind me of thom york’s solo albums like eraser, which i love. those probably use machinedrum but the cycles sounds beautiful too. before i got one, my favorite percussion synthesis method was to just take white noise and shape it with octatrack filters and envelopes or sometimes the comb filter and delay, but the cycles sounds like what you can achieve with that plus even more interesting kick sounds, fm tones, and more complex timbres. orca midi out on all 6 tracks is really nice for e(U)clidean beats also

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#13

I would recommend the m4l device Howes/Cong Burn made. Make a drum rack with some Operators and fx, assign macros to whatever parameters you want and use the Matrix and Weights boxes to generate modulations.

https://www.congburn.co.uk/strokes

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#14

Noticed also that they use an lfo to pan hi-hats on certain songs.

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#15

Captain’s Log: December 13th. My god this song is still so good. That’s the update.

Heading to Ten Forward to drink away my inability to replicate the alien’s music. It shall remain a space art mystery.

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#16

IMO Elektron is the sauce here for the drums whether it be the Rytm or the Machinedrum.
FWIW I just recently picked up a Rytm MKII (after owning the MKI 6 years ago) and this is what this product should have always been!

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#17

I’m not one to advocate gear buying to solve a problem like this, but the rytm mk2 and the probability and randomness features of the sequencer can easily get into this territory. Especially when you start getting into poly meter/polyrhythm with differing pattern lengths. I bought one a few months ago, and it’s amazing.

#18

V much agree @bc3 and @Whatwetalkabout. I got a Digitakt a couple months ago, and it’s moved me so much closer to being able to add a dash of Yorke Sauce to my tracks. The Rtm is hella tempting but honestly so it the machinedrum. Takt feels like a gateway machine.

But holy shit. That song is just a masterpiece. The whole record is, really.

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#19

Warning, the Machinedrum has a very straight groove. Just swing steps. No microtiming.
Have you considered the Octatrack ?

#20

Extremely pleased to see a whole thread dedicated to this wild song on one of, if not my favorite record of last year. I’m almost 99% sure that it was a Rytm that he used on that. It just has that sound and Thom has made it no secret that he uses a ton of Elektron gear.

#21

I hadn’t. Or at least not for these purposes, because I’m not sure what an OT would offer as a drum machine beyond what’s available on the DT. Whereas the rytm and Md offer actual synthesis (the main differentiator IMO)

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#22

True, the differences in this context are not that many.
I could however point out several differences (if I’m not omitting DT functionalities) :

  • 3 lfos per track
  • true stereo
  • real-time sampling/playing of internal tracks
  • a broader choice of FXs
  • The Crossfader + Scenes
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#23

At the risk of not offering much to the OP, I’ll say this thread sounds an awful lot like “buy a rytm and sound like thom york”. (even when I know that certain gear can lead to some sounds more quickly…)

Trigger probability and skipping every other beat is also something teleytype is very good at btw :wink:

To come back to the sonic nature, surely also some extreme usage of a compressor?
I must say the beat has an almost clicky property to my ears I rather dislike. But it’s amazing how it fits baked in a thom york song, probably the contrast to the more poppy elements. that alien ingredient I guess :alien:

There is an unmistakable influence of club music in his/their music.

So might be also worth checking out some techniques from that spectrum (while also being open to experimentation for the weirder stuff).

First thing I found on google, not sure how applicable/valuable:

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