Is there a better, more powerfull /complete drum machine than Syntakt?
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Maybe Terry Crews or Digitone II? Not an expert on either though.
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I dunno, Machinedrum was way more useful, sounded better, and was used on more recordings
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Having a 15 year head start was probably helpful for that aspect.
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IMO the syntakt’s main strength is also its main weakness. It’s got a narrow sound that is hard to make sound bad - great for live shows and putting a groove together quickly but it’s a challenge to push it out of the comfort zone or of the specific “Syntakt sound” (yes I keep up with that thread lol)
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Makes me think of the 808 right away.
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I don’t know, the Syntakt is pretty solid, but I think the world would win.
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with syntakt digital side as-is the coked up cycles, yes. if syntakt got MD pm and fm machines, no. MD could load samples. albeit cheaply. cheaply is tasty tho 
Syntakt can do so much more, but for a pure drum machine comparison I’d say Analog Rytm.
More analog engines, drum samples, analog filter and overdrive for each voice, analog main compressor, pads, performance features etc
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I can make it sound awful 
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These things are subjective. I personally dislike the “stock” Syntakt sound, it immediately puts me off. I can’t exactly put my finger on why I dont like it. But I see it as something that pushes me to work the box harder, so its not all bad I suppose. Easy to tell who is a newb with it and who has dug in deeper
But for me the best drum machine out there is still Rytm (MKII especially). Syntakt is a better groovebox than Rytm perhaps, but Rytm is much more fully featured as a drum machine (samples, indiouts, master compressor).
I also think the big box Elektrons are better for perfomance, with their macros and whatnot. Syntakts dinky roll buttons leave me wanting, although CTRL-AL is dope as always
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Audio rate LFO’s are a good trick to expand the sonic palette.
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Syntakt was a love-at-first-sound thing for me. Yes, even the stock sounds. The cymbals put a lot of people off, but I like that nasally clangorous stuff too (although you can get fine ‘normal’ hats out of it if you want). ST got the mix of capabilities and limitations exactly right for my tastes. Especially now with some of the added machines and features, I don’t think I could utilize an AR (for example) as fully and enjoyably as I do the Syntakt. It kills my desire for other gear. I have my AK for keys and extra melodic stuff, and I still have other devices to mess with but I keep coming back to Syntakt standalone. A ton of the stuff I make with it will never see the light of day, but I’ve never gotten frustrated with it even if I’m making garbage tracks, I just find it very fun, intuitive, and exciting.
I’m not much of a samples guy (still teetering on keeping my Digitakt which rarely sees use now). Not sure why, but I absolutely loathe file management. I enjoy either starting from scratch on a machine or, if I don’t have a solid sound in mind, scrolling through the sound browser and finding something that feels close to right and then adjusting it.
More powerful? More complete? Almost certainly. Especially if you don’t exclude DAWs from the conversation.
Better is all up to taste. It’s hands-down my favorite music device I’ve ever used, and there’s nothing better I know of for me.
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Came here to say the same. AR also just clearly feels like a drum machine, ST like a groovebox / can be anything.
It becomes more interesting if you hook up a MIDI controller to your ST. Having more controls for performance brings it closer to AR territory.
To me a sampler is not a drum machine, even though it.can be used as such, just I like to sculpt the drums as I like, don t enjoy sampling and stuff.
For some reason I didn t enjoy AR.
I did Model Cycles a lot though.
Apart from AR, is there anything in hardware form to beat Syntakt?
Not better, but different … Roland MC-707
- Great sounding synth based on powerful and very flexible ZEN engine
- drum sounds from factory or our own samples
- interesting Ableton Live style pattern sequencer
- even more performance support by the UI, okay … depending on style of performing of course
IMO it’s mostly about how much we like the sounds at all and how easy we get around with the UI. If both fits to our expectations and workflow, it should be great fun to make music with it.
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i have a hard time reproducing tr-606 sounds with it , i like the syntakt but for some exact sounds i cannot reproduce
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ZEN engine…no no no