How to Build an Easy to Use & FUN dawless synth setup // Summer of Synths

Thanks so much for having me Bo!! I hope the rain lets up so you can finally catch some waves 🏄‍♂️

Thank you . What kind of equipment stand is he using ? 🎉

If i was going to go with a one box solution, i probably go for MC101. Which you can also connect to iPad with audio and midi.

Whenever I hear slow haste‘s music I think to myself, maybe I should give elektron gear a whirl, but then I watch one beginner overview video and think, nope, I’m not learning that anytime soon 😅 One day. Maybe?

I'm doing a similar thing with a keystep37, a Deluge and an Empress Zoia. Minimalist but at the same time powerful

I really considered a Elektron box or two until I realized the MC-707 workflow is a better fit for how I tend to work. This is definitely one hell of a compact set up and I can see some people getting a lot of millage out of it.

Also, you could just use 1 midi channel "A and set it to 11" and set DN auto to 11 then what ever ch selected on DN will be played. Freeing up more midi channels etc

Maine is class. I was there to see my brother, well cool spot.

If you close your eyes and listen, you would think it’s coming from a toddler musical toy. Elektron is extremely overpriced.

So awesome to see @slowhaste here!! 👏🙌🫡😎

A great DAWless setup for the outside/camping/beach is a Digitone & myVolts Ripcord 12VDC & Anker 733 & earbuds (& BigBlue 3). From sketching, to mastering a complete piece can be done easily on a Digitone. Even a hundred miles from another human being.

i figure beethoven didnt have a "hole" in his setup because he didnt play every instrument in the orchestra, and he never once had GAS. he just had consistency and dedication to a single instrument. Id argue that since the tools are even more advanced now, its even more important to narrow your focus and simplify your setup. a lot of musicians just end up stuck in the mud because they waste all their effort on learning new setups rather than learning actual music theory or other relevant skills. amusingly a lot of musicians even swear off composition or other difficult skills under the premise that its useless because "its all been done". thats what they said in beethovens day too and yet it didnt stop him did it?

great video

Ive been on and off about getting into a DAWless setup, i currently have a Blackbox from 1010music and a Korg Minilogue XD. I also have a Akai MPD218 and MPK49. That should be enough to get started right?

This channel rocks! Loving every beat! 💓🥁

KeyStep - yes. Swap Elektron with MC-101 and you are all set

Really good suggestions here! This really has a lot of parallels to the circuit tracks in my workflow. The novation circuit tracks is probably worth a mention here or even a video of its own in this context...? In addition to sequencing 8 tracks, it accepts two inputs and has mixing functionality with automation recording for volume levels, pan, filter, and FX. The FX sound great and include a wide range of delays, massive or small reverbs, gated reverbs, and modulated reverbs. Not only that, it also has side chain compression available for those inputs and includes a master limiter and master filter. The built in sequencer is very capable including probability, microstepping, reverse, random, half time, and double time pattern modes, pattern 'scenes' and finally they have added song mode. You can seamlessly switch projects during playback to connect multiple songs together which basically means you can live perform up to 64 songs together without any gap in the audio to load a different 'pack'. All you have to do is hookup two synths to it and run it into a portable recorder and you have an incredible 'just push record' DAWless setup. Aside from some basic EQ or running mastering plugin/scripts on your single mix file you won't really need anything else in post processing which makes for a fantastic workflow.
The circuit has excellent FM synths, so add an analog synth to it and you're good to go and have a channel leftover if you want to add in a poly, and... It's portable and battery operated too so take it with you for building songs and then when you get back to the studio add in the other two tracks. Teams up well with a microfreak and even more so with another groovebox style synth like the Roland JDXI. But When I recently got a softpop2 I said, OK now this is it what it really needed to be teamed up with. A powerful and crazy little analog synth. 😃 We sure are lucky to have all these crazy options available and no need for daws!

This was nice! Thanks for this episode.

very nice video format! I really like to see how people have found their own gear setup and how they concretely use it. thanks!

Take your Keystep, add your Phone, install Korg Gadget ==> DAW-less setup DAW or any mobile synth! Disconnect one wire, take your phone to Kitchen table or Restroom-studio 😂 Easiest!

It is already mid-July... shouldn't we get already some news about the new product from IK Multimedia?

You really can’t do any better as a first decent hardware synth setup. These Elektron boxes are easy to get into and they can also go deep when you’re ready. The Digitakt also performs very capably as a MIDI controller should you want to add extra synths later. But this may be the only setup the synth curious or DJ’s looking to create their own sound may ever need. Elektron build quality is terrific and their products are a joy to use. Elektron support and community are second to none and these products hold their value too.

Excellent video! @SlowHaste I see that other DAWless musicians like to sequence on the Digitone and use the Digitakt MIDI tracks to mute the channels on the Digitone. Can you expand more on why you prefer this approach? Also, if you were to add a Syntakt to this setup, where would you put it in the signal chain?

looks like you've gotta love learning menus

This was fun to learn. Thank a lot!

Guess it's time to sell my MiniFreak and get a Digitakt, huh?

I remember when you got a push and Ableton. I don’t really get why dawdles is the Holy Grail?

The connection/set up section was extremely helpful. Well done @slowhaste

Yooooo! Awesome video! Great way to start the week! Thanks Bo and SlowHaste!

How would having a Keystep Pro effect this setup? This is where my brain starts to break. Like would it make my KSP kinda useless? Like I’d have to make the KSP the salve and sequence my other gear from the Digitakt. Which might be a great new way to do things. It’s very new to me.

The dual mono is a pointless step if you’re plugging in a stereo image no? Just use the stereo input mixer setting. Just making this harder than it needs to be. I can understand if you were using the L and R outputs as busses with panning and not using the internal digitone effects but that doesn’t appear to be the case?

by the time you configure all of this you'd prob lose all musical inspiration. are we mad scientist or musician ?

Even just the DIgitakt and the Keystep can be all you need, using single cycle waveforms the Digitakt easily turns into pretty functional a (mono) synth, you can have 5 tracks for percussion and 3 for melodic things.

Yeah, all people really need is a Keystep (or similar) and some sort of nice groovebox. There's the Digitakt+Digitone pair as shown here, or Syntakt by itself, or MPC, or my personal favorite, a Force. Anything beyond that is extra.

It took me a long time to figure out but my current favorite minimalist setup is an mc-101 paired with sp404 mk2. It's absolutely insane how much mileage you can get out of those two for about a grand, and the sound palette is insane. Feed mc101 loops into the sp404, sculpt the loops with dynamic live effects, resample and add layers infinitely...

Nicely done, lads! :)