Elektron Model:Cycles

As a guitar player I needed a drum machine to add some beats to my ambient/minimalist pieces. At first I considered something different but a friend of mine who is quite a synth nerd recommended me this by saying it's more versatile than many others. When checking some Youtube demos I arrived at the same conclusion and ordered it.
To put it shortly, it fully met my expectations. Although some people have said it is quite limited, mainly when it comes to sound synthesis, in my opinion, if used as a drum machine with quite a lot of extra features, it is still quite a versatile instrument! But I'm a guitarist, so what do I know, haha.
The main magic lies in the sequencer, which has quite an extensive array of features. Parameter locking, conditional locking to name just a few. So you can build quite complex arrangements with it.
The unit is made of plastic, but it is quite sturdy. The only things I am a bit worried about are the pads and rubbery buttons, but we'll see.
To end my review I'd like to give my two cents from the blindness perspective. I know we are a tiny minority, but I'm not the only blind person who buys from Thomann, so maybe this part will be useful for some people.
As most of the things are done with knobs and buttons, it can be used quite easily if you remember what each of them does. A nifty trick for that is to make a recording of some sighted person giving you the overview of the layout, so you can reference it later.
The manual is well written and easy to understand.
There is some menu diving, that can get quite confusing for the blind, but unless you go very deep it can be done very easily by referencing the manual.
SO, to conclude this review in one sentence, I'm really happy with my first full fledged drum machine!

Elektron's Model Cycles is not a sum of its parts; with 6 'machines' (sound generators), 6 tracks with 6 accordingly pressure sensitive buttons, 3 fx (2 of them send fx), LFO, repeat function, sound locks (set multiple different simultaneous sounds per track), macro function e.t.c. features a virtually limitless sonic arsenal.

Combined with the top notch Elektron' s sequencing capabilities, it would be an understatement to be considered just another drum machine, groove machine, synthesizer or even worse, Digitone's cut down version, which has a totally different 'produced', clean 'hi-fi-ish' sound.

Cycles is so more than that. An instrument with a unique character of its own. A chameleon of moods, mods and genres, where every tiny parameter change or combination of settings, makes a real difference.

A special 'expansion' tip:
Connect Cycles via usb (using an Apple camera connection kit) to any iOS device (simultaneous midi and audio live connection) and control it within AUM iOS app, randomize its sounds or generate genre specific styles with Tension iOS app and get crazy and ever evolving, controlling Cycles' parametres via CC, with the additonal 16 LFOs (!!) of the mLFO ios app.

Can you stand the madness?

For an around 300 - 340$ street price it's a steal. A no brainer for an amateur, an enthusiast, a sound designer or a professional producer. I'm thinking of getting a second one, to expand my 'digital orchestra' to 12 tracks!

P.S. I've put 4 stars in 'features score', not because it lacks in the field, but not to get Elektron too comfortable and push them to keep developing Cycles' features.

Absolutely lovely groovebox, the workflow is very fun and deep, virtually endless possibilities.
The sound is really unique and wide, but the being a specific FM synth is not suited for everything of course.
What didn't convince me was the build actually. The unit itself is sturdy and well assembled, buttons are ok, pads are not the best and is a well known problem, but the really disappointing thing is the knobs quality.
I got two different units and they both have inconsistent knobs, some of them are stiff, some are very loose, all is very random. Quality control doesn't seem to be the best or they use cheap encoders, I'm not sure. The first unit I ordered had the Color knob with a sort of internal click, like the middle dent of a pan knob, really annoying.
I returned both the unit back at the end, but it was just me, I didn't like the knob problem, even if they were working properly. Also I'm more oriented to the Model:Sample, which can be more versatile. Or better an Sp-404, let's see.
Anyway, if making electronic music of any kind is your goal, this machine can do it wonderfully. Ambient, IDM, dance, techno, the only limits are imagination and skills. Price is fair, tons of options and most of all is very very fun, probably one of the funniest machines out there.

It took me a couple of hours to be confortable with the basics of the workflow, but it should be noted that my experience with any of this digital world was nonexistent until I got the Cycles. Started out just trying to make simple 16-step sequences, and went from there. At the end of my first session I found myself making a couple of Nine Inch Nails covers and having a blast!

It's got it's own sound, and I feel like you either like it or not. It's certainly not as aggresive-sounding as some of my favourite electronic pieces, like Aphex Twin and Autechre, but when playing that kind of stuff, it fills it with it's own vibe, and I definitely love it. Coupled with some pedals makes it pop out even more, and I can honestly say that maybe Elektron is charging too little for this box.

Build quality is great, and all that, but... Come on. The sounds matter most, especially in this price range. And there isn't really anything that I wish was different. It has a powerful sequencer, great FM sounds, easy controls, and a fluid workflow.

Basically, if you're on the fence, just get it!

I bought this as an introduction to elektron gear and to use as my first drum machine/groove box. The workflow is great, although I admit my only other synth experience is with a reface dx and a moog mother 32, so take that for what its worth. Very fun to play with it, and I find myself losing hours creating sounds and simple tracks, but chaining them etc. and creating whole songs is less easy, even when I know what I want in my head - translating it is not necessarily easy. Polyphony would have been nice on single tracks, but that is not possible, so I use multiple tracks of the same synth engine playing different notes on the same steps of the each of the tracks respective sequences, as I do not like the chord machines the model:cycles comes with. A lack of individual outs would not be a problem when recording into a daw had cycles been able to make use of the overbridge program in order to port individual tracks. Unfortunately in order to not cannibalise sales from the syntakt, it cannot do this. As such, one must mix on the machine itself and hope that the levels are not problematic when combined with other instruments later in the workflow of the daw. Alternatively isolate each track and record them separately and individually in the daw where you can mix them later. This is annoying as the technology exists to skip this (overbridge), and I do not believe the hardware is incapable of accomodating this. I have had to buy a syntakt in order to not constantly stop and interrupt my creative process in order to achieve a useable final product in my mixes.

I must say I love this unit but at the same time I never use it! First it took me about a year to learn it. I am slow leaner and I have kids so limited free time but I did not expect to have to learn and read and watch so much YouTube tutorials!! Now that I know 95% of the workflow it bores me to death. Yes you find amazing sounds but it takes you an hour of navigation and error handling to finally get what you want. The biggest issue for me is that I never finish any project. The sounds I like don’t go together, It gets too complicated and in the end I give up. Frankly I prefer to play with my Korg Volcas! Now there at least I plug it, have a blast of fun for an hour with easy workflow and then go to sleep. Some of the model cycle sounds are just amazing (kick, bass, synth) and if you try with a midi keyboard it’s just WOW because you’ll have more than the 16 trigs to play notes. But some others like hats and snare are just meh 🫤 in my opinion. Also everything feels too manual in my opinion, not enough automation. So you’ll have to find everything by ear, for ex the LFO instead of trusting the AI to fine tune. Take the pocket operator for example, it chops your samples and time it in scale. And it has 16 effects out of the box, press a button, done. Here with the MC it’s all up to you to make, encode, tweek, and at the same time there is no high or low cut off and some knobs just tear your ear drum apart. Muting is ok but the func button is too close to the pattern button and the combinations are confusing and I end up erasing instead of copying sometimes. It’s so frustrating! You can preset some ratchets but again it’s up to you to tweek speed and scale. Not a bad thing, but not for everyone. I guess at this price point I expected more fun and less technicity. The build quality I find perfect though. The unit is hard and very very light, and I like the rubber of the pads and trigger steps. Very soft and bouncy. So I will keep it because the sequencer is good (4 pages of 16 steps=64 steps) plus you can scale to 1/4 steps so it takes a while to retrig to step 1. The probabilities are amazing and will make your pattern NOT boring. Each step can be programmed. And it can be a different sound or preset. Technically 64 sounds each with own tweaks x 6 tracks in one sequence! Again too complicated for me but then you can use as a midi sequencer for… volcas!! But best set up is use volca drum and sample but use Model Cycle for bass and tones. Add a volca keys and your the king of live performance!!And it beats the amazing Volca bass because it can basically do 6 lines of bass!

Total : model cycles Is a great way to enter the elektron world you can take advantage of the phenomenal sequencer and use it as the brain of your setup or just jam with it on its own.

Handling : Delivered perfectly

Features : It has almost all the quirky features elektron offers on their high end devices. especially the sequencer is just to love

Sound : Its an FM drum machine so it sounds a bit electric, harsh and raw from time to time but not every drum machine has to sound warm and analog. It has its own sound signature and character and it greatly owns it. Engines are a bit limiting but at the same time guiding as well.

Quality : It is plastic but it does not feel flimsy at all. of course in this price point you cannot expect a full metal body like some of the other elektron devices.