Review of the Elektron Analog Rytm MKII: Review and Where to Buy

Elektron has been leading the drum machine market for a few years now, presenting powerful equipment, loved by many and widely praised by critics.

But with the Analog Rytm MKII, Elektron takes a step forward, a powerful drum machine that combines the color and warmth of analog equipment with the practicality and diversity of sampling.

This hybrid rig is a direct upgrade to Elektron’s highly successful Analog Rytm, and among the improvements are more controls for instant access to features, sampling capabilities and changes to the pads to run them better.

This powerful drum machine has 8 drum voices, in each voice you can select an engine from the 8 available analog percussion sound, in addition to this in each voice can also be assigned audio samples, with 1 Gb of space available for samples.

Important that these 8 voices end up becoming 12 since there are 4 percussion elements that share an analog engine, hence its sequencer is 12 drum tracks.

Each voice has an additional multimode analog filter, an analog overdrive, envelopes for the Filter and for the Amplifier section and an assignable LFO.

Finally it counts Delay and Reverb in buses for sending and an analog compressor in the amplification section.

• Sampling engine.
• OLED display with very good definition for good viewing in low light environments.
• Larger backlit pads for more comfort and with an approximate pulse duration of 50 million.
• Precise and high resolution encoders.
• More dedicated controls to access the functions of this equipment instantly.
• Expression input and CV input to externally control parameters of this drum machine with other equipment.
• Balanced inputs for sample recording.
• Sequencer up to 64 steps.
• 5-pin MIDI In, Out and Thru.

Overbridge and Elektron Transfer software to control the Analog Rytm MKII

Thanks to the Elektron Transfer software, samples can easily be dragged from the computer to the Analog Rytm MKII and vice versa.

Now, the Overbridge software, which comes with the Analog Rytm MKII, is much more complete and allows this unit to integrate very well with computers and has the following features:

• Complete integration of Analog Rytm MKII with DAW software.
• It is possible to control Analog Rytm from virtually any DAW with the included VST/AU plugins (It is also possible to use the stand-alone application)
• It allows the user to use the Analog Rytm MKII as a 2 output, 2 input audio interface.
• It allows you to transmit directly to any DAW the 8 outputs of your analog voices, the external inputs and the main bus without the need for additional cable connections in 24 bit/48 kHz quality.
• Allows audio to be sent directly from the DAW without cable connections to the analog compressor.

Elektron Analog Rytm MKII vs Elektron Analog Rytm

The MKII version is the direct successor to the highly successful Analog Rytm launched in 2014 by Elektron, including improvements such as

• Better quality in the audio samples.
• Better quality on the OLED screen.
• Larger pad size for ease of execution.
• The number of controls were increased for greater enforceability.
• Balanced inputs for sample recording.
• Improvements in the bandwidth for communication with the Overbridge software.

Elektron Analog Rytm MKII vs Dave Smith Instruments Tempest

The Tempest by Dave Smith Instruments is a far superior rhythm machine, among the tabs that make the Tempest a superior rhythm box:

Two analog voice oscillators that can generate sawtooth, triangle, sawtooth/triangle and variable pulse width waves and this is in addition to its 2 digital voice oscillators with over 450 electronic percussion samples and waveforms.

Another interesting detail is that each of the voices has a suboscillator, an octave lower.

Also each voice has a low pass analog filter type Curtis and a high pass analog filter.

Each voice has 5 envelope sections, while the Analog Rytm MKII has only 2 envelope sections.

It has 2 assignable LFOs per voice, versus the Analog Rytm MKII with only one LFO per voice.

Also with an 8×8 modulation matrix and analogue compressor.

Elektron Analog Rytm MKII vs Elektron Octatrack MKII

Here we have two very different drum machines in principle, while the Analog Rytm MKII is a hybrid machine that has the best of both worlds, analog or digital, the Octatrack MKII is a powerful digital sampler, which allows you to modify the sound in much more advanced ways than in the Analog Rytm.

Among the main differences in the Octatrack MKII, the following stand out:

• The Analog Rytm has a capacity of 1 Gb for the audio samples, while in the Octatrack, the samples are loaded into a flash memory, which extends the size possibilities enormously.
• It has dedicated controls to manipulate the samples for greater agility at the time of sound creation.
• It has 3 assignable LFOs per track versus only 1 LFO in the Analog Rytm MKII.
• It has 2 main outputs and 2 additional cue outputs, versus the 8 outputs, one for each voice of the Analog Rytm MKII.

It should be noted that although the Elektron Octatrack MKII may be more interesting for some because of its greater number of features, the Analog Rytm MKII is an analog equipment and therefore for many, it is worth sacrificing these features for the heat offered by the analog circuitry.

Elektron Analog Rytm MKII vs Roland TR-8

Here we have 2 somewhat similar rhythm boxes, with one main difference, the Analog Rytm is an analog equipment while the TR-8 is a digital equipment.

Roland’s TR-8 has 11 voices versus the 8 analog voices of the Analog Rytm that end up being 12 voices for the 4 that share the analog engine.

Another important detail is that the TR-8 does not have a sampling engine, so its sound cannot be expanded, versus the Analog Rytm MKII that has 1 Gb for samples.

The TR-8 has neither a filter nor an LFO, while the Analog Rytm MKII has a multi-mode analog filter for each voice and an assignable LFO for each voice.

The Analog Rytm MKII has analog distortion for each voice and analog compression for the amplification section while the TR-8 does not have this.

While the Analog Rytm MKII has 8 individual outputs for your vocals plus the main stereo output, the TR-8 has only the main stereo output.

Finally, for the more nostalgic users, the TR-8 has among its banks with drum sounds that come directly from the legendary TR-808 and TR-909, two Roland rhythm machines that made history in the 80’s.

Elektron Analog Rytm MKII vs Roland TR-09

The Roland TR-09 comes with much less performance than the Analog Rytm MKII, also notable in its price that is far below.

This equipment perfectly recreates the legendary Roland TR-909 presented to the world by Roland in 1984, a drum machine that defined the sound of the nascent Techno and House of the time.

The TR-09 has 9 fixed voices with some possibilities of modification, while the Analog Rytm, thanks to its more powerful analog engines and its sampling engine, has many possibilities of sound exploration.

The TR-09 sequencer is much simpler, with only 16 steps versus the 64 steps of the Analog Rytm MKII sequencer.

The TR-09 has no effects, while the Analog Rytm has analog distortion and filtering in each voice, possibility of sending to Reverb and Delay in addition to the analog compression in the master.

Finally, as it is a recreation of a vintage equipment, the TR-09 has neither individual outputs for your voices nor the wide possibilities offered by the Overbridge software.

Elektron Analog Rytm MKII vs Jomox Alpha Base

Here we have 2 very good quality analog drum machines, both with different advantages that make them a great choice.

Both are hybrid devices that combine the best of both worlds, analog and digital.

The Alpha Base has 11 instruments while the Analog Rytm has 8 analog voices that end up creating 12 sounds.

The sound generator of the Alpha Base is somewhat different, each of its 16 voices has different particularities, some are 100% analog, others combine sampling with analog sound, others are 100% digital and focused on sampling, and it has a mini FM synthesizer of up to 6 voices that can be used to generate percussive noises typical of FM synthesis or to play with an external MIDI controller.

While the Analog Rytm’s sound generator has 8 analog engines and samples can be added in parallel to each of their voices.

Although both machines have Delay and Reverb, the Alpha Base has neither Distortion nor Compression, while the Analog Rytm has Analog Distortion for each voice and an analog compressor for the master.

Finally, the Alpha Base, does not have pads to easily play your instruments in real time, while the Analog Rytm has 12 backlit pads.

Conclusions

The Analog Rytm is definitely an incredible piece of equipment, combining the best of the analog world with the versatility offered by digital samples, a combination that is becoming increasingly common in high-end equipment.

If you’re looking for a state-of-the-art drum machine with great features and you’re on a budget, the Analog Rytm MKII is definitely the choice.