Don’t overlook Elektron’s budget electronic music instruments
Don’t overlook Elektron’s budget electronic music instruments
不要忽视 Elektron 的入门级电子音乐设备
I keep coming back to the criminally slept-on Model:Samples and Model:Cycles. 我总是会回过头来使用那些被严重低估的 Model:Samples 和 Model:Cycles。
When I’m asked what to buy if you want to get into making electronic music, I often recommend Elektron’s budget-minded Model:Samples and Model:Cycles grooveboxes. They don’t grab headlines the way Teenage Engineering’s gear or the Telepathic Instruments Orchid do, and even compared to the company’s higher-end and more niche musical offerings like the Digitakt, Octatrack, or Tonverk, they’re often overlooked. But as my collection has grown to include fancier and far more expensive instruments, I still find myself coming back to the Model series. 当有人问我想要入门电子音乐制作该买什么时，我经常推荐 Elektron 经济实惠的 Model:Samples 和 Model:Cycles 律动工作站（groovebox）。它们不像 Teenage Engineering 的设备或 Telepathic Instruments 的 Orchid 那样占据新闻头条，甚至与该公司更高端、更小众的产品（如 Digitakt、Octatrack 或 Tonverk）相比，它们也经常被忽视。但随着我的收藏中加入了更多花哨且昂贵的乐器，我发现自己依然会回到 Model 系列。
Those looking to get their first groovebox are often drawn to more familiar brand names like Korg or Roland. And lots of people on Reddit will be quick to recommend the Novation Circuit Tracks (which I personally find confusing and mediocre-sounding). This is probably also partially due to the reputation Elektron gear has for being obtuse. If you’re an established music maker and aren’t deterred by a complicated workflow, you’re probably going to pick up a more powerful Elektron box, like the Digitone or Syntakt. That leaves the Models lineup in a weird no man’s land, and that’s a shame. 那些寻找第一台律动工作站的人通常会被 Korg 或 Roland 等更知名的品牌所吸引。Reddit 上的许多人也会迅速推荐 Novation Circuit Tracks（我个人觉得它操作令人困惑，音质也平平）。这可能部分归因于 Elektron 设备以“晦涩难懂”著称。如果你是一位资深音乐制作人，且不畏惧复杂的工作流，你可能会选择更强大的 Elektron 设备，比如 Digitone 或 Syntakt。这使得 Models 系列处于一个尴尬的“无人区”，这实在令人遗憾。
The primary difference between the two Models instruments is that the Model:Cycles uses FM synthesis and the Model:Samples, appropriately enough, plays samples. (It is not technically a sampler, however, since it can’t record samples, and instead they have to be loaded over USB.) 这两款 Models 设备的主要区别在于：Model:Cycles 使用 FM 合成技术，而 Model:Samples 顾名思义，用于播放采样。（不过，从技术上讲它不是采样器，因为它无法直接录制采样，必须通过 USB 加载。）
The Model:Cycles is built around a streamlined version of the engine found in the Digitone, one of my favorite-sounding synths of all time. This is a modern take on FM that can do the cold bells and icy pads you associate with iconic instruments like the DX7 (the iconic sound of the ’80s). But it also does modern glassy keys and aggressive turn-of-the-millennium EDM bass. Model:Cycles 的核心是 Digitone 引擎的精简版，而 Digitone 是我个人最喜欢的合成器之一。这是一种现代化的 FM 合成方式，既能做出你联想到 DX7（80 年代的标志性音色）那种冰冷的钟声和铺底音色，也能做出充满现代感的玻璃质感键盘音色以及千禧年之交那种极具侵略性的 EDM 低音。
The two are more alike than not, though. They’re both six-track grooveboxes with six velocity-sensitive pads and plenty of knobs for hands-on controls, and they look almost identical. But most importantly, they feature Elektron’s legendary step sequencer without being nearly as intimidating as the company’s more expensive and notoriously complicated offerings. 不过，这两款设备大同小异。它们都是六轨律动工作站，配有六个力度感应打击垫和大量用于实时控制的旋钮，外观几乎一模一样。最重要的是，它们搭载了 Elektron 传奇的步进音序器，却不像该公司那些更昂贵、以复杂著称的产品那样令人望而生畏。
The sequencer is built around what the company calls “trigs” and “locks.” Trigs are basically just events, typically triggering a note, and locks are just step-specific settings. It seems like a simple enough concept, but it makes these instruments far more capable than they might seem at first blush. 音序器围绕该公司所谓的“触发（trigs）”和“锁定（locks）”构建。触发本质上就是事件，通常用于触发音符；而锁定则是针对特定步进的设置。这听起来是个简单的概念，但它让这些乐器的功能远比初看时强大得多。
Six tracks isn’t a lot to work with. Once you’ve loaded up a kick, snare, and hi-hat, then you’ve only got three more tracks for bass, any melodic elements, and additional percussion. But sound locks allow you to change samples or presets on a per-step basis. That means, so long as they never play simultaneously, you can have your kick and snare share the same track, then you can put your hi-hats and other percussion on a second track, and leave the four other tracks for everything else. This is just the most obvious example of how locks expand the possibilities of what might seem rather limited on paper. 六个音轨其实并不多。一旦你加载了底鼓、军鼓和踩镲，你就只剩下三个音轨来处理低音、旋律元素和其他打击乐了。但“声音锁定（sound locks）”功能允许你在每个步进上更改采样或预设。这意味着，只要它们不同时发声，你就可以让底鼓和军鼓共享同一个音轨，将踩镲和其他打击乐放在第二个音轨，剩下的四个音轨则可以自由分配。这只是“锁定”功能如何扩展纸面上看似有限的可能性的一个最直观的例子。
The sequencer can be treated like a simple step sequencer where you drop a four-on-the-floor kick and a snare on the backbeat. But it also grows with you as your skills improve, and you want to create more complex tracks. Trig conditions, for example, allow you to set rules that govern when certain steps are triggered, like only every third time through the loop, only when you press the fill button, or only if a previous trig condition is met. This means that you can create a huge amount of variety in a single 64-step pattern. And then you can chain several of those patterns together to create complex and evolving arrangements that just aren’t possible on most gear in this price range. 音序器既可以当作简单的步进音序器使用，比如编排“四拍子”底鼓和反拍军鼓；它也能随着你技能的提升而进化，助你创作更复杂的曲目。例如，“触发条件（trig conditions）”允许你设置规则来控制特定步进何时触发，比如每循环三次触发一次、仅在按下填充（fill）按钮时触发，或者仅在满足前一个触发条件时触发。这意味着你可以在一个 64 步的 Pattern 中创造出巨大的变化。然后，你可以将多个 Pattern 串联起来，创造出在该价位段大多数设备上无法实现的复杂且不断演进的编曲。
The Models boxes are also just incredibly fun. Where Elektron’s other gear demands a lot of menu diving, the Model:Samples and Model:Cycles are immediately approachable and built for live performance. It’s easy to trigger a drum fill with the push of a button, tweak a knob to open the filter on a bass, or briefly bathe a lead melody in delay. Models 系列设备也非常有趣。Elektron 的其他设备通常需要深入菜单进行繁琐操作，而 Model:Samples 和 Model:Cycles 则非常易于上手，且专为现场表演而设计。只需按下一个按钮即可触发鼓点填充，转动旋钮即可打开低音的滤波器，或者为旋律音色瞬间加上延迟效果，这些操作都非常简单。
Control-all might be the most fun feature, which, as you might have guessed, allows you to control all the tracks simultaneously. Bury your entire track in reverb as you start cranking up the distortion and lowering the pitch of all your samples to create a mangled, chaotic breakdown. And then immediately undo it all and drop the beat again by pressing the function and pattern buttons. The Model:Samples and Model:Cycles encourage jamming in a way that frankly a lot of electronic music gear just doesn’t, and it’s an absolute blast. “Control-all”可能是最有趣的功能，正如你所猜到的，它允许你同时控制所有音轨。你可以将整个音轨淹没在混响中，同时调大失真度并降低所有采样的音高，从而创造出一种扭曲、混乱的间奏。然后，只需按下 Function 和 Pattern 按钮，就能立即撤销所有操作，让节奏回归。Model:Samples 和 Model:Cycles 以一种坦率地说许多电子音乐设备所不具备的方式鼓励即兴创作，这绝对是一种极致的乐趣。
Now, they’re not without their flaws. The pads are pretty mediocre. Having to load samples via USB rather than recording them directly kinda sucks. And the lack of polyphony (each sequencer track can only play one note at a time) is a bit of a bummer. But at $349, it’s hard to complain. Plus they can be snagged used for as little as $200 on Reverb or Craigslist. Frankly, they’re some of the best bargains in music hardware and a great place to start your journey into producing electronic music. 当然，它们并非没有缺点。打击垫的表现相当平庸。必须通过 USB 加载采样而不是直接录制，这确实有点麻烦。缺乏复音功能（每个音序器音轨一次只能播放一个音符）也让人感到遗憾。但考虑到 349 美元的售价，实在没什么好抱怨的。更何况在 Reverb 或 Craigslist 上，二手价格甚至低至 200 美元。坦率地说，它们是音乐硬件中性价比最高的产品之一，也是开启你电子音乐制作之旅的绝佳起点。