Elektron Analog Rytm MKII Black

I have waited about a month to finally get to write the review of this machine since I wanted to take a good look at it first and test its possibilities.

A little bit of background first - I have been producing music (electronic) for more than 10 years now and I am using digital/analog setup. What I needed was a drum machine with great sonic character and decent sequencer for making beats as I was not happy with anything I tried before in "cheaper" price range (TR's, Volcas, ....) due to either a weak sonic character or limited tweaking options.
Of course this was my first purchase of a drum machine in this price range, so my expectations were high and Analog Rytm seemed as something that would be perfect for me.

My first impressions were really great - the machine is built like a tank, it looked amazing straight out of the box. But you are probably more curious about the sound/features...

There are rumors going around that Elektron machines are complicated to use, that there is lots of menu diving and so on. Honestly, I got a decent grip on the features after a few days of using it and it really isnt difficult to use at all if u have any basic synthesis/sequencing experience. Of course there are tons of features on the machine which will require more time to get comfortable with and of you need to develop some muscle memory to quickly jump from menu to menu and edit parameters. But as with everything in life - practice makes perfect.

What I really love about it is that everything is laid out very logically (commands/parameters/menus). In my opinion this machine has one of the best UIs I have experienced. Analog sounds are amazingly tight - there are so many sonic shaping possibillities especially with kick/snare/hats/cymbal sounds but also other devices do not disappoint. It has its own unique synthesis approach and its own sound which enables lots of tweaking. Not to mention the FX section which enables you to run each track through (fantastic!) filter, dedicated LFO, Rev/del sends, analog overdrive and distortion which all sound great and expand sonic shaping possibillities.
If that is not enough - you can layer each track with its own sample (loading your own samples is really simple drag-n-drop approach with the latest Transfer software).

Next thing which I never thought would amaze me that much is the famous Elektron sequencer which is simply amazing. Parameter locking opens a whole new door in beat making plus you can adjust probability or so called "trigger conditions", meaning that a 16-step pattern can quickly become an ever evolving pattern.

Plus there are scenes/performances which I allow you to enable a set of parameters with a single pad press (for example to open/close reverb/delay on certain sounds and so on). So basically it is incredibly powerful for live applications.

So to the conclusion - you know the feeling when you start making a beat and a few hours pass by without you even realizing it? Well, this machine does that to you... It is incredibly inspiring and fun to use and I can see myself using it for a very long time. It is a bit expensive but worth every penny...

PROS:
- amazing analog sound, tweakable + sample use = lots of sonic possibilities
- great FX section (fat sounding compressor, distortion, overdrive, ...)
- amazing ELEKTRON sequencer - probably worth buying it just for that reason basically
- scenes and performances which combined with the previously mentioned sequencer enable you to jam "the hell out" of this machine - great for live applications.

CONS:
- could use another LFO/additional filter on a single track but that is really cherry picking (Elektron actually has really powerful updates so who knows what they will add to the machine in one of the following updates).
- maybe a few different types of delays/reverbs (there is only 1 type of reverb/delay on the machine which can be a little bit limiting but it sounds good to me).

If you want a powerful device for beat making and you are not on a tight budget, I would definitely suggest you go for it. For me this is one of those machines that puts a smile on my face even after so many years of music making and brings me lots of inspiration.

1) This is the ONLY analogue Kick producer who understands the amplitude envelope right: it has Sustain parameter (called Hold here). Without Sustain your kick will never sound loud enougth comparing to all the other house/techno/whetever tracks DJs play. I tryed many analogue kicks: Jomox MBase 01, MBase 11, MFB Tanzbar, Korg Volca Kick, and they all lack Sustain. I tryed to compress them with inexpencieve compressors (under 400€, SPL Transient Designer, FMR Audio RNC 1773, Symetrix 501, Origin Effects Cali76 Bass Compressor) -- and never could get desired result -- all of the compressors can't work with low frequencies and produce audible artifacts). The only possibility was to record it and apply digital compressors/envelop shapers - wich makes no sense, you coud get better resuts faster with digital kick synths like Kick2.
Additionally, Rythm has many kick machines, not just one, all with unique parameters.
2) Very easy to understand/remember interface and shorcuts. Logical, fast, intuitive. Manual is huge, but you can start just by reading few pages and then open deeper possibilities later.
3) Lost yourself with delay with applyed LFO - sounds so evolving and never boring.
4) Perfect tool for contemporary Techno. Period. Add few synths or another sampler and this is all you need.
5) Hi-hats/shakers made by noise generator sound amazing, sweet, lush.
6) Can use it with outer sequenecer (DAW) - no setting needed to change, it just works.
7) Beware that if you layer your analogue Kick with sample - you cannot apply HPF to sample only (only for sum of both). Solution is to put sample on another track (but this will eat you another track), or prepare filtered sample in computer (never know exactly the cut off frequency).
7) Cost every penny. Bravo, Elektron!

Analog Rytm isn't cheap. But the value in the package is incredible! And it's executed really, really well.

This is not a new device, but it's holding up very well. It's still a great buy even in 2025. Let's go through some of the things I like and dislike about it.

HOW IT SOUNDS

To start with, the analog engines sound great. It's not a copy of any particular classic analog drum machine, although every kind of sound has engine variants, so if you're looking for them, you'll find some similar sounds to 808s (toms, cowbell), 606s (kick, snare), and 909s (kick, rimshot, snare). But there's others that are unique. And most importantly, if a given sound simply cannot be achieved through analog circuits, you can use samples.

With samples, Analog Rytm can essentially be any drum machine you want. And a sample will sound great layered on top of an analog engine on the same voice, and then the result goes through the analog filter. This is a powerful combination, through which I basically made Analog Rytm a better TR-707 than a real 707 ever was.

On top of this, Analog Rytm is really a synthesizer in disguise. The three bottom row voices can be used for tuned analog synthesizer sounds. So it's really like an "Analog Three + Percussion and Samples".

MASTER EFFECTS

There is an analog master compressor and analog distortion with a very distinct flavor that can be utilized creatively to spice up the mix and glue it together.

There's also send effects: a reverb and delay, both of which perfectly serviceable, and most importantly nicely integrated with the master compressor and distortion.

There are separate per-voice outputs, but thanks to the tasty master effects, I mostly record the main outs and the kick, so I can sidechain it with the bass tracks in the DAW. Focusing on main outs also allows me to control panning in the device.

HOW IT PERFORMS

In my opinion this is the killer feature of the device. It's not only a drum machine that you program and press "Play". It's a musical instrument that gives you plenty of tools for realtime expression.

The pads are velocity sensitive and pressure sensitive (think: polyphonic aftertouch). I personally really like them and learned to finger drum on them effectively. You can also play on them chromatically, But they're also used for muting tracks and to trigger scenes or gradually (via pressure) introduce configurable performance macros. Those are like "parameter locks", but you can control them gradually. And one of the performance macros can be controlled with the QPER knob, which makes it super convenient to map to some filter cutoff or distortion that you want to dial in and out when playing.

Because that's what this instrument really wants you to do, to play it live. You can connect expression pedals to it for two more ways to control things in realtime. Even the sequencer plays into this.

Look, you've probably heard how the Elektron Sequencer is great. And it's true. Parameter locks are great, both step and live recording works really well. You can make entire songs on the device standalone, and I have done that. With song mode you can reuse the same pattern with different track muting settings, so that there's variety over time. The sequencer allows you to specify how often a given step should play, and relegate some of them as part of a "Fill" that you trigger with a button. Again, a ton of variety and realtime playability.

But there's life beyond the internal sequencer!

There is a very competent MIDI integration that allows you to record your finger-drumming into a DAW, so you can make very complex rhythms. And "parameter locks" are still possible in this world through MIDI CC of machine parameters and performance macros. So in reality most of the time I'm actually recording MIDI into the DAW, so that I can use a full-blown sequencer on the computer.

THINGS I DISLIKE

Clearly, you can tell I really like Analog Rytm. It's not perfect though. Overbridge introduces more latency than I would like, so I record the drum machine via my RME UFX instead. I don't have "Total Recall" in this case, but MIDI support is complete enough.

There's 12 pads, but only 8 voices. Some of the pads are actually sharing a single voice. Those pads choke each other. This makes sense for hi-hats, and also doesn't bother me on the hi-tom/mid-tom pair. But the cymbal/cowbell choke pair in particular is somewhat annoying if you like to introduce a lot of variety in your high register percussion.

The main outs and the dedicated outputs are a bit out of phase: if you want to audibly mix the same sounds from both the mix and the dedicated output, you'll hear they're not in perfect sync. This is rarely an issue, since the delay is minuscule and usually you'll leave some things on the main outs and others on dedicated outputs. But the problem is there.

There's also a pair of audio inputs but those are for sampling only so they sum up to mono. You also have a pair of external inputs, but those are very quiet and aren't routed through any signal processing.

Speaking of volume, gain staging can be complex on Analog Rytm as there's many layers of volume control.

OVERALL

The flaws pale in comparison to the features and look&feel of the instrument. Analog Rytm is a rare product that I would re-buy if I lost it. It is just THAT good.