Continuing on with a review of Ivity’s MD UW Editor (for the first part of this review, see here).

Next up is what I think of as the main instrument (or machine) selection area for the software.  This area appears in tan at top right.  It’s a little confusing at first but here’s how it works.  You need to click to select “MD Synth Type” AND then click to select “Machine Type” in order for the software to update.  Once you have clicked on both of these, then a number of the other screens will change with the update.   For example, if you select E12 as “MD Synth Type” and Rimshot as “Machine Type”, then one of the parameters you will see at top left is Rattle.  In addition to machine selection, this area also lets you configure that machine’s LFOs and the output routing of that machine.

Machine Selection Area

The top to middle left area correspond to the three main programming pages on the MD.  If you have used the Machinedrum for more than a day, these should be very familiar.  Below that at lower middle left is the Effects controls.  These will change depending on what Effect Select you picked in the navy colored box in the center.  The background color of the Effects controls also changes depending on what effect you pick.  It’s a nice touch that gives a visual indication of your effect choice.

There is also a really cool “Kaoss” (X/Y) pad in the software.  Here you can pick two parameters  and assign one to the X-axis and one to the Y-axis.  Moving the cursor box around in the pad area modifies both parameters simultaneously.  The two parameters can either be for the same track (i.e., the same instrument) or can be for two separate tracks.  The X and Y positions update as numbers on the screen to show you what you are sending.  Below this is a light blue area for sending track trigs and track mutes.

Virtual Kaoss Pad

Finally, there is some really advanced stuff that does not have a lot of documentation.  At right in the center there is a Randomization option with three different kinds of randomization  (periodic, drunk and Brownian).   You can also set the periodicity coefficient (?!) and specify what kinds of parameters are affected.  Next at bottom left there is also a Patch Genetics area where you can, I guess, procreate your patches.   You can indicate how much of the baby patch’s genetics come from Dad and how much come from Mom.  Tucked away under the File menus is also some more MIDI Setup functionality. There is also an enigmatic Overdrive option under Edit.  Hmm…  Perhaps this the long-lost predecessor to Overbridge?

Ivity had uploaded the software to his website and I remember downloading and using the Windows version.  At the time, and even today, it was and is a pretty epic piece of software.  In one of his last posts on the topic, Ivity mentioned wanting to add VST support to the program but was lacking the time.  He indicated that the program was open source and that someone else could work on it.  However his website eventually disappeared and the executable files became harder and harder to find (the source code seems to have disappeared entirely).  Fortunately a young(-er) Elektron User name Rusty (who has since done a bit of Elektron programming of his own) posted them up to the Files section of that forum.  Here are the direct links for Windows and for Mac .  The main thread for this software is here.

Next on the classic Machinedrum software review list is Ivity’s MD UW Editor.  If UW Edit was short and sweet (see previous review), this program is big and bold, right down to the color scheme.

Program Overview

The idea behind this program is to be able to fully control the Machinedrum UW right from your computer.  It has been a while since I have used this program since my workflow is not like this, so bear with me if my memory is not quite right (or better yet leave a comment!).  I don’t ever remember seeing a manual for this software and basically you had to learn it by trying things out.

You begin with setting up a MIDI connection between your computer and the Machinedrum.  This might be with a USB MIDI cable or else perhaps your sound card has MIDI connectors.  Then launch the program.  Set up your MIDI connection in the navy blue area of the program under MIDI Out.  There is also a MIDI Thru (!) connection in case you want to control your MD from an external controller.  The Base Channel can usually be left at 1-4 since that is the default for the Machinedrum.  See the Machinedrum manual for more about the Base Channel and how to select it.  You can also use this area (I think) to save any kits you make to the MD.

MIDI Area

In the olive yellow area at the bottom you can also save your kit as an XML file on your computer(!).  Wow, for the right person who knows XML this could be pretty awesome.  I don’t know XML sadly, but I know it gets used a lot for web data mining and other things. So (speculation alert) maybe if you did know XML the following would be possible.  Suppose you had a bunch of Machinedrum kits (there are a lot at Elektron Users) and you converted them all to XML.  Then you might be able to make a database of all the kits and mark them up as having sounds you like and sounds you don’t.  Then maybe you could extract the data to show you the various sweet spots of the Machinedrum according to your preferences.  Then you could make your own defaults and templates based on what you like.  Disclaimer – this might need a robot army or a Ph.D. in something but it’s an idea.

Kits Area

And I’m not even done with this section.  There is also an area called Save Variations and Load Variations.  Scenes on the Machinedrum?  Honestly I don’t remember messing around with this but if this is Scenes on the Machinedrum, wow.  My workflow with the Machinedrum is hands-on but if you use it with the computer this could be a whole new world for a live set.

More to come…

Shouting out to some classic software I have used for the Elektron Machinedrum UW.  First up is a sample editor called UWEdit.  UWEdit allows you to do some advanced prepping for your samples on your computer.

In the software you load an audio WAV file and convert it to a SYX sysex file.  The SYX file can then be transferred to and played by the the MachineDrum UW.  You can also precisely set loop points.  With the limited memory of the MD UW, loop points can really help you incorporate some nice “long” samples in the MD.  You can also provide a four character name for the sample.  Even 4 characters for naming is a big step up from the very old days where no naming was possible in the MD UW.   You can also set the Slot number where you want the sample to be located.  This is nice because it is easier to do here than menu surfing in the MD.

The latest version is 0.9a released in 2011 by E. Heidt.  There are Windows and Mac versions available.  Head on over to https://code.google.com/archive/p/uwedit/ for more information and downloads.