FM Synthesis but for drums?

I recently got my hands on the Model:Cycles by Elektron. The second groove box in the Model Series by Elektron that uses FM synthesis for drum & tonal sounds was intriguing since it’s quite cheap for an Elektron Instrument and I loved the fact that it wasn’t another boring drum machine concept like most of the drum machines out there.

And that was my initial plan for requesting Elektron for a demo unit (which they kindly sent over). A drum machine with interesting drum sounds and a few tonal elements that I knew I wasn’t really going to use that much. But did it live up to my expectations?

Features (at a glance)

The Model:Cycles is a groove box with 6 tracks and 6 different sound engines - Kick, Snare, Metal, Percussion, Tone, and Chord. You are not limited to using all engines at once, you can use any combination of those engines for your 6 tracks so if you want just drums, you can absolutely do that.

When you select a track, you can choose the engine and then you have all the knobs above to tweak the sound to your liking. All knobs work with all engines but for each engine, there are some slight variations on what the knob does. You have your regular Pitch & Decay controls, Color, Shape, Sweep, and Contour which are macro controls for the FM engines, a Volume + Distortion knob that sets the volume of the track but also distorts it on higher levels, Reverb & Delay sends, and lastly Swing & Chance.

As you’d expect each engine has its own purpose. The Kick will generate kicks with a lot of sub-bass (in a good way), the Snare can create noisy snares or even some tonal plucky percussive hits, Metal is best for cymbal sounds that remind me a lot of analog hi-hats made from modular gear, and Percussion is some kind of tom. On the melodic part, it has Tone which is a monophonic synth sound and can be used for basslines and melodies and Chord is a very deep and highly capable chord generator that has a mellow tone.

All these tracks can be sequenced by a sequencer that has all the bells and whistles Elektron has on its sequencers. It has 64 steps where you can record quantized or un-quantized, timing controls, retrigs, parameter locking, conditional locks in combination with the Chance knob, and more. A fully-featured Elektron sequencer that lives up to its name for sure.

While the screen on the Cycles is small and has only one knob to control parameters, most of the work is done by using the knobs and that’s great. Almost everything is one knob per function so you’ll have a lot of fun tweaking knobs instead of looking at a screen and diving into menus. Not all things are obvious and you’ll need some time to learn the button & knobs combos but I would say that using it after a while is quite easy and straightforward. And also, if you are familiar with other Elektron gear, then the learning curve is definitely much faster.

So now that we’ve cleared out the basics functionalities, let’s see what my actual experience using was. This is more an honest thoughts type of post rather than a specs walkthrough or tutorial. And keep in mind that everything below is my own thoughts after using it for about a month and your needs may be different!

Pros & Cons

On the positive side, the Model:Cycles is a very hands-on and immediate groove box. You can set up a sequence in a heartbeat and then, you can go as in-depth as you want and make adjustments. By taking advantage of the almighty sequencer, you can get some very cool and interesting patterns and, when you start adding the melodic machines, things get even more interesting. I found myself mostly making drum parts and grooves without using the Tone or Chord machines and sometimes I added the Tone engine for some very simple melodies or basslines.

But to be honest, after a few sessions, I quickly lost interest in using it more. It’s not that it’s bad or difficult to use, but the Model:Cycles has a very narrow palette of sounds and most of the stuff coming out of it sounds the same. I also have the Digitakt that being a sampler can become anything you want while on the Cycles you’re just stuck with the 6 machines that don’t actually sound that flexible.

The Kick is fine, while the Snare & Metal machines sound a bit too electronic for my taste. The Percussion is slightly dull and dark and doesn’t make a lot of difference in a full mix. Now, on the tonal elements. The Tone machine is a plain tone that can get soft or boomy and it’s perfectly usable as a bass or simple melodic line while the Chord is something I honestly cannot review to its full potential. I’ve never liked Chord generators on hardware or software but that’s a very personal thing. MicroFreak also has the Chord engine which I’ve never used it too. I just prefer playing my own chords on a keyboard than randomly generating them so I knew beforehand that I wasn’t going to be a fan of it.

The thing is that the sound machines, despite the fact that they have a lot of controls, don’t have a lot of flexibility and sound the same almost every time. The controls tend to distort and make the sound a bit harsh that is definitely not for everyone or every genre so if you are looking for something more mellow and soft you end up using the exact same sounds every time. So instead of having an FM drum machine, you get a 6-track sequencer with 6 sounds that can get you only that far. And since I’m an average person like you, we’re not going to create wildly deep stuff like the ones you see on YouTube. I also feel, due to the distortion that is applied with the knobs, that is a very genre-specific device. If you make Techno or Hardstyle music, you’ll probably love it but if you don’t you won’t find a lot of ways to use it within your workflow.

The effects are just your standard delay & reverb that sounds ok but they are global sends so you can’t have a different delay on your cymbals and another one on your percussion which is limiting.

Another (probably insignificant) con of Cycles is its knobs and pads. The pads are velocity-sensitive, but in order to get sound out of them, you need to apply a lot of pressure and since they’re small it gets even more difficult to use them. The knobs sadly don’t feel satisfying at all. They’re short, made of some kind of rubber and they don't feel good at all.

Conclusion

I think my main issue with the Model:Cycles is something I get with a lot of gear. It tries to do everything in one box and it does. But it does that a bit poorly. You can create drum parts but they will sound pretty much the same, you can create some melodic parts with only two tones that also sound the same every time and none of these will be exciting. I would much prefer to have 6 different engines just for drum sounds and have a bit more variety without having anything melodic, there are tons of other stuff for this. Or the exact opposite. An FM synthesizer with an Elektron sequencer that will take advantage of FM synthesis and become a much more powerful Volca FM.

And while its price is very inviting, I believe that if you buy it, it will end up collecting dust pretty soon. And I’m a strong believer in investing in quality but few stuff instead of getting a ton of cheap ones. Paying around 350€ for something you’ll stop using after a couple of months is a much worse purchase than spending 1.500€ on something you’ll use for a lifetime.

So is it for you? You may agree or strongly disagree with my review and the answer is very subjective. So I’ll try to map out for whom the Model:Cycles might work and for whom not. Some say that those instruments (Samples & Cycles) are the gateway to the “Elektron Workflow & Sequencers“ and that is true but with a catch. The Elektron sequencers and workflow are very deep and daunting for most of us. You’ll need to dedicate time and effort to take advantage of an Elektron sequencer and that is something a beginner won’t be able to do. I have had the Digitakt for almost 4 years and I’m still not taking full advantage of what it offers. So recommending something that is not dead simple to use to a beginner might not be the best thing. I would say that the Cycles would be a great addition for someone that is making House or Techno music and wants a drum machine that has a lot of hands-on action. Because if you’re not that person you can get for the same money an Arturia Drumbrute Impact or a Roland Boutique and get more things out of them.

I don’t like to do negative reviews, and Elektron is a company that I highly respect. It’s just that Model:Cycles and myself didn’t click. I just didn’t have fun using it and I truly believe it is an instrument with a very short lifespan.

Did you have a different experience with the Model:Cycles? Let me know in the comments!

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