Why this Sequencer is a Guitarist’s Best Friend: Elektron Model:Cycles Demo

Video Transcript

Note: a machine made this, so it’s not perfect, but if you’re hearing impaired and have any questions about what we said, please feel free to ask us in the comments or send us an email with the form below. 

 [00:00:00] Emily: How do you, hello? Welcome to get offset. This video is sponsored by Sweetwater. Sweetwater sells everything that you could ever desire in terms of guitar, gear, percussion, software computers. If you need it to create your music, Sweetwater’s got it. And you get a sweet treat at the end. Uh, my husband’s steals the candy every single time.

[00:00:26] God bless him for that. Stick around to see my unboxing, my demonstration, and, uh, just a walkthrough of how I use the electron model cycles to kick my writer’s block to the curb. Stay tuned. Welcome to get off.

[00:00:51] Welcome to get off that my name is Emily and I have something that’s really, really new for me. And I’m excited to dig in and learn some new tricks, new tools, new trades, all those things. Uh, you’ll see. I have a fantastic kind of boxy. Dude over here. Um, this might be my new best friend as a guitarist. Uh, let me just go ahead and unbox this thing.

[00:01:20] If you’re reading the title, you know what it is, it is the electron model cycles, so I want to quickly unbox it. Um, and then we’ll probably get to the rest of the video. It’ll be filmed on a separate day, cause I’m gonna have to learn this thing. Woo. Yeah, so let’s go ahead over here. This is the inside of the box.

[00:01:48] You can see it has this really neat sticker sheet. I assume the idea is you can put stickers to customize your model cycles and there is model cycles also like a packet.

[00:02:09] Cables and connectors in the box. I shall discard now. Who am I kidding? What am I kidding? I keep every box I’ve ever had. So going set it down slowly, slowly, get off the screen. Let’s take a look at what we have here. We have these look like mini cables. Little safety instructions. The full instructions are online on the website.

[00:02:45] Another mini cable. USB cable.

[00:02:54] This seems to be a

[00:03:03] charging cable with different outlets. Uh, options could have impressive the country or the world I should say. And I will not, uh, scare myself when I, when I unboxed the Ernie ball volts. I did not realize that hitting this little button here would cause the whole darn thing to just fly off. And it did.

[00:03:31] And boy, it scared me. It was pretty cute though. Right. So that will click in when I am smart enough to do so. Yeah. So I am probably going to take some time, learn how this thing works. I’m really excited to figure it out. I have no idea how to use it, but, um, I think I’m so, I mean, I’m just thrilled. I’ve been wanting something like this for so long.

[00:04:03] So when I had the opportunity, when that came, when that arose to. Make music with this thing too, to get it in my hands. I mean, these things aren’t, they’re not really that expensive for what they are. I believe this is $300. I was like, hell yeah, I got all these cute stickers. Look at that guy. He’s so cute,

[00:04:29] Kirk.

[00:04:34] Yeah, here it is. I’m obviously not like on it on the whole frame. There’s a whole friend. Um, yeah, it looks very computery. I’m going to really do my darndest to keep this clean. I was pushed buttons. Ooh. Some of them are click year than others. Nice. Yeah, stay tune. I’m going to show you how this can become a guitarist best friend.

[00:05:11] Stay with me. Oh, well, I am here with the model cycles. You can see. Taking up the bulk of this here, a screen and a I’m going to show you kind of why it’s becoming my, my best friend and why it’s really knocking out some of the writer’s block I’ve been struggling with. And I’m going to be open about that.

[00:05:36] I’ve, I’ve been really in a bit of a rut creatively. I haven’t been able to write as much as I, I would like to. It’s been it’s sucked. It’s not been super duper fun for me, but I, you know, We do what we can. Um, but I have the model cycles and, uh, you know what I’ve liked about it so far. And I’m going to get into that is that it’s not overwhelming.

[00:06:03] I don’t have to know how to program my own beats to get started. It has that set in for you. And I’m going to show you, I’m going to show you right now. So to turn it on, hold down that. And it bleeps bloops. It starts, it’s pretty neat. And, um, there we go. I have a track going something up here.

[00:06:31] Yeah. So, um, um,

[00:06:40] I, uh, I didn’t make that. But I can, I can shape it to my liking or I can build my own. I haven’t quite gone into building my own yet. Cause I’ve been having so much fun, um, with the, the, the tracks that exists within it. So before I get into why it’s, I think it’s a guitarist best friend, I’m going to show you kind of how to get started basically a quick start guide, uh, for kind of lack of, um, you know, better, better verbiage, uh, surrounding that.

[00:07:09] So let’s take a look at this thing. Um, Cool. So we know helps, helps the hit record button. Uh, so the first thing we’re going to do here is I’m going to go to a pattern. I’m going to hit one of these pads. So right now I’m on a, there’s all these different banks. So, uh, we have six banks of sounds that we can choose from.

[00:07:37] So I’m in the second bank and I was looking at pattern nine. Let’s go to pattern 10 and see what that sounds like

[00:07:50] a lot going on in that one. So I’m going to turn the volume back up.

[00:08:00] I wouldn’t be talking during it. So, um, you can see first let’s kind of make sense of what’s happening. Um, I’ve I, this came with stickers, as you can see, it didn’t come with the same, get offset. It came with the stickers. I think I covered that in an unboxing. Um, I’ve labeled the different sound pads. So each of these contains a bank of sounds and, uh, this is the kick bank.

[00:08:30] So I’m actually, I think that if I hit stop and I turned the volume, oops. That’s for the kick sounds like on this pad. So maybe that’s not the best one. Let’s get a different pattern. Maybe this one says this here at this one. Sounds like, all right, that one’s a little more normal,

[00:09:02] so yeah, you could kind of play it like a piano, but that’s what the kick sounds like. So, yeah, and we go over here to snare here. That sounds like

[00:09:15] not quite as loud. We can make it loud because each of these, uh, there are so many different parameters that we can control so I can control the volume. I can turn the volume on this now.

[00:09:32] Pretty cool. I can, uh, control the reverb. Send,

[00:09:41] you can hear that going up. You can control the decay of it.

[00:09:58] So many things you can even control the pitch of it.

[00:10:14] So it really just hours of fun. Uh, let me have metal. It’s like symbols sometimes, but not today.

[00:10:25] We have various percussion, which kind of usually is tonal almost especially there. And we have a tone which I’ve turned off globally for, for the purposes of what I’m using it for. And I’m going to show you how to do that. And that’s like a singular tone. Um, you don’t often play an often play this one, like a synthesizer, which is really neat.

[00:10:54] Then there’s the court.

[00:11:00] I really like to control the shape of the cord. Hmm. Should I turn off the computer noises? All right. So we got the cord on and you can see that it’s set to a cord over there.

[00:11:28] All right, so let’s hit play again.

[00:11:37] yeah. So that’s a pretty, pretty chaotic, um, let’s find a different one

[00:11:50] less chaotic.

[00:11:55] Yeah, I liked that one more.

[00:12:01] All right. So let’s talk about a couple of things going on here. I’m going to, I’m going to hit six there because it’s turned off and you can tell it’s turned off because that bar there is gray. I know I’m covering a lot of stuff right now. Um, but you can see moving through the tempo. These are basically eighth notes.

[00:12:20] They’re neat. Right? So we’re working through the eighth notes and you can see these light up when they’re being triggered. So that low rumbling sound, that’s clearly the percussion, because you can see that coming in which triggered. And if we don’t like that percussion at all, I can it function. I can turn it off globally.

[00:12:42] So now all we have is the kick snare and metal, no weird perk stuff happening, but if I want it, sometimes I can just turn down the chance of. So right now, the chances at a hundred percent, it’s going to happen every time it comes around and there’s four pages of this. So I can just turn down the chance to like 50%.

[00:13:07] I means half the time it comes around, it’s going to happen. So that’s another really cool thing to kind of spice up, uh, these beats. So if something’s going to getting on your nerves is having a little bit too much. Uh, you can turn that down and I really think. I really think that’s super duper neat. And I’m a fan, I’m a particular fan of that feature, but let’s see, uh, I’m going to go back over here to tone and chord and turn those on so you can see exactly like this is what the beats actually sound like,

[00:13:40] and you can kind of play them. Turning tone back off,

[00:13:48] you can play that one. Turn the volume on it.

[00:14:21] And then that percussion came in again. So

[00:14:29] turn the volume back down on that.

[00:14:39] So you can see why it turned off the court and the town while I’m playing guitar. Um, for one, it can be pretty dominating, shoot percussion can be kind of dominating, um, on it a little bit. So I’m just glad. You know, I’m, I’m glad to make it. They make it so easy to turn that off. So, um, let me turn that off.

[00:15:04] So those are the kind of big things I wanted to show you. You can also change the sounds, um, pretty, pretty easily. Um, I can work through the manual probably on a future video. Showing how you change the sounds on these, but like, as far as just like working out of some writer’s block, um, like not having to go in and program some drums to get like a nice little beat going.

[00:15:27] And also frankly, working outside of my genre, I am, it’s so easy for me to just like kind of fall and, and just. Go with what I already know goes, what I’m used to. So this really forces me to like, get out of that, uh, do something new, do something different. And, uh, so far the results have been really, really fun.

[00:15:52] And I’m, I’m excited because even if I don’t want. Go and stick with like these specific beats that come in the model cycle. It’s only like riffs and stuff I can take to my band. Look at this cool thing that I came up with, uh, in tandem with the model cycles. And, uh, maybe we can put some other percussion, uh, drums, bass, guitar, vocals, and other stuff into it and come up with something really cool.

[00:16:24] So I’m going to show you kind of some things that I’ve, I’ve kinda like the workflow, the process that I’ve been using and going through while I. Um, build with the model cycles, like wha what I do, how I’ve been using it and why it’s fast becoming my best friend, uh, while I’ve been dealing with some pretty, uh, frustrating writer’s block.

[00:16:48] So stick with me. Well, welcome back. I’m here with my, uh, Ernie ball music, man, uh, magnet majesty seven, magnificent seven is something completely different? Um, yes, it’s the, uh, Say the chair and I have the model cycles here. Very cool stuff. Um, so yeah. How, how have I been writing with us? What have I been doing?

[00:17:12] What have I been doing? Um, a question I ask myself everyday in the mirror. So I have, um, like I mentioned before I turn off the tone in court globally. So when you hit a function, And the tone and the bank or the other way around. I forget sometimes I have to go back and forth, do it a couple of times and see, see which way is which, um, uh, it turns it off globally.

[00:17:38] So across every single one of the sample beads, but I found what I like. Um, it’s a bank to, um, track number nine. So let’s hit play on that one.

[00:17:55] I like this one because it’s pretty sparse. So I feel like there’s quite a bit I can do over it.

[00:18:05] There is a little percussive ness in there that has like some sound like, I don’t know if I could just play any court over this.

[00:18:24] So the first thing I do is I try to find like the notes that I feel like really fit in there.

[00:18:33] I usually start with kind of a base is so that’s why I kind of picked up the Savage drank.

[00:18:57] Uh,

[00:19:07] I liked that, but I’m going to go over here. Ooh, I’m going to go over here to studio one and, um, So, um, yeah, so right now you’re seeing, uh, studio one and, uh, that is the entirety of the screen there. Um, and I will move it in a second, but what I’m going to do is I’m going to, uh, let’s see, I don’t really want everything on.

[00:20:14] I liked that. I liked that a lot. So, um, I dig it. I dig it. It’s gone now. Um, so I, yeah, let’s hit play and I’m going to try that base like again, cause I’m really vibing on it.

[00:20:55] So I think that when I take that to my bandmates, I’m going to tell them I’m going to tell them, like, I think get some, get the, uh, we have, um, the basis has a X fuzz pedal. So I think get the fuzz pedal, get the, like the, the woolly woolly fuzz, and then get the, um, the somersault. Cause they also have the somersaults or like get some fuzzy, um, Actually they’re playing the, the, the fender studio, ramble forties, what they’re playing right now.

[00:21:30] So get a patch going in. That’s kind of similar to what they’re playing, what I have right now going, uh, so just for a reminder, it’s a. I wish I could make this bigger. Um, it it’s so goofy what I’m doing right now. Um, it’s the, uh, uh, FAS going into a phase or going into a chorus. So, um, that’s absolutely something they could replicate on the rumble 40, um, that’s their base amp right now.

[00:21:59] So, um, I want to do a lead line, so that’s what I want to do. I have that baseline in my head.

[00:22:36] Following the baseline, maybe a little bit, but not exactly. I don’t want to do anything too fancy or show off. Cause there’s kind of little still. I like

[00:22:48] a lot of repeats. Yeah,

[00:22:57] maybe I want a tube screamer in here now.

[00:23:04] I don’t want that EAB. I want in a long delay. Maybe I want that.

[00:23:16] Let’s uh, pull that back up. The data into there. Um, Um,

[00:23:51] Um,

[00:23:57] that’s nice.

[00:24:01] More feedback. More drive. Nice. Okay. That’s going to oscillate. Um, We refer to come back around.

[00:24:40] Um,

[00:25:18] Ah, all right. That might be a little bit goopy. That might be a little bit goofy, but I really like the overall vibe of that. And that’s, that’s just kind of a nice thing, I think, oh, turn off that. Um, let me stop that as well. You know that, and that’s just the kind of nice thing that. When I can just accomplish something like that, especially after having some writer’s block for a while, it makes me feel really good.

[00:25:53] And you know, when you’re writing and you’re coming from nothing and starting with nothing, and you’ve been really been struggling for a bit, you know, it doesn’t have to be. A huge breakthrough. It doesn’t have to be a complete song to like, feel really good about what you’re accomplishing. And now, like I have like some building blocks I can work on with like my friends

[00:26:36] Like,

[00:26:41] I think that’s great to have. Cause you don’t, you know, it sucks going into like a jam session with your band with no ideas and you don’t, you don’t want to, you don’t wanna be that person. You don’t, you don’t want to have, you know, you don’t want to come and dry like that. So I’m really grateful. I would say grateful for the model cycles and it’s not expensive.

[00:27:05] You know, some people are gonna like eviscerate me for saying that because there are obviously free tools out there to make beats, but for something that I think they sell a battery pack for it now, otherwise it has to be plugged into the computer. That for something that’s like lightweight, relatively portable, that you can really take pretty much anywhere.

[00:27:27] It’s like $300 or something like that. Of course. Now I’m going to double check the price. Let me see. Link in bio, uh, obviously model cycles. Sweet water. Yeah. It’s $300. And even though it’s plastic, it feels robust because there aren’t a lot of seams that you can like see things getting into. I like the buttons.

[00:27:57] They’re kind of like, um, they, they’re not super duper rubbery. I don’t see them getting like really dingy obviously came with the stickers and I’m really in love with them. The dials feel robust. Like I’m really loving the feel of it. It fits in a backpack really easily. It has stereo outs. I’ve plugged it into the Iridium.

[00:28:18] And I was playing through my, uh, tone master super reverb, uh, for the guitar. Uh, there’s a lot of built-in sounds you can actually, uh, like if you don’t like the sound that came in a certain. Like what’s this one.

[00:28:37] Let’s see, like, if you didn’t like that bass sound, I think you would just like go over here and then you would just like scroll and then just, oh yeah. Select. And then you would just,

[00:28:58] oh, maybe I would actually have to click on bass drum for.

[00:29:03] And then you would just select it from bass drum.

[00:29:09] I like that one.

[00:29:13] And then you

[00:29:21] And now I think I was, I think I picked up, put that in their tone by accidents that have a stroke. Well, now the tone is bass drum anger, and it’s fine.

[00:29:35] Oh, well,

[00:29:39] I only usually play with the town one that much, but there’s a lot of other, a lot of other sounds and they’re like, there’s actually like when you get, actually get to the sense of. There are there you go. 205 of them. So let’s just go to a random.

[00:30:39] I don’t know what I did, but I can tell you this. This has brought me joy. It has. Made me write things for a while and it’s, it’s like I’m in I’m I’m hugging. It w I was playing with it out of the box. Like it, that doesn’t happen to me with sequencers. Uh, sequencers have always been one of those things where I’m like, what, what, what, what in tarnation?

[00:31:02] What in tar nation is this? So, um, yeah. Thank you to Sweetwater for sponsoring, uh, this video, sending this to me, um, please use the affiliate links in the video description. If you are moved by this or anything else, uh, whether or not you saw it in this video, um, those affiliate links really keep us going.

[00:31:19] We also have a Patrion at patrion.com/should get offset. We have merchant get all set podcast.com/shop. Um, we, uh, you know, it means a lot when you like comment and subscribe as well. Tell your favorite brands about us. Um, but yeah, thanks for watching. Thanks for understanding. Um, until next time, my name is Emily goodbye.