4. QUICK START
15
4. QUICK START
If you are the kind of person who just wants to dig into your Elektron device and start making noise, this
section is for you. This quick start will guide you through some of the basic operations to begin using the
Syntakt. If you want more in-depth information, check out the rest of this manual later. First, connect it as
described in section “3.3 SETTING UP AND STARTING THE SYNTAKT” on page 14.
4.1 PLAYING THE FACTORY PRESETS
You can find a number of preset patterns and sounds in the Syntakt. Follow the instructions below to get
started exploring your new instrument.
1. Press
[BANK]
and then press
[TRIG 9]
key to select bank A. The screen reads “BANK A : SELECT PTN”.
2. Press
[TRIG 1]
key to select the first pattern of bank A.
3. Press
[PLAY]
to listen to pattern A01.
4. Press
[PTN]
and then press
[TRIG 2]
key to select pattern A02. It will start once pattern A01 has
reached its end. Select pattern A03 by pressing
[PTN]
and then press
[TRIG 3]
key, and so on.
5. Press
[STOP]
to stop playback.
For more information, please see “9.2.2 PATTERN CONTROL” on page 36.
4.2 TEMPO
To change the Tempo BPM setting, open the TEMPO menu by pressing the
[TEMPO]
key. Use the
LEVEL/
DATA
knob to change tempo. The
[ARROW]
keys
[UP]
or
[DOWN]
change the tempo in increments of 0.1
BPM. Pressing the
LEVEL/DATA
knob while turning it changes the tempo four BPM at a time.
To tap a tempo setting, hold the
[FUNCTION]
key and tap the
[TEMPO]
key in a steady rhythm. After four
consecutive taps the average tempo of the taps will be calculated. By continuing tapping, the average tem-
po will keep on updating.
For more information, please see “9.1 SEQUENCER TEMPO” on page 35.
4.3 USING KEYBOARD MODE
You can use the
[TRIG]
keys to play the sound of the active track (or send MIDI notes if you have selected
the MIDI machine for the active track) in a number of selectable scales.
1. Press
[TRK]
+
[TRIG 1–12]
to select the track.
2. Press
[FUNC] + [TRK]
(short press) to enter KEYBOARD mode. A long press opens the KEYBOARD
mode setup page. The
[TRIG]
keys will light up in a pattern that resembles an octave of a piano key-
board. Only lit keys are playable.
3. Play the
[TRIG]
keys. The sound will be pitched differently for each of the playable keys. Press the
[ARROW]
keys
[UP]
or
[DOWN]
to transpose the virtual keyboard up or down one octave.
For more information, please see “7.9 KEYBOARD MODE” on page 23.
KEYBOARD mode is an effective way to add musical variety to your beats. The timbre,
tonality and impact of playing a sound chromatically depend on the character of the
source sound.
4.4 USING MUTE MODE
You can mute any of the sequencer tracks in this mode. Unlike the KEYBOARD mode, it makes no
difference which track is active when this mode is activated. You can access all tracks simultaneously.
1. Make sure a pattern is playing.
2. Press the
[FUNC] + [BANK]
keys to enter MUTE mode.
3. Press any of the
[TRIG]
keys or the
[FX]
key to mute the corresponding track. Press again to unmute.
The light of the
[TRIG]
keys indicates the mute status. Unlit keys are muted tracks. Lit keys are active
tracks.
4. Press the
[FUNC] + [BANK]
keys again to exit MUTE mode.
For more information, please see “7.10 MUTE MODE” on page 24.
