Introducing Digitakt

Having opened up and repaired or modified an OT, AR, and A4, I am so glad to hear them talk about upgrading the mechanical hardware. I always am amazed at the mediocre quality of the pots and especially the switches and surprised that more people don’t have part failures. Some of the exposed leads on things like the power switch and midi jacks have more oxidation after a couple years than many vintage synths I’ve refurbished.

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Whoa! how did you do that?

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Dude, no. Obviously, they’re selling the spring reverb from their OT as a standalone product

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Oh bliss, that’s good to hear for OT and AK owners like myself :frowning: Hyped for when my warranty’s over.

Yes, the OT does that too. Up to 4 notes per step with identical length. But it’s not like it has any actual polyphonic note management like you can play a polyphonic line on one channel/track and it will record that like on an MPC. All Elektron sequencers are step based/monophonic/multitrack.

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2 posts were merged into an existing topic: Unacceptable bickering

They were mentioning the buttons only though. Like all modern hardware this stuff is build to break down as soon as possible. It’s not like Elektron is any different from other companies. I work on vintage synths/amps too and I am always shocked at what flimsy, unserviceable crap companies sell these days.

Nah, Cenk said they had updated their pots. More durable and higher resolution.

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Unlike the MPC Live, the days since announcement of the Digitakt have only made my desire for it grow stronger. I begin to imagine the best way to fit this into my workflow.

Trig conditions on MIDI tracks! This feature is the most unique, but how to use it best?

I could use this to sequence 8 tracks on my MD (non UW) in the most modern Elektron way, and use those extra 8 tracks on MD purely for their freely assignable LFOs and/or CTRL/FX tracks.
Or instead of fully sequencing the MD’s drum synth tracks, I could only use it to send conditional trigs to the MD, atop MD’s own sequenced tracks.

One of the reasons I didn’t spring for the MD UW is the sampling limitation seemed it would be a frustration after being used to Rytm’s 64MB project ram, and 16bit/48khz spec.

So excited that the MD + Digitakt is going to give me everything I wish the MDUW was.

That, or this coffee my friend brought back from Bali is just really, really good.

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I got a MDUW simply cause I got a really good deal. The sample limitation kind of makes me rarely ever use it except for slight resampling occasionally. I keep debating trading the MDUW for a Rytm but I literally have nowhere to go to demo any Elektron gear (I live right outside of Philadelphia and would have to drive to Brooklyn just to try that stuff).

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…and for only 99$!

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That’s good news. I hope they do away with the push knob thing for higher resolution. It’s a cool idea in theory, but these OT/A4 knobs just feel super flimsy.

Does anyone know if this thing can be USB powered? It would make things so much more convenient.

The MDUW I got primarily for the +drive. When I first got my (second) MD I instantly fell in love with the sounds I was pulling out of it, and those patterns just filled up immediately. The sampling, I intend to use, mostly for loading experimental kits designed from field recordings and random sounds, as soon as I can tap into a convenient way to send them over quickly-ish. The resampling is fun, haven’t mastered it though.

If this Digitakt turns out to have drum synthetic, but they only turn out to be the GND engines from the MD, then this is an instant replacement for my MD as those are my favorite engines on the MD.

BTW, sidenote, I don’t know any way to apply toms to my beats. I pretty much just use a bd(maybe two), a snare, and a high hat so my kits have yet to be more than about 3/4 voices, maybe 5 if I have a weird sound source in there

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I love that the MDUW+ has a +Drive, but the 2.5mb sample bank memory is the limitation that pushed me toward the nonUW.
I wasn’t excited about the prospect of juggling sample banks with snapshots, which was required since I like filling a project (snapshot) with about 32 tunes, using all 128 patterns. 2.5mb sample memory for 32 tunes wasn’t going to be enough for me. Rytm has spoiled me in this regard.

But Digitakt as a 64MB sampling/sample-playback appendix to MD (non UW), with the added analog series sequencer tricks and treats… perfect. Just perfect.
For me, the $650 Digitakt is a better investment than the $400 UW+ price difference on my MD. It gives me 24 total voices, different FX (hoping for analog series digital FX), and dedicated stereo outs (for p-locked pans) for the sample tracks.

I’m not even interested in the Digitakt having synthesis, now. I don’t want to replace my MD. I want to add to it, with even more tracks, and in a more powerful way than the MDUW+ did.

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OK, perhaps spoiled children was a bit much, I don’t want to offend anybody, or be negative, but I did have a point in there. Alas, me being negative about others being what I feel is negative probably doesn’t help at all. Sorry, nothing personal folks, back to music making…

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This is what I do on A4. I don’t save kits to +drive anymore.

Are you saying you only use the basic GND machines for your drum sounds instead of the actual various drum generators?

Imagine if they included a euclidean rhythm mechanism somehow! That would be a show stopper for me. Conditional trigs, polyrhythms and (a man can dream…) euclidean sequencing in that little box would be pretty incredible.

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A new video on Elektron fb, oh wait it’s a blurry one :smiley: Maybe some new infos are coming soon about the “Drum computer” part :stuck_out_tongue:

I use the legitimate engines, but I prefer the GNDs because the engines sorta gives me an initial bias as to what the ending sound SHOULD be. The GNDs are so much more nebulous from the get go and it encourages me to be more creative with them and try weird things to get different sounds from them.

Like, this song is comprised of only the MD with the GND as the only sound sources(with effects from the KP3+ in sparse parts and the OT at the end.)

https://soundcloud.com/ryanpiersoninc/medication

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