Digitakt Unofficial Guide

Elektron Gear Digitakt
#5

A workaround for no slice mode (note this is a handy technique for other things and on other Elektron machines too, I can’t remember if I posted it before or not)

As most people know holding a trig and pressing an encoder will lock the current value to that step, so in this example lets slice up a beat loop and place it evenly across 16 steps.

First load up or sample a loop, tempo is irrelevant, now place a trig on step1, hold trig 1 then press the encoder for start (encoder E on SRC page) now exit step rec and tap pad where loop is assigned, tweak start encoder until you are on second hit of loop (or whatever hit you want next) place trig, hold trig, push enocder and now you have locked the value, repeat process until the beat is sounding how you want it to.

So hopefully by now you will see that this can be a fast way of setting a sound how you want initially, then locking the relevant parameters to a step simply by pressing the encoders whilst holding trig, changing sound parameters again for next desired sound, locking those in, etc repeat as necessary, then of course copy and paste trig can really speed things up. And of course you can lock multiple parameters in this way too.

I’m probably not explaining it very well, but try to work through it and see for yourself.

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Digitakt | preview samples from a plocked start position
#6

If you sample loops in time then the length is always 120 units. This means that looping and stuttering in time is easily done by setting the end point to multiple of 5 and 10 for triplets and 7.5 and 15 for straight 4s or 8s. This only works when your loop is in time with your track.

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#7

For sequencing external synths on Midi Channel 1 ensure that TRIG KEY DST in Midi Config is set to INT otherwise all your midi tracks will trigger channel 1.

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#8

I don’t have a Digitakt (suppressing the gas!) but i saw this on youtube last night

Actually, I thought CTL-AL was an actual feature but what this guy is doing is neat.

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#9

Previewing samples will not work if you are on a Midi track.

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#10

A post was merged into an existing topic: Clock Out Question

#11

This was such a nice idea, but it seems to be stranded a bit? :slight_smile:

I’ve added one neat shortcut. Would like to know more!

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#12

Thanks @DaveMech. I was hoping more people might start adding a few shortcuts / tips / tricks etc.

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#13

Func + (delay/reverb) + clear to reset (delay/reverb) to default

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#14

probably more of a general tip.

i’ve been dumping long acid lines into my DT from troublemaker on ios , and their other apps.(theyre very good!!)
I’ve found that if i double the time on them in audacity , then play them -12 , they sound the same.

i also tried quadrupling them (i think it was) to play them -24 and they still sounded very good , it just makes the waveform a little mushy for doing accurate start points.

no big shock with this , i was just very surprised how great they still sounded.

i havent tried resampling them in DT yet , but i did grab some loops and mangle them underneath the main one , sounded great too… just played the tempo at double , pitched everything up , resampled it , played bak at -12
job done.

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#15

Humanizing Closed Hi-Hats, Timing Fluctuation, Organic Feel

Use the LFO with a random waveform to modulate the sample start point. The sample is then sometimes played from the very beginning and sometimes from a point close to the beginning (adjust the depth to taste). That introduces a lot of natural sounding variation into the sample each time it is played. No need for P-Locks and you can even play it live with the variation.

Here are some sample settings for the LFO page (just as a guideline):

  • SPD 48.00
  • MULT 32
  • FADE 0
  • DEST SAMP:Start
  • WAVE Random
  • SPH 0
  • MODE Hold
  • DEP 5.08

Set some % trig conditions to simulate a drunken drummer :beers: (Thanks @VanillaSun)

You can also use this technique to simulate timing fluctuation, if you use samples that have a little bit of silence before the drumhit. (Thanks @tsutek)

If you need the LFO for something else, just live record different start points/velocities/amp/delay send/overdrive/attack etc values. Of course you lose the randomness but still you get a more organic sound. (Thanks @Hans_Olo)

If you want to live record some of this and still have some “organic feel”, and have a non-syncopated hat track, you can offset your track length and remove a few steps. That’ll put the live record variations at different points in your sequence as your playback loops. (Thanks @mr_bernard)

34 Likes
#16

want an easy way to snap to specific start values

I’m making a midi designer template which basically sets the value on CC 20 (sample start length) to increments of 5.
unfortunately holding the step and sending the midi cc doesnt actually lock it , i still have to press the button , but it’ll help avoid the tiny tweaking to get the value.

could work on any parameter you want to set which is annoying at the moment.
i couldnt figure out a way to get the exact values i wanted using a slider.

1st evening of using midi designer , seems quite good.

3 Likes
#17

Good tip this.

This is a great way to drastically reduce sample size (hello Volca Sample). You’ll lose frequencies obviously, so it’s gonna make things more lo-fi (the more you pitch up before loading into the Digitakt the more frequencies you’re gonna lose). Generally works better on drums & drumloops, where a bit of extra crunch might even make it sound better, and other material where you don’t mind losing a bit of freqs👍

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#18

:sunglasses:

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#19

I found that out last night - if you have just recorded an audio sample into the Digitakt and you press FUNC + YES to audition it, it won’t play back.

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#20

any way to get rid of the li’l granular clicks when doing lfo pseudo timestreching?
I’ve tried playing round with the start n length, envelopes, n lfo speed. no dice.

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#21

I’m sure you tried adding a pinch of attack on the amp page but that usually works for me.

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#22

yep. I assume a combo of startpoint, length n attack is the way to go but i cant get it to clear up all clicks.

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#23

I have posted a tip here: https://www.elektronauts.com/t/turning-a-daw-track-into-a-digitakt-live-performance-tutorial-how-to/42056?u=olaf_wolkenhauer

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#24

Frenzies and Darenager’s loop tips are really helpful. An addition I have come up with is make a dummy track as your slice palette. Do the Darenager trick but plock each slice to a subsequent step (1,2,3…). You could also store different plocked loop lengths of the same start trigs on adjacent pages of your palette. Then you can copy a trig and go back and paste it where you want.

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