Digitone Noob Questions

Elektron Gear Digitone/Digitone Keys
#1

Hey everyone, owned the Digitone for about a month now and have loved working away from my computer screen and diving into FM synthesis for the first time. I’m now ready to start building these tracks out and am facing some obstacles:

  1. I am a pianist and when I sync my keyboard to the Digitone to take advantage of the incredible sounds inside of it, the Digitone doesn’t seem to be able to compute notes faster than 16ths. Even with quantize off it seems to quantize or group them to one step which seems super limiting and a little bizarre. Am I doing something wrong?

  2. I can’t seem to get Ableton to send Midi information to the Digitone. I’d like to use the Midi information in my tracks to trigger synth sounds in the Digitone.

  3. Am I crazy or is updating the OS super complicated? I downloaded the file and the README says to “Send the upgrade file to the Digitone” - how exactly does one do that? I’ve read about C6 (which isn’t mentioned in the README at all) but can’t find it anywhere… Overbridge isn’t a thing yet for Digitone… so… I’m a little lost. (Apple User)

Thanks for your help in advance!

#2
  1. Is this as you live/real-time play or after recording? Do you possibly have the arp on?
  2. I (we?) would need some more info on what you have done and what is not working to come with suggestions other than “read the manual on how to configure midi - both on Live’s and DIgitone’s side”.
  3. You’re probably not crazy - but no it’s not super hard. In short… Download C6, hook up the Digitone to you computer, config the DIgitone midi ports as in/out (in C6), drag the firmware sysex into C6, set Digitone to receive system update, press send in C6, wait… Done.
#3

It’s on the Support page for the Digitone here:

If you’re talking about recording, the Elektron sequencer is 16th notes only. It can record unquantised, but that’s just a hack of the 16 step sequencer to allow for microtiming. It’s not possible to record more than 16 “trigs” per sequencer page.

Playing should be fine though. As Carl Mikael says above, if your live playing is quantised you may have the arpeggiator enabled…

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#4

…if u need more resolution in the grid, double up the overall or internal pattern speed…

for midi master clocking concerns, make sure ableton really sends out a master clock on the right port and check the recieve clock parameter settings in the machine…

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#5

Hey @CarlMikaelBjork @pselodux and @reeloy , thanks for your help here.

C6 is all sorted.

RE: #1 - 16th notes - It seems my best bet here is to record in Ableton. Doubling the pattern speed means shorter phrases, but I was hoping to get the full picture on the Digitone with all the expressiveness of a keyboard (glissandos, ornaments etc) Bit of a bummer as I do enjoy using the device separate to a laptop.

RE: #2 Ableton + DIgitone… Still no luck.

To clarify, I’m trying to send midi information from Ableton to the Digitone via USB.

Here’s where I’m at.

Ableton settings look like this:

MIDI PORTS:
INPUT: ELEKTRON DIGITONE IN 1
Track: On
Sync: Off
Remote: On
Sync Type: Midi Clock

OUTPUT: ELEKTRON DIGITONE OUT 1

On my Midi track, “Midi To” is set to Elektron Digitone and I’ve tried all channels to correspond with the “Midi In” on the Digitone Device.

–

Digitone Settings:
MIDI SYNC:
Clock Receive (y)
Clock Send (n)
Prog CH Receive (y)
Prog Ch Send (Y)

PORT CONFIG
Out port Func - Din24
Thru Port Func: Midi
Input From: USB
Output to: Midi
Output Ch: Auto Ch
Param Output: CC
Encoder Dest: Int
Trig Key Dest: INT
Mute Dest: INT
Receive Notes: Yes
Receive CC: Yes

–

Midi Channels 1 - 4 correspond to track 5 - 8 respectively

–

Any suggestions here?

#6

Hm. I’m not in front of my Digitone (DN) right now, but I could throw some ideas out.

In ableton, you should be able to configure the MIDI OUTs instead. MIDI IN settings in ableton specifies what channel ableton will listen to the DN from. So just do the same but on the MIDI OUT settings.

Maybe you could check if Overbridge Mode is on? Try switching to USB midi only if that’s the case (in the DN, that is)!

Hope some of this helps!

#7

Yeah, it sounds like you’re setting it up backward from what you want. You should be configuring MIDI out from Ableton to the MIDI in on the Digitone. Make sure USB Midi on the Digitone is selected (whether it’s DIN + USB or USB only shouldn’t matter). It should be fairly straightforward.

#8

A belated thank you to you both for the help :slight_smile:

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#9

Since I see keyboard with Digitone questions in this thread I figure this is maybe the best place to ask; is it possible to control the DN with a larger keyboard via MIDI and have different sections of the keyboard play different tracks on the DN simultaneously?

I got my daughter a Yamaha Piagerro NP-11 last year and was thinking of ways to implement it with synthesizers sometimes. It has a MIDI in and out on the back.
I’ve done a few silly things with it plus the DN and even the Gecho Loopsynth but I’m not sure how to split the board.

#10

Yes you can setup splits with the multi-map settings in the settings menu. you can also trigger patterns or build drum kits of different sounds on a key by key basis. I’d check the manual for a full description. it’s quite powerful

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#11

Whoo! You’re quick!
I’ll be digging in again then.
Thanks for the answer and advice!

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