Im not sure I understand the first part of the reply, but you have a great weekend too buddy!
Simon did say that there would be a viable option to not having a song mode, so I’m hoping that something is in the works.
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I hope you’re right as I would have renewed interest in a Digitakt, but I’ll believe it when I see it.
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Well, he said it was “their goal” to make chain mode a viable alternative, but not that it for sure would come…
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I’m not that familiar with how Elektron’s song mode works, but I thought I read somewhere that the Digitakt could follow song mode info sent from one of the other Elektron machines. Is that correct?
Basically, I’m wondering if I get an A4 and compose songs on it, is it easy/possible to get the Digitakt to follow along?
yurp, i have the digitakt follow program/pattern changes via the monomachine.
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In theory yes. But I think there is currently a bug that makes this not work smoothly.
What’s the bug?
There is a delay in either sending or receiving program changes that makes it so pattern changed don’t happen correctly. I’ve seen at least one thread about it.
My knowledge about program changes in general is not great and my description of the bug reflects that, sorry.
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Have you encountered the “digitakt starting one bar late” issue?
depends on what i have change length set for the pattern i’m currently on.
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Elektron makes some cool stuff, and I own one device, and will likely own more, but some of the choices they make remind me of Apple, and I would guess they hurt their business not increase it. In this case, no song mode means I won’t buy a digitakt, which is fine, but I just don’t understand the logic of leaving it out.
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I guess song mode is meant like programming a pattern sequence …
what already disturbs is that the following pattern will jump to it‘s further/saved parameter values …
so if i wiggle some filter stuff in pattern 1,
pattern 2 (and so on) will jump to it‘s further parameterpositions …
a song mode will only work for me if all the following patterns will adapt the changes i‘ve done!
if a song mode will act like pattern chaining there is no mentionable benefit for me!
in fact i‘m one of those single-pattern-wiggle guys
Thanks so much for taking the time to thoroughly explain this. I assume that this means that if I have two four-bar patterns (A1 and A2) and I want the DT to change to A2, I send the program change to DT before the end of A1, rather than at the start of A2.
I am envisioning working with just the DT and A4 for now, so I guess the above method shouldn’t be an issue, but I can see where it could become an issue if you are trying to get a bunch of machines working together that handle program changes differently.
Not sure how it would fit your workflow but essentially if you are linking 2 elektron boxes together you can use the elektron sync which keeps the patterns on the machines synced up i.e. if pattern a1 on the analog4 is playing a1 on the digitakt is playing. Switching patterns on the master box will switch it to the same pattern on the others. I am doing this with my monomachine and digitakt but I don’t typically use immediate pattern changes in the middle of a sequence.
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Awesome. I didnt know about this! I’ll investigate.
Edit: Is this just a setting or some kind of hardware?
Basically, I currently compose songs on the DT by making a bunch of patterns and then manually switching between them as I record. If I could do what you describe it would be perfect for me. For example, make a bunch of patterns on the analog 4 that correspond to the same patterns on the DT and have the machines change patterns together as I record. Awesome.
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no additional hardware needed. I’m in mobile without manual acces but maybe check this thread
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Thanks! I appreciate the help!
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that’s how i’m goin’ about syncing the DT to the MNM.
Song Mode (ala: Arranger, particularly in regards to the MD and Octatrack) is extremely powerful or course this is depending on how you write, and how complex your musical vision is. I won’t repeat what’s been stated by other user in depth, the octatracks/MD/MM, allow you to have extensive control of you patterns, I use a “midi slicing” technique in arrangement mode to basically “chop” my patterns to create new breaks and rhythms, treating my patterns as you would when chopping samples. This allows for more complex rhythms, even writing “mega breaks”, going far beyond your standard maximum pattern lengths, approaching a process of writing akin to a “tracker” style…taking it a step further with to octatracks slaved together (one handling “midi sliced” rhythms and the other handling synth and bass duties) you basically have a hardware equivalent of Renoise (a tracker based daw)… it’s really up to how you envision and approach your music that will help you decide what you actually need to accomplish your ideas.
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