Digitakt / Tone are my first hardware sequencers, and I’m finding that 64 steps is too short to write with. So I’ll have drums going with as little as 16 steps no problem, but for melodies / bass I can only really work with short loops, unless I copy the entire pattern over and modify it. Unless I’m missing something? Can I determine a track to run at ‘half’ the speed? so you can have a longer bass line running underneath your loops?
Maybe I’m just not getting it conceptually…
Yes, 4 bars can be short for chord progressions… But Trig Conditions really help in extending this limitation. It does require another approach but thats what it makes it ‘tick’ for me 
hmm, I’ll have a play with that, I assumed the Digitone would have more steps as I get that the Digitakt is a drum machine
It definitely took me a lot longer to click with melodic stuff with the Digitakt. The “trick” is to use conditional triggers. Set one note to 1:2 and on the next step set a trig to 2:2. Then use microtiming on the second trig to effectively place it on the previous step. With this workflow you can double or triple your melodic sequences without sacrificing timing.
Sounds a bit convoluted / messy but I get the idea. Will have a play. Thanks for the tips!
another alternative is to setup a chain, if u have 4 64 step patterns in a chain, well, thats 256 steps, or 16 bars, you can then live record in your melody, and then tweak / fine tune for taste afterwards
Hardware is usually limited in sequencer steps- 64 steps is pretty good as most sequencers stop at 16. If you want to sequence longer for chords and melodies, perhaps:
loop back the midi to control your melodic track(you can use instrument track 1 to play 1:4, overlap the notes on track one to play 2:4, use a midi track to play 3:4, either over lap the midi track/use a separate midi track for 4:4) and then 64 steps becomes 256.
If you use Digitakt midi then you’ll have slightly more capability(due to increased midi) can double up for pads. I THINK the conditionals extend up to 8, so you can kinda rig this fairly simply.
Good luck!
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Edit: There’s also the option of just sequencing melody from you computer, or from a separate sequencer that’s more focused on things like this. An old MPC would probably work well, pyramid’s fun and can also extend your Elektron functionality
ahh this could be cool!
“If you use Digitakt midi then you’ll have slightly more capability(due to increased midi) can double up for pads. I THINK the conditionals extend up to 8, so you can kinda rig this fairly simply.”
Yeah well I’m mainly using the Digitakt to send MIDI to my modular, so that’s where I want the ‘increased steps’ - what do you mean by increased midi?
More midi channels. It’s early on a Monday, so naturally my phrasing will be off. 
Trigs are the magic sauce when it comes to elektron sequencing.
The new dfam from moog only has an 8 step sequencer.
I know that’s the funniest thing. What am I to do with 8 steps? The first mario game had more than that
There are far more capable options wrt seq lenght out there. Many dedicated MIDI sequencers offer plenty of steps, pretty much as long as you need.
For loopy style songs with longer melodic passages, you need to get into working with several patterns.
For more melodically complex music, octatrack sequencer is as good as it gets in elektronland. It has individual scales per track, as well as conditrigs, so 8 x 64 x 8 will give you… = ??? steps? If you need even more than what the ot can do, you need to use an external MIDI sequencer.
Pattern chaining and strategic use of conditrigs will give you the most mileage, but beyond that you need to seek alternative sequencers. Akai MPC, Pyramid, Cirklon, MMT8, RS7000, DAWs etc
One very simplistic way I personally like to overcome the ”64 step limit” sometimes is to play the longer melodic passages manually on top of a playing pattn. Kinda like being a keyboard player in my own band 
Think of the DFAM sequencer more like an effect/arppegiator/8-step-lfo than a normal sequencer. Especially when you go into audiorate stepping it becomes insane …
Using the conditional trig approach, is it possible to set all steps in a pattern to the same condition all at once?
You can edit multiple trigs at once(by holding them down and adjusting the select parameter)
Or you can copy/paste the trig with the condition.
If there’s really only one page for the selected track, you can adjust the selected track to only play 16 steps while the rest of the tracks play for different speeds.
To answer your question: no but there are workarounds
Ok, thanks for the explanation. I was thinking about 4 bar patterns already done. I guess just hard slog working through all the trigs.
Different workflows hold different pros and cons. If you don’t get the adequate fulfillment of the workflow that Elektron sequencers present, perhaps you should look into the Squarp Pyramid. Definitely incredibly useful for a compositional tool- all it’s missing is Elektron’s sharp parameter control.
Good luck!
Edit: conditional trigs work on entire tracks at a time instead of per trig
I built myself a Seq V4 a couple of months back for more involved sequencing. Just enjoying the my Elektrons at the moment.