I know this is somewhat subjective, but how are the knobs on the Move? I love the feel of Elektron knobs and feel like they’re the best endless encoders I’ve ever used in terms of response and resistance (not too much). On the other hand, I recently purchased a Novation Launchkey Mk4 and don’t like the response curve at all (they’re way too stiff). Any thoughts?
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I believe it was said (here, or on Discord maybe?) that it will be added to Move when 12.2 is out of beta.
EDIT: Sorry, already posted by @DavidL
Very direct, w/o any acceleration curve, firm but not stiff. Pretty much perfect in terms of how they impact the parameters.
If I could improve one thing, I’d like them to have some kind of texture (e.g. like Maschine +/Mk3), so that they’re easier to grab with sweaty palms 
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They have way more resistance but feel good to twist. They’re smaller but I like them. I’d choose the elektron ones for size but the resistance point would go to the move. Purely subjective. YMMV.
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I found their responsiveness and resistance to be between Elektron and Launchkey MK4. They felt good for me, while I found the LK4 ones a little too hard to twist.
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General opinion for those that have/had both: digitakt, move. Which one do you overall prefere and why, now that the move is out for a while.
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You’ll get the answer when you press shift + track button 
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I currently have and love Move. I had a Digitakt from March 2021 through September 2021, so I missed the Machines update but had the dual LFOs and improved filters. I’ve also incorporated Ricky Tinez’s videos into my Saturday routine so I’ve seen a lot of what the DT2 is capable of, and how fast the DT workflow can be once you absorb it.
General thoughts:
- Digitakt is a much more powerful sequencer, sample recorder, sample mangler, and MIDI controller. No two ways around it. Move has a long ways to go before it even enters the ballpark. However, Move’s Drum Sampler is streamlined well IMO and still offers plenty of tools to make a mess when you want to.
- Move is half the price and punches above the DT2’s weight in polyphony (64 stereo voices vs 16), RAM (~2 gb general vs 400 mb dedicated), and storage (~50 gb vs 20 gb). The last two are kind of moot because the DT2 offers more storage and RAM than most people will ever need, but given the price difference I think it’s worth noting that Move is very well-specced.
- Digitakt II is, by most standards, a fully developed product. There’s room to grow, but most new features would strike me as a bonus. Move, on the other hand, is obviously a work in progress. There are still several front-panel buttons that don’t do anything.
- Ableton Cloud vs. Overbridge will be a matter of taste, but I’m firmly on team Cloud. It works really, really well in my experience. That said, I can appreciate OB’s focus on live performance and the power of committing your tracks to audio at an earlier stage.
- Move looks and feels like it has a sequencer, but you’re actually writing notes and automation into Live clips. 99% of the time it’s a distinction without a difference but, for example, you get the full sixteen bar loop length at any step resolution, and I haven’t found a limit on parameter automation/locks. Conversely, you can’t sequence individual Drum Rack pads at different speeds or loop lengths, and it’s even kind of a hassle to set up polymetric loops between the four tracks.
Specific thoughts as a Move user:
- I really miss having assignable LFOs per track.
- I found Move’s copy/paste and undo/redo much easier to learn and remember.
- I prefer playing live and using the sequence editor to fine-tune, so the Move is more compatible with my workflow to begin with. If you prefer programming, the DT will give you a lot more to play with.
- Battery power and a lap-friendly form factor means I use the Move way more often than I ever used the DT.
- While I wish Move offered more control over Drift (or even just had an easier way to create presets), I really like having Drift and Wavetable on the Move.
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Another important advantage of the Move over the DT:
The Move is able to play samples polyphonically. This makes it much more flexible from a musical point of view.
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Great post. I’d like to add chopping samples on the Move is way easier than on DT2. I didn’t always think so, but when I discovered that double-pressing Shift locks the zoom on waveforms it just became so easy to copy a pad and adjust the start point.
The DT2 has no zoom (outside of the recording window) and setting an accurate start point is an exercise of frustration.
On the Move it is so satisfying to quickly chop a break up, copy the hits to pads of my choosing, and then play in a pattern with no set tempo.
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You just made my day.
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Wow, finally!
It depends on what you want to do and how you work, but I really have to disagree with that one. Personally I have no interest in things like probability or p-locks.
The fact that the Move has polyphony, 16 bar patterns vs DTIIs 8 bars, Capture, and a proper piano roll sequencer under the hood, rather than a step sequencer make it by far the more powerful sequencer imo.
Plus if you just want to step sequence 16 monophonic tracks you can do that inside of just one Move track.
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thx for the thorough reply.
Maybe to add context:
- im in search for a center since last year.
Im (soon) not an ableton user anymore, i have lite, windows is running out in fall and im planning to move to linux. ill probably have a weak vm for windows stuff running but i don’t want to move to windows 11.
I do like ableton, but the usual problems with software ( cant find the path, plugins need re login to be active, updates, laptop can get noisy when its doing something, me being the whole day on a pc anyway for work, etc) just does not work while working on something proper. noodling around, fast tests with ideas etc did work reasonably well cause of its modularity, but i just did not enjoy it that much anymore.
simpler was awesome. no question there.
And for finishing i would still do that in ableton. (simply big picture mode, more tedious fine tuning, mixing/mastering), but before that i would like to be about 70% there.
After wanting a stereo sampler arranger for a while , but not having the budget for a multiple thousand € device, i have currently a couple devices on my plate:
Digitakt (1), ableton move, op-z, sp404mk2, korg sq-64, octatrack.
the main idea is to build ideas/tracks as projects in 1 device and orchestrate the others. I have enough synth voices (s-1, neutron, model: cycles, p-1), i have an Ipad i would use with loopy pro for longform stereo samples and granular synthesis after seeing that those are just not something i can get outside octatrack and sp404mk2.
i cut octatrack and sp404mk2 for UX reasons (seems to menu divey/heavy button combo reliant). op-4 is becoming reasonably prices with 3-350€ second hand here, and i could compose on the go. but worried about no screen and build quality. (and that the step components could be even more convoluted then i want).
S1 and op-1 stay, simply for portability there is no alternative and they sound good/fun. model cycles im torn, its fun, but the moment i start to change note length, velocity, its tedious with klick select click select, seems as if the bigger screen of the digitakt helps a lot with multiple options per screen immediately controllable. also not the biggest fm fan, cycles can sound really cold to me and the makro parameters … i cant get the hang of them properly.
so im split between digitakt, sq-64 (can find one for 250 i think, io is great), but i would not have a sampler and it seems that the menuing is …mid.
digitakt 1: mono, cant set the effects as i want (fixed order, only send),
but seems with the lfos and new machines it has enough to make interesting glicky sounds + humanize more analog drum sounds (modulating start position for a multi sample with an random lfo, the volume with another, sadly no destination for microtiming), immediate interface for building drums in a step sequencer way.
or…ableton move:
project limit, no option to move them back to it currently after backing them up ( → 32 as far as i remember) seems rather limiting (and is the factor that annoys me the most on op-1, cant catch multiple ideas and work on them later properly), its rather limited midi capability to control other devices (especially more then one at a time), tiny screen for really just the most needed, lacking IO. (No proper midi out/in? i mean my arturia keystep works over usb, so no biggy, but damn)
essentially: does move limit me to much before i need to go to ableton, even if on paper it can do way more.
What i really like: captchure (if it works as intended…), and the resolution of the midi recording. digitakt is limited to 4 voices, which would be fine in 90% of the cases i guess. (only my op-1 and the ipad can do more), lust not sure about the resolution and how it handles if there are way more noted then steps. (my guess: not well)
i love the lfos, so move not having them stings big time, especially since i want to use it to modulate other gear, but the automation on move is way smother, thats a big plus. storage honestly does not seem to much of a problem in either, 1gb is plenty with mono samples (if i have stereo stem on the ipad for long form play), and the move… not sure what i want from that amount of storage if im limited to 32 projects anyway and sample playback ends after a minute… i also dislike the limitation to have different drum loops on different lengths. (love me this).
movs effects seem more flexible and diverse, a big plus imho.
i prefere programming for drums and some stuff, but for melodic stuff i prefer more free form playing and sampling the part where i nailed it (kind of a concession to me being really bad at playing but wanting a less mechanical feel), captchure would probably be right here.
about sample chopping im torn. feels like the easiest way there is to have it in koala and then resample the chopped sample. (obviously not possible for a more live workflow). but good to know that digitakt has no zoom, thats a big lose there…
for the proper piano sequencer under the hood: how easy is it to edit stuff on move?
or am i struggling on the move itself to change ideas and need to sync it to note or ableton to fine tune it?
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How do you access the betas again? I remember having that page in move.local a few months back, but they removed the link and can’t find it anywhere.
It’s move.local/development i think
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Does 1.5 beta have configurable midi channels for in/out?
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That’s the one, thanks! Multichannel midi out is nice, but midi in still only works with the selected track on one channel. Hopefully they add this and midi over USB-C soon.
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Yes. Shift+track button gives midi settings and colors per track.
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Not for midi in yet unfortunately, it just plays which track is selected.
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