I don’t think I have made a single thing on syntakt that used all 12 tracks, even with midi. At first I thought having to sacrifice a track for midi would bother me, but it really doesn’t.
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My thought too. Even better when adding a Polyphonic Synth.
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I do it frequently. Mostly because I prefer a lot of variety in my percussion and hate using sound locks. My brain can’t handle multiple sounds on one track.
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I love the DT/MM2 combo.
These two devices marry very well because the MicroMonsta 2 reacts great to bank/program changes and controller events send by the Digitakt. It feels like it’s a single device, you have all and everything in a single project file.
A second Elektron machine would simply overwhelm my old brain 
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Oh yeah everyone is totally different. My personal flow is that I generally get bored of patterns way way before I actually fill them up. But I can totally see how if you are really getting in there and filling out a track you could run out. But I am the same as you, I don’t p lock any other sounds really, just p locking parameters to get slight variation.
Ah yeah, that changes a lot. I try to squeeze as much out of one pattern as I can.
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As others have noted both sampling and synthesis can be as basic or far out as you want them to be - they’re just different vehicles for getting there. It’s more a question of whether you want the starting point to be a sample or a preset/waveform.
That said the Digitakt in particular is a very deep, very flexible sampler, whereas the Syntakt is somewhat middle of the road as a synth imo. The lack of parameters available for each machine can make it feel like a collection of presets that you can only edit on the macro level…basically building with LEGOs, as opposed to the Digitone’s unshapen ball of clay.
A thousand ways to break out of this and be creative with the Syntakt, of course, but it requires some ingenuity to work around limitations. The other boxes have more of that classic “twist a few knobs and things get weird fast” quality that Elektron is known for. Maybe they’ll add more parameters in a future update, but for now it shines as a way to pull up classic drum and mono synth sounds quickly.
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I wind up using 1 track per chord machine, which makes it easier to dial in progressions/voicings. That can eat up 3-4 tracks easily. Add digital kick, clap, snare, and analog bass/lead/counterpoint/hats. That’s most of the voices right there.
I’m sure there’s a good workflow for collapsing chord machines across multiple tracks to a single track, I just need to find it.
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That makes sense! I’ve got a couple Polysynths I like the sound of better so I literally never use chord machine.
I don’t always use the chord machine but whenever I do,
I randomize like 4-5 times and its juuuust right.
Always in 4-5 tries, no more, no less.
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Good tip. I still haven’t tried randomize after owning various Elektrons since 2017 (I forgot it was there) so now I know not to go over 4-5. On the other hand, I don’t want to steal your style so maybe I’ll go 6-7
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Syntakt is the better groovebox, Digitakt is the better overall device.
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It bothers me psychologically, but in practice, I don’t reach that limit either.
It’s a blast when I’m really in a heavy “synth” mood to hook up a MicroMonsta 2 in bi-timbral mode to gain up to two tracks of 6 voice poly-synth goodness that I can route back in through the FX block, at the loss of maybe a digital track or two on the Syntakt. Decent tradeoff when even with the lost tracks, the Syntakt is STILL like a Model:Cycles on steroids + 4 tracks of analog synth (sort of an A4-meets-AR lite?).
I normally run my various HW units side-by-side, but I’m tempted to get a little two-tiered stand as a workhorse because my usual core setup is either two of the Digis (which ones depending on focus) or one of the Digis and something else like the MM2 or a Circuit Mono Station.
Side note, after a ton of time focusing on just the three Digis, I’ve been pulling the MM2 or CMS back into the mix again. Crazy what you can do with just ONE Digi box when you give it a complementary playmate to take up the sonic slack.
Besides any two Digis together, some other great combos include:
Digitakt and MM2
Digitone and Circuit Mono Station
Syntakt and … anything. 
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What’s that below the digis?
Samson SM10
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Plock parameters on each track, copy/paste trigs to the main chord track.
Or use several midi tracks, different notes and CCs, record on 1 audio track.
I prefer to plock or record on 1 track directly…
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I find myself P-locking 8 notes for the increments of my scale and then pressing func+yes to figure out a progression I like. I really wish there were a way to save variations of a patch and record a performance of those into a single track. My idea for the modifiers (making them four variations on the current sound, a bit like scenes on octatrack) would make this possible. You could also do thinks like condense the kick and snare down to a single track, or get a bunch of hi hat variation on a single track.
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This is what I did. Makes the ST/DT combo feel like a cohesive instrument.
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That’s why I built a Stand with 2 levels that can accomodate 4 Digis (DT, DN, AH+ and ST). It makes things easier.
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Syntakt is best during the winter months.
Digitakt is best during the summer months.
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