Computerless Alt Storage Thought

Elektron Gear Digitakt
#1

I have not decided if I am going to get a Digitakt or OT first but I was thinking about the storage issue with the limited storage on the Digitakt. 1G is not a lot for someone who does long ambient done sets. I can easily have 5-6GB of samples for various pieces. There is no easy way to manage that w/o a computer. I’m working on using more loopable samples now days which will help.

That said I was thinking of using a Tascam DR-40 as additional storage and just sample the output from the DR-40. This isn’t idea and not usable fro anything that needs real time loading. It’s just a thought of a way to be able to cary more samples without the need of computer. Anyone have a better idea?

#2

Does “w/o a computer” also exclude smartphones or tablets?

Of course, deciding for the OT, is probably the best idea especially in your case.

Because:

  1. up to 64GB of cf card storage
  2. playback of very long samples directly from the cf card (no size restriction)
  3. resampling time of up to 11 minutes (it’s only 30 seconds on the DT)
  4. (re-)sampling is stereo (DT = mono only)

IMHO when you want to do long ambient sample-heavy pieces the DT is the wrong machine due to all its restrictions, but OT should work fine.

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#3

I use an old Acer Iconia A500 tablet with fullsize USB port that can read & write to storage on an MPC - it treats the Akai as a CF card reader. I expect Elektron devices might work the same.

#4

And that will be something I explore. I’m fortunate in that I live only a little over an hour from Sweetwater sound and will be heading there Saturday to get my hands on the gear and play with it. Last time I didn’t research enough or play enough and ended up with an MPC Live. It’s a great machine but doesn’t work for me any my workflow. I’ll be selling it as soon as I back up my stuff. I loaded it with a 500GB SSD that I’ll probably leave in when I sell it. So Saturday I will be coming home with a DT or an OT.

So I may put the DT in 2nd place then as it’s going to be more useful for my trippy acidy stuff that I’m not working on at the moment. I just like how fast you are able to get around in the DT. I was just thinking that since I use the DR-40 to record outdoor samples and stuff in remote locations that I might be able to use it, but was sure it was a long shot.

#5

I find 1GB on the plus drive to be reasonable, personally struggle more with the 64mb ram limit per project.

Would be cool if there was some kinda box out there that took a load of stereo samples, gave a stereo output, but responded to midi sequencing : cc’s Etc.

Anything like that out there?

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#6

iOS devices?

#7

Could be hey

What app?

#8

Do you mean something like and Emu E-6400 Ultra? Because it holds a whole lot of samples and is purely a midi sampler.

#9

Dunno, im thinking something more audiothingies P6 size

#10

Hmm, a stand alone pocket sized sample-bank would be cool. A no frills sample bank that does no effects doesn’t record just stores and plays samples based on midi note/cc… Yea, be a little niche but would be cool. That would turn those last 8 channels on the DT into audio channels without any of the effects.

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#11

Maybe a Raspberry Pi?

With an LCD interface and just a few buttons so your not using it as a pc but as a sample bank.

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#12

Then you start dreaming eh? All I want is a stereo DT with more ram and storage lol

#13

If you dream, they will make it.

https://blokas.io/pisound/

#14

you just reminded me of norns, which i hadnt thought of a use for until now…

https://monome.org/norns/

#15

Very cool, a bit more expensive though. I’ve not read all it’s features yet as I’m at work so I bookmarked it for later.

#16

it is indeed more pricey, likewise for me and pisound

#17

I was just kinda thinking, the way that the original monome became the spark for so many grid based instruments we see these days. I’m not across the ins and outs of these new types of tools but things like pisound, norns, organelle, even mod duo, maybe the thing we:I’m looking for is already here. But also, I’m kinda wondering, I mean usually the bigger companies play catch up once ideas like this catch on. Like could we see a ‘max for live’ box like this at some point? I believe the mod can load max patches? Either way this is a good spot to land, might have to do some more research but something in this flexible, modular box type approach could be a next buy for me. I wonder if we could ever see the likes of Ableton or Akai or even Elektron dabbling in this space…

#18

sp404 but probably pricier than other options. And you get a nice sampler with fx which can also be sequenced by your DT/OT. Plus a built in mic (shitty but w/e).

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#19

Wasn’t there a similar thread recently where OP eventually decided to just use their phone?

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#20

Mod can run a specific kind of max patches, but not all kinds.

You mean something like norns or organelle? I think this market sector is too small for the big companies. Even Elektron is heading now more and more in the direction of “instant” machines with a very limited feature set.

Of the big companies actually only Korg provides something like an open platform with their custom oscillators and custom filters (Prologue/Minilogue XD).