Digitakt 2 Audio Synchronization

Elektron Gear Digitakt
#1

Hello friends, I’m new to the world of Elektron and hybrid systems in general, and I’d like to know if this is possible, in case you could give me a hand.

I have the Digitakt 2 and Bass Station 2 and my intention is to run them both through my MOTU M2 card to which I have a couple of studio monitors connected.

I was wondering what is the quickest way to do this, as although I have them linked via MIDI, and have installed Overbridge, I can’t get any sound out via USB either outside or inside my DAW.

I’ve tried several configurations and I’m seeing that the only option that is possible at the moment is to connect my speakers directly to the Digitakt and use it as a sound card. I think I’m missing something and it’s probably much easier than that so I hope you can enlighten me on the issue, thanks in advance.

#2

There is no default reason why you would not be able to use your M2 or any other ASIO interface as default over the DT2 or other OB sources.

  • The Bass Station 2 supports USB MIDI but I do not believe the chipset supports USB Audio, so you will need to connect the analog outs to the M2 (alternately Digitakt 2 ins while ensuring the mixer levels are up for the inputs)
  • Tell us more about how you have configured the Digitakt 2 for OB, please

When you open up the Overbridge application, does it note that the Digitakt 2 is connected and do you have the relevant channels active?
If that is proper, do you have the Digitakt 2 plugin loaded into and active in your DAW project?

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#3

Thank you very much for the answer, so you’re telling me that I don’t have to connect the Bass Station to the card, but I can do it through the Digitakt, right? I have just discovered the plugin and I have already managed to get sound through my DAW, in this case Ableton.

I understand that it is not possible to do it outside the DAW unless I connect my Digitakt to my sound card through the analog audio outputs, correct me if I’m wrong.

Now the next thing I’d like to do would be to sync both devices and be able to manage the tempo from the Digitakt although I think that’s going to cost me a little more headache, but I think it won’t be that hard.

I have the Bass Station on MIDI channel 16 and assigned to track 16 of the Digitakt.

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#4

“I understand that it is not possible to do it outside the DAW unless I connect my Digitakt to my sound card through the analog audio outputs, correct me if I’m wrong.”

Can you be more specific on the scenario you are trying to do out of DAW, just to preview audio from one or both devices?

You can use the analog outs of the BS2 into either the M2 or DT2, though you’d need to make sure the inputs on your project are turned up in the DT2 mixer and the channels are enabled in OB.

This gets a bit more tricky, depending on your expectations for the DAW and project.

Generally the DAW will want to be master sync and especially if you have any other instruments or fx tied to tempo, you would have the Digitakt and BS2 as following, it’s often less tight if you have the DAW synced to the Digitakt, but depending on what you’re trying to do, it can be tolerable latency-wise.

USB midi can also add a tick more latency, but that can be optimized when you’re a bit more productive and have the wiggle room to perfect your setup.

Stepping back, daw options like Ableton MIDI config let you select which midi interface will be sent sync, note information, etc. or receive to the DAW from the device if you want to use its clock.

Feel free to try out the DT2 as master, you can also use the din out to send clock to the BS2 if you have a sequence there, though notes from daw/usb and the tighter DIN sync might not work great together.

Hopefully that’s not too confusing, trying to get you to where you can do what you want first and then that can be tweaked further.

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#5

Again I can’t thank you enough for taking the trouble and spending your time on this, I was told this was a great community and it is, and I’ll return the favour when I’m a bit more knowledgeable on the subject to help where I can.

I’m still discovering a lot of the Digitakt’s features, some of them thanks to you, as I just got it recently for the screen change which has turned out almost perfectly.

I meant previewing that audio yes, and you’ve already given me two possible solutions so that’s great. Now with the sync issue I think I’ll do it from the DAW for the moment and then I’ll try using the Digi as the master, as you said, and I’ll stick with what I’m most comfortable with or satisfies my needs.

Thanks again for clearing my doubts because I am starting to enjoy the benefits of these wonderful devices, I hope everything goes very well for you!

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