Digitakt 2 P-lock chopping vids

Elektron Gear Digitakt
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Hi there,

I’m considering this little box, the workflow is just too tempting for my present needs.
But i’d like to see the p-locks in action for “chopping” samples out of the grid. Do you know of any vid of someone taking a melodic sample and using locks to make each trigger play a different part of the sample during the sequence ? I’d like to see something creative.

Also i assume that it’d be possible to also use locks to change their adsr enveloppe during this precise moment until the next trig right ?

I can’t see a better way to be able to freely chop, but i haven’t touched an elektron box in years so i need a refresh.

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You know, I hate to say it but if you’re still of the mindset that you previously established where a fiddly workflow was killing your vibe when using samplers, then this particular aspect of any DT one or two will probably be an instant buzzkill for you.

I just think that any amount of repetitive “blind finding” of slice points on a per trig basis is going to be totally draining. You can love it for what it is and be massively satisfied with what it does well, but I think that watching someone do what you’re asking about will just reinforce the feeling dt boxes need better abstract slice functionality to really ascend from sampling drum computer to full blown sampler.

I’m usually the first one to recommend DT but you’d probably be happier with a modern MPC (if you still don’t jive with OT either). Just my opinion though and hope to be proven wrong.

To elaborate further, any time I do this on DT I need a piece of paper and a pen because I have to establish (numerically) where the start and end of each slice point is so that you don’t have to go searching about for it again and again. If slice A begins at a certain point on the start parameter and then ends with the length parameter, then in a perfect world if your slice B started at the end of the A slice, your new sample start parameter for slice B should align with the length parameter (but in sample divisions and not actual linear time, which makes it unnecessarily complicated to retain and do on the fly) of where slice A ends.

But usually that just gives you a frame of reference, because often the best sounding start is not exactly at that point for slice B, it’s a little before or after it, so all it really provides you with is a frame of reference for the end of slice A. The more times this is divided the harder it becomes to keep track of. Once they’re chopped though you could save them and use them as sounds or “presets” on dt 2 over and over again, so at least there’s that.

I’d like to think that there is a better way to “clock” this (like mental clock, not midi clock) but I honestly don’t really have a better way to do it. Usually I cut weird slices (weird meaning “off the grid”) in a daw and then move them to the digitakt just like that. It’s a pain in the ass workflow.

Of course, after you’ve cut them and moved them to the DT, arrangement becomes easy. Also using slice machine to chop and rearrange or reverse hits on drum loops is easy, but that’s because it’s all on the grid, take it off the grid and it becomes an uphill labour to do it on the hardware itself.

Not saying it’s impossible, but I remember the prior dialogue and if you are a more patient and motivated person than before, or if you would only do this once in a while then sure, it’s not going to bother you a great deal. If that’s your desired workflow, I find my MPC live 2 much easier (like sooo easy) for slicing, but slicing isn’t everything. I would arrange on DT any day over MPC, but for slicing and “live” feel to the recording of midi sample data, mpc is better.

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Exactly that, that’s why i haven’t pulled the plug yet, i’ve seen and tried so many samplers and grooveboxes that i completely forgot what irked me with elektron boxes and i need to witness someone going through it again.

It’s just peculiar with this brand because knowing what one of their machine does isn’t actually enough to turn your gaze away from it, because it has such an abstract programming, you feel like you could circumvent anything with it, whereas with any other sampler the workflow is so straight and familiar that you just need to read the specs to get a good idea (although i still tried them all so why am i fooling myself)

Yeah maybe i’m bumping my head still not admitting that there isn’t a machine that fits me completely in this brand’s lineup…

Like i said in the time, the OT has things that bother me too and i have a hard time compromising. Also i bet i’m also having a hard time really defining my needs, but there again i know i’d be capable of wanting more anyway.

Crazy thing is that… it’s not even that serious, i literally just need sketches from this, my main workflow is really instrumental and sampling is really just only a part of it, not even the most essential, so why am i bothering myself so much.

Most people would have drawn a conclusion a long time ago, not spending a decade trying every sampler under the sun and returning them all.

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you know, I wouldn’t be surprised if dt 2 gets better sample slicing. it feels like it might be a minute before it actually happens, but to me, it seems that they would just need to repurpose the sample recording screen where you chop the sample as it’s inbound and then (for example) let you lay slice points with the trigs in succession as the sample plays, then fine tune the start and end points by zooming in.

It’s like, the interface is already there, but it’s locked behind the sampling input screen, and nowhere else to be used for that purpose. So that’s why I say, it would not surprise me.

I’ve heard people say it would overlap with the OT too much, but to be frank they’re such different devices, I don’t think that would be the case.

There may not be a perfect sampler for you, but you absolutely have to identify the things that are deal breakers for you and then just work on finding something that has no deal breakers, only inconveniences. We can live with the inconvenient, but something that gnaws at you will eventually reach the bone.

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@Doug may shime in…iirc he has some interesting techniques.

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OP, everyone is different.

Case in point, none of this makes sense to me and Shiggin and I seem to agree on some other gear / taste matters ha.

For p-lock chopping (especially melodic) I don’t worry about having the next chop be in any way related to the first. I’m just fishing for something I like musically.

I’ll usually hold function and press yes a bunch of times to “Trig Preview” and let me ears guide me to a good chop. Sometimes I’ll pitch that chop or play it backwards too. Shit you can’t as easily do in other samplers.

E: Oh and the DT2 specifically over one has so many tracks… What I do these days:

Forget about the trig preview. I just move the start point around and go hunting. Once I like it, copy track to a new slot, and do the same. I’ll use a handful of tracks each as chops. Each tweaked to my taste.

Sometimes I leave it this way, sometimes I resample these with some slight audio gaps between them to re-sequence in a tidier way.

As I say this all aloud, it sounds kind of nuts and complicated. It’s not in practice to me.

I’d say the DT1 is cheap enough to be worth trying out. Get your hands on one and see what you think if possible.

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imagine you were chopping a vocal and you couldn’t slice between words, clauses or phrases because not everything in nature exists on a grid. then take that and apply it to music, or specifically sampling, especially when taking source material that isn’t on the project bpm and repurposing it by making it sound good to your ears.

you’re correct that it’s 2 uses of the same gear, but what I’m describing is a typical sample chop workflow and what you’re describing is using what you’re given, equally as musical in context but unable to offer a deliberate experience.

not in any way discrediting what you’re saying because I do both, but for chop suey I’m using the MPC or the daw. just the only way I can get what I want out of that specific thing I’m trying to do.

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Oh, you guys talking like grid mode? Yeah, I don’t have too many uses for that.

Even breaks aren’t usually on grid. Which gets problematic sometimes. I wish there was more flexibility here. I just move start and end points where I want per step in one-shot mode.

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And this guy and I had a few posts back in forth in one of his prior threads where he was making the point that he had difficulty finding a sampler workflow he gelled with, and described some ways he had not gotten along with various samplers in the past. At that time he was (from memory) more interested in getting back into an OT but I think between then and now it sounds like he got some DT2 temptation and I can’t blame him!

However just based on the prior information which is really probably pretty important to the overall tone of what OP is asking if you were to try and contextualize what this person is asking about to the effect of using p locks to chop and slice, and yes there is some more precision for my use case which I was describing and which you said you’re doing by doing it this way (and I apologize for misinterpreting that you weren’t talking about slice machine) but when I described that same workflow above, I think that’s exactly what resonated with OP is that he was trying to reinforce to himself that the way DT works is exactly like that, it’s more of a twiddling thumbs kind of manual slicing experience and less precise than most people prefer (when slicing in the abstract, because slice machine works great for on the grid slicing).

So, if it makes more sense, that’s what I’m referencing is the prior thread(s).

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Yeah I think I get it. I work with chops in a little more of an abstract way, and don’t often have that many individual chops anyways. So definitely a bit of that “blind” searching you mention.

I’ll use blips of vocals and melodic stuff but usually chopped in a such a way where you couldn’t really discern the original material. In this sense, the DT is rather inspiring and great for this kind of “happy accident” chopping, but if I wanted to neatly chop something in a specific, pre-determined way, I might lose some hair over the matter.

Polyend Tracker has a really great traditional slicer IMO. might be worth looking into one of its iterations.

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Totally get that and when I’m working on some material driving in that lane then it’s a lot less chopping than when I’m working on some hip hop or whatever, trying to cut up a break for some other random noisiness, something along those lines.

I’m definitely not trying to argue that you’re using it wrong or anything, just giving context for why I approached it that way in my initial post.

More often than not I recommend digitakt without fail.

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TLDR: Just don’t use grid mode to chop up samples.

Do you live near any stores? I reckon it would take 20mins for you to work out whether you could live with the DT way of working.

In the op you asked about adsr. Yes you can lock that. Other favourites to lock are pan, delay reverb. Filter etc. each chop can sound very different.

EDIT: also…and apologies if this is obvious. You can stick the same sample on different tracks and tweak differently.

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Yeah, like I wrote in the post that was quoted, I usually work out chops on my old Zoom Sampletrak. I actually prefer using that over any of the hardware alternatives that I’ve tried. From there, I’ll recreate the chops on the Digitakt.

I think that how much you get along with this way of doing things is going to depend on how much you like programming vs playing your patterns into the sequencer. If you prefer to copy and paste steps or edit them as you go then you’ll be in business. But if you’re using to playing them then this might not work for you.

If you want something that sits between the Digitakt and something like an MPC or a 404 mk2 in terms of how it handles slices, you might want to take a look at the Novation Circuit Rhythm. It has a proper slice mode where you can actually edit start and end points. It also has parameter locks so if you would prefer to parameter lock start and end points you can do that instead. You can also find use Rhythms for under 300 dollars US.

Still, as much as I haven’t really got along with MPCs, it’s the best option for this. It can deal with long samples, combinations of samples, layers, etc. Any dumb idea you have, you’ve probably got a way to do it. At some point I want to try it again, especially with the new firmware.

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