Hi, first post here
I am considering buying a Digitakt 2, but I have a specific demand for it to be able to record midi and play it back live. I found something in the manual hinting to it being possible, but I never watched anyone using it like this. Only people with like Oxi Ones or other external sequencers. So my very specific question is this: would the following setup be possible with the DT2?
prophet 08 midi out —> midi in DT2
Play notes to be recorded as midi in a loop playing back.
DT2 midi out —> prophet 08
Playing the loop back to Prophet 08
Prophet 08 Audio out —> audio in on DT2
For the audio to be processed by the DT2
Audio out of DT2 —> mixer.
If this is not possible I would have to buy an OXI one for the sequencing.
The Elektron sequencer can simultaneously record and play back incoming midi notes entered into the sequencer in live recording mode. It does work in a looping manner so notes entered leading up to the loop will be sequenced and play on the next run through.
The midi tracks will send midi out data to whichever device the Digitakt 2 is configured to work with.
The audio which is sent into Digitakt 2 can be processed in real time by effects or compression, so if you are talking about using it as a pass-through audio processor that’s fine but once you begin sampling audio the rules regarding your desired set up will change significantly.
So, to summarize: yes, it can receive midi notes from the prophet 08. Yes, it will record and play back midi notes which are recorded to a midi track on the next loop following the recording. Yes, DT2 can send midi out from the midi track sequence. Yes, the prophet 08 can send audio into DT2 to be processed. Yes, the DT2 can send audio either by way of the physical outs into the mixer, or it can send audio over USB which can be either multitracked into a DAW using overbridge or routed through a digital mixer.
If you don’t change what you want to do with it, then the rules won’t change. If you start talking about sampling the audio or live looping of audio recordings, anything like that, the rules will change.
As stated in your original demand, I think it will be fine.
I would just like to add that if you are expecting timing perfect MIDI recording and playback, it is not that. You are limited to the micro timing events available to the Digitakt which are not very high resolution. Aditionally, you are limited to 4 notes of polyphony, and sometimes chords that are played are recorded on the same exact timing. Practically that means you will loose that humanized feel when recording MIDI into the Digitakt - it might not sound exactly the same when played back into your Prophet.
This is not uncomon in hardware MIDI sequencers, but I’m mentioning it if you are coming from doing the same with a DAW where MIDI polyphony and resolution are not limited. You will see a difference.
There is always a caveat when wanting something perfect for your task.
Hardware (depending on which) is usually prefered (and, let’s be honest, more fun) for live applications, but for playing back exactly what you hear when recording MIDI, I think a well polished live oriented daw like Ableton with a dedicated MIDI controller will always offer you more features and better results.
For example, the OP-Z records MIDI much more accurately in my opinion than Elektron sequencers, but the build quality is bad, and it has bugs, so not reliable. Also limited polyphony.
The Squarp Pyramid might be very solid for your needs, from my experience, but it is a bit fidly to program.
The Deluge might be worth a look, had ok results with it, but lack of screen (at the time) did not work for me.
I havent used OXI, Hapax or the elusive Cirklon, maybe other people can give experiences on that and other things for live MIDI.
EDIT: There is also the modern MPC series from Akai, but how much that is actually a DAW in a box is debatable… I have not used one though.
I’m always happy with the resolution when playing in midi. You can easily switch between quantised and unquantised. My keyboard skills are pretty limited so I generally have to edit the exact timing which is made easy on the digitakt.
Recently I have been using chord mode on my midi keyboard (limited keyboard skills ) and then post editing the steps in the digitakt to try out inverting the chords etc to see what works which is also really easy.
I don’t know what midi capabilities the prophet has but using the midi cc capabilities of the digitakt really unlocks the capability of my synths. Midi control of the filter etc is a game changer and this can be sequenced by the digitakt. It’s like having loads of hands
Yes, Individual microtiming, length, velocity for each note of a step allows much natural results for recording, editing.
What annoys me is the fact that overlapping notes erases previously recorded notes, and no overdub possible. Same on all Elektrons. I do with it and edit notes after live recordings.
Older series are very capable midi wise ! Selective quantize, Overdub !
Yeah, the DN2 is also a great option, but I like the possibility to sample audio as well for other purposes. I think I can work with the 4 note polyphony (I hope ). However, I am not sure I fully understood what @shigginpit meant by “once you begin sampling audio the rules regarding your desired set up will change significantly” - does it mean that I can’t sample the sound of my Prophet while using the DT2 as a midi sequencer? Because that would significantly reduce the usefulness of the DT2 as a sequencer. Then the Oxi One (or other sequencer) would be necessary either way.
Now even I’m confused. Will test when I get home, but certainly you can sample while the DT is playing, even for resampling purposes. Not sure why MIDI playback would be excluded from this.
Pass through audio is not impacted by the Digitakt normalization behavior, monitoring audio like we were talking about will be unaffected. Once you start sampling things, or resampling things, I feel like the normalization has a fairly large impact on the character of what you input into the machine. Not everyone feels that way and it may not impact OP but it’s certainly worth noting that you cannot disable normalization on the digitakt recorder.
Another thing to consider if digitakt is not made to be a live looper and it’s not made to have a cue output for the headphones so unless you plan to involve a computer, you won’t have a way to monitor and trim any audio or preview it before bringing it in live (because my understanding is that you intend to have the pass through audio still going to the mixer at the same time).
Even with a gated recording, the results might not be perfect although it will loop with the beat so that’s not a concern. But these are just things that change the nature of using DT for this purpose and I think sampling adds a whole other dimension.
I’ve used my OG Digitakt to record MIDI just like the original poster asked.
I’ll add in response to the 4-note polyphony limitation of the Elektron boxes’ MIDI sequencer, you can get around this if you use 2 MIDI tracks. In fact I find this manner of working with it fun and creative. I might have a 4-note chord progression on one MIDI part and a melodic part on another MIDI track, both going to the same synth, which I can turn on and off as I please in the Mute mode.
Yes normalization is a thing in the DT, almost forgot about that as I stoped trying to use the DT to be a live looper a long time ago. OP, if that is your goal, I can tell you I use Loopy Pro on the iPad which imo is superior even to Ableton for this specific purpose with a launchpad attached. For midi you even have a free auv3 plugin called midi tape recorder which can record “sample perfect” midi and play it back, even MPE data.
) and then post editing the steps in the digitakt to try out inverting the chords etc to see what works which is also really easy.
). However, I am not sure I fully understood what