Hey guys. Need to get more active in this space so here’s a start. I’ve had the Digitakt for around a year now and think I’ve developed a relative amount of competency with it. (although not as much as some of you wizard… sleeves)
Anyways I started a few tunes on it whilst I was travelling for two months and I’m now in the process of finishing those tunes, in Ableton which I’ve just got on the 90 day trial.
Absolutely loving Ableton, feels so much more creative and intuitive than Logic.
My question is, does anyone have a better method of working than myself. I’m currently recording different patterns from the Digitakt dry into Ableton’s session view, then moving it into an arrangement, adding other elements and then mixing.
I’ve seen videos with the Push2 and it looks great, and super easy to get music going immediately which is straight into Ableton ready to get going.
I do the same thing, though I record the effected output from the Digitakt, one track at a time. I use the Digitakt’s delay for rhythmic effects, and p-lock reverb, so I prefer to record wet.
I also work with the Digitakt and Ableton together, back and forth. For example, instead of creating several versions of a pattern on the Digitakt, I will make a variation, record it to a clip in Ableton, then repeat.
Usually I work on an idea for a while in the Digitakt before Ableton gets involved though.
While the Push2 is great for laying down some ideas and in general jamming, when you are about to arrange/re-arrange things it simply gets in your way and slows you down.
Of course when you have already done some arrangement or clips and want to improve upon (i.e. add some more instruments etc.pp.) it becomes great again.
so, you are recording the analog stereo out? via an audio interface?
if so, you should try overbridge. with ob you can record all 8 tracks of dt plus the fx track separately, at the same time…
regarding the push: i think it wont help you much while arranging a song. (precise selecting, moving things around is easier/faster with the mouse/trackpad)
push makes more sense with ableton only production i guess. but a nice midi controller with pads or keys, which maybe could be used also stand alone with the dt could be nice anyway…
It’s quick enough once you get into a rhythm. Audio in via Overbridge syncs perfectly. Just mute all but one track, then step through the patterns and record clips. Then on to the next track. I’ll sometimes record a triple-length version of a pattern, to wrap the FX trails.
Hey man. Yeah I’m using overbridge and recording the 8 tracks out plus it gives you a stereo out; which I’d prefer to have just the completely wet fx, but its giving me a lot of the dry signal too?
Thanks for the reccomendations about the push. I’ll leave it for now and just buy Ableton before their 30% discount ends haha.
It becomes tendious to fix/modify fine details. On the computer screen you can do much things with one click while on the Push2 you need to navigate through various menus/press multiple buttons to get there.
Also selecting stuff from long lists is quite cumbersome on the small display, while on the computer screen it isn’t.
Nevertheless: I would miss the Push2 for the hands on control while jamming. It’s just not that product you want to use at every step in your workflow. But using the right tool for each job, is fine with me.
in the track routing, you can disable, that the tracks get send to the main out. this gives you wet fx channel without the dry tracks on the main out! (at least it works for me on a4 and ar, but should be on dt and dn also…)
Ahh yes I think I did get it somewhat working this way before, through Logic but gave up because it doesn’t work as well with Logic as it does Ableton.
Thanks for the tip!
this is a setting in the digitakt, so should have nothing to do with the daw… if you turn of the fx sends also for three of the tracks you should be able to get the fx for each of the tracks separate in 4 recording passes
The push is amazing to come up with synth ideas on top of whatever you have going on in your drum machine. But it’s true that it’s only really good for sessions view.
And one very important point that a number of people miss. When in a chromatic keyboard layout, it is tuned in 4ths, just like a guitar. There are a lot of people on this forum that recently started making music with synths, but were primarily guitarists, and don’t have a lot of skill on a piano layout yet. Push2 provides a way to transfer that fretboard knowledge.
Yup, the Novation Launchpads are the same when scale mode is turned off. I am sure there are others, but those are the ones that I know are capable of the same layout. Just be sure to note that if you want to skip the computer with a Launchpad, you either need a USB MIDI host box with one of the cheaper Launchpads or you need the Launchpad Pro with built-in MIDI out.