Digitakt and DAW workflow

Elektron Gear Digitakt
#1

My Digitakt arrived half way through a couple of half finished projects and so far I have just mangled samples with it, recorded them to audio and added them to my project. I would like to incorporate the Digitakt far more going forward including the sequencer but I have no desire at all to replace my DAW. I have come to the conclusion over the years that I arrange and finish things quickly and easily with a DAW and I just don’t with hardware sequencers. I do love hardware sequencers for creating stuff and as a change from being 100% ITB.

So my plan is to write with the Digitakt and hardware synths including Plocks etc. and then record the whole lot to MIDI in the DAW, delete all sequencer data from the Digitakt and then trigger everything including Digitakt samples and Plocks from the DAW.

So my questions are,

Will this work as I describe?

Is there a better way to do it?

How are you using Digitakt in conjunction with a DAW?

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#2

Until overbridge arrives I prefer to create variations on digitakt and record them as audio. Perhaps while messing about with the filters etc for extra variation. I would not want to use midi from the DAW to sequence the sounds in the Digitakt as it kind of defeats the purpose IMHO.

#3

I think he means he’s going to record the midi sequencer and then send that back to his DT. I think the plan should work splendidly. Also! if you’re rocking Ableton you could record the audio in separate tracks and then switch the audio track into midi tracks(I doubt it will work for P-locks off the bat.)

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#4

Yes I have been just recording audio to date but one problem I have with this is that I have a collection of groove quantizes that I have gathered and whittled down over the years that I like and I the only was to put the Digitakt audio to those groove quantizes is to use Elastic Audio or similar and it isn’t perfect, I hear artifacts sometimes that I don’t like.

I have found over the years using various hardware sequencers that I like hardware to come up with ideas quickly and easily but once I have the parts written a DAW works WAY better for me for arranging and finishing tracks.

I am a serial tweaker too, I like having MIDI until the end so I can make changes to things rather than being stuck with something I have committed to audio. It is maybe not a good habit but again it is how my workflow has developed and what works for me.

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#5

Would you still be able to utilize all those wonderful trig conditions though if you used midi from the DAW to trigger the parts? I feel it would take longer to write the automation in the DAW for those changes, but I’m not sure how that all would work out tbh. I would rather edit the audio that was recorded from the machine, but that’s just me. I would use the DAW to trigger hardware synths though as it is easier to control and make the type of automation that is typical with synths.

#6

If you record the midi into the DAW and then send it back it will still have the feel of trig conditions, but it will be more determined/prepared