Ryan,
Thanks man that sounds cool but a bit over my head. I’m very new but appreciating the informational stuff here-
S10
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Control-All: change the parameters of all the tracks simultaneous.(Ex: all reverb sends are at 0). Holding the track button and increasing the reverb parameter will raise the reverb for all the parameters. The same as with every parameter.
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Copy/Paste: Each new pattern will return to default settings(BPM/Samples/Parameters). If you’re working on a pattern and you’re ready to create a riff that will follow this, chances are you’ll want there to be a consistency between the sound of the patterns. You copy the pattern by making sure the Rec button is not lit and then pushing Func+Rec. You then go to a new pattern and then go to your next pattern and push Func + Stop to paste the previous pattern. To start with a clean slate using the same sounds push Func+ Play to clear the sequence.
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Tuning samples- naturally when working with samples, tuning can vary. If you’ve loaded up a bell sample, but that sample is D. when, in chromatic mode, you hit a C on the keyboard- the note will be D instead. Using an external tuner(there are some for iPhone) is a good method to make sure that all of the sounds being used will be in key with your other sounds.
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Another list of things that throws people off:
Mute Mode - Default if for mute keys to be green- which is global muting. If you mute track 2 on pattern 1 and move to pattern 2- track 2 will still be muted. If you push Func + bank you’ll enable mute mode(where you don’t have to push func before a track to mute a track. However, if you push func + bank TWICE Then the color of the trigs will turn Purple and this means Pattern Mute Mode- where, provided nothing’s globally muted, muting a track on Pattern 1 will not mute the track when you move to another pattern.
BPM is available to work either globally or by individual tracks. You can change this mode by going to the tempo page and pushing Func + Yes
Hope this helps! I know the Purple lights confused the heck out of me!
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I think my best advice is just to hang in there and take your time. I come from playing guitar through fx too. I first got a computer and synth in 2009. I wasn’t really concerned about utilizing everything straight away and it was more just a fun thing to have around and experiment with. Slowly I learned things through lots of trial and error, and met many roadblocks and challenges along the way. Eventually I realized I wanted to get more serious about it and have the electronics become an integral part of my music instead of a fun thing to mess with on the side as a guitar player.
It took me maybe five years of messing about to eventually have the ins and outs of midi sink into my brain, and be able to understand all the routing and parameters and things using computer programs and plugins…
If I had got a Digitakt straight from my guitar days I would have been lost for awhile too. It wasn’t even till after five years of messing about that I could even comprehend and have an idea what I would do with hardware groove boxes…
I’m not saying it will take five years, but it is certainly normal for a guitar player to be stumped by a semi complex groovebox. If your more determined to learn things quicker than I was you’ll certainly get there quicker than I did, but it requires lots of research and trial and error. So many times I was stumped with roadblocks but I just slowly kept at it and eventually things started to click.
Electronic music making is so different than guitar playing, it’s super geeky and techy and uses a lot more of the other side of your brain, it’s like going to school for engineering or something versus just letting vibes flow through you. The balance of the two is so rewarding though after you get through the tech hurdles, it really jumps your music into the future and is so much fun…
So, really I’d just try not to get frustrated, and understand it’s not easy and will take quite some time and effort to get up to speed. I always recommend if you get stuck somewhere and can’t figure it out after some time and effort, to just forget about it for awhile and completely mess about on a new project having no idea what’s going on, you’ll probably here some quite interesting stuff that will make you smile even if you don’t know how you did it, and you always learn something along the way. After some funs been had then go back to the tech issues and try to sort it out again with a fresh non frusteated mind…
Hang in there, it’s normal for it to seem complex and difficult at first, but eventually it becomes easy and you start having loads of fun…
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My post wasn’t meant to be harsh on you and it surely doesn’t “tests my knowledge too much”.
It’s just that your question is much too broad that no one knows where to start answering. At least that was my impression from reading the other replies which start already more deep into stuff than cuckoo’s video.
With concrete questions (even if they are quite basic ones), others and me can probably help you and/or point you to the informations.
Without concrete questions: where to start to explain? Should I explain what a sample is? How a sequencer works in general? And, and, and … you know? There are tons of knowledge about electronic music which would take years to write about and which can surely not be packed into a bunch of posts.
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You may be interested in my special 5 step program to happiness!
Step 1: Watch YouTube videos on gear interested in.
Step 2: Read the manual online.
Step 3: Decide if gear is right for you.
Step 4: If bought, learn gear properly.
Step 5: Rinse and repeat.
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Here’s my bit of advice for the long run:
Don’t try to do everything all at once. If you try to make use of “everything” all at once it can get pretty crazy to keep track of what’s going on.
Experiment with 1 feature or idea at a time.
I second @tnussb in that it’s kind of hard to give specific advice without really knowing where you’re at. A lot of the basics are indeed covered in the manual and I hate to be one of those “RTFM” guys, especially knowing the manual CAN seem pretty technical in some areas, but you should definitely do some skimming through it to get an idea for the basics.
People on here are super duper helpful and friendly (well most of them anyway!) and I’m sure as you run into hurdles if you ask specific questions you will get super duper helpful answers 
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Man, it’s almost easier not to try to do anything specific when your first using something like this and never have before. If your like “I want it to sound like this” and try to do it it might end up being super frustrating and have several tech roadblocks until you realize your not even doing it in the right way at all… Maybe not, but if this is happening I’d just go for making things that end up sounding cool, but not trying to squeeze something you hear in your head into the DT… At least at first anyway. Or like I said before try to do it and if it isn’t working just see what you can end up with without any particular goal in sight. Then go back and forth between trying to make something happen, and just experimenting to see what can happen. After a bunch of this things will click and it will be easier to make things you want happen…
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How are you getting on with it saturn10? What an excellent choice for your first ever drum machine/groovebox!
I’d agree with most the above advice. Create a blanc project. Sample one sound. Put it on a track and go from there learning all the amp envelopes and filter. And come back to us with specifics😉
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I wouldn’t even sample anything (that’s not real beginner stuff). Just create a new project and try to make a beat with the default sounds. With the default sounds its easy to navigate to the corresponding tracks, because they are labelled on the front panel.
Try to set some trigs. Try to switch to other tracks and set there some trigs, too. Try to modify the default sounds. Just take it slowly.
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Hi! Would anyone be able to sum up all the button colours what they mean and in relation to how they are blinking. Love the light show, but I what does it all mean?
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Well, I don’t own a Digitakt. So I cannot list them.
Regarding the colors the manual is helpful when you know how to look after them.
The trick is to search for the color names itself (like green, red, purple, orange) to find their descriptions. Sorrily no page lists them all.
Going by memory here so some info might be slightly off:
If you’re in basic play mode (i.e not in mute, record or chromatic mode), the numbers flash when they are triggered. Colors mean the following:
White: Standard trigger
Red: Current step of sequencer
Green: Track is muted but it’s showing you that there is activity there
Purple: Same as green but showing that it’s muted from pattern mute mode instead of global mute mode.
Going into different modes:
GLOBAL MUTE MODE - GREEN
This mode keeps tracks muted even when you change patterns. Keys that are green are UNMUTED. Think of it as a green traffic light, green means “go”, so it will allow the track to play.
PATTERN MUTE MODE - PURPLE
Same as global mute mode, except it only retains the mute states in current pattern. If you change patterns it will change to whatever that pattern’s mute state is.
STEP RECORD MODE:
RED = There’s an active note trig there
BLINKING RED = Active note trig that has parameter-locked data on it.
YELLOW = A noteless trig. This is used to change parameter data of the track without triggering a new note.
CHROMATIC MODE - WHITE
The keys that are lit up in white represent the 12 chromatic notes of a keyboard. In mindwarping grid format.
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This is an interesting thread, even though it’s been two years since the last post. I myself have had my Digitakt for four months and still am figuring out the tricks. Even though I have been using drum machines and MIDI for years, I get where @Saturn10 was coming from: this is a daunting instrument.
I think what I am realizing is that the Digitakt is so powerful and so flexible, and they’ve packed so much complexity into the controls via all these buttons, that if THIS is your first step into working with a step-based sequencer or drum machine, you can quickly get in over your head.
And if that is you, then a simpler machine like Model Cycles or even a Korg Volca will probably be enough for you to learn and make beats. But that doesn’t mean you should give up on the Digitakt. Just know it’s got a lot more “under the hood” than you may be ready to use for a while.
I’ll assume @Saturn10 either figured things out by now or gave up on the Digitakt, but if not, or for anyone who is bewildered by the interface, I’d recommend learning about 16-step drum machines first (like the TR-808) and then read just enough of the Digitakt manual to understand loading samples and programming basic drum beats in Grid Recording mode. It’s an amazing machine for just that, and everything else will just enhance your music as you learn more and get more comfortable.
Hope this helps somebody. This forum is great.
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Such an old reply here Stu- but sending a thanks. I am stumbling along!
Best
S10
Hello Issacorion,
I returned to this thread after what, a yr and 1/2, goodness help me… I am about to ask another newbie question on Overbridge either here or on the main pages.
I did however wish to thank you for your comment. I totally love my DT and have despite having made a number of learning-leaps with it, am still digging the depths of it. It is amazing.
Cheers to you and thanks for all encouragement and positivity, despite my own and other’s frustration, ha! 
S10
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Glad to hear you stuck with it. I did t get it at first either, and I had a TR8-S which seemed much more immediate and easy to pick up so I contemplated selling the DT thinking that it was “too complex” for what I wanted to do. I am so glad that I didn’t do that. I definitely had an “Aha!!” moment with it and just kind of grasped how open and deep it really is. It’s vast. I haven’t explored Overbridge much because I have almost zero experience using DAWs. Just chiming in to say it’s good to hear you’re still at it…
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Hey thanks VM,
Yes it’s quite a work of art. I love taking either new/recorded samples or included ones and EQ-ing them, using the low freq modulation, modifying them for my own interests. I am amazed at how quickly one finds out one’s tastes are specific in for example, snare sounds. I like a tight/Stewart Copeland snare sound… and am tickled I can program that for myself. Lately, I have been checking out that YouTube DT vid about tape loop sounds and am now looking into the ambient options.
Overbridge may be a challenge. I just made a post on the forum about a very basic DAW I use and my trying to get OB/DT going on it. I have so far just been an expert in crashing it, lol, ugh.
Best of luck to you and all. Hopefully check in again soon-
S10
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Hi everyone,
I’m wanting to move away from my DAW a bit and getting some hardware.
I’m mostly looking to make ambient music. First thought was a Korg Minilogue but it’s a bit similar to what I do on computer and doesn’t look as fun as the Digitone. However I’m not a huge fan of FM sounds (they sound great but in my opinion better for supplementing a track rather than being the basis, so I still want one but not a priority).
Then I stumbled on the Digitakt, which I wasn’t thinking of but I have heard make great ambient tones on youtube. But I’ve never tried making ambient music this way and I don’t know how suitable it is. Is it easy to take simple samples and make nice long drones with them or is it a good idea to get something else instead?
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Well, it’s a sample player so it’s really limited only by what you put into it. It does only use mono samples which may be a limitation for making really lush ambient. Or not maybe!
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