Digitakt Capabilities VS Blackbox

I’m having a tough time deciding on if I want to get a digitakt or 1010 Blackbox. I have a digitone and love the sequencing capabilities, and that’s what makes me want a digitakt. Most of what I want to sample are 5 to 8 second tape loops, simple guitar and vibraphone licks. I know the digitakt has limited memory storage as well so I wasn’t sure how fast I would fill it up.

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Blackbox is really good at looping, and it has a bunch of other great tricks (sequencer is different than Elektron). Digitakt is really good at being a sampler and crazy sample sequencer. Which one do you need?

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I’m starting to come to the conclusion it would be fun to have the limitations of the digitakt. Make me work in a different way, and I just am trying to take the computer out of the equation. Kind of seems like blackbox is a music app with no limitations. I just have the love for Elektron because the digitone was my first big synth purchase and I’ve had it for three years and I never get bored with it.

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Great timing for this topic :wink:

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Just saw him post this! Stoked he’s answering the questions

Based on only what you said here: Blackbox is better choice for your purposes. They are actually quite different though.

Blackbox can sample and loop audio on the fly. You have lots of stereo and polyphonic playback options. Storage limited by your Micro SD card.

Digitakt isn’t really great at what you’re talking about. It can do it, but the workflow for this type of music work will be cumbersome compared to the blackbox.
Digitakt is a great “instrument” but it’s not a workhorse “main” sampler for building songs.

I own both FYI

Edit: just saw the video post above, my opinion doesn’t change, but the video will be more detailed than my post I’m sure.

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Might be a situation where I get the blackbox now and Digitakt in the future

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Ah yes, more narrative that each Elektron is full of all possible features by default but Elektron just chooses to “turn off features” from one box to the next to get you to buy them all. And that’s the only reason Digis don’t have song mode.

Yawn.

Otherwise, great video, but that old conspiracy theory is so tired, (and frankly below Ricky) when Occam’s Razor tells us the box was obviously simply designed for a real-time, live performance. The smaller size and lack of kits is further evidence of this, but that’s easy to ignore when you want to push a narrative. Thought he was better than that but I guess you gotta feed the masses, sometimes.


Back on topic, I can see why anyone would own both!

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The lack of song mode doesn’t bother me, it’s just mostly sampling I’m looking for and I’ve gone the sp route and hated it.

Have you used any Elektron sequencer products before?

The Digitakt is renowned for being the simplest, most accessible Elektron. And yet it is still quite powerful. The sound engine, effects, and compressor also sound fantastic.

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Go for the Bbox. Sixteen stereo samples that can be as long or short as you like, combined with the Bbox’s sixteen detached sequencer patterns that all run independently and across sections, is something else entirely.

And you got four midi tracks in your Digitone. When you want to sequence your samples Elektron style, just hook up your Blackbox to the Digitone.

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The two Digis work extremely well together (I used to have them and it was an incredibly productive combination). I also used to sample my guitar into it. If you use Threshold recording, it’s easy to let a drum loop go around, start playing on whichever beat you want, then lay down a playback trig in the right place once you’ve saved and assigned it to a track. No need to trim the sample at all that way. It’s a very quick way of working. The only ‘limitation’ with DT is the lack of stereo sampling. The max sampling time is 33 seconds, so you’re good there.

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I didn’t watch the video. That’s unfortunate for someone with a relatively high YouTube profile spreading misinformation like that.

I’m wondering if people even think about something like, “maybe they made intentional choices I don’t fully comprehend”. That there is maybe some purpose and reason behind those choices and limitations?

Nope! Elektron is just a greedy scheming company with rotten, horrible people who are just out for themselves and to take all your money! :joy:

If that were true there are easier ways to get rich than making complex music instruments.

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For a new project I’m going to be using the Digitakt to handle longer loops (like a capella tracks from house music records). Curious to see how this all will play out. I already own the DT so I’m going to give it a serious go before I decide it can’t work. I’d been considering a Blackbox or RC 202.

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I dont think its a narrative.
I also don’t think elektron is some evil company trying to con their customers.
But I do know that companies (across all industries) want to ensure they make return on investment. They will release products which leave certain features out in order to keep the entire product line relevant.
Without getting to into the nitty gritty, why can’t a sampler released in 2017 slice samples? Sure - you can plock start points, but slices are essentially just an array of sample start/end points. Surely that’s not too CPU heavy, surely the UI for something like that cud easily fit onto DT UI (ie just have a slice mode). But then OT would have one less selling point.
No tinfoil hat, just saying, dismissing it as a fake narrative is pretty naive, after all elektron are a business and can’t make money if we all just buy one product and don’t need anything else after that.

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Yes I’ve been using the digitone for almost three years now

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Big fingers on touch screen without thinking,
Is definitely fuked
Hector is the
Way

When you’ve seen it pop up at least 50 times in various threads across various forums ever since the A4 came out and folks were miffed off that it didn’t have one feature the OT had (per track tempo scaling), it comes across as a narrative.

The fact that companies want to ensure return on investment, and Elektron is a company, and companies benefit from such behavior, does not give any more clout or prove that any feature has been intentionally omitted for financial purposes.

Do the circumstances of business offer Elektron the opportunity to benefit from isolating their product line?
Sure
Does that mean that they are doing it? Only if you can prove it.

Call me naive if you wish. I do not buy into the narrative because there is no evidence that leads me to believe that the narrative can hold water. I dismiss it the way I dismiss other conspiracy theories for the same reasons. I work from the factual information that is in front of me, and until those facts can be proven otherwise, conjecture is pointless.

It’s a convenient narrative though, it requires very little effort and allows people to be dismayed without having to think. Folks love a villain. It takes a lot less effort than realizing that a feature people really want only exists on the boxes that cost more and are, accordingly, more full featured, even though that explanation is a simpler one. You pay more for more features. More features cost more money. Occam’s razor.

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So that actually makes the decision more difficult. On one hand, you’d be able to jump right into the Digitakt.
On the other hand, it’d be good to have something with capabilities that go beyond what the Elektron sequencer can do.

As others have mentioned, the touch screen interface is a major differentiator. If it is something you’re okay with, give the BB a try.
If you can afford it, you could consider getting both, buy used and resell the one you don’t gel with, so that you don’t lose money on the experience.

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I can’t prove it, but I choose to believe that whatever isn’t because they are malicious.
They probably do have some constraints. Employees have to be paid to develop features. Maybe extensive improvements aren’t in the budget or plan. Maybe it’s exactly what they wanted it to be?

What I can show is some proof of good faith from Elektron though (which adds to the argument against the opposite):

Did we not just get an Octatrack update for a 10+ year old instrument? Sure they’re selling new ones but did they leave the OG OT out so we’d have to buy the new one? Nope.

People aren’t generally generous and greedy at the exact same time I think.

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