Digitakt - First Impressions

Thought I’d start this thread for people to talk about their first impressions of the DT (use other thread for bug reports)

For historical purposes OS is V1.02 so if you are reading this in the future bear this in mnd.

Heres mine:

Build quality - very nice, feels as good as its bigger older stablemates.

Features - A nice balance between simplicity and possibilities

Design - I like the look of it

Sound quality - No complaints, sounds clear and full

Reverb and Delay, both the sound and parameter choices allow a fairly wide range of delays/verbs, possibly the delay could be tweaked a little in the sub ms range to allow comb filtering etc

Interface - Mostly very direct and simple, although there is a little room for improvement WRT navigation in the file system, I wish it was more like the OT than the Rytm. Also there are a few head scratching moments when in certain nested menus, the older machines (silvers) never had these issues, so we know it is possible for Elektron to make very clear nested menus, so hope it gets looked at.

Sample editor - I am a big fan of the OT audio editor, and the DT is similar, albeit it does not do anything other than simple but well executed trimming , the zoom function is intuitive and fast, to my mind the encoder response could be tweaked a little but other than that it works nicely. I love the fact that you can sample in upto 33 seconds and derive many samples without fuss. The auto normalisation can seem a bit unpredictable at times, sometimes things come out very loud other times not.

Bit reduction and Overdrive - Hmm, I feel these are in need of expansion/addition because they sound very distinctive and may end up painting the DT into a corner. They sound ok but a bit more variation or the ability to swap them out would be my preference, the bit reduction in particular has not much finesse either slight, crushed or destroyed! A good idea might be to have bit reduction ccw up to halfway, then sample rate reduction halfway to fully cw. The overdrive might also benefit from a similar tweak, wavefolding on one side then what we have on the other side, in both cases mid position is none.

Filter and envelopes - Really good from the get go, the envelopes have a very natural sound and the adjustments are predictable and precise. The filter is sounding simple and nice, with a fair amount of flexibility, notch, peak and bp would be welcomed though :slight_smile:

Thats it for now, I will add some more later, and feel free to add your own, agree disagree or mods move the thread if required. (I did have a look to see if a similar thread existed but on the phone so may have missed it)

More:

No arranger/song mode - Not bothered, never really use them anyway but something to be aware of, also it signals a movement in the culture of electronic music performance, which I have long been a proponent and fan of, there are plenty of other machines with song mode anyway, the DT is more performance related - embrace and enjoy, let your hair down and flow in the living moment :wink:

Bug/issues - Most of the user demos and tutorials fail to mention the bugs, as of 1.02 there are still issues which need to be fixed, rest assured Elektron will fix them, but if you are impatient best to wait than be frustrated, see the bugs threads for info. I will add that you can still do a lot and have a lot if fun, stability as a standalone is pretty ok, although not perfect.

Screen/graphics - Nice and clear, some slight ghosting, some slight room for graphical tweaks but a nice improvement from the older products in terms of visibility and clarity.

Buttons and encoders - Great feeling, the buttons are a little noisy mechanically due to their increased depth but not that much more than previous products, the encoders feel very similar to the black machines.

VS OT - The OT is a wolf, wild and very powerful, and not so easy to tame, the DT is a puppy, easy to tame although it might pee on the carpet from time to time, and not a poweful beast, though still very capable and perhaps more fun in a simple way. Puppies can grow into powerful dogs, and they can always surprise.

Sampling - Hmm, very direct, simple and hassle free, BUT no level control can be a PITA as it means you have to adjust the level at the source, needs fixing. However the sampling into ram and the ability to go back as many times as necessary to pull sounds from the recording is a joy for sampling sessions, yes you can do it on the OT too but the DT makes the flow a bit faster with less menu diving. Threshold sampling is something I have been asking Elektron for since the OT beta, so very happy to see it here. But don’t rest on your laurels Elektron because sample on midi start and sample until x would be nice too :wink:

File system - Feels a bit clunky, I have not spent too much time exploring it yet, but seems very similar to AR which I never use because it is so tedious, why the +drive can’t be like the OT filesystem with folders, and simple navigation, maybe I need to get to grips with it, but the OT file system was obvious and simple right from the start.

Overall - Very happy with it, it is a bit like a Volca Sample (one of my favourite instruments) in that it is very easy and fun to use, of course it has more capacity, better build quality, and of course the great Elektron sequencer.

Bonus Round:

Talking of the sequencer on the conditional trigs I’d prefer the option to decide if you want %age or x/x first, as I rarely use % and scrolling all the way through can be a ball ache. Otherwise though I’m as happy with the sequencer on the DT as the AR\A4 (which also have that) and it is nice to see that it was not nerfed in anyway other than the lack of arranger/song mode, which is fine by me.

Overbridge - No comment/Couldn’t care less, making music should be fun, that is why I only use hardware :wink: Although glad that I did not have to pay extra for something I will never use.

Be Aware - As of yet no options exist for getting samples off the machine, the transfer app currently is only from computer to DT at present, also you may have to fiddle a bit to get it working (restarts, unplugging cycles) I believe these will be addressed in future updates though.

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The sampling experience is superb, fast, easy - I’ve had my phone plugged into the inputs pulling stuff of YouTube, iOS apps, Spotify, etc - it really feels like they’ve nailed this piece early, and as OP above, if they continue to execute on enhancements in this area then the future looks bright for Digitakt. I haven’t even looked at the manual/specs for the sample trimming etc but everything I’ve done just sounded “right” with little effort - is it doing auto zero crossing/fading etc maybe? Just not getting any bad cuts out of this even without really trying :slight_smile:

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For me DT takes one of the most fun parts of OP1, the straightforward sampling process, and pairs it with the Elektron sequencer which I love to use. Even though I also own an OT, it’s a fun, inspiring package. I’m sure the issues it currently has will be fixed and I hope it’ll be sooner rather than later. Overall I think it’s a winner.

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I think the OP’s evaluation is pretty spot in regards to the DT, but never having spent any time with an OT, I can’t comment on those comparisons. I’ve only spent a few hours with mine so far, but really have enjoyed it. On purely sampling, I think the DT is a pleasure to use in terms of quickly getting things recorded, sliced and assigned. Out of the samplers I’ve used the DT is the most fun and quick to use. I actually want to sample things! Having owned several groove box style machines it has also been relatively easy to learn (largely thanks to the display).

On FX, I’m really surprised with the overdrive and how much I like it. Reverb is OK and usable. The delay is good too, but I wish holding down the encoder or holding another button down while using the encoder showed common delay time signatures (e.g. 1/8th, 1/4, 1/2, whole, etc) that are sync’d. I understand the delay is 128th notes, but it’s not so quick and somewhat fiddly to dial in common cases.

Filters/AMP: No complaints. More filter types would be nice if possible

Master: Bring on a compressor! I’m guessing this is in the works for a future OS. Seems to be hinted at anyway.

Misc: I would have loved to have a basic synth engine (dedicated waveforms built in), but I doubt that’ll ever happen. I just need to get my own in there.

Bugs/crashing… it’s there. I’m confident it’ll get worked out soon enough. If not, I’d probably still keep it. I’m a bedroom musician and won’t ever have to rely on the unit for anything beyond that. Crashes are annoying, but not embarrassing in front of an audience.

I really think the DT has potential to go down as a “classic” and will be sought after for years to come.

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long time Elektron fanboy here. I have everything except the Analog Drive (already had AH) and the A4 as i traded up to an AK. i started on the OT back in 2011 and feel safe saying that the DT and OT can very peacefully exist. Does one supplant the other? No. Is one better than the other? Not specifically- depends on your needs. I personally use the DT before the AH which loops back into inputs on OT which is looped through using the CUE outs.

Dont get me wrong- the pre 1.01 DT was a pure crashing machine- like every 3-5 minutes. the 1.01 version made it work a little, and the 1.02 version lets me use MIDI with few if any crashes. There are still wonky bugs but they WILL get fixed.

Was it rushed? Probably
Will it be “fixed”? Absolutely- see the OT and AR as an example.

What really matters to me is “is it a creative tool?” 100% yes.
It’s fun and intuitive! dont believe me? just load up a sample of ANYTHING, record some chromatic notes, edit the Start/Stop points during live record, P-Lock some pitch shifts, retrigs and what have you, and then set the LFO to trigger
“sample start” or something similar. throw in some conditional trigs and youve just made something completely otherworldy. Chop that up and repeat. Pure limitless inspiration. Make a beat from it…reverse it, add delay…

Anyone spouting off about its inconsistencies should worry more about the process and finding ways to work with and circumvent “limitations”.

that being said…the crashing part does suck a lot. a LOT.

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Had another session tonight and for the first time ran into some issues. I wasn’t able to reset the delay send level and had to start a new project and recreate what I’d done previously. On the other hand, I realized how great DT will be as a stand alone travel machine. I put some single cycles on 4 tracks and detuned them to create a dub style chord, resampled, added filter envelope, etc. and played my chord chromatically. Having a self contained machine with which I can bootstrap pretty much anything, even though it takes some effort, is - I reiterate - exactly what I like so much about the OP1. To me DT feels like OP1’s bigger brother. It may not be as quirky, but it sure pushes the same buttons for me, while ultimately being a more capable instrument.

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All of you guys nailed my feelings nearly perfectly already, but I noticed a few things worth mentioning.

One thing that I’m still confused about is more of an industry-wide issue than purely an Elektron/Digitakt issue, but it does involve the Digitakt as well. I literally don’t know a single electronic musician that doesn’t use sidechain compression on most or all of their music. Why has the ENTIRE hardware world ignored this well-used tool?

Not only should the Digitakt have a compressor, it should have a compressor, limiter, sidechain compressor, and sidegater. These tools should all be standard things in hardware at this point and yet no one ever adds them. Even the Rytm has a strange master-only compressor that’s nice but nowhere near as flexible as it could have been with a different configuration (and sidechaining). MPC Live has some decent compression options, but still can’t sidechain or sidegate either.

I suspect that Elektron is going to release an FX/utility box within the next year or so that hopefully will solve this problem. It would actually be quite nice to be able to buy a box that solves all of the live performance/mixdown concerns that many of us have.

As for the Digitakt, I’ve played around with it for hours and hours despite being very busy. It’s definitely the most FUN piece of gear I’ve ever owned, and that’s worth the price of admission by itself. I love the overdrive but find that the bit rate reduction is very distinctive and doesn’t have much of a sweet spot as @darenager mentioned above.

I think the filters are very nice (for digital filters), but there absolutely NEEDS to be at least a notch filter. Another option would be to allow us four filter modes: OFF, HP, LP, and BOTH. If we could simply activate both HP and LP at the same time, we’d be able to do the things we can’t do right now with the either/or scenario. I think this is a BIG issue. The Digitakt is a sound designer’s joy but we need to have the appropriate tools to work with. At least one more filter mode is needed at some point.

So, my wishlist:

-FIX BUGS
-Improve encoder sensitivity–it’s close, but still needs to be 10-15% more finely tuned
-Improved bit rate reduction
-Allow for glide/portamento, both on waveforms and via MIDI. I couldn’t get my synth to glide last night
using the Digitakt sequencer, but had no problems on the MPC. Could be user error-I’m still learning the
Digitakt.
-Add compressor, limiter, sidechaining, and sidegating
-Add another reverb mode (spring?)
-Allow us to save stuff. I can’t believe I actually had to type that.

My summation is: I love the Digitakt and despite its current limitations, I think it’s the best sampler I’ve ever used, tied with the MPC Live right now in my heart (both for very different reasons).

If I didn’t have enough gear already, I’d strongly consider doing 2 Digitakts, 2 small synths, and 1 small mixer and be done with my live performance rig.

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Just in after my first day with it. Work flow is really nice and the machine feels really competent.
It helped a lot watching Cuckoo mega tutorial on this to actually get a lot of the logic around the workflow really fast and just start getting tangible results pattern after pattern.

After being on the road the whole day was able to midi sync it with Ableton on my studio computer and bounce all sort of stems that I needed with Push 2, so by this this machine is already serving its bigger purpose and that’s of bringing his own sonics qualities into a larger studio rig.

Sequencing midi in my case was buggy , not inmediate crashes but it feels VERY touchy to midi and will crash frequently. Hope Elektron can iron this soon because to me this is whats limiting the unit from just being good right now to great!

Of course many other stuff should be added to improve functionality but the midi implementation has to come first because its a big part of the deal of what this machine can and must do.

Yer, why doesnt my volca bass have side chain compression, limiter etc?

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I’m not really a musician, I’m a game developer who’s learning to do music as a necessity and I’ve always been into Elektron gear because they reminded me a lot of Soundtracker on the Amiga.

Today the Digitakt arrived and within 10 minutes I’m making music! Okay, it’s coder music but this is the smoothest experience I’ve ever had with Elektron gear. It’s incredible.

You’ll have to excuse the crappy audio quality but I Periscoped what I was doing:

I can’t wait for more OS updates to see what other fun features get added. The ability to solo a track would be great.

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Because its a simple analog synth not a groovebox.

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Except the poster wanted the entire hardware world to include these functions :grin:

I also missed sidechain, but found a solution for it.
Don’t know if everybody already knows this, but here goes…

I use the LFO on a midi track to duck my bass track.
I have my bass on track 5 and set midi track 16 to channel 5.
On the midi track I set CC select 1 to CC23 (sample level) and its value to 127. I use this CC for the LFO destination.
The LFO depth decides how much I want to duck the bass (negative value).
I then have a midi cable from Midi out to Midi in. So Digitakt sends midi to itself. Remember to turn of «Receive notes» in midi config so it doesn’t trigger any bass notes, we just want CC.
I can then enable triggers on the midi track for when the bass track should duck. And I can set other sample tracks to channel 5 to duck them as well.
I do unfortunately experience midi crashes occasionally, but I am confident these will be sorted out soon.

My LFO setup:

I push the LFO phase a little (12-16) so I don’t get any transient from the bass before it ducks.

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This needs to be in the unofficial Digitakt User guide thread! I’ve almost got my head wrapped around it. (I also wish we could have “virtual” midi cabling instead of wasting a ohysical cable to pull off these tricks. Great job though man!

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hi guys… here my credo:

i ve spent probably 5h on the machine … and have tried all other elektron boxes (except SID station).

clearly recommend it.

elektron did everything correctly with that machine!

its immediate, smart, simple, high quality, fun, not too big, it has proper limitations, it has the typical old school elektron way of innovative playfulness.

I have to say I shouldnt have waited that long with buying. It is every cent well spent.

congratulations elektron!

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That is what i thought too! :blush: It is more fun to enjoy what the DT offers than being dissapointed about what it doesnt offer.

things i love: size and weight, feel of buttons, sound, quality of fx , sequencing, super easy sampling, conditional trigs and fills and SCREEN!!

things i don’t love: no song mode, master fx performance is no good over chains (no kits), damn labeling of audio channels (really? i have to remember that cowbell is my bass sound)(numbering would be better and on screen naming ), not as “performable” as other elektron gear (obviously just got it and need to get to know it better)

still on the fence whether to sell it and get a rytm. new screen is so cool but who knows when the rytm 2 is ready and it’s so much more. i could probably find someone with a rytm 1 that would trade one for my digitakt and a roland jp-08 or apogee one for iOS or some other gear. key would be to find a rytm with a good screen. i could also keep things simple with the digitakt and just use it as a kickass drum machine with only 1 or 2 tracks open for harmonic support. i want the a4 and either digitakt or rytm to be the center of my setup, where i usually use them alone and then bring in other synths depending on the situation.

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Lovely song! I also just received my DT and have been using it in a similar way, a beastly drum machine with 1-2 harmonic tracks. Similarly, I’m pairing mine with an Alpha Juno 1. Have you played around with the MIDI tracks at all? Remember, the RYTM and A4 cannot sequence external gear over MIDI, which was my biggest deterrent from buying those instead.

2days in? Don’t sell.
I’ve got pizza in the oven and it’s not ready for twenty minutes!

2 days? Give it a couple of weeks indeed. It’s very performable! :slight_smile:

Oh and the trigs are numbered, so 5 is your bass sound :stuck_out_tongue:
I agree that it’s very silly they named the audio tracks. It’s completely useless, but Im used tot it now.