Digitakt over MPC advice

The Lounge General Discussion
#1

Hey guys need some advice,

Currently talking myself out of buying an MPC 2500 (pristine) for $900 cdn ($670 US), instead I’m thinking of putting that money towards a digitakt. I would want to be making hip hop and electronic music (on DT). I feel a better option in 2020 would be using beat maker 3 on iPad for my hip hop tracks and learning elektron workflow through either the digitakt or digitone, $900 just feels like too much for such an old machine that I could yield the same if not better results with a software.

However, I have an itch to grab a piece of hardware to tinker with samples and loops so I was thinking of learning the DT and maybe DN before I throw myself at something like the Octatrack (which I love but recognize the huge learning curve). Im new to hardware so I was wondering if I would even notice some of the limitations of the DT such as mono sampling and no time stretch/pitch controls. Also could someone explain the “no song mode”, as well as if and how I’d be able to pair the DT and iPad together? Also could I connect the DT to FL studio if needed? One more thing would I be able to pitch and time stretch pre chopped samples in fl studio and then export them to the digitakt? wouldn’t this bypass the limitations?

Love the idea of an elektron setup but wondering if I will miss out making hip hop on the MPC. anyways thanks for your help, this forum is awesome.

Digitakt or old MPC
#2

Why wouldn’t you be able to make a Hip Hop beat on the Digitakt?

I feel like people are creating unnecessary islands in the community. Designating instruments and machines to a single genre.

I mean the MPC is not strictly for Hip Hop either. Plenty of people making EDM and other style music on it. Just that it’s popular in the Hip Hop scene due to it’s longtime history.

Just take a look at the new MPC One and all the different kind of music people make with it.

Elektron used to have a reputation of being strictly Techno devices, but that is simply not true. As plenty of people have attested to. Making all kinds of music on Elektron devices. From Ambient to Synthpop to EDM, etc.

The Digitakt is supported in Overbridge, so you can connect it to any DAW that supports VST plugins. Next to that you can still connect it to any DAW via Midi.

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#3

…hardware is making music…sofware is thinking music…
instrument versus computer…

while music is always a good thing to work on…

mpc one might be a good inbetween solution…at pretty much same price tag…
if u wanna parameter lock on a tight step grid…the takt will make u happy…but it’s not first choice for loops…

be aware of the fact, that stepsequencers have a total different approach than linear sequencers like mpcs…

forget about beatmaker toys…

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#4

yeah that’s fair. I’ve looked at the MPC One but I’m not a huge fan. I recognize that the digitakt can “do” anything you put in it, just wondering if it’d be a safe choice for both hip hop and electronic which looks like it is, thanks for the reply and the info about the overbridge capability. would I be able to import pre chopped and stretched into the DT from Fl studio then too?

#5

Yes you can drop any loop sample, chopped sample and even single cycle waveforms into the Digitakt, as long as it’s WAV format.

Especially if you have a DAW like Ableton. It has excellent sampling plugins like Simpler and Sampler to prepare nice samples and then dump them onto the Digitakt.

If you want good sample packs. Samples from Mars is really good!

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#6

…they can both sample on the fly…

and don’t think in different genres…samplers always sound like what u feed them with…
and the way u program their sequencers…

on a mpc one…u can have best of both worlds when it comes to timestretch and finishing a track without any further gear…

#7

You willl definitely notice no timestretching, but the mono is no deal breaker. Not sure what your budget is, but if timestretching is your thing, MC707 is fully featured in that dept. if you aren’t keen on the Akai environment.

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#8

Thanks, definitely agree about what you feed into the machine, if i want to eventually get my head around the octotrack, would a DT be a better first step?

#9

Thanks ill check on the MC707, and i guess i could always do my time stretching on Fl studio then import the samples?

#10

@mec1 Well the Roland environment on the MC707 isn’t exactly stellar either! The menu diving is absolutely real.
And what I have seen so far from the MPC One… it ain’t much better in that department either. :frowning:

I myself have looked at a lot of hardware. The Octatrack was too expensive for me for my needs and has the scary Elektron deep dive workflow, since I already have Ableton Live 10 Suite. So I can prepare any sample there if it needs time stretching.
Time stretching often is only really necessary when you use loops and chopped voice samples and such.
For just making rythms and bass/synth lines like I do on the Digitakt… I don’t need the time stretching at all.

The Digitakt was the easiest to use and most hands on in my opinion. It has a much easier and sensible workflow.
When I got it, I immediately got into it and have yet to open the manual. It’s really easy compared to the other Elektron devices.

#11

Hey, how do you find the workflow between bringing samples from a daw into the DT?

#12

…if ur not experienced already, i’d say…don’t pick the ot…

dt and mpc one are way more fun right of the box…

but keep in mind, with the dt there is no such thing like chopping…it’s cherry picking one shot samples…

#13

@reeloy The Digitakt cannot chop samples in that sense, but you can definitely select specific parts from a loop by moving the start and end of the sample and so fine tune the part of the sample you want to use and then even save it as a new sample.

So basically you can chop samples on the Digitakt. It’s just a more manual process.

#14

Is this because you cant finely slice the start and end point of the sample?

#15

Love the DT also, no complaints here. I’m just pointing out other options which include timestretching. There is no silver bullet, but what a great time to be buying new gear when we have so many options.

Obviously with any new piece of kit, people need to really invest time into learning it inside out.

#16

@VenomousVillain Yes you can on the Digitakt! I do it all the time! :slight_smile:

Two methods: 1. By sliding/tuning the start and endpoint of a sample and/or 2. By adjusting the Envelope (which is also pretty cool and can have a nice effect).

#17

…u can do precise sample editing on both devices…but dt has no chopping automation kind of thing going on…each edit is an edit of it’s own…of course u can do a lot of mindblowing things with each single edit…but u can’t say detect alll envelope peaks and lay them out all at once in individual sample slices, ready to play…
and u can’t time stretch…it’s, as said, two different approaches…

#18

Aweone thanks again for all your replies, i feel like i could find my way around chopping samples i mainly loop samples, one more question; lack of “song mode” what exactly is this? Is it more for live performances?

#19

If you want the octatrack don’t be afraid of it, you will figure it out. It can be as simple as a digitakt but it just does a whole lot more. Also mono samples only on digitakt so that’s something to think about. Digitakt and an iPad will definitely get you equally far and further than an MPC but then you’re looking at a pad controller too. That being said though I’m not sure if you’ve seen the other thread I posted but I’ve been thinking of stepping back to older MPCs so there’s further discussion of all this on there. There’s something special about mpc workflow in my opinion.

if you’ve got the budget I’d get the MPC one and start making tracks. Then add an Elektron later. You’re always gonna be interested till you try it but if you want to make music it’s the simplest way to do it. Elektron is great for getting weird with it, that doesn’t always equal finishing tracks. The mpc is, well, a music production centre. You can’t lose whatever route you take. If you plan to use it as the centre of your studio go modern. I wanted the old ones for just midi sequencing and I’ve got various other solutions as the main act

L

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#20

Also what is the process from when you have a finished “song” on the DT? Do you simply save it and export to a computer?