digitakt-- please explain colors on the sequences, very confusing, too much to look at...

Yes, I agree, he’s a Master. And you can tell he is a patient gentleman.

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Ok I see, I see. Yeah, it seems to be very complex until you get used to where to find everything, there’s a lot to take in regarding functions and button combos and stuff. I guess you will have to keep practicing and watching videos until you wrap your head around it, but when you do, you’ll see it’s not that baaaad complex as it looks now.

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It’s important to take the time and understand the rationale & structure underlying your Digitakt rather than trying to learn stuff by heart.

You’ve got 8 audio tracks (1-8) where you can load up samples and play them back. When you select an audio track (press it), it will be highlighted in solid red, indicating that that’s your active track.

Each audio track has its own sequencing lane “underneath it”, where you can sequence loops of up to 4-bar length, with each bar represented by 16 trigs (your “grid”) that you can cycle through. You can access the sequencing lanes by switching into record mode…

You have two “record modes”, step recording (press the rec button) and live recording (simultaneously press rec + play).

In step recording mode, press the trigs in your grid that you want to sound…such trigs will be lit in red (and will be visible laid out on your grid ONLY while step recording is activated). Note that whatever trigs you choose, they will all relate to the audio track which you had selected when you entered step recording mode.

In live recording mode, play your sounds “live” by triggering the audio tracks through eg finger drumming, the integrated “chromatic keyboard” (press function + “track” to activate/deactivate) or an external midi keyboard. In this case you can play all/any of the audio tracks and the Digitakt will record your hits onto each audio track respectively. If you want to see what you’ve recorded on each track, you must activate step recording here as well (ie just press the rec button so it’s solidly red). You can then cycle through the tracks by pressing “Track” + Audio Track 1-8 to see what you’ve recorded on the sequencer lanes for each track.

If when in step recording mode, you press and hold a trig (=recorded step), you can then adjust parameters for that particular step, eg add reverb, or change playback to reverse etc. That change in parameters will sound only for when that trig is played. The trig will now blink (not solid anymore) in red while in step recording mode.

You can also mute tracks on the Digitakt, which is great for performance. You can mute each of the 8 audio tracks. You have two mute modes on the Digitakt, Track mute and Pattern mute.

The way to access Track Mute Mode is by holding Function and then pressing “Pattern” once. Your audio tracks will now illuminate in green to indicate that you are in Track Mute Mode. All tracks that are active are illuminate green, all that are muted are not illuminated. If you press the Track keys (1-8), you can toggle between on/mute. Note, if you MUTE an track in Track Mute Mode, that particular track will blink in green when you go back to regular playback. This will let you know that that track is muted (the sequencer keeps running, it just mutes the sound source when muted).

There’s also Pattern Mute, which you access by holding Function + double pressing “Pattern”. This works just as Track Mute Mode, only that it is illuminated in purple to indicate that you are in that particular mute mode. The difference between Track Mute and Pattern Mute is that in the latter, your Mute states are tied to the pattern you’re in.

Eg: In Pattern Mute Mode, if you mute track 1 in pattern 1 but then switch to pattern 2, track 1 will no longer be muted in pattern 2. Switch back to pattern 1 and track 1 will again be muted (so mute states are contained in/limited to pattern).
In Track Mute Mode, if you mute track 1 in pattern 1 and then switch to pattern 2, track 1 will still be muted (its “Global” mute so to speak).

For me it helps to think of the digitakt in layers:

Global
|__press “function + pattern” to enter Track Mute Mode

  Pattern
    |__press “function + 2x pattern” to enter Patter Mute Mode

        Audio Tracks 
             |___ press “rec” to enter sequencer lanes for each track

Hope this helps.

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Hausland, thanks much for this helpful summary, very concise and to the point. I will follow and work thru.

Another question: if I record a 10 second sample from an LP etc., can I assign the same sample to all 8 tracks(buttons), then edit ‘start/stop’, loop points etc. of the 10 sec. sample clip, and save each edited sample’s setting - (I am guessing yes), then need to ‘save as’ pattern and also ‘save as’ project to be able to recall all 8 edits? Or, do I need to physically edit each sample first and save them as a separate sample in the sample folder/menu? thanks

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I come from a eurorack background as well. It didn’t take me long to understand the elektron workflow. It will seem difficult at first, then right before you throw it out the widow, something clicks and it just makes sense… but I’m a nerd, I read manuals a few times before buying…
I knew what I was getting into.

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Thank you VC,
I was ready to call it quits and say this instrument is not to my taste, then I picked it back up again tonight - reading some notes above by all , getting some understanding of an actual pattern tonight finally. You have all helped me.
Now, Still having a little trouble: with copy and paste of patterns–
I am trying to copy a pattern 1 I did , to a pattern 2, (so I can modify/modulate pattern 2, take instruments in and out), but the paste is not working. I hit ‘Function-copy- pattern 1’, it says copied, then I go to ‘Function-paste to pattern 2 button’, its not saving it for some reason…
any help?

You can save each edited sample as “Sound” in the sound library, then you’ll have it available anywhere, anytime. Sounds are basically samples + all the parameter settings/modulations you’ve laid on the sample.

Save your project if you want to save the patterns + sounds + modulations in a project that you can recall as a whole.

Save your patterns if you want to access those patterns in other projects on the fly.

Save your samples as samples (eg if you record a sample straight onto the digitakt via its line ins) if you want to keep the sample/file.

Save a sample with its settings as Sound if you want to recall/load that exact sound across different projects and patterns easily.

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Thanks, will continue to work with this. Seems like I’m getting it after a few hours yesterday and today.

Yes, getting it, the basics, patterns. Great sounds. Very cool. Now, I have 6 Patterns, is it possible to ‘string them’ into a fully sequenced song and save it? thanks.

There is No Song Mode. But pattern Chains.

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Thanks.

ANYONE using a Digitone along with the Digitakt? (I have Digitakt, my first Elektron), thinking of getting Digitone. What are the ‘advantages’ besides having the extra pallet of sounds themselves? Would this give me 16 Tracks simultaneously? How would they be connected and work together as a system, just via MIDI?
I have a Keystep also. - I don’t want to use a DAW/Computer.
Do I understand this: The Analog 4 has 4 tracks, Digitakt and Digitone each has 8?

Digitone has 4 tracks, but up to 8 voices which you can spread along those 4 tracks.
Advantage is: Both together are quite complete. See the digitakt/digitone only music thread to get an idea: Digitone (DN+DT) only music

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Thanks Gek, appreciate it.

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Major Props and Congrats to Elektron Company. The Digitakt is Impressive, Devastating. You are on the edge of what’s happening in music. And the functions are well designed, complete, well-thought out with the user in mind, like a chess game one step ahead of the user. With enough complexity to want to keep the device, and explore it more, and not get tired of it or bored.

I have never used the Octatrack, Analog 4, I can imagine those boxes are similar in overall concept and design.

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Really happy to read that you got around to using & loving that box. It really is fantastic, and I feel the DT and DN are a step above the rest in terms of user friendliness.

The OT and A4 you mentioned are also fantastic, the A4 has become my favourite synth and the OT offers so much, it‘s sometimes hard to choose a place for it (it can do many things well) :slight_smile:

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Just bought a used Analog Four Mk 1 today, looking forward to learning it, then hope to use it with Digitakt and my modular. If I like it enough maybe I’ll update to the Mk2 at some point.

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Congratulations!!! The A4 is fantastic, Mk1 included (that’s what I have :)).

Just remember to be patient with it! When I first got mine, I thought it sounded mediocre at best, but stuck to it…eventually I discovered that it had been me, not the synth lol. The A4 is so versatile and has such a gorgeous sound once you get into it. It’s my favourite synth now, and once you get used to the interface/workflow, it is fast and enjoyable to use.

A few tips to start you off:

  • start with one oscillator and turn its volume down (so not to max), maybe even to halfway then go sculpt your sound from there

  • Overdrive can really highlight the bass frequencies if you balance it with tip 1

  • The magic is in the detail with the A4…a new sound can emerge behind each turn of a knob…so do take your time to discover the spaces between the turns…what I mean is, eg the cutoff on eg a filter can produce totally different harmonics on “39” than on “41”…and even within a single rotation, there can be different sounds to discover

  • use the second filter in -24db LP mode if you want a nice, typical LP filter

  • use the second filter set to pk filter and sweep the frequencies of your sound…you will be surprised how the sound changes if you focus the peak filter onto particular frequencies. Turn up the resonance to increase the effect

  • use LFOs to introduce life & movement to your sounds…the LFOs in the A4 can be routed pretty much anywhere, so options are manifold

  • I love using my A4 in poly mode…osc 1 set to pulse, a slow attack, some reverb, some delay, a touch of chorus, some overdrive, a filter envelope on filter 1, a slow LFO on filter two set to peak and voila, you can play chords that fly you through the galaxy in your musical spaceship :slight_smile:

just a few pointers from the top of my head, if you look around on here, you should be able to find loads of great tips on getting the most out of the A4, its sequencer, its arp…

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This has veered well off-topic. Let’s not take it any further away. :thup:

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Much appreciated…Thanks for all the tips. Sounds good to me. :grin: