Digitakt Sequencer has the jitters

Elektron Gear Digitakt
#21

Do you mean recording machinedrum into octatrack? No. I always record into the daw. I don’t think that jitter really happens in audio recordings though. It’s a midi thing. Of course audio has latency, but I don’t mind dealing with latency, because it is easy enough to move audio a little bit. At least latency is consistent, unlike jitter.

I was a bit disappointed to still have jitter when using the E-RM multiclock. The idea behind why multiclock fixes jitter is that computers prioritize processing audio over midi, so the clock for midi isn’t as stable. Multiclock works around that by sending an audio signal from the daw into the multiclock that is timecoded. So, the midi sent out of the Multiclock is supposed to be sample accurate. So, since I still have jitter with the machinedrum, it makes me assume that the issue isn’t the midi being received my the MD, but is actually with the machinedrum itself.

I tried recording the same loop out of machinedrum several times, when I got the multiclock, and each take was different. Some early, and some late, with the clock drifting around as usual.

The MD is an old device though, so it’s kind of understandable. I’m recording parts from my octatrack with the multiclock, right now as I’m right now as I’m witing this. So, I’ll let you know if that fixes things, since you’re an octatrack user as well.

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#22

Just looking at these waveforms of octatrack recordings now from the E-RM multiclock. They actually look pretty good. Not perfect, but better than over a usb midi device. So, I think Octatrack probably has tighter timing than the machinedrum. (when used with an E-RM multiclock at least)

I was also thinking bout getting the Expert Sleepers Usamo, but I wanted multiple channels, so that is why I went with the multiclock. It’s expensive, but I’m hoping it will save me a lot of time in the long run.

#23

If Ableton try creating two of the same track input, one to record from that’s “off”

And one that you’re not recording from that’s “in” for previewing.

That one choice can affect synchronization of audio far more than MIDI.

#24

I’ve been down the jitter rabbit hole as well. Nice to see others zooming in to waveforms. Lol.

First off if you highlight the space between the bar line and transient in ableton it tells you the ms.

Octatrack for me is crazy tight with an erm sync clock or without. One reason it’s its always running its clock which I love. The mpc 4000 is the same way and that thing is super tight.

If you are maniacal about jitter you need a sampler or drum machine with at least 4outs preferably 8. This way you can put a 2 or 4 bar rim shot section to start each take before the beat kicks in. Plus you are now recording all the crucial drums in one take so your groove is captured accurately . This technique bypasses using the erm. You simply line the rim shots up on the grid and locked in against each other and you are done

To avoid clock drift just do shorter takes and arrange in the daw.

The thing to understand is all drum machines jitter a little. 1-2ms is ok. Don’t sweat it. If that bugs you then just quantize the audio because the feel of these machines has a little jitter.

I personally prefer old MPCs for this because they have great timing and feel fantastic.

Even if you use a sync clock you will still see a very small amount of jitter, or maybe more depending the machine. Thats just how these machines are. Honestly a lot of the older gear is tighter and records better. Thats my opinion based on what I like to produce with and zooming on way too many waveforms.

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