Digitakt sync with TC Ditto X4

Hey guys whats up? I’m having trouble connecting my digitakt with dittoX4 using midi sync. Can someone hepl me please?

Big love

Hi and welcome. Midi sync is notoriously bad on the dittox4. You shouldn’t need to change much, just make sure the DT is sending clock info. The LED on the ditto will flash in time with your bpm but that’s about all you’ll get reliably in my experience. Starting and stopping loops is still pretty unreliable.

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I just found that there was a firmware update to the x4 little while ago that improved the midi functionality significantly and added CC values to all of the functions and it works very well using a midi track on the DT or DN. That way you’re not relying on clock value and getting close with a footswitch click, you can sequence the on and off via steps and “trigless locks.” This makes the x4 much more usable for live looping applications when paired with a sequencer (or daw).

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Thank you man, now the ditto works quite well for my live looping jam! Greetings!!

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Hi there,

I am using the Digitakt with a TC Electronic Ditto X4. The Digitakt provides clock signal for the Ditto. However, when the tempo reaches something about 160 bpm, the clock the Ditto recieves seems to be quite instable, which leads to the loops sometimes drifting out of time. I’m assuming that the problem here is the Ditto, but since this combination is kind of common with the Digitakt, I’m hoping that someone here can help me fix this issue.

So, does anyone has encountered the same or a similar issue and can provide any solution or tips?

Many thanks in advance!

Best regards

i think that is safe to assume - the Ditto does not have the ability to correct for timing clock - it will set a buffer length and will not deviate, so if clock isn’t 100% identical it will appear to drift in phase

it’s a reason i haven’t jumped on a larger ditto by now, been close to it but knowing the issues it has put me off

Alright, thanks a lot.
So in conclusion, the best work-around would be to use the latest firmware and trigger the loops via CC commands. Did I get that right?

I just bought the ditto 4x and want to connect it to my DT and sequence the Loop.
So ive got the latest firmware update but it still doesnt work. Ive tried everything but it just doesnt work… :confused:
i need your help guys!!!

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The looper in the X4 is very basic—it’s a way to capture a loop of the audio coming out of the X4 (including the delay effect), then trigger loop playback from a footswitch on the X4. The only control you have over the loop is to turn its volume up and down with the LOOPER LEVEL knob.

So if what you want is to trigger playback of the X4 loop from a MIDI track of the DT, I don’t think the X4 will do that.

If you’re expecting to timestretch an X4 loop to match a tempo sent from the DT via MIDI, that won’t work either. MIDI sync was promised to “keep your loops perfectly in sync” (p.8 of the manual: https://mediadl.musictribe.com/download/documents/tcelectronic/379388_ditto_x4_looper_m_en.pdf ) but we talked about this once on GS and no one could get sync to work. The X4 can receive a tempo sent via MIDI from another device, but the X4 doesn’t timestretch the loop to match the MIDI tempo. Nor will it quantize to automatically start or stop a new loop’s recording on the beat. AFAIK, MIDI sync is broken, unless some later update finallly fixed it.

EDIT: I just answered a 3 year old post. Fooled again.

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Three years late or not, this post helped me, because I’m trying to figure this out.

Blockquote The X4 can receive a tempo sent via MIDI from another device, but the X4 doesn’t timestretch the loop to match the MIDI tempo. Nor will it quantize to automatically start or stop a new loop’s recording on the beat.

So…does MIDI do anything on the x4 then? If it receives a tempo, but doesn’t start/stop recording in time with that tempo, what is it actually supposed to do?

I never figured it out tbh. Curious if anybody else does.

It may be a feature that wasn’t implemented? IIRC the tempo light on the Ditto X4 did match the external tempo being sent over MIDI, but the MIDI timing information didn’t seem to change how the X4 recorded or played back a loop.