its an aesthetic thing for me… like a formula 1 race but the drivers are using electric cars. id rather just not look at the person making the music especially on stupid little touch screens. many might argue (especially if they use ipads) – we are impressed by different things and yes the lip service answer is always ‘its the end result thats important’ - but if thats so why do people need to see videos of supposed novel performances. i suppose its a selling angle, which is another reason to it hate it all… if he was using vinyl it would just be another set of electronic music - so theres nothing to see
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Nah I know what you mean, I was just surprised at how I wasn’t bothered by it at all in that HB set. Sometimes it matters, sometimes it doesn’t, I guess.
2 years ago people seemed ‘wow’d’ about seeing someone playing vinyl… it just seems like the electro world is so stagnated that these poor f88kers need to be dancing bears to get noticed… a producer pirating vsts live on a big screen and then employing them would get me going though
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I’m not reading 129 posts, but in regards to the OP. I can’t see how you can possibly make the decisions at this point in time when we only know the bare bone basics about the Digitakt. That being said and in the spirit of playing along…
…the Digitakt seems more like a one-shot sampler than a sample mangler. For myself, the one thing I really love my DAW is working with audio…I can’t see spending Octratrack money to make that harder on myself by having to learn what is a fairly esoteric piece of hardware.
But you seem to indicate you need an option to play live (you say “running live”). In that case you need to look at which feature set better suits your needs. OP is to vague otherwise to tell.
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its an addition really… not a full solution. i agree on the price but its well made and for those with the extra cash that have a gear drive then it can be a good way to get creative quickly. i feel the push is miles better looking and a better solution but this is an option from a decent company rather than yet another silly little clone or a boutique waste of time
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Does the digitakt do realtime sampling that is tempo-synced ? I thought that the octatrack did this, but I can’t find that sort of functionality anywhere in the digitakt manual. To be clear, I’m specifically wondering about a scenario where I don’t have to manually assign a sample to a pad… something there that is already defined and I can continually overwrite to it…
The Digitakt’s sampling is as synced as you are. No record trig equivalent. And since there’s no time stretch - no real tempo sync.
The Octa wins!
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Must admit, stereo is cool.
i view the Octatrack and the Digitakt as being quite similar, in the sense of being sample soloist instruments. Samples and loops become positions of exploration to depart from.
Also must admit: the Digitakt workflow is next level and the lights are gorgeous.
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I got the digitakt yesterday and as far as sampling and sequencing samples it’s pretty easy.
The negatives: no slicing, no warping, no time stretching. It’s super basic. The stock sounds are lame.
I also don’t quite understand the midi sequencing yet. Conceptually, it seems like it treats the midi tracks exactly like the sample tracks. So, I’m worried I wont be able to midi sequence melodies That aren’t chromatic or notes outside of the 4 note capability which seem more like chord stabs.
My 1990’s roland mc50 had better midi sequencing.
Also, it seems this machine will not untether you from ableton live because of the lack of time stretching or lack of slicing. That is sad.
I wish the OT wasn’t so difficult to do simple things.
OT is the far superior machine.
I’m afraid thie DT is an entry level elektron machine.
I do like ehat I made up on it.
DT’s midi sequencing is great. trig conditions, 4 note polyphony exactly the same as OT if I’m not mistaken. you do it a disservice they’re both really good midi sequencers.
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DT sounds better to my ears over the OT
DT has trig conditions and mutes per pattern, OT does not (trig conditions and mutes are rad)
OT has parameter and note slides and trig mutes, DT does not
OT time stretches and slices, DT does not
OT midi has a P-lockable arp, DT does not (P-locking the arp is rad)
OT has neighbor tracks, DT does not
DT is just under 1/2 the price of a new OT so…makes sense almost 1/2 the features are missing in the DT. You get what you pay for.
Feature wise, OT’s rich. But the OT is getting a little long in the tooth compared to Elektron’s newer range of black boxes. IMO
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I made some progress with the DT’s midi sequencing. I’m stuck right now with a one octave range. I’m slaving the AK to the DT but need a larger note range.
Any ideas?
+1
I have zero GAS for the DT… but I’m also quite vain and think it looks ugly.
Honestly its hilarious reading the OT vs DT fanclub debate… Reality is, you can make good music on ANY of the Elektron boxes… and workflow/ease of use will prob be a deciding factor here.
Having said that, I dont think there is ANY dispute on how much more endless territory the OT can venture into vs any of the other boxes currently available
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Well there’s the octave up and down using the arrow keys. From two octaves below to one above. So that increases the playable range from the keyboard.
But you can also lock whatever note you want in the entire range - midi note 0-127. And by using an external keyboard - these full range melodies can be recorded in live recording mode.
You know that the chromatic keyboard let’s you play any scale (well not microtonal)? You don’t have to go weird on the full twelve tone scale. The pentatonic, minors and major are all in there.
And yes - the “polyphony” is kinda semi-polyphonic (sharing note on/off, velocity, length) - excellent for stabs or pads for example.
I know the manual is not for everyone - but you should give it a go. There’s a lot of good info in there. 
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I’m sure there are much more features missing on the DT than 1/2.
many effects for example, scenes with the magic crossfader, 3 lfo’s per track, 3 midi lfo’s per track, custom lfo’s, every single track can has it’s own time division, arranger mode, pickup machines (looper) etc
You’re probably right
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Don’t think this is fair. Nothing is missing. It is pretty much exactly what is advertised.
Of course it’s gonna come up short in a comparison with a product in a totally different segment. (Although I think it wins in hardware and workflow).
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You love your OT too 
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I love my Octatrack, and I would purchase Digitakt too, but the lack of sharing kits between patterns is a big NO for me.
Also, my second problem with the Digitakt is that it only has 128 samples per project and no slice for easy sample chains like the OT.
That’s true! My comment was regarding the other comment above. The digitakt seems like a great product for a great price imo. And I can see many reasons why people would prefer it over the OT and that’s totally fine 
But djadonis206 was comparing features and listed features the OT has, that the DT doesn’t. So I wanted to add things to this list, which can be important features for people, asking themselves which of the machines would suit their needs better…
Both great, both worth their price, but the DT can’t replace the OT feature wise. Besides you are not interested in those feature.
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