Digitakt w/Polyend Poly, Issue with Gate CV

Elektron Gear Digitakt
1

Hi,
Long time listener, first time caller …

I recently purchased a used polyend poly 1 and would like to control my newly acquired eurorack modules with my digitakt. I have the digitakt connected to the poly via a midi cable. The poly is set to Channel mode and I’m sending midi notes out from the digitakt to each channel on the poly (e.g. midi channel 1 = row #1 on the poly). I am getting pitch CV and velocity CV from the digitakt thru the poly and can control my eurorack modules. I have confirmed the pitch/velocity CV output with a multimeter too & the pitch voltage correctly corresponds to the midi note I’m sending from the digitakt. I can activate all 8 rows on the poly with corresponding midi channels from the digitakt in this manner. All 8 poly rows send pitch CV and the lights blink every time I send a midi note from the digitakt.

My problem is that I’m not getting any gate CV thru the poly even though the lights on the poly are lighting with each triggered event and I’m getting pitch/velocity CV thru the poly. I have confirmed there is no gate CV output on the poly when i use the digitakt by using a multimeter and by trying to trigger envelope generators etc.

If I hook my beatstep pro up to the poly, I do get both pitch and gate CV that correspond to the channels I’m using as midi out on the beatstep pro. In this case, the gate & pitch output from the poly were confirmed by a multimeter.

I can sequence my neutron directly via midi cable from the digitakt, no problem, and get both pitch and gates when doing this so my digitakt does seem to send gate info on the midi cable. I’ve even used the digitakt to trigger a microgranny and to modulate parameters via CC.

I have searched the internet, watched dozens of videos, read the poly and digitakt manuals, studied EZBOTs videos on connectivity & elektron devices, and scoured forums. I’ve been stuck on this for a few weeks. My work around is to use the CV outs on the beatstep pro drum channels to generate gates in tandem with the triggered midi notes from the digitakt. Not ideal but it works.

I can’t tell if there is some setting in the digitakt midi controls I’m missing or if theres something specific on the poly I need to configure. I read the poly manual about the dip switch settings on the back of the poly but that didn’t seem to the address my issue to.

I’m a long-time drummer, but relatively new to using synths & music tech. Thank you in advance for any guidance you can offer me! It is deeply appreciated.

2

There is no such thing as gate info on midi. There is note on and note off. And then there is running status, as an alternative to note-off.
Check with a midi analyzer, what midi data the DT is sending and compare that with data from the Beatstep. There has to be some difference in the data, that causes the problem.

2 Likes
3

Thank you! I appreciate your response/help. I will look into that approach.

4

After quite a bit more trouble shooting, it seems the issue is the first 4 gate CV out channels on the polyend poly are not working. I didn’t catch this previously because I had all my digitakt midi channels sent to the first 4 channels of the poly and when I tested with my beatstep pro I sent the midi to channels 5 and 6 of the polyend poly. The digitakt sends midi on/off to the poly channels 5-8 so I can get CV gate signals now.

I can still use the bottom 4 channels if I need gates, but this is a bit of a bummer, especially since its the first used module I tried buying.

Thanks again for your input. It got me thinking and realizing the digitakt couldn’t really be that different than the beatstep pro. I was also reminded of how easily all the instruction videos got elektron and key/beat-steps t work with the poly.