Haha, no worries, I guess my question is what is this “magic” we talking about here? Sounds awfully subjective. I agree it has a nice Hi Fi sound but not what I would call Magic. The magic comes on how it’s simple elements are used together, and yes, the DT facilitates that but it’s hardly a foregone conclusion, plenty of non magic sounding Digitakt jams out there.
Maybe they’re magic to the people who are making the jams. That’s f’ing cool.
You’re sounding a bit triggered tbh.
Not my intention to dish the digitakt or anyone making music with it.
I use the DT daily, it’s my favourite piece of kit.
My point is Master any instrument and you’ll be making magic.
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Magic? Learn card tricks if you want magic!
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Yes of course.
But as @LyingDalai alluded too, depending on the instrument you master you’ll get different results. That why people choose one brand over another. That’s why some people want 1 knob per function over menu diving. Why some people love the Parker Steiner filter and others hate it. Yes you absolutely have to dive in, master your instrument but every instrument has been designed to work a little differently and it might not suit you. That’s not your fault, as the user. Unless you’re being lazy and not making the effort to understand what you’re using.
There are inherent characteristics in each instrument that some people click with and others don’t. But these companies employ amazing people to develop and implement these amazing tools. That’s not for nothing. That’s to enhance you’re experience and help develop your skills. Yes it’s the user that has to put in the work, but it’s the ‘Magic’ (or not) in those designs and tools that give or take away from our experience.
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Don’t forget that the Digitakt is a Digital Drum Computer as well as a Sampler, so maybe that is where the magic lies.
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Sorry, just momentarily annoyed by randos bagging on randos. DT’s one of my favorite pieces of kit, as well.
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There’s no wrong answers here, the whole question of what makes something magic is completely subjective
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Thinking about ‘the magic’…
To compare, when I fire up and use my MPC Live I know what I am going to record/create pretty accurately beforehand, and that’s what comes out.
When I fire up and use the Digitakt, 80% of the time I’m recording/creating music that is completely unexpected and new to me.
I think that is it’s magic to me.
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Have you heard of our lord and saviour the Lyra8?
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Have you heard the good news? Lyra is risen.
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I’m glad I’m making what I want on my DT. I would hate making music that doesn’t fit my style. When you have a direction you want to follow, a tool that makes it easy to stray isn’t magic but a distraction. 
well that escalated rather quickly.
Heard it yes, seems cool, not for me as a compositional tool though tbh… that is at the extreme of what I’m talking about. Reminds me of the Tenori-On experience I had years ago. 
Well that’s going to the extreme of what I meant… I make music that fits me, sounds like I do on other gear, etc… it’s just I find the DT more welcoming/inspiring as a blank canvas to start things.
I feel the same about the Analog Rytm, Analog Four and Digitone… best start from scratch tools I have.
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I have a burning deep love affair with the Digitakt. I adore samples, they’re my primary source of music composition. The Digitakt takes me places nothing else has, and I’ve used owned a lot of samplers from Akai, Korg, Roland etc.
First and foremost, it has a beautifully crisp and punchy sound that no other sampler has without external tinkering.
Secondly, the flexible sequencer allows for all sorts of manipulation over samples that would either be difficult or awkward to achieve on a DAW.
Thirdly, the workflow is fast, to the point where assigning samples, changing values per step, copying, pasting and shuffling steps becomes less like working and more like an extension of the mind.
Fourthly, the control all function provides incredibly satisfying results every time, the results of which can be planned via locking steps so they don’t change - such as a kick drum - while the rest can be morphed as you see fit.
Fifthly, the instant save/recall functionality really is a joy to use, either to undo mistakes or to recall a saved state after going crazy with the control all.
Sixthly, the Overbridge functionality is ace. Automating parameters in Ableton Live with that beautiful VST layout is super cool.
Seventhly, it’s sexy as hell. Yeah, I said it. The Digitakt looks and feels gorgeous. It even SOUNDS gorgeous to me. Elektron knew exactly how to design a product that begs to be touched, that makes a statement with its appearance.
Eighthly (this is getting ridiculous), in a word, HEADROOM. I had no idea how important it is to be able to have loads of sounds playing at once and not get clipping, but now I see the light! I have never experienced clipping/dodgy gain staging on the Digitakt, even when smashing the compressor. It always sounds smooth and professional.
Ninethly, the COMPRESSOR. Good lord, this is useful. I currently use it as a gentle limiter to trim the peaks off the audio but in my lo-fi hip-hop days I used it as a tool of destruction, fucking the best to the kick and making everything bounce. It’s versatile and beautifully musical.
Tenthly, the Transfer software just got an excellent update which allows for backup of sounds and patterns. It’s a dream come true.
Finally, the Digitakt is perhaps the most straightforward and flexible drum machine on the market. I don’t bother making percussion in Ableton Live anymore, I record from Digitakt and chop it up in Simpler instead.
I could go on, but I’ll leave it at that. Magic box indeed.
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I sold my DT but this thread is making me want to buy it again
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But what if the direction I want to follow is wherever the tools want to take me?
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8 tracks is the magic imo. But also some of the granular like controls, retrig, and the fastness - same as on the DN - but the DT has a workflow that the OT can’t hold a candle to.
I previously sold the DT as the 1GB limit bums me, but the new Transfer app could change that if I could work on a pattern and then offload a project as necessary. Still (and I know this thread is about magic) in this day and age I wish the DT had a 4gb or 8gb internal memory.
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