Glad you’re enjoying it! It really is a special instrument in KB form. Being able to hold a step, and tap a chord on the keys makes composing so fast and simple. I got when when they first came out, but did a huge rearrange, and ended up getting a non-key version for a while. Then recently when I got my M, I decided that the DNK would be the perfect control center for how my studio is set up now, and it really is. I can assign the four parts to the four parts of the M as one example, and then effortless swap between the internal machines and the M’s voices. As much as I absolutely love the non-key Digitone (and Digitakt and Syntakt) the key version is a completely different world.
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I’ve been quite happy with mine, and my use case is having it stay in the studio.
The 2 things I’m trying to figure out is how to get the transport controls to work with Bitwig. I want the play button on the DNK to activate the play button in Bitwig. That sounds simple, but after trying many things, sadly I don’t think it’s possible (unless I write a controller script, or go the “driven by moss” route). If anyone has this working with Bitwig or another DAW, please let me know.
The other thing I’m trying to figure out is the lag on the encoders when using OB. It could be my setup, and I’m still debugging it, but the DT and ST are fine. The DNK encoders are slow to use even when using the external midi mode.
One funny thing is that I got the DNK to use the 8 knobs above the keyboard, but when I’m actually working with CCs in external midi mode I instinctively reach for the regular encoders. It’s just second nature to know which encoder to grab vs the ones above the keyboard.
To end on a positive, I do love the sound (esp the new tweakable patches), and in my setup I’m using the sequencer more aggressively because it’s more “front and center”. It’s a very deep box when you explore layering, per track arps, voice stealing, etc. It’s a very cool synth.
Does Bitwig allow you to “record” a script based on inputs? My dad was having trouble with a transport control from his controller with Reaper, but Reaper allows you to kind of record inputs from a device, then go in and edit the script. (or something to that effect) I’ve never tried to control software from my hardware. (usually just use the software to edit after the fact) Anyway, he got it working like this. (may be different with Elektron and Bitwig though…)