Hey there. Just an informal poll:
Do you use an external midi controller with aftertouch and breath controls with your Digitone?
I’m working on two soundpacks for Elektron and I’m wondering how important these two types of expression controls are to the common user.
UPDATE:
Thanks for your responses.
“(d)Tones” is available now!
90% of the sounds can be manipulated by mod wheel, pitch bend, aftertouch, and/or breath controllers for interesting alterations to the original sound!
Thanks!
I use aftertouch frequently. Breath? Never, tbh… but expanding my controller options is on my mind a lot lately, so…
I don’t have a DN but since this was brought up I thought I’d mention that I use the aftertouch on AR as more of a direct mod matrix… Sometimes I use it as intended but often I just send a fixed aftertouch from the OT as a mod depth for AR track sequences… Even just used as intended it’s quite a nice feature to modulate four parameters…
I imagine if you didn’t put it in a lot people won’t miss it a whole lot, but if you did it would be a nice bonus to explore, and it could open people up to a cool, powerful, semi overlooked feature…
Thanks. Keep those opinions coming!
Yes, I have to remember that a CC is a CC and you don’t need a physical controller to modulate say, CC#2 or whatever.
Regardless, at the bare minimum, I’m including velocity and mod-wheel support on most sounds.
Love aftertouch, never use breath though (unless daw automated)
I’ve an MPE controller I’m looking at hooking up to the DN, so aftertouch would come in handy with that.
Nice.
As planned, I’ll concentrate on velo, mod, and aftertouch (channel pressure) for most sounds.
Thanks for your input.
Arturia KeyStep seems to be some kind of a present standard for a basic keyboard MIDI controller. And it sends velocity, aftertouch, modulation depth, and pitch bend (of course velocity and pitch realize their basic functions by default). So using them seems to be essential, but sufficient at the same time.
About using an external controller — can I connect my iRig Keys keyboard directly to the Digitone via USB if I buy a USB adapter (A Female to Mini B Male)? Will that work?
I’ve got my QuNexus plugged into it right now. It’s pretty fun with the pressure / tilt controls. I haven’t gone out of my way to assign a bunch of things yet. Just modulation / pitch wheel. It’s fun to play, but honestly if I want to be productive, and make something I’m going to record, I’m more apt to just use the DN’s buttons. For sitting and playing though I love it. I then have my main controller free for the Blofeld, so I can do some multi-layered playing for fun with the Digitakt providing some percussion.
MIDI. I have the expander for the QuNexus.
Right, but can you not connect it via USB? Oh, I guess not since there’s not bus power…
Yeah, that would likely be the issue there. I haven’t had the Q that long, and haven’t really gone through the manual much. I’ve hooked it up to a few things via CV, and the MIDI expander, but not sure how the USB is implemented. I’ll have to read up on that a bit.
Which CC does “tilt” map to, by default? CC#2 (Breath)?
I’m using a Yamaha Wx7 wind controller…
So far, unseccessfully!
I am looking for a good synth for my wx5. Why doesn’t the wx7 work?
I imagine any of the Elektron synths are amazing with a breath controller such as the WX5/7.
Essentially, you could control 20 different parameters with the five modulation sources available. Even just with breath and modulation, that’s 8 parameters to control.
It all comes down to how those sources are setup, though.
Very few, if any, of the default sounds use the breath controller. With my soundpacks, I tried to make each sound as expressive as possible, but I found most people use velo, pb, mod, and aftertouch more than breath.
So, if your wind controller isn’t working, it’s probably a matter of setting up those modulation targets.
Is anyone controlling the modwheel, aftertouch and breathcontroller parameters of the DN with the DT? Tried to set it up yesterday but it didn’t work…
Help appreciated!