Dub on the Digitakt - post what you got!

The Digitakt is dope little dub machine. Post up what you got!

To kick it off, here is a track I made for my weekly beat battle entry. This week’s theme was old school Jamaican dub. Pardon the grimey mix.

PS: Add me on Soundcloud if you have accounts!

16 Likes

This is rad.

1 Like

is this dub(??) …this is the very first pattern i made on the 'takt. i had just learned how to assign LFOs to tracks, so there’s some hella-repetitive bullshit (cymbal, clap) emerging midway thru… it’s kind of jankity

3 Likes

Thanks man. I’m feel like I’m finally starting to learn my way around the Digitakt. Still loads left to learn and explore.

1 Like

Just in case Dub Techno counts as well :wink:

10 Likes

I really like that little synth line.

Absolutely! Too much complaining on this forum about what the machine can’t do. Let’s show what it can do! :wink:

1 Like

I put this one in the hip hop thread a while back, but I’ll stick it here too since it’s dub-inspired. Please forgive the repost.

The acappella is a bit off, because it was my first attempt at putting a vocal track on the Digitakt. I’ll need to do another one soon because I have a different workflow I’d like to try.

man i love your music. Can you give me an idea on how you work on these tracks? i love dub genre and would like to experimenting.

1 Like

love both tracks you put up.

1 Like

Oh man, thanks so much (to both of you).

Right now I pretty much only use a Digitakt, an iPhone, and a little pocket-sized Boss multitrack to record.

After a bit of trial and error my (current) workflow for this kind of music is:

  1. Listen to the tunes I want to sample for the project (these tracks were for a weekly beat battle, so there was certain material I had to use and rules I had to follow)
  2. Load the tunes into an app called “Djay Pro” on my iPhone to check the BPMs, and either pitch them up or timestretch them to get everything to a tempo that plays nice together.
  3. Make a new project on the DT, set my BPM, and sample a bunch of snippets of the songs I’m working with.
  4. Next, I put a piece of the sampled song on a track and start rearranging it on a single track using different start times on different trigs. I usually make a 64 step pattern. I then add other bits on different tracks in that pattern to build the song up, drums, bass lines, sound effects, vocals, etc
  5. Once I have a pattern I like, I often copy it to another pattern and tweak it a little or a lot to make another section of the song.
  6. Once I have several patterns I like (A1,A2,A3,A4, etc), I start experimenting with transitioning between the patterns to see what flows together and what doesn’t, and I tweak as necessary.
  7. After that, I basically record the song live, switching to different patterns and tweaking stuff on the fly.

That’s it in a nutshell.

4 Likes

Oh man, I didn’t make the connection between your name on here and your SoundCloud account! I listened to your EP and it’s incredible.

Are you mostly using Elektron gear? Seriously awesome work.

getting a slight Pole vibe off of this… s’nice. the staccato chords/keys sound good.

1 Like

hey ! thanks a lot!
all the things on sound clouds are mostly roland 303s 808 and 101. i have a DT and OT and trying to fit them in my workflow.
We should do a track together :slight_smile:

2 Likes

Oh man, that would be dope! I haven’t collaborated with anyone before, and my setup is pretty minimal, but I would definitely be game to give it a try! PM me your contact info and let’s see what we can do. :+1:t2:

1 Like

Hey, don’t stop! keep on posting. Love the tracks here.

1 Like

Ow big sound @DimensionsTomorrow - love this. Curious to know how you process on STBB550. You use long sample beat trig to step one… or cut and use one shot ? FX are on sample or its yours own FX ?

1 Like

yeah, more more more! thinking of picking up a digitakt in the new year after os updates. i make mostly dub and dub techno, maybe somewhere in between. heavily rhythm & sound influenced. so far i love what i hear of the digitakt’s character. seems more open and airy than my rytm. freely admit it could be user error. but i like what i’m hearing enough to consider a switch, or addition to the lineup.

anybody got any more examples?

2 Likes

Thanks. I really appreciate you checking it out! Basically, I just sampled a bunch of stuff, and then chopped and flipped it using sample start time and parameter locks on different steps.

This was my first time working with a long vocal. At the time, I didn’t realize that you can import samples longer than 33 seconds using the transfer app, so what I did is sample the vocal in a bunch of snippets (maybe 30 seconds a piece). The problem is that you can only do 4 bars on any pattern on the DT, so what I did is create a punch of different patterns, and dropped the vocal on each one and p-locked the start time to try to get the vocal as seemless as possible. I also manipulated it with beat repeat, etc so I dropped the vocal back in on steps where needed. When I was done I recorded it live, by switching patterns (no song mode needed, lol).

The delay, reverb, overdrive, reverse, filter, and beat repeat stuff is all from the DT. The quality of the effects on the DT is fantastic.

This track was done soley with the DT and a boss 8-track recorder for recording/mastering. I don’t currently use a DAW.

1 Like

Big work indeed ! Incredible result, i love this texture - as say a man on your SC - old dubby vibes.
And yes, completly ok with no song mode needed haha ; i apreciate rec live…feeling with DT.
PS : Thank you for checking my soundcloud !

1 Like