I’m finding that my external midi keyboard only triggers the Digitakt from the bottom two octaves of my 61-note keyboard. I believe the DT responds to 4 octaves…right? Does it by default require that you transpose down your standard 61 note keyboard by two octaves, to be able to use it to control the full 4 octave range of DT? Is there some setting that I’m missing on the DT to adjust this?
I happen to be using an old Ensoniq to control the DT, and its not easily transposed down two octaves. But even still…shouldn’t center pitch on the DT correspond to midi note C3 or something like that?
The DT (and AR) utilises the midi note range 12>36>60 Elektron refer to 36 as C3, but other manufacturers use a different standard, so the nomenclature can be different by two octaves (i.e. some refer to 60 as C3 and start at C-2)
Either way - if your keys are centred around 60 it’s likely that you will need to transpose - out of interest, this is not teh case with the Model samples, it is centred around 60
ok interesting. Well perhaps my old Ensoniq TS10 is sending 60 as C3…because the DT tops out (highest pitch) at what most would call C3 (middle C) on my 61 key Ensoniq…and there is no easy way to transpose down that old keyboard from its system settings. Perhaps I can use a Midi Solutions Event Processor box to translate it. I have one of those around someplace in my studio.
In MIDI land we must remember that linking the Octave Number CX to a definition is a mistake - in MIDI there is no consistent X - there is a Middle C, it is Note 60, but it’s not anchored to any set CX reference as in MIDI terms it is not transmitted/relevant
Some developers/manufacturers have historically adopted a reference - so for some (as you attest) it became that C3 is 60/‘middle-C’ but that means you have to have negative CX nomenclature for the first two octaves - thus C-2, C-1, C0, C1, C2, C3 … in this regard if you consider the end user using a small LCD with limited display potential having a ‘logical’ standard whereby the first CX is C0
Take a 88 key digital piano, its actual Middle C (~261Hz) in an educational setting by modern standards (the first C note under the treble clef) will be referred to as C4
So for some Middle C is notated C3, C4, C5 - in MIDI it is simply Middle C = Note 60, found on a digital piano, but if you were to extend that back to MIDI note 0 you’d be notating that C-1
So there’s a number of systems based on older notation standards and adapted to digital/logical constraints - it appears that Elektron are 1 octave out compared to the less logical but accepted standard whereby a digital piano has Middle C as C4 as 60, but midi can theoretically permit a note value 0 so we end up with C-1 which is odd (even though in the real world you’d be around 8Hz and it’s all a bit theoretical)
I don’t think there’s right or wrong per se, but due to the lack of understanding of there being many root causes for this situation it leads to a lot of misunderstandings and crops up once a month here
Googling this stuff can add to the confusion as many have a fixed answer that doesn’t reflect the various reasons at the root of this admittedly confusing situation
well…that was a very detailed and valuable post…and I fully understand and appreciate it!
However…I will say that after experiencing 40+ years in the “midi game” as a musician, its almost always been clear that middle C on a 61 key controller is generally understood to mean “middle C”…for MIDI purposes.
So whatever Elektron is doing here with Digitakt (developed a mere 3 years ago) in this regard is off the beaten path!
And this is even more interesting on the Digitakt, because its a sampler…and PITCH is a variable parameter…yet, KEY RANGE is not.
So with KEY RANGE fixed on DT…something different than your average traditional sampler (where you traditionally can assign a sample(s) to a key or range of keys)…when you adjust the PITCH parameter of a sample over DT’s 4 octave range…you are shifting its pitch within the fixed KEY RANGE of DT. Thus…if you pitch the sample down 2 octaves (max)…you’re going to get a lack of chromatic playability on the upper two octaves of DT’s fixed KEY RANGE. And vice-versa if you pitch a sample UP 2 octaves (max). All of this is less than optimal for chromatic playing with an external midi controller. But alas…this is not new news, of course.
