Care to share how you use them ? Is it just “more samples” or do you have particular uses for the banks ?
Nothing fancy, I just work in a single project for everything, and having more sample space and an easy way to keep different kinds of samples together makes this easy.
Leaving bank A to defaults and resamples, other banks take breaks, drum sounds, foley, chord chains, wavetables, instrument 1-shots, etc.
I also save a lot more sounds on DT2 than DT1, and the sound banks follow the sample banks, and all is easy to keep tidy and audition alternate samples… (Big shoutouts to Elk-Herd and DigiChain software, which make occasional cleanup or chain prep much easier.)
4 Likes
I don’t quite fit the “Since day one” mold but I figure I’ll share a few thoughts because I’m actually in the middle of a DT2 sale. This is perfect to sort my thoughts out actually.
I used the original DT as well and see the DT2 as an improvement across the board.
What they gave us is huge.
Favorite Features:
- 3 Lfos is great.
- Sample banks, also great to organize.
- Huge boost to sample storage
- Stereo!?
- Increased midi sequencing QOL
How I used it:
This is actually the heart of why I might let it go. I used it primarily as a groove box and the sole hub of song creation. The semi-dawless thing.
I ended up making a mini soundtrack for an indie game in the works entirely out of WIPs I already had on the DT2. I bounced to DAW and spruced em up. It’s capable as hell.
It’s got the depth to be your only instrument. I preferred it this way. I’ve fallen into the common trap I fall into with most powerful grooveboxes. I have trouble integrating them with the other gear and workflows that I love. I always find myself using them as isolated islands, not instruments.
Why I might part with it:
The DT2 is insanely powerful, intuitive and sparks ideas and happy accidents easily. I might get flak for this, but I find it does not have a unique enough voice of its own. I mean it’s a sampler after all.
Maybe this isn’t such a hot take after all, but I feel like you have to know what you want it to be, rather than listen to what it gives you. This is hard to really say, because you can certainly twist some knobs and be surprised at multiple points.
It’s just a different kind of character and interaction that I’m currently after in a box.
Where I’m going:
Not to veer too far off topic, but it might highlight where DT2 lacked for me.
I’m getting an Erica Perkons for a second time. I returned it quickly the first time thinking it wasn’t versatile enough for the money, and honestly, it wasn’t. I’ve just changed my outlook on “versatility” a bit since then.
Tone:
It had a very distinct sound and workflow to it that was anything but a chameleon. I found the overall tone to fit my mixes better than anything I did on the digitakt (short of complete works I made on the digitakt alone.)
DT2 could no doubt be massaged into a mix with its array of tools. And it’s not even hard to handle, like Rytm. I just found the perkons sound to naturally work alongside my other gear for the type of music I want to make.
If I start a track on DT, I finish it there. I had trouble injecting DT into an existing DAW track. The Perkons, with it’s limitations, felt like it could be squeezed into any track, even if it’s just a shaker loop performed on top. This sounds silly, because certainly one could do that with the DT2. I’m just sharing how the experience feels to me.
Workflow:
Not to sound all romantic and poetic, but I’m looking more for a percussive bandmate than a studio brain. I want something that brings it’s own flavor to the table that I learn to work into everything.
I otherwise have a core setup I really love. Characterful polysynth, guitar, amp, electric bass (and a few additional oddities). I’m looking for something specifically geared towards explorative percussion ideation.
The workflow I always come back to is improv jamming ideas live into the DAW for further refinement and layering. Perkons is really appealing to play like an instrument that I get the know the quirks of. It only does a handful of things, and they happen to suit me. That’s what I spend money on in a studio. Because I’m always going to use the DAW. Bitwig is extremely powerful. I have avenues for deep sampling and versatility already, though not as fun as DT.
Maybe Keep:
This is a me problem more than Digitakt problem. I wish I had this thing 15 years ago before any other gear because it’s more than enough to be an end game of exploration and music creation across many genres. Don’t think for a second I am selling it short.
It’s just so damn useful. Swiss army knife vibes for sure. If I could let it just fill in the gaps, it could be really powerful. Every time I use it, it tries to be everything though, because it can be everything.
E: keeping for now even if it means waiting a bit longer on perks. I don’t mind having ONE swiss army knife around, and the DT2 is a hell of one. I’ve made the mistake too many times of selling gear I like to fund gear I hope I’ll love.
6 Likes
Yeah exactly this here too. Super handy.
It helps a ton if you’re going to LFO sample selection as well. You could have a bank of only tidy drum breaks, and go wild, knowing you want catch some stray samples.
Same idea goes for custom wavetable shenanigans.
This is all great insight! Though with the cost of Perkons, I can imagine you’d need to move something along to make room for it!
2 Likes
I think it’s solid.
My DT stopped turning on (I believe it’s the switch) so I went back to an older setup with synths, drum machines, and the engine as the centerpiece. I began to miss the flexibility samples and sequencing everything the DT provided and boom… the DT2 dropped.
I’ve been very happy with the DT2. Does everything the DT does/did. I’m very very happy with some user improvements: 128 steps is great, additional filters are cool, and stereo samples are sweet. Not being able to sample mono was a real bummer until that was resolved. Small tweaks like track swap and personalization options are also great. I’ve been using it for studio and live shows with no issues. Like the DT, the DT2 feels like an actual instrument. It can be equally experimental or pragmatic. The sound quality feels a little more transparent and even than the DT. I’m having a difficult time articulating this, but it definitely isn’t a bad thing; it sounds great.
I’m fine with the grid/sample chopping issues as that really doesn’t matter to my workflow. A more useable time stretch would be cool. Arp/midi arp would make it feel more like a centerpiece. However, my biggest gripe is the damn lines that have shown up recently on the screen. 2 out of the 3 Elektron devices I’ve bought have issues and that doesn’t really feel great. I play out often and use my gear regularly, but I have gear from the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, 2000’s, etc and the Elektrons have the lowest batting average in regards to quality control. I’d still recommend it, but I’m feeling a little burned with the quality control issues (I ALWAYS treat my gear kindly).
5 Likes
I know exactly what you mean about the sound. Digitakt sound almost seems sterile until you get accustomed to that being the character of the machine. Interesting to know that it’s even more so on DT2, makes me wonder if that’s part of the auditory impact of stereo samples.
2 Likes
I had that too. Email them for sure. I sent mine to somewhere in California (I’m in the U.S.) and had it back in about 2 weeks.
I don’t think it’s the stereo nature. I think it’s something in the gain staging and maybe how they choose to sum. Maybe some soft limiting, idk.
I have this opinion because I’ve attempted to record all of my external synths into it as a song completing device, and the sound just kind of gets more digitakty as I go. I don’t have this issue through interface / DAW.
Maybe this has to do with normalization in my case, since I record a lot of external sources.
Overall, I’m talking like a 2% tint on the sound. It’s super minor and honestly kind of pleasing in a “safe” way. I might be totally full of shit too, just going off the feels.
2 Likes
I agree with this. It’s for exactly this reason that I do not sample directly into the digitakt, I don’t like the way the recorder impacts the sound, so I record externally and then import files via the transfer software, which is a huge PITA and limits the amount of larger projects I’ll use DT for these days.
I do find that once an audio file (not recorded with DT) is imported into the machine, that’s when it’s transparent to the point of initially feeling sterile.
Totally evident in resampling as well. I think that for some people it doesn’t matter, but for me it does bother me quite a bit and I was a little put off by the fact they did not add the ability to bypass their normalization (or whatever) algorithm in DT2.
I know some people don’t care or seem to notice, but to my ears it’s fairly audible.
4 Likes
i think most of us that care do care, but when it comes to the takt we’ve got no where else to go.
basically I’ve just been overlooking the things that I refuse to overlook anywhere else because I can’t bear to get rid of it… and am having faith that they will address several issues sooner than later
3 Likes
At the same time, I can’t deny it’s quick to get something going on. @shigginpit
Little thing I made since my last message. Jammed out the arrangement with a single USB cable into my laptop/daw. I didn’t bother with separate tracks, but I could have for better mixing. That is an insane prospect.
I like to use the DT2 standalone, and I like to utilize it’s whole engine.
Short samples looping with BRR and SRR sound great.
Moving the tuning where it shouldn’t go sounds neat too. That trick is to thank for little aliasing sweep sound that starts up around 45 seconds.
It’s when I use all of these tricks on every track that the DT sound really comes out. Run this through something like a Sherman or Acidbox3 though, and I bet it would have that special something I like.
8 Likes
what does digitakt 2 have up it’s sleeve that makes it worth $$$
stereo
16 tracks
sample flip (hipster choke group)
a six mile long sequencer
euclidean to fill said vast trig grid
ok but syntakt has the 4 analog tracks, the analog fx track and bussing, that’s not at all a gimmick. what tricks does digitakt 2 have i don’t know about
You’re dead wrong there bud.
It’s “$$$$” now.
2 Likes
socks… I’m just sayin.
This year i decided to treat myself with Elektron box at the time when dt2 was out, so i bought one. Wanted to see what is about their gear that everyone is talking about and would it be good addition to Ableton live production i am doing.
I do own Deluge, but that’s it. I don’t own or want to buy more gear.
And since i bought it, it became real instrument and center piece of my production.
It’s just so effortless to find good groove, interesting sounds, and idea starters (sometimes even final piece). I love it.
With ob running in Live elevates possibilities of this box in terms of fx per channel. Also concept of jamming without turning on your pc is really helpful to focus on music making and sound design for me.
I also love that i can easily hook up my phone and record any sound, acapella, or whatever i find inspirational, and work from there,making it very portable (adding ipad as well when traveling). Ok you still need to be stationary and plugged in (i saw concept of battery powered) but i find very hard to produce outside or in a train/plane like some do.
There are some things Elektron can push on it like eq, limiter, zoom for audio sample… But honestly this is just icing on a cake.
It is just amazing box, and i am happy i bought it.
I know people get overload from choices on market, but if you simplify it and focus on one box it makes that instrument more special and useful.
7 Likes
I’ve only bought it in October, so I can’t speak from the perspective of a one year owner.
My short take is that unlike Digitakt I ot Octatrack, it’s inspiring, fun and finally warmed me to working with samples. DT and OT were always just tools for me, but DT II is more.
One thing I like about it specifically is using slice grids and printing synth audio and move on. Having so much more space and stereo makes a surprisingly big difference, because I can just sample in whatever I want to on a whim without thinking about space limits.
I’m also a huge fan of how FX are integrated and always use SRR to some degree. The overall sound also somehow is more impressive. The complete flexibility of hat tracks can be are a major advantage over Syntakt, and so are 128 steps, chorus, new conditions, reworked retrig menu and track swap.
I still don’t like working with long samples on it though. The sequencer and options for step lengths and decay parameters feel a bit too limiting to not prefer doing that in Ableton. And since I still don’t like building all of my synth sounds from samples, it will probably never be the “everything in one box” machine for me. I might actually sell it and do what I’ve learned with it drum wise with OG DT. As with DN II, you don’t need all of the new power if you keep using it together with other machines.
But for now, it’s way too useful to sell it (and also inspiring).
3 Likes
I find this also only downside on digitakt, that’s why i mentioned sample zoom in would be imperativ for proper long sample manipulation.
And Elektron already implemented this function when recording sound into it, you can do basic trim with zoom in function
3 Likes
What would help a lot for me was if there were options beyond 128 step or max record sampling, 128 step or infinite step length, 127 or infinite decay etc.
One area where I also see big potentials for AI was helping me to easily chop a sample according to note trigs that I sent out to record that sample. So I would easily get samples that are as long as the note was held so I can make more use of envelopes, mutes etc. Or maybe it doesn’t even have to use AI, more like a two step mode: first I tell my DT how many slices I want to make, then I press the trigs in recording mode to define where in the sample the next slice will start. If we also had an option to define exact step lengths when recording, that could work well and would be a game changer for me personally.
2 Likes
I have a 6 month reflection in that I feel it’s the device I’ve clicked with most out of the things I’ve tried. It’s just so well done imo, very creative and love Overbridge for taking tracks further.
3 Likes
Tip : Don’t sleep on the BR. It’s a great tool for Snares/Claps for example in conjunction with the Amp Env (especially the Decay). It gives that extra snap and crisp. It can also be great as a transition trick with the adequate LFO.
4 Likes