Introducing Digitakt II

Yes, otherwise I wouldn’t bother writing about it.

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Would be curious to know if they are using the same or a different part as the original. Mine feel identical. Is your DTII from the first batch?

The question is « can we make a case out of one user ». We need a much larger sample before getting to any conclusion.

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Likely not the first batch. I purchased my DTII about three months ago.

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me too, it’s very noticeable when used alongside my syntakt

the trig keys also feel totally different

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The endless pots used on all current Elektron line are all the same, it’s a very specific type made by Alpha and they are very inconsistent between batches, specifically with the amount and perhaps type of dampening grease used internally.

It’s always been like that, those people with very consistent potentiometer action on their Elektron boxes are just lucky.

In my experience these pots can be either one of the following cases once they leave the factory while still been considered within tolerances (by Alpha):

  • lacking grease (very wobbly, light, scratchy and inconsistent feel). This is the worst and the pot sticks out like a sore thumb when compared to the others giving the impression that is broken (but it really isn’t).

  • not enough grease (more consistent to the turn but still pretty light and wobbly. Gets worse with warm temperatures).

  • right amount of grease (feels solid and smooth, very little to no wobble, gets slightly lighter in warm temperatures).

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So my Elektron journey started with the OG DT and I have really fond memories of it, it was very fast to sample and work and very pleasant to use all around. I sold it due to its limitations in sampling wanting to make songs and not loops. I eventually got the MPC live 1 had it for a year and found it to be a real flow killer, bought OT and had that for 5 years and eventually sold it mostly due to its limited encoder resolution (127) got the S-4 ( a buggy mess and made everything kind of samey) got the mpc live 2 and instantly got reminded of why I sold the first live. I have had the great privileges of beta testing the OP-1 Field and the OP-XY. The XY is almost perfect but can’t really handle large swats of longer samples if I want to make a live set (I basically have to only use the internal synths or midi) the OP-1 Field is the ultimate creative tool, I love sitting down with it and just make weird 4 bar loops.

The problem is, that I don’t have a clear performance center piece where I can gather my loops and perform them. So I’m thinking of trying Digitakt 2. I have a gig coming up in about a month and I love rolling up to a gig with one device and just have a go at it, last time I did that with the OP-XY and I really almost brought the house down, the audio engineer stated that every single shelf in the venue was shaking from the sheer force of my brutala bass line :laughing:.

This time I want to be a bit more mindful, perform beats with samples vocals, guitar, textures small glitchy micro beats etc.

My intended workflow for creating these beats/songs is to sample everything I own into the DT2 and arrange everything on it, basically like GRYR did on their track in the sonic collage video from Elektron.

Is anybody using the DT2 in this manner? Thoughts? Pro’s, con’s etc?

I would love to hear from current users.

My live gear would in that case be DT2 and my Chase Bliss board which will be used as performance effects, transitions and end of chain.

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Maybe try a second hand DTII and see if it works for you. I am still more comfortable with OT for dealing with long samples, but if you don’t miss polyphony DTII is a powerful instrument. If you dedicate it the time to explore the novelties, and already had fun with the OG, I don’t see why you wouldn’t click with it!

Yeah buying used is always a good bet. BUT you also have the return window, so that is an option as well.

What is polyphony in this matter? If you mean that each track is monophonic, then it won’t be missed. But if I cannot have all 16 tracks trigger at the same time then it is definetly something I have to consider.

All 16 tracks can be triggered at the same time, no problemo.

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At that point, the problemo might be that you have 16 concurrent sounds in your mix :stuck_out_tongue:

To add something of some value hopefully – @MichaalHell I’ve done practically every step you have, with the exception of OP-XY. I think the DTII is very very good.

It has so many options for modifying a sound, and everything sounds hifi and good. That was the reason I’ve let the OT go, multiple times…

My hangup for a long time was that it’s not an OT – you can’t live sample perfect loops, for instance. But one I got past that I saw everything DTII has to offer, and it’s quite a bit.

For your use, DTII might lack some things (I don’t think it has a ’start silent’ pattern setting, for instance) and of course only a stereo output.

I’ve settled on using Push if I want to build big things. Still early days with DTII but I don’t think I’ll switch over to it for building long compositions/sets, TBH. But can’t see why it wouldn’t work.

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I’m not clear how exactly you’d rebuild your tracks on DT II. If you want to mainly throw in longer samples that are like stems, you might run into some problems that hold DT back for me in that use case.

Working with longer samples, you have to be aware that they still have to work within the 128 step sequencer grid. Which means if you want to play back a sample that’s longer than 128 steps, you need to make some adjustments, otherwise the sample will always restart at the beginning after max 128 steps. Now you can reduce the resolution of your sequencer to multiply step lengths, but then you might run into the problem that it’s hard to place a trig for starting sample playback at the exact right place. You could alternatively use conditions like 1:8 and keep the resolution, so you get 8x 128 steps (or whatever you need, you get the idea). If you like to use odd lengths and microtiming a lot, re programming loops on your DT II might turn into maths quickly.

With both methods, you might be frustrated that DT’s mutes are linked to the trigs. On OT, your track will mute as soon as you hit mute. On DT, it will only mute once the next trig is hit. Which could be a long time if you play back a long sample with only one trig. You also won’t really be able to use envelopes if you have like one trig with a long sample.

You could also use slices, conditions and microtiming to make the long sample a bit shorter and solve some of the issues I’ve mentioned. That would also have the advantage that you could use random slice select if you have longer samples that contain a loop with slight variations.

If you use all 16 tracks but want to fade in and out volumes with the internal mixer page, that’s also not ideal because you’ll have to jump between pages on a pretty deep menu and have max 8 tracks per page overview.

And if you don’t use OB, everything you do will always have to go through just two outpus (L/R).

If these things don’t sound like they might stop you, this could be great for you.

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Thanks for the replies @josker @Azzarole

My main use would basically be to use it as a sound collage.
My first iteration of my structure is: (which will probably change if I get the device)
Track1-8 one shots, drums, field recordings (for ambience) acting as the rhythmic foundation.

Track 9-16 melodic loops.4-8 bars long, most probably won’t use all the 8 tracks at the same time but maybe have a vocal a/b section on two of tracks which I alternate between. Use two other tracks which will alternate between via the mixer (fade in and out) these loops will be derived from my other gear (sequenced by OP-XY), guitar playing and me singing.

So basically I will have core loops to act like stems, but then use DT to further ”sculpt” the sound, be it via a comb filter or slicing up a chord loop and playing with that. Basically a very limited DAW.

Then when overbridge for IOS drops I’ll record everything into Logic Pro for iPad…

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Sounds like that could work really well with DT II. Personally, I would add a MIDI controller to control the fade ins/outs and maybe some performance macros, but that depends on how good you are at jumping around between pages.

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im decent at jumping around, but i do have one of these which i used with the OP-XY on my last gig BUT. it kind of crapped out me, so not sure how good it will work.

Oh that sucks! Faderfox UC4 is really reliable and easy to program without an app or computer, if you’re interested.

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yeah thats a good one. i´ve been debating a Light Reft Monolit as well or a Melbourne Roto-Control. But they´re expensive… Allthough a really good Midi controller usually outlives a lot of gear, just becuase of how you can use one in so many ways.

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Is that true?

I’ve never used a sample long enough but couldn’t you set the trig condition to say 1:4 or 1:8 and have it not restart at the beginning of a pattern?

I’m away from my DTII so can’t test it, just curious.

Sure, that was one of the “adjustments” I’ve mentioned in that post you quoted (I’ve listed some workarounds further down in that post).

It’s all doable, but comes with caveats that you should be aware of if you’re worried about DT II being good for the task you want it to fulfil.

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ah missed that, gotcha

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