The OS version is shown briefly in the lower right corner of the screen when you turn the Digitakt on.
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Thanks. Iâll double check when I get home.
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impressive stuff, how do you come up with soo much material and how do you compose it
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Has anyone used it together with OT yet? Just wondering on potential workflows and how they gel
Iâd love to.
The thing is, with the Digitakt, Iâm getting the feeling that everything that went into the box, was done more or less exactly right. Yes, itâs mono (for example), but itâs bleedinâ great sounding mono. And yes, it has only eight tracks. But if you had just eight tracks, wouldnât you want them to be stupid flexible? With conditional trigs, p-locks, amps and filters per voice, and so on? Yes. So that which Elektron put into the DigiTakt, they made sure to do it well. That which was left out, well, thatâs up to you to decide if itâs important.
The MPC500 is dated, and almost was when it launched. It has a few nice things going for it, size and battery power being a few of them, but the UI is a nightmare, the fx and filters just donât cut it and building something comprehensible with it, feels like youâre being robbed from the entire point of evolution within technology and user design. On paper, you can build impressive and rich stuff with the MPC500. But youâll hurt, inside and out, while doing it.
The Electribe2 sampler is a bit of an odd beast. On paper, itâs great and a contender to the Digitakt. In truth, it is not, unless price is a factor. Itâs substantially cheaper. But putting aside that itâs a bit slow to work with, not just in terms of workflow (cause itâs okay in that regard), but in terms of just getting the machine to finish its line of thought once youâve told it what you want to do - itâs a product that Korg never finished. If the Digitakt is a mono, not stereo device, is a considered decision from Elektron, the cutting of envelopes between patterns in the Tribe, fx not trailing unless theyâre identical between patterns, you being left to optimize polyphony instead of the instrument just doing what it claims it should do, and so on - eventually, youâll know youâre working with a sampler thatâs not defined by its options and limitations, but that just wasnât done properly.
If youâre into sequenced and pattern-based sampling, and want options beyond the Live and the Digitakt, Iâd recommend the Electribe ESX. Thatâs still super relevant, but has gone increasingly up in price on the second hand market and usually costs more than a brand new Electribe 2.
If I had all these options on the table, and could go for whichever I wanted, including the Live, Iâd go for the Digitakt. Granted, weâre honeymooning. But given that Iâve gone through most of whatâs out there, and not just bought it to trade it, but actually used them all - Iâve over time considered what I really want in a sampler. The Digitakt is it.
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Yes, I mean, when people speak about the immediacy of the Digitakt, it really needs to be said that itâs more direct compared to other Elektron products or outings of similar complexity. But compared to as you say the ESX, itâs just not even a relevant argument. The ESX runs in circles around the Digitakt when it comes to just putting your hands on the instrument and get to work.
I think populating samples on a new project is by purpose, since it helps you get going straight away, without getting to know the Digitaktâs file system. For any beginner to the Digitakt who launches a new project, and then needs to dive into the file structure just to get their favourite kick drum in place, it could be a potential âI hate this thing already.â
But with some sounds in place, you can build something and then replace them - I believe this threshold is easier to accept than having a blank pattern, unable to do anything at all, before youâve said hello to the folders and files, which for some is probably the equivalent of arriving to a new country, not knowing if you kiss, shake hands or hug and you insult someoneâs mother if you do it wrong.
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Seem to remember this is default behaviour in the manual. I donât have a problem with it particularly, but presumably you can then just âclear pattern / clear bankâ and you get an init patch with no settings / sounds loadedâŚ?
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Thanks. Very nice. Youâre gonna love it 
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Thank you so much Andreas!
Iâve been flip flopping around for ages trying to work out what I really want. The OP-1 was a thing of beauty, but I never really created anything meaningful on it. I was sad to see it go, but that was more because it was a lovely object dâart rather than something Iâd miss playing with.
I gassed hard on the Live, but when it arrived (almost) dead - it wouldnât spit any sound out of any output about 50% or more of the time between reboots - I had a choice of whether to get a replacement or ask for my money back. If it was a bit smaller and lighter, Iâd have got a replacement, but it wasnât.
I spent all last night watching MPC500 and Electribe Sampler 2 videos on YouTube and heard some great stuff, but I get what you mean about the MPC500 workflow and OS being properly dated (Iâve had calculators with bigger screens!) and Iâve read that Korg has basically forgotten about the Electribes now, so yeah, maybe the Digitakt is the clear choice.
I want to make hip-hop beats, jungle and ambient stuff⌠Any thoughts on the Digitakt not having a âsong modeâ (yet?)
Thanks again!
Josh
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Ah, cool. Iâve only ever used AK and OT and projects start blank so it seemed strange but maybe thatâs how itâs been on other Elektrons or a new way.
Iâd say that depends on how you use Song mode in the past. Like any Elektrons, if youâre into longer linear structured songs, whateverâs in the box will just be versions of awkward to get you there. The Song mode in the Octatrack, A4 and Rytm are all good - but still not great.
The more youâre tied to many patterns being part of a larger whole - verse, bridge, chorus and those sort of things - the more challenging the Digitakt will be, and maybe more so than the other Elektrons, at least right now.
Not only does each pattern maintain its entirely unique data structure, which means you really gotta know what youâre doing if youâre editing a kick on pattern A04 and want this edit to carry over to A03, A02 and A01. You also just gotta keep your head cool and know which pattern comes after which, when youâre playing live.
Iâm old school when it comes to song writing. Iâve always had to work my way around Elektronâs 64-step pattern structure, sometimes with their Song mode, but more by just looking at patterns as slices of a greater whole and edit them as if they were part of a linear sequence, and then cut and paste them together when I wanted to get the order right. The main enabler for this was the Kit system, and thatâs gone, at least for now.
So the lack of song mode is on several levels. You canât string patterns together other than by memory. I donât even count the Chain feature into this discussion, since itâs a fire and forget feature. And the lack of kits, means that you canât even build consistency between the patterns without messing about a lot with copying and pasting.
If linear composing is important, take note. The Digitakt is not optimised for it. It can be done, but massage that abstract thinking part of your brain good and proper and prepare for some clicks and pushes that them pattern-oriented funk master performers donât much need to bother about
I, for one, would love to see chains being saved and a version of the kit system in place. Theyâd make substantial difference to my workflow, which is to build longer linear songs. The fact that you can make them even more interesting with conditional trigs and p-locks is great. But those features just donât replace the process of working with songs where you just want to get timing and pacing just the way you like it.
But - Iâve decided that Iâm okay with that, so Iâm learning those extra clicks and pushes required to be able to write stuff the way I want to. But I can totally see a lot of musicians who write music the same kind of way, not being okay with that. At all.
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I just got the Digitakt so I canât give an informed opinion. I used an MPC1000 for a long time and I will say that MPCs are excellent for arranging linear tracks and Iâm sure the Live will excel at that (if you can get one that works). I had the ESX-1 and the MPC1000 both from basically the time they were released. The MPC was far more powerful and gratifying than the Korg. If you get an MPC though, I highly recommend buying some tutorial or something. They are super deep and take forever to learn. I would probably avoid the Electribe.
Remember, the Digitakt does allow pattern chains, you just canât save them. If you arrange your song in a logical order, it shouldnât be too hard to string the patterns together quickly for recording the song or performing it live (I hope). I have high hopes for this box and I think Elektron will ultimately deliver a unique and awesome sampler/drum machine. Itâs just gonna take a bit of time to come into its own. (Again, I hope; lol).
nice!
cenks video on the workflow is again really great⌠There is nothing as hell good as a electron sequencerâŚ
and with the little updates they as always create a great workflow upgrade (like tempo per track, editing an all 8 channels at onceâŚ) congrats electron :-))
great piece of gear⌠lets see, if this will be my next buy (even owning the OT an AR) :-))
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Thanks! Letâs see how I get on with the Digitakt then!
Looks like Iâll be learning a new workflow then⌠Just placed a pre-order for the Digitakt 
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Good call. Youâre not gonna regret it.
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Thanks! I donât know, it just comes pretty easily to me. I start with maybe just a tempo or feeling and everything just sort of flows. Then, for a live set, I just think of what would come next and it flows. I definitely compose in a linear fashion for live sets. Thatâs one reason Iâm super excited for BPM per pattern on the Digitakt. That I wonât need to think in such linear terms for live sets. Just have an arsenal of beats to choose from and the tempo will always be right 
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I have high hopes theyâll add saving of chains in an update. that would fit into their âupdated chains to replace the need for song modeâ vibe they hinted at.
Hip-hop beats, jungle and ambient stuff⌠i think you should get MPC live again, coz its born for that. you dont want to play ambient with mono, you canât play chords & layer with samples too. also, Electribe sampler is just a unfinished product, i sold it already.
well⌠i think he should get both .-))) (yeah, i know⌠money)
from dealing with the AR and OT i can imagine what fun you will also have with the digitakt and this stylesâŚ
but yes, i also have an MPC⌠be careful: my unit doesnt have any issue or crashes, but the workflow is only good for people love to PLAY pads (unimportant of style)⌠programming on the touchscreen is something i mostly avoid (but its good to have that overview)