Investigating OB and reaper with Digitakt : notes for new users

Elektron Software Overbridge
#21

Hello @Dissofiddle ,

thank´s for your reply. Yes I know about routing on a per pattern basis, but I could not think of any use for that, at least till now.
Track arming works for me with input set to none. (Just another method :wink:)
I tried the negative delay in the past for the midi track that holds my pattern change notes.
I remember it not working so well in the past, but I will give it another try now.
Will report back.
As a workaround I placed the the item that holds the note for the pattern change in the measure before the actual change should happen.
Having it on the measure that the change should happen is of course better organised and more clear to see what is actually happening.
As you already mentioned visually aligned.

#22

About routing : I often plays with p-lock on pan and LFO on pan. In that case, I keep the track on the master in order to keep stereo and only uses multitracking for “constant panning” tracks (kick, snare, loop/long one shot samples ) for further process.

The negative delay works for me :slight_smile:

#23

Just wanted to share another observation of oddity on the Digitakt/Digitone in my setup.
Yesterday I had both running in idle mode. The where just left running but weren´t really needed or did produce any sound.
This workd for abaout an 1h or so. After that one of them went to power saving mode (display shut down).
My DAW Reaper lost contact to all the connected midi devices. All midi port sent error messages.
I had had that for quite a number of times now.
Windows tells me that there is a problem with the USB connection to the Digitone (and blieve me, USB is well prepared for music making in my system).
My midi keyboard, my X-Touch (fader unit), all the other USB synths,…gone.
This is frustrating because I have to restart the whole computer to get everything back to work.
Does anyone else have similar problems?

#24

Just for the record: It seems that the problem I ran into was produced by the Midi-echo I had on my midi-interface/patchbay (which is a iconnectivity mioXM).
I had a lot of things connected to each other (e.g. letting the midi tracks of the Digitone control FX on itself) which led into hickups and hangs.
I went through this back and forth with the very friendly support (thank you Patrik :smiley:).
The Digitakt does not want to get start/stop/continue commands twice (buttons + midi).
I have now blocked this in my patchbay and it seems to have it cured. No more freeze and loss of my midi setup in Reaper. (Yay… :grinning:)
This is crucial to me because I love the mioXM as it combines the function of a midi interface and the patching.
This makes it possible to fire up all my Elektron stuff without the need of a computer.
Without any routing of midi cables I can then turn to my DAW and record and further develop.
Having the Digitone freeze made this nearly impossible.
There seems to be another bug in Digitone that causes freezes when it receives an all notes off command. (Patrik told me that it occures seldom and random)
I sometimes use this in Reaper and I don´t know if this was also causing my problem

As I like the idea of Dissofiddle to archive these experiences for other users (and myself) I thought I ´d make a note in this thread.

As for Overbridge, I have to say that since version 2.0.6 it works pretty well in Reaper. It does not always sync when I start playback spot on the start of a measure.
It plays perfectly in sync on the next bar when the playback starts 2 quartes before the actual pattern begins.
Chapeau…now it is really usable in Reaper.

Edit: If start playback shortly before the actual bar (a quarter note e.g.) all Elektron devices go along in sync at the start of the next measure.
I made myself a marker that I switch to on my X-Touch.
This is a really convenient way of jumping around in a bigger project.
I have 8 markers right at hand. That´s way enough for a good workflow.

#25

Hello,

Thanks for sharing.
Indeead, sync is working better not too badly, but I experience some jitter.

So for now, as I don’t wanna spend much time on this here is my "old school dj " workaround :

  • no sync on overbridge
  • set digitakt and reaper bpm at the same value
  • In digitakt > midi sync : ENABLE transport receive but DISABLE transport reiceive
  • send midi clock from reaper to digitakt

So now,ONLY transport start/stop are synced, but not the clock.
It works pretty well for recording a few bar loops and make music production (then reaper and digitakt clocks starts to drift, but it lowers jitter).

Otherwise, If I just want to record a performance, I don’t use any sync at all.

That is a stupid workaround, but I am fed up with trying to make things work, I prefer making music :slight_smile:

#26

This is not about sync. As I understand, the track which has Digitakt vsti can receive midi data and send it to Digitakt. However, I cannot make it do so. Even the virtual piano on the Digitakt vsti doesn’t do anything. It seems the midi isn’t taken into the vsti.

If I insert another track and send midi to Digitakt midi port, it makes sounds.

What am I doing wrong here?

Update: I realized that this issue happens irregularly. If I restart Digitakt the device, it starts to respond to the midi. However, there is still one issue. I can record my Digitakt, that is pressing buttons of Digitakt, onto the Digitakt VSTi track as midi and they are on channel 10 – that is auto channel. However, when I play the track, the auto channel midi messages aren’t recognized by the VSTi.

#27

After too many freezes on almost finished tracks in Studio one I installed reaper for a try. Used Reaper years back before i owned Elektron’s gear. My first impression is positive, just drag and drop Elektron’s VST’s,
Expand all individual tracks and it records nicely without additional doubling of track (which I disliked much in studio one) . The first 16 bars record a bit messy but after that it’s reasonably solid. I really like the way how Reaper is handling VST’s . Happy so far

#28

It is nice to hear this !

Reaper has some nice features and is my favorite daw by far.

The only thing working not to well for me is the sync actually.
However my trick is to use no sync but only transport (play/stop) sync using midi port (I wrote this in a my previous post).
It works nicely this way.

1 Like
#29

hi,

A few new discoveries about reaper and overbridge :

  • the render ahead value in the buffering preferences of reaper seems to have an influence on how stable the overbridge sync is racing at the beginning. The longer this value is, the racy it is when playback is started in reaper.
  • Using Count-in (right click on metromome/click icon to access count-in) of 1 or 2 bar improves the synchronisation start
1 Like
#30

Just wanted to say thanks in advance for so much detail on this setup. So far I’ve only recorded into Reaper from audio out on the DT but really keen to be able to mix tracks separately and this super detailed thread gives me loads of things to try out. Thanks for sharing your convo lovely people! I’ll report back if time allows.

#31

hello, is this problem is still accurate?

#32

Hello,

Overbridge seems to have improved regarding use in reaper.
However, there is still a small latency when launching playback for the first beats.
Besides this, it works fine for me.

#33

Hello,

I have exactly the same problem than you guys. I have sent an email regarding this to elektron and here is the answer :

"Hi Kevin,

I have reported the issue to our developers. We are looking into what can be done and will try to get in touch with Cockos. Sometimes the DAW vendor needs to do some special things for Overbridge to work well, as Overbridge is a rather unique solution. Hopefully, they are willing to collaborate with us to improve how Overbridge works with Reaper. Thanks for reporting!

Best Regards,

Patrik - Elektron"

2 Likes
#34

I recall watching a YT tutorial about Reaper and a user setting to add negative bars at the start. Perhaps using punch in recording at bar 0 and a -1 bar starting point on the timeframe will help aligning the recording.

#35

I got the exact same answer, word for word, verbatim.

It looks like they sent this to all “overbridge in reaper” users

#36

I may have commented in this thread already but if not here is my work around again for syncing my Elektrons to Reaper:

Use a blank pattern for the first bar or two… like a pre-roll.

#37

And Justin Frankel/Cockos is super open and does not hold anything under the hood.
Would be interesting what Cockos has answered. :wink:

#38

It is not only a matter of preroll. The sync work, but the delay compensention do not always work in reaper. That is not a big deal as you can manually ajust this once recorded, but I find it a bit sad for a system that is supposed to have a tighter sync than midi over usb. For live use, or even just jamming along with a softsynth controlled by a midi controller in reaper, it is a bit limiting.

#39

I use a USAMO to clock my digitakt and all my other gear with Reaper, while still using overbridge to manage audio into the DAW from my Elektrons. I’ve used it this way for years so I’m not sure if they’ve gotten overbridge to the point where it can clock easily over USB. I do get some midi instability on the first beat only, but I thought that was normal for recording external midi devices that need a clock to function.

#40

Usamo clock is nice for what it does, but doesn’t create latency using overbridge ?
Usually, if you use to non-overbridge gear, you need a tight clock but also give reaper a latency compensation. What about usamo + overbridge ?
The overbridge clock seems to work in reaper, that is the plugin delay compensation that seems to be faulty