Is My Digitakt Unwell? (Resolved)

Elektron Gear Digitakt
#1

Hi all,
Due to a response I received to a reply I sent yesterday (regarding the brightness of the LEDs), I have a feeling my Digitakt is not behaving as it should, so am just after some clarification please.

My Digitakt is running OS v1.50 and I’ve had it since I needed to upgrade to V.1.30 (manufacturing date is WK48 2020), and it’s always behaved the way it does now since I bought it.

Every time I turn the Digitakt on, all that’s loaded are the factory patterns, and any/all settings I changed the last time I used it (LED brightness, turning on ‘Remember Subpage’ etc) are all cleared as if I’ve done a factory reset.
Any patterns I was working on previously are not loaded, and I have to manually load the project I want to continue working on (and getting asked if I want to save the changes to the factory patterns before I continue).

Is this normal or a known problem please?
Everything else appears to work as it should and, seeing as this is the only Digitakt I’ve had, I’ve not had the opportunity to compare it to one that behaves correctly.
I have several other Elektron boxes and they don’t do this (settings are remembered at the very least), so my guess is that my Digitakt isn’t doing something it should be…

Many thanks in advance for any responses.

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Wrong project loads at startup
#2

That absolutely doesn’t sound normal, raise a ticket with support. I haven’t seen an issue like that here but I also haven’t looked too deeply.

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#3

The behavior is abnormal. It sounds like there’s nothing to back up, but if there is I would back up your data, then load the prior 1.40 OS and see if the problem still persists. If you need a copy of the old OS send me a message and I’ll give it to you. Once you establish whether the problem is with your firmware or your machine, you can reload OS 1.50 and if the problem persists contact support by creating a ticket.

Also consider reporting this in the Digitakt bugs thread which I’ll find a link to.

here:

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#4

Thanks for the replies
I have the old OS files (thank you though) so I dumped v1.30 on my Digitakt and changed the settings - these were still in effect when I turned it off and back on again.
I then dumped v1.40 on and, after changing the settings, these were NOT effective when I rebooted.
I then put v1.50 back on and, after changing the settings, these were NOT effective when I rebooted.

Thanks for the link about v1.50 bugs - my problem doesn’t appear to be linked directly to v1.50 but I’ll contact support to see what they say.

#5

Sounds like the same symptoms (if not the same cause) as this one ?

#6

Very strange. I’m wondering, did your Digitakt first come with 1.30 loaded on the machine? It makes me suspicious if there is some remnant of the 1.30 OS which is not being wiped from the memory and somehow conflicts with subsequent firmware versions. In reviewing the release notes which is a history of changes documented for Digitakt firmware upgrades on the Elektron website, I see this between 1.30B and 1.40:

image
image1110×519 45 KB

Some of this renaming of functions seems to pertain to the problems you’re encountering. Also seeing the pattern menu has been moved to the settings menu.

My point of this, is that if this “renaming” of the operations somehow has confused the machine because the upgrade is incomplete, it may not perform these functions as expected or at all, at least not in a permanent capacity (once the boot loader has ran again it goes back to whatever the default is). This is purely hypothesis given the information available, I feel that the situation is a bit confusing so I’m looking for a way to rationalize what’s happening.

I’m assuming you are doing the OS reload in the simplest manner, using the software upgrade over USB via the Elektron transfer app - If you would like to perform an additional step of troubleshooting, here is what I personally would do next - instead of using the upgrade over USB, if you have a standard 5 pin midi interface either on your audio interface or standalone, I would try to do the OS update via sysex.

If you need information on that, let me know. I can provide you a link about how to do the update via sysex. Hope this helps and makes sense.

#7

I’m a little confused, as I’ve taken ownership of another Digitakt today and it doesn’t do the same things as my original Digitakt.

On the Digitakt I have received today I can:

  1. set the LED Brightness, USB Config and ‘Remember Subpage’ and these setting as remembered by the new unit between power cycles
  2. load a project and I do NOT have to save it before turning the Digitakt off as, when I turn the new unit back on, the project/pattern I was working on previously is still loaded into the memory.

I cannot fathom why one unit behaves different to the other - both have v1.50 installed and both show no errors on the Test Page.
I will be contacting Support about this as I want my original unit to do what the new unit is doing - the new unit has a manufacturing date 2yrs prior, but I can’t see that has anything to do with the issue.

#8

Hi, thanks for your reply.

I honestly cannot remember what OS is had on it when I got it - it could’ve been before V1.30 tbh, and I always use the ‘Transfer’ app and drop the OS files to get them transferred.

I’ve never updated any of my Elektron gear using sysex over MIDI (C6?) and have never had a problem, but I do have a soundcard with MIDI ports on it so that could be investigated.

#9

You can do it using the same app, transfer, the process is just slightly different and you have to set up the din cables. I’ll find the link for you, hold on.

#10

Sounds like your unit is still under warranty. Definitely get it to Elektron, it is indeed unwell.

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#11

How to update your device via sysex transfer : Knowledge Base (Beta) (elektron.se)

Try this link, I had to do it once. It’s pretty straightforward if you follow directions.

If you’re within the 3 years you are definitely covered under warranty so use it if necessary but I hate sending my gear out and waiting for it to come back so I try everything I can to fix software type issues myself first. Even if it’s something like install a circuit board, I’ll do it myself as long as I don’t have to solder anything or do something that will void the warranty. I’d solder on an out of warranty device if it were necessary, but never something that would directly void what warranty I have left.

If they need to troubleshoot your device in house, you may be forced to send it in and that’s ok, they’ll take care of you. But if you can, try that sysex transfer link and then maybe even do a factory reset once it’s onboard and see if there is any help. Try not to wipe the factory samples (although I remember one case where some corrupted data stuck on the plus drive forced a person to wipe everything and then it began to work again) because if you wipe factory samples you’ll have to get help probably from support to reload them.

Good luck, let me know how it works out.

#12

Thank you again for responding.

OK, some progress - I’ve used the sysex transfer to install v1.30, then v1.40 and, finally, v1.50.
The troublesome unit now DOES remember the LED Brightness, USB Config and ‘Remember Subpage’ settings (and I can see the screen dim when the Elektron logo breaks-up and flies off the screen).
I’m still left with it not remembering the last pattern I was working on though - if I load a Project then turn the unit off, when I turn it on again I have nothing loaded, and when I select ‘Load Project’ and choose something I’ve saved, it asks me if I want to ‘Save ‘New Project’ before loading?’.

Some progress then, but it’s still not behaving properly
= to save sending it back I’d be happy to do a proper wipe of everything, do a proper reset (if such a thing is possible), install the OS then reload all my sounds/projects (which I’ve already saved).

I’ll see what support come back with, but seeing as I have a Digitakt that does work as it should I’m happy to try anything that might fix the issue - sending it back to Elektron is a last resort.

#13

I’m certain that we’re on the right track, but I’m probably not the best guide for this so I don’t want to steer you wrong, I’m just trying to help as best I can.

I do think that there is no coincidence that the sysex transfer has implemented some of the features. What I suspect is that some of the operating system is “rooted” in the menu and that it is (for some unknown reason) not allowing you to get past a certain portion of the upgrade.

I don’t have any conclusive proof but it is possible there is corrupt data on your device. Do you usually load samples via transfer or do you sample directly into the device? If you have loaded any samples via USB using transfer, it is possible that something somewhere is in conflict.

At your own risk, if you have already backed up your data, from device OFF you can enter into the startup menu by holding down the FUNC key and then turn on the power switch, when the startup menu loads you will see the test mode and other options - 2. empty reset will erase any patterns or sounds that have been created.
-3. factory reset will reinitialize the active RAM project that includes the pattern, sound pool and global data settings. Sound Bank A will also be overwritten with the factory preset sounds.

it is said that “If you want to keep the active project, save it to a slot that is higher than 1.”

beyond that I’m not sure of how to deliberately remove the factory sounds but I’ve heard of it happening to people, so be prepared for that possibility. IF that happens, you’ll need customer service to help you get the factory sounds back.

I’ll see if I can find any further data for you but I assume there is some connection since you did the sysex and now have added functionality but not ALL functionality.

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#14

Another thing I’d like you to try is disregard whatever bank and pattern number you’re on currently (the one you’ve been trying), and I want you to try selecting a completely different bank and pattern to do your next test. So, just randomly bank E pattern 5, something like that - just to see if it makes any difference. Preferably a bank and pattern you have not frequently relied on, or have never saved data to before. That would be my next step if I was doing this for my own personal troubleshooting.

I’ll be offline for a while, I’ll check back to see if you’ve posted an update when I’m able to get back on. Hope some of this helps.

#15

Huge thanks for your assistance with this - makes no sense to me, but I’m glad at least that some progress has been made as it reassures me that whatever the problem is can be sorted out.

Doing the Factory Reset feels like what my Digitakt was doing each time I turned it on - no matter what I was working on it’d boot to the preset patterns (which I thought was normal).

I’ve moved all my sounds/projects over to the Digitakt I received yesterday (which does behave itself) and my workflow I’d already improved because of it - this means that there’s nothing on the box that’s causing me problems so I’m happy to try whatever method(s) Support suggests without fear of losing any work.

#16

All sorted!
Just took me going through all my old OS updates and dumping them (via sysex) onto the ‘misbehaving’ Digitakt, and somehow it’s fixed all the problems I was having!

Thank you to all who replied.

I’ve not heard back from Elektron about the problems I was having, but I’ll update them on what’s happened and that it’s now dealt with.

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#17