Is Too Much Stuff Jammed into Digitakt?

I plan to use A4 mk2 as my main sequencer, into Machinedrum via MIDI clock for drums, samples and sending Clock and CV from A4 to Eurorack, then Digitakt as just a sound module, sampled sounds, some sequencing I guess to keep it simple.

I looked at one yesterday and te sales guy drove me nuts. He owned one, keep calling it a groove box, showed me how to compose a symphony (a 16 step symphony). I had to remind him every 5 seconds that I just want to make my own samples from my other synths and I didn’t need another drum machine.
I left the shop totally confused.

Though I’m sure it was perfect for him since he said it was all he needed.

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I like that: ‘16 step symphony’.
Sadly what much of so called original music is these days…groove box and step sequencing.
Mozart would be like OMG.

I hear you. My point was that it is easy also because it is not so jam packed.

But I hear you re the lights and that it can get confusing, especially if one’s “mental model“ of the DT is not 100% yet.

I think of the Digitakt’s functionality in layers, then it becomes a little easier. I posted something on this a while back, let me see if I can find it for you.

EDIT: found the post and it was actually in response to you lol :slight_smile: here it is one more time, maybe that will help:

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I Agree with this too (from day one with the digitakt)!
we don’t need that much blinking light .

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The blinking lights are not confusing, if they work as intended. I’m not really sure they do now, the mute states got a bit weird in one of the later updates.

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Sounds like you’re pretty sold on it not being for you… But maybe you were hoping for something else; and maybe what it actually does you’ll love?!

Blinking light… yes… agree to a degree - moreso because I start having trouble telling if somethings actually muted or not sometimes!.. A few practice mini sets I’ve un-muted or muted parts thinking I was doing the opposite!..

Maybe try digging right into the parameter lock aspect more… Like try just having fun with ONE sample track only; change the sample on different hits and doing anything else that comes to mind… play around with trigger conditions so things don’t always strike, or so they strike e.g. after 8 passes of the loop only.

Unfortunately (for you), its depth and various limitation are its appeal really… like others say, I’d prefer more ;-)… ahhemm… more analog outputs… but do love it (already… new user; but have MD which I’ve programmed extensively and knew exactly why I wanted the DT, and it’s awesome)… maybe you would love it too after digging in deeper?..

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thanks, I think I jumped around too fast when I was trying to learn the DT and that was causing the frustration. I actually spent a few hours last night after I made the Post, and all the Light (Functions), made sense to me. Now its a matter of practice, Yes, its a great machine.

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excellent-
I spent more time with it last night working with the light button functions and it was getting clearer. I concentrated on just 1 track, 1 x 16 steps (not 32/48.64). Thanks for the encouragement. I can see DT will be a useful piece.

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No, the DT has a great balance of ease of use and features.

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Whenever I use the DT I always think “way too much lights bruh” :joy: them mute modes and track trig indicators blinking does my head in, it is a shame as I like it in most other ways, but this issue stops me from using it much, I will probably sell it when I can be bothered, I don’t really need it or use it much as I have other samplers that I tend to use more.

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I think they should only blink if something is playing on the track. If i want to check what’s muted i go into mute mode. No need for all this strobo terror. When i played live sets on the Digitakt the lights where no help at all. It’s a design flaw imo.

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Hmm, I honestly believe that the limitations and ease of use are the digitakt’s strength. I sold mine a fairly long time ago but I never found the mute/trig leds to be anything more than useful/unremarkable, maybe they’ve changed via updates. imo it was defo the least daunting of all the elektron instruments. I think that despite how much I miss it sometimes, that the MD-UW was the most frustrating box thus far. I had a genuine love/hate relationship with it and I found it less intuitive than many others seem to, and often ran into annoyances (I had a mk1 unit so the 32 step length, and various quirks with the OS+just being old and a little unreliable)

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Quote of the day!

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Great artist/band name.

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Really impressed with the design and layout of the Analog Four Mk-II (just got 2 weeks ago), I like the larger work area, spread-out buttons and knobs, just a personal preference on design, but both A4 and DT are great in their own universe.

Agreed. The lights are way way too much. When you go into trig edit mode you get red lights showing where the triggers are and a white light moving through the pattern. That’s all I want! A light flashing that the high hat is triggering every 16th is just off-putting.

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I just wish there was a setting to DIM the lights… too bright for my eyes.

I ended up taking mine completely apart, and on each of the 39 buttons, I put a small piece of static cling dimming film into the recessed cavity. Put it all back together and now the lights are about 70% of the original brightness. Also put a piece over the screen to dim it (and further protect it). Totally reversible since the piece of film is just wedged into the button and held in place with friction. Now If I could just find a way to dim the 5 LEDs (besides the Sharpie method)…

Works great for what I need, but a simple LOW/MED/HIGH option would be much easier.

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Great ideas, hopefully Elektron is seeing this.

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One other thing about Digitakt I am not clear on.:
I recorded a sample of my voice, saved it and pressed a track button to place it on, but the sample is jumping all over the place and I cant seem to change the start, end, loop on it… Is this because there are already hidden Trig Commands on the existing track that I put it on??

If thats the case, how do I reset that track (or any track) to have no trigs and start fresh, clean with no hidden modulations on it?