It's unlikely that we'll ever get kits on the Dark Trio, but I had an idea

Elektron Gear Digitakt
#43

Aternative and maybe a simpler suggestion:

You can choose per track between the track sound (stored in the pattern), or to use one of the sounds of the project sound pool (128 slots). (Without sound locking it, jus as the default sound for a track).

Adjusting a sound in a track when a sound pool sound is selected -> the sound pool sound is edited. So all other patterns with tracks which point to this sound will use the latest status of this sound.

When you have selected a sound from the sound pool for a track, the sound is no longer part of the pattern. Therefore, sound pool sounds are not CTR+ALL controllable.

3 Likes
#44

I think this could be maybe the simplest to implement way to do this that would introduce the fewest weird edge cases.

1 Like
#45

Yeah, it’s definitely an interesting take, with an added advantage of allowing tweaking of the sound pool in realtime, something I’ve also wanted. I just got a Digitakt which doesn’t have Multi Map but on Digitone and A4 it would be indispensable. (Too bad I no longer own those at the moment!)

Not sure how sound selection would be implemented - on DT, TRK+LEVEL is taken by the preset browser.

Also a key combo to toggle the referenced sound mode would probably be required, so either there is still Track Lock mode entered with TRK+PTN or that will be used for toggling the current track. Easier to implement for Elektron, but less user-friendly.

To me, it’s the same idea, minus sequence-locking, with an added enhancement and perhaps no separate track lock mode for toggling. Simpler in some ways in the long run for the user, slightly more work for Elektron (but of course less if sequence-locking wasn’t included.)

Not sure I’m a fan of the exclusion from Control All. My instinctual workflow would be to reserve some sounds in the sound pool for performance, and then use Reload Ptn to get back to normal after screwing around, so if my referenced sounds got clobbered, it’s on me.

I personally am still leaning towards the original proposal because there is this tradeoff and also having to remember which sounds in the sound pool are referenced in the project and that they need to be “protected”. There’s no simple way to “reset” a sound to its initial state for a performance, for example. You’d have to go through in the browser and copy from their clean versions.

#46

Jeah, the problem lays that “Reload PTN” should reload your pattern only. When tracks use sounds from the sound pool (or a global sound in another way) these sounds are not part of the pattern anymore. So that’s also the reason that I suggested to exclude them from CTRL+All, as there isn’t an obvious way to reload the sounds.

The idea was formed with exactly this in mind. :wink:

1 Like
#47

This is the most important tradeoff imo. If it can be solved, then locked tracks don’t have to be excluded from Control All.

I’m interested in your thought process. What are the most problematic edge cases that you wanted to address by having locked tracks reference the sound pool?

#48

As @warpigs330 already mentioned, I have the feeling that this way it has a minimum impact on how things work right now. The sound pool is already there and (in my opinion) it’s not really used in its full potential. Tracks that play sounds from the sound pool seems very obvious and simple to understand. It’s actually already there as you can sound lock these via trigs.

Regarding the UI: linking a sound from the sound pool could be as easy as adding another menu item “LINK TO TRK” here:

IMG_0703
IMG_07032356×1288 699 KB

Note:
I’m not against your proposal in any way. If it would be implemented as you describe it, it would ROCK. But I also see a lot of “potential buggyness”, because it’s probably hard to implement without some nasty bugs/edge-cases.

2 Likes
#49

Ah OK, I think I get that. Does seem less risky, on a technical level.

Seeing the screenshot softened me to doing things that way, as setup. Maybe there could be an additional option in the menu, to store the clean version. Maybe called “Save Initial”. This would be what’s re-loaded into the slot when the user reloads a pattern.

Yet another option “Reload Refs” could go through the whole sound pool and initialize everything. Or, it could use the TRK+PTN+NO combo; intuitive but hard to do accidentally.

No toggling or rules to worry about. A track’s sound is either normal or a reference, and it’s tied to the patterns instead of a project-wide state.

Just needs a catchy name. :slight_smile:

I think I’d be happy with either, depending on Elektron’s preference.

Looks like we have a nice gradient of avenues emerging, ranging from fancy and difficult to implement to simple and easier to implement. Be interesting to hear their take…

1 Like
#50

It’s the one month mark with my Digitakt and, wouldn’t you know it, it’s is my favorite Elektron device ever. (And for those of you wondering about my prior money issues, don’t worry, it’s on 2-year financing.)

I have made a dozen or so patterns, a finished song, and am working on a couple songs and I’ve come to the conclusion that the missing piece really is something like track lock or what others have described in her. Let’s call it SOUND LINK?

The Sound Link feature would be amazing because it would kill two birds with one stone - allow you to have easy continuity and consistency across a song that uses multiple patterns, and rapidly edit and try out sounds on devices that have Multi Map, giving them a better, more drum-machine-like workflow.

It would be wild to have even the simplest version of Track Lock, where you can just toggle loading of sounds on and off on a per-track basis, or, Sound Link, where you can link any track in any pattern to one of the entries in the Sound Pool, along with with the requisite tools in the sound pool context menu.

Hope that Elektron takes note…think we’ve all been wanting something that addresses this for a while.

4 Likes
#51

Edited OP