So I’ve had my MS for a few weeks now and absolutely * love* the damn thing.
I can, however, see the desire for sampling, resampling and polyphony eventually leading me deeper into the Elektron rabbit hole towards Digitakt.
I’d just like to get some thoughts on the learning curve for the Digitakt for someone coming from the MS. Would it seem like a logical progression? I know some people have actually preferred the MS workflow and find it much more intuitive.
Thoughts?
I don’t own the MS but do have the DT.
To me the DT is very simple. If you understand how the sequencer works with the parameters (i.e. plocks, soundlocks, grid vs real time recording) it should be a breeze. I also own the OT and that is a beast so I may have a biased opinion but the DT is just so dang easy to use I think anyone should be able to get serious use out of it with a short amount of time.
Ps there are also s bunch of wicked cool tricks that squeeze even more from it but you don’t need a single one to get down on the DT. Consider them bonuses once you get comfortable.
The DT is extremely simple to use as long as you’re familiar with synthesis elements, how a compressor works, etc, but there is no polyphony for sample tracks. You can always build polyphony across multiple tracks using the same sample by sequencing, and there is a way to use an RK-002 cable to play it polyphonically, but you should be aware.
Bottom line is that you should read the manual 100% of the way through to make an informed decision. I know that’s crazy to say, especially since many owners here on this forum haven’t taken this step, but it’s the correct advice.
Great - thank you for the throrough response.
Re. ‘tricks’ and ‘’hacks’ to juice more functionality out of the DT, is there a good resource you can recommend?
I recently stumbled across Loopop, and the guy is a guru, and his videos are super clear and loaded with deep tips.
Any others I should check out before committing to the DT?
Damn good advice. Thanks for your considered response.
Although (as a graphic/information designer myself) the MS manual left a lot to be improved re. clarity of instruction. (They could be SO much better)
Generally found tutorials and reviews more immediately instructive. I think I’ll watch a bunch of them before succumbing to the GAS.
Also, no time stretching on the DT? Hmmmmm.
Don’t worry about “tricks and hacks” for the time being, the DT has huge functionality and there is a massive amount of depth to the way you can program conditional trigs, I wouldn’t be surprised if many people complaining about the “limitations” of the DT have a very shallow understanding of the way they can be set to work together and how they interact. You will already have your work cut out for you trying to master polyrhythmic programming and trig conditions. Simple to use, difficult to master. Interesting to hear you say that about the manual, I’ve found the DT manual to EXTREMELY clear and very well laid out and I’ve read it cover to cover multiple times.
Yeah, I discovered that little workaround on the MS myself. Not a bad little trick, but when you only have 6 tracks to work with, losing 3-4 to building chords seems a bit indulgent/silly. ( I think my workflow will be to prerecord my own samples of chords, and use them as a basis of tracks, and import them as samples.)
Although, judicious use of the recently added Sample Lock could see some creative approaches to getting maximum scope out of the limited tracks.
It’s early days yet (only installed the Sample Lock update yesterday) but I can already see how massive the addition of that one function is for a device that only has 6 tracks. 
Do you have any synths? The polyphony tricks are cool enough but it’s more fun to do monosynth stuff using samples or single cycles on the DT itself and leave the chords to a polysynth sequenced by one of the MIDI tracks. Sometimes I also will sample a chord I want directly into the DT and there you go, polyphony! Since the DT sequencer can’t do strummed type chords where not every note hits at once (unless you spread across MIDI tracks and microtime the trigs) sampling a strummed chord is how you can achieve that effect.
I haven’t tried the MS at all, so I can’t say where you’re coming from.
I doubt you’ll have any issues with the framework of the Digitakt. You already know the basics from working with the MS(select sound, plug in note, alter parameter here, sound design)
The issue you’re probably concerned with is the sampling element of it- which is the new thing, and the menu-diving element of it. The sampling element of the machine couldn’t be more simple. You do it one time and it will be like you’ve done it a million times- its that intuitive. Absolutely a breeze, one of the key points that anchors the DT so deep in my heart.
The menu-diving might give you a bit of frustration- having all the parameters available at once certainly offers a good degree of convenience. I think it will only matter from a performance perspective. From a sound design perspective, its very straight forward and focused. With the graphical display upgrade from the MS it should make you feel more cerebrally connected to your sound. If you like to live alter parameters of each sound, you might have to practice it a bit more. I don’t do that frequently, so its not really an issue.
OB is also pretty straightforward, once you get working with it. and for your recordings, it records everything you do in a performance- so you can fine tune every element to make the best representation of your track.
Its a great instrument. My favorite thing I’ve played with.
Hey man, when you’re ready for the tricks n hacks, I recommend here. Just search “digitakt tricks” and you’ll find plenty.
I have one basic (hard) synth (Korg Micro-X).
I’ll have to ‘RTFM’ 
re. Using the MS MIDI to trigger chords…
…this is my first foray into hardware sequencing, so some of these ideas are still new to me. I assume it’s not hard with the help of the manual.
(I’ve read most of the manual, and just worked the rest out)
How do you sequence a poly synth using a MS midi track?
Haha… just came back from the music store with a serious bout of gear lust, and what should be freshly listed on ebay - for 2/3rds of what the price was in the shop? 
Bagged. 
…dt was, once it came out, the elektron box with the most simple straight forward workflow of all others before…
once u got the hidden secrets of the sequencer, and all the double usage of stop, play, rec, which is matching the model, so u got that already, it’s flowing right away…
but don’t be afraid of steep learning curves…worst is the octatrack…
never seen really all it can do…
but…that one can do it all, beyond ur actual imagination, when it comes to sampling…
u might consider that…
because, apart from standard direct sampling capability, the takt does’nt differ that much from the model…
and speaking of used gear…there’s one other hardware sequencing concept out there, that really rules, too…mpc 1000 with jjos…
Yeah, I think I’ll be fine with the Digitakt. I’ve had the MS for about two weeks now, I think and I think I now know all the functionality, and a handful of neat tricks to extend that functionality.
Big shout out to Cuckoo, who’s Mega-Tutorial was a pretty comprehensive run down of the MS, and Loopop whose MS vs. Digitakt tutorial showed me a lot of tips.
I can pretty much use the MS without thinking too hard now, just flowing and experimenting. Splendid.
I’m wondering if anyone has worked out some cool workflows/ways of combining both the MS and the Digi?
I’m assuming you could link them together with MIDI to have a sort of (fake) higher track count or something. I’m still learning what is possible with hardware and MIDI, so I’ll have to read up on this.
I reckon the beat way of linking them would be to use the MS as a drum machine(it’s not like you’re going to live sample drums- usually pretty static) and then use DT as a synth/SFX machine. Sample in random BS you might have recorded on your phone or something from YouTube/Spotify and use the DT to make some cool sounds from that while the MS handle the more straightforward percussive elements with the Elektron twists(p-locking and probability)
You could also use the midi channels from the DT to alternate patterns from what’s stored in the MS and the midi channels of the DT