No performance/CTRL-8P equivalent on Digitakt?

Elektron Gear Digitakt
#1

So I’m sort of trying to convince myself I need a Digitakt, if you know what I mean. I’d like to make use of sampling a bit more (e.g. sampling from the zillions of iPad synths I have) and while using samples with the MD-UW is great fun, the sampling workflow is a “little” clunky (record, copy from RAM to ROM which takes about 20 button presses, run out of memory, etc) and I don’t always want that 12 bit crunch.

One thing that’s putting me off though is that there seems to be no performance screen/CTRL-8P equivalent for selecting certain parameters to be accessible on one screen.

I really love this workflow on the MD and A4 - tweak the sounds, figure out what sounds good modulated, then put those parameters on one screen and do a live jam with mutes and those parameters. Really helps me focus and avoid getting lost jumping around screens, plus makes it easy to tweak two parameters from different screens at the same time.

Am I missing something? Or is the Digitakt so simple to navigate this genuinely wouldn’t be useful? Seems a curious omission if not as every other Elektron box (as far as I know) has something like this.

Perhaps I should just use my Push 2 for sampling duty. There’s something so addictive about the Elektron way of working though!

#2

Sampling is indeed a bliss on the DT, but there is no deep concept of performance macros and most likely there never will be. Control all is a lot of fun though once you’ve internalized to temp save your patterns for an easy way back out before you start f#cking them up.

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#3

That’s a shame. Just the ability to have a few chosen parameters on one screen is so useful, seems a strange omission! Thanks for confirming anyway… perhaps I could learn to live with it :slight_smile:

#4

There is the Control All function. From the manual p. 16.

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#5

Thanks for that, I am familiar with this feature from the MD and its awesome for creating little breakdowns or totally twisting sounds. However, I’m also interested in being able to just select a few parameters I want to “evolve” over the course of a track and have them on one screen. Sounds like this isn’t possible, which is a bit of a shame - maybe it’ll come in an update!

#6

I’m guessing performances will be left for the more advanced instruments.

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#7

Perhaps. Everyone’s needs and desires are of course different, but seems a shame to me - its a really useful feature that (relatively) isn’t that complicated to implement. Not to worry though. Perhaps I should just get a Digitakt and try it out for myself :wink:

#8

Easy - I wouldn’t know. Few of us know anything about their code. But some of the work is most likely done, since the feature is part of other instruments in their line-up.

But it’s more likely a design decision. The Digitakt is marketed as a low-threshold instrument. It’s designed not to have every possible Elektron feature. It’s made not to be complex like many of their other machines.

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#9

i think you are right there… precisely what i love!

#10

although it would be cool to have more features, the Digitakt is certainly the machine i would recommend to friends who haven’t tried an Elektron instrument. Not that i own one yet, it just seems incredibly streamlined and “friendly” - for want of a more accurate description.

must say the OP succinctly described the joy and value of the Ctrl-8P machine though …

"tweak the sounds, figure out what sounds good modulated, then put those parameters on one screen and do a live jam with mutes and those parameters. "

sometimes simply describing the intrinsic and application value of an element really brings forth the ability of that particular element to flourish more fully and abundantly within the scenario and context it is found within or placed amongst.

on the topic of Ctrl-8P, the Octatrack’s crossfader is kind of like a new breed version or expansion of this functionality.

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#11

Yeah… I am kind of toying with the idea of the Octatrack. Need to look into what the sampling flow is like etc. So many people say so many good things about the Octa… I really want to try one!

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#12

single shot samples sound slightly better on the Digitakt i think.

but the Octatrack is a multiverse of opportunity and the quality is still super high.

understanding how the Play/Record machines work on the Machinedrum is very much a helpful beginning to entering the OT sampling/resampling world.

if i didn’t need the looping functionality i wouldn’t be reinvesting in an Octatrack immediately, but rather go for a Digitakt or a Rytm.

i like how the new design of the OT kind of references the Machinedrum, as the Play/Record machines truly were the basis for the design of the Octatrack instrument concept.

#13

You could get the Goliath, which transmits up to 16 parameters per parameter twist- you could probably route this through the DT Midi tracks, which- I believe have 8 parameters each. I THINK you can step p-lock based on a midi controller? Then you could route the midi from the midi channels back into the midi in and control your voices that way?

Best part about the DT, in my opinion, for working with Ableton is it puts an Elektron skin on top of the Ableton Push workflow(sequencing melodies/bass lines is where Push sorta lacks) and you can fit the DT conveniently on your desk for way access to all of its features(unlike the P2 which for a computer studio setup, I feel that it’s awkwardly sized)

#14

Sorry to necro, but why not use a midi loopback and use a midi track?

#15

Yep.

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