I am about to purchase the digitakt. I want to use it plugged into my Mopho both the audio the midi. I want to know if I can record the Mopho while I am playing other sample, so that I can ‘live’ record my synth and add it to the mix. Then I can continue recording different sample from my synth and layering them live (while the others are looping in the back).
Can I also do the same with the midi, so the beat is running, I play some notes on the Mopho, I record these on the digitackt and then I loop it.
Also the Digitakt and the Octotrack mk1 are at the same price point. The Octatrackt seems more powerful, but less on the quick and fun side of sampler/looper I understand these are 2 different beast, but my goal is really to have fun sampling live and looping on the spot my synth and some other preloaded samples.
Sorry for the basic question, I couldn’t find the right answer probably because I couldn’t find the right wording (live sampling/looping/recording wut?)
Mmm you can record in audio and it will be summed to mono and then you assign it to a track and play and mangle. I don’t think that you’re going to be using it as a live looper. The memory is limited and it’s better suited to one shots. That doesn’t mean you can’t load longer samples though. I and a lot of people have recorded vinyl loops, trimmed them and get the tempo right and it’s still mad fun. I’d suggest checking out some YouTube videos on sampling with the Digitakt as that will give you a good overview of the sampling workflow. Just don’t want you to be expecting something that it’s not designed to be. If you need live looping and layering the OT is far better suited.
Just to be clear I can do that mono recording while other samples are playing right? I don’t need to stop, record, assign sample to a track then start playing again?
Yeah that OctoTrack seems to be the solid decision, but I really like the size and the fun factor of the digitackt. The Octotrack mk2 seems such a nice piece of hardware.
I own both. I’ve had the DT for a little over a year and bought the OT MK2 a few weeks ago, yes you can record audio while you have a sequence playing, then assign the recorded sample with a max length of 33 seconds to one of the eight sample tracks and put it into the sequence live via a trig on the sequence. And yes of the two the OT is certainly more geared to do more live looping and sampling though it does take more time to learn and get familar with in ways, but the DT can do it just not as live as the OT can. Also the DT “normalizes” the recorded sample, while the OT doesn’t so if you go for the OT either make sure your input level’s are loud enough or go into the mixer or the track volume and adjust accordingly.
Awesome - thanks for the clarification. 33 seconds should be good enough for what I want to do, I feel it makes more sense to start with the DT and if I can’t get enough I’d go for a OT.
Glad I could be of help to you. That was how I approached it. Once you geta hold of the DT then you’ll figure out whether it’s enough for your approach as well as get a handle on the Elektron workflow as the DT is a more stripped down version of the OT’s system.
I wanted to work with longer samples and pile all of my skeleton tracks on rather than sampling bits and pieces but the OT takes a bit more getting used to with the additional features and various additonal steps to sample where the DT’s sampling is pretty quick and straight froward, and you can resample internally as well. I was glad I kept it when I got the OT, it’s a lot of fun.
If I understand your question correctly I would say that it will be very impractical. As others have mentioned, you would have to, at a bare minimum, press a button on the DT to stop the recording, and assign the sample, and create a trigger, probably open the release and adjust the play length on the track you’re assigning it to. Probably, you’ll also have to add in, press record, trim sample.
This might not make a whole lot of sense if you’re not familiar with the machine, but it’s just a way to try and illustrate that mixing in your synth seamlessly is an intricate process on the DT.
I have had both the DT, and ot mk1. Still have the DT, and love it, but for something like this it does not shine. Whereas the OT really does
Just as long as you keep in mind that digitakt isn’t really designed as a live audio looper, you can sample or resample internal sounds live and the take the time to set it up and have it start playing live but there will be a bit of a time gap before you get a loop going (I think you might be able to sort of preset up a track to assign your new sample to to speed it up a bit but you likely will have to be tweaking to get it to sync up to a beat properly). The midi side however works like a looper more or less.
Thanks for all the inputs, seems like the community is quite vibrant. For now I got myself a $500 usd DT and will play around with it and see how far I go. I read quite a lot about the OT and it seems like at the end of the day it’s probably what I am looking for, with the live effect and the 4 audio in… But I’ll get a solid introduction to the elektron way for now I’ll let you know how it goes!
Please do! You may just end up changing the way you approach making music. That’s what happened to me. I came in wanting to do vinyl loops and it can do it. It’s not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. But over time and exploring deeper I found far better things to exploit. This little box is deeeeeep and it will keep your occupied for a long time. Don’t get stuck on the notion that this is a bit of kit that will become boring in a few weeks. If that happens, I find that it’s my imagination that is suffering, not lack of features.
But… you know your needs best and if you have a solid workflow that you just can’t change then yeah, get to know the DT and then make the jump to the OT. Knowing the Elektron workflow will really help with the OT. They get sold out of frustration a LOT! (Used purchase FTW!) Myself I don’t see the need to move up as it can literally do 99% of what I could ever come up with to do.
Well right now there isn’t much I can do as I am fully in love with the Digitakt even without having it in my gear. I don’t know if it’s the Helvetica font or the color palette they used (I’m a designer) but I am literally having dream of playing with the Digitakt!! I catch myself day dreaming about the rubbery pads and twisting these rotary encoder. I never had that for a piece of gear! Heheheh I also keep that to myself and don’t tell my girlfriend about it as it’s definitely a bit creepy.
It’s an awesome piece of hardware - it’s quite intuitive. The editing of the sample is so deep that it feels really mine. Like most of the time, with sample, I feel a bit like a fraud as I am using pre-made sound but with the DT I can hack these sounds so much that the sound that comes out of it feels really like my own creation.
I haven’t tried live looping/recording yet - but seems like it should work as I pictured it.
I will advise - strongly - against the ‘ohh, but if I love this so much, the OT must be even better, bigger, stronger, more, more, more…!’-notion. I went the other way, OT -> DT, and I like it better than the OT. I’m not saying you will too, but it shouldn’t be seen just as a light-version.
Yes I totally hear you, I can see the OT being quite a different beast. I don’t own the OT but it seems like there is more menu browsing to get to some of its function, as for the DT the menu layers seems quite less deep and thus somewhat seems a bit faster, although less complex/complete solution.
I really think the DT is destined to be a future classic. It’s in the Goldilocks zone for everything.
Glad you are enjoying it. Would like to see how your looping experiences go. Once you get comfortable with trig conditions & the lfo stuff and some of the deeper functions try the timestretch hack. Dataline style time stretch on DT That was one of the best days ever getting it to work and experimenting. If that doesn’t blow your mind and show you how simultaneously powerful and easy it can be to work with the DT Indint know what would. Lol
I’ll let you know how it goes!