I love this machine. But have a bit of a gripe with it.
Its a bit weird to me that there are only 8 pattern banks on the DN. I use it with the OT, and I would like to be able to have each bank on the DN correspond with banks on the OT.
E.g. bank 3’s 16 patterns on DN corresponds with bank 3’s 16 patterns on the OT. This is possible but only up to bank 8 on the DN.
Am i missing something or is there a way round this that i havnt thought of?
P.s. ive read the manual and googled it.
One area of interest to me at the time of the launch of the Digitakt (DN’s sibling instrument) was that Elektron staff weren’t sure whether the DT would have 128 patterns (8 Banks) or 256 patterns (16 Banks).
They settled on 128 patterns, perhaps because the DT is a lower-tier instrument than the OT (like the DN) but perhaps also because additional complication arises in selecting from more than 128 patterns using MIDI messages from another instrument. Such selection requires a MIDI Bank Select message as well as a Program Change message.
It’s worthwhile noting that the OT is the only Elektron instrument that has more than 128 patterns.
It depends how you want to work, based on which instrument you choose to be the master. Of course 256 is bigger than 128, so you need to manage your patterns somehow.
If OT is master, it has the benefits of its Arranger mode to control things.
If DN is master, it has tempo-per-pattern and the ability to send Bank Select messages to select a pattern from either half of the OT’s patterns (Banks À-H or I-P).
Combining it with the Octatrack (card size limitation vs predetermined limitation) I could see some issues.
However the Digitone by itself, with only 128 sounds in its Sound Pool, I ever see needing more than 128 patterns before I have to try out some different sounds before it becomes stale, especially if I’m programming drums and FX on the Digitone… which can take up 10+ for a single pattern and since it’s synthesis based, there are no chains.
The preset examples on the Digitone use a huge portion of the sound pool for just two banks, and even if you were to implement 3 variations of each pattern, you’d still have 2 banks left and be spent on the Sound Pool.
Just out of curiosity, what kind of music do you make as to where 128 sounds doesn’t feeling limiting over 128 patterns?
Edit : To clarify, I’m pretty shit with patterns/projects and over-allocate things quite often on the Digitone at least since it doesn’t have chains (not pattern chains, sound/sample chains), sometimes I’ll dedicate a whole project to just a single track and only use one bank.
That all changed when I got the Octatrack though with USB Disk mode management which I love.
Thanks for your replies.
But I may have made a wrong assumption when posting my question.
I assumed that if i could have 1:1 mapping of patterns between the OT and DN, i could trigger the corresponding pattern/bank on the DN from the OT. But i since tried that for banks 1-8, and it doesnt seem like you can send program changes on pattern change from the OT, only on bank change.
I love exploring and finding out new ways to use these machines, and even sometimes welcome tricky procedures, but this is frying my brain. I cant figure out how to trigger individual patterns on the DN from the OT. There must be a way surely… or maybe not.
A hypothetical example of what i would like to do is:
OT Bank 3 Pattern 5 triggers DN Bank 8 Pattern 7
AND/OR
OT Bank 12 Pattern 3 triggers DN Bank 6 Pattern 15
There is a kind of 1:1 mapping between OT and DN, because internally patterns are just referenced by a single integer (not bank+number).
Pattern 01-16 == OT: A1-16 == DN: A1-8 and B1+8
Pattern 17-32 == OT: B1-16 == DN: C1-8 and D1+8
… and so on …
The easiest solution if you want 1-1 pattern mapping between OT and any other Elektron is to just use the first 128 OT patterns per project, you have to change the other devices project after that anyway so just change both of them. Of course there other possible scenarios as well, and lots more than that if you let go of 1-1 pattern syncing…
You can do so by activating the PROG CH SEND setting in the PROJECT > MIDI > SYNC menu.
This can be done by entering a MIDI Program Change value in a Part in the OT’s MIDI sequencer tracks. When you switch the OT from its current pattern to a new pattern that is associated with a different part, the Program Change message will be sent. (This method is an alternative to the 1:1 correspondence method that uses the PC SEND setting described above.)
There are 16 pattern Banks in the OT, each of which stores 4 Parts, giving a total of 16 x 4 = 64 corresponding patterns that can be selected on your DN.