Proper Workflow with Digitakt

What i’m wondering is what would be the best way to setup my workflow. I have a Digitakt, 2 hardware Synths and a laptop with VST synths. I was trying to use Digitakt as the brain but i seem to be running into issues having it communicate properly with FL Studio (FL is triggering on every Midi port on the digitakt). I have it in my head that the best way to set it up is to make songs on the Digitakt and at a certain point in the song have it trigger more complex arrangements in Fl Studio for texture. Does this make sense or should i be setting things up differently? Also, is Fl or Ableton better for what im talking about?

I have been an FL Studio user for a loooong time. You can do things with the midi plugin and the setup is pretty flexible but from what’s I’m seeing Abelton is more robust for midi including sysex support which won’t be in FLStudio until next version.

I’ve used the DT to sequence instruments. I’ve used instruments to sequence the channels on the DT. Maybe try to get it set up and see if it suits your workflow. We currently have a buggy pattern change implementation and I don’t even know if it’s possible to change patterns from FL. I can’t figure it out anyways.

I have my monologue set up with USB midi in / out in FLStudio and that works great I can play virtual instruments. I can even route that to play the DT via the keyboard. Also FL Studio can play and start and stop the sequencer on the DT and one the monologue. Which is great as I can turn off “Local SW” and use the keyboard without triggering the monologue engine BUT incoming midi DOES play so that is totally cool.

I’m really learning though that MY workflow suffers when I try to integrate with the DAW or work exclusively in the DAW. I do much better with just hardware and use the daw as a glorified tape recorder. I don’t know if this helps much but I guess it gives you some perspective from a long time FLStudio user with a DT and a few other pieces of gear.

Let me know if you need some confirmation on the midi settings in FLStudio / DT to get it going for you. Keep in mind there is probably a few ways to do it depending on what you want to accomplish.

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hey there…
I have almost the same setup as you, but coming from ableton originally…nowadays im using digitakt as the master piece of my setup controlling the tempo and sequencing…actually I sequence only my bass station 2 and then ableton cause the other two synths i got are drum machines with their own great sequencers…anyway…the slaving and sequencing of ableton with digitakt works perfectly imo.it was easy to set up and worked instantly.i have novation launch control just for fast tweaking and muting ableton (or i can do it from digi by muting according midi channel)…

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Thanks for the quick reply! Yea I think im going to try Ableton (demo). If you could let me know the midi settings between fl and digitakt that would be awesome!

ye sure…so first of all lets set the digi…in the midi config menu…set midi+usb for the output…that should be it…then in ableton go to midi sync tab in preferences and just select sync to ON for the input of digitakt…i have all the rest disabled…also you can active the Track column for the input if u r going to use midi from digitakt to control something etc…ye and dont forget to press the ext button before you press play on the digi…then you should be good to go…oh and i almost forgot…on each midi track that you wanna sequence you need to open the i/o view and select midi from : elektron digitakt and under that you select what midi chann you wanna assign…and turn the monitor to IN…yee thats it :))

Awesome. Thanks! I’ll have to try this.

I wanted to thank you for the tips! I got everything up and running. Here’s a little video of my setup and a project I’m messing around with. https://youtu.be/PuCZ6zK-9q8

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Yeah sorry I meant to give you some specifics but work has really been burning me all week long. I love the video! That song goes hard af and then turns soft and subtle at the end.

So you are sequencing everything from FL Studio? The midi over usb is cool the way I have it set up because I turn off the sound engine to the monologue, press key no sound, basically just a midi controller keyboard. So then I can chromatically play anything I want including feeding the midi back into the monologue so it triggers itself!

Now my flippin problem is that using the usb midi only, now I can’t figure out how to send the “start sequence” on my external equipment like I did before. I think I previously had it set up with regular 5 pin midi out from my M-Audio 2x2M. Signal flow gets complicated sometimes man!

Thanks man, yea sometimes making music with these machines is more like math problem than art! I’m actually sequencing everything using the digitakt- midi 1 is the moog 2 is the monologue and 3 is the laptop with fl studio. I have my sequence on the laptop set to play on the 2nd pass through of the first pattern on the digitakt- I have to manually stop the laptop tho when the sequence ends- haven’t figured out how to have it auto stop. Also in fl studio it’s set to “wait for input to play” and I just have it in standby waiting for that second pass to trigger it. Hope that made sense lol.

@Jcarpool did you ever figure The right settings for the midi tracks so they don’t all Trigger on fl studio

Our very own @Eaves made a video showing his workflow with FL. Not sure if it addresses your specific question, but might be useful anyway: https://youtu.be/bkZAD0u9deM