Hello! If there was enough similar stuff in the past - please delete, but I was wondering: if you would have to pick better machine for midi sequencing for Feb 2025, and 8 tracks is enough, so Syntakt having 12 is cool, but not essential - would you pick Syntakt or Digitakt MK1? I know I could just compare manuals side by side, but looking more for longtime user perspective.
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The Digitakt 1, because you get 8 midi tracks without sacrificing the 8 sample tracks to use them. On the Syntakt each track is either a sound making track or a midi track. Plus it will be considerably cheaper.
Then if you want to get a Syntakt as well later for a drum machine, you can use it without sacrificing any tracks.
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To spice things up: you are sequencing a sampler - 8 tracks of stereo sampling 
*also: the choice is made, so it’s more on the spiritual side of things - thanks for all opinions
Since I don’t have a syntakt, the first thing that comes to mind about the syntakt which is useful (to me) is the fx block. I think that even if you’re mainly using the syntakt as a sequencer, being able to route audio through the fx block and having global fx controls could be quite useful.
As far as Digitakt 1, I don’t think you could really find a better dedicated midi sequencer and integrated sampler for the price they’re currently selling for. If you were in need of 12 midi tracks at once and did not intend to use any of the native synth or sampling engines from either device, then syntakt seems like the winner as it has a mostly identical toolkit for sequencing midi (from my understanding).
If you plan to use the native features and you aren’t really set on having a synth vs having a sampler, I do think it’s nice to be able to access all 8 mute tracks and all 8 audio tracks from the same page. Not like digitone which you need to access the midi tracks page, and not like syntakt where you have to make a choice of 12 total tracks split between your needs.
Not to say that Syntakt is lacking in that department, but first off it’s easy to remember where your midi mutes are on digitakt 1 because they’re always on the bottom row, without fail. It seems like a silly thing to value, but when you’re trying to do 6 things at once, the less you need to remember about where your mute tracks are, the better.
Otherwise, since I’m not an ST owner I can’t give you much more perspective, but I do like DT as a midi sequencer. It’s very straightforward to access and use both kinds of tracks and as far as the FX block vs the compressor, I think that it comes down to what’s already in your setup and which seems more useful to you. Luckily we’re talking about 2 devices which both have overbridge support and as interfaces can do 2 way audio over USB, so neither one really has any significant handicap over the other for the purposes you stated.
Probably only when you look at them for their intended uses do they start to really differentiate themselves because the physical product is nearly identical.
Not sure if that helps, good luck!
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Dt1 isn’t stereo samples , they’re mono.