Perfect, thank you. I’ll try to get my hands on it tomorrow.
Mute are saved with the pattern, they are treated like a parameter. On the Rytm they are not saved with each pattern.
As already suggested here I would also go with an Octatrack. The Rythm is a quite nice machine, but without any midi capabilities I never understood why it is that pricey.
And as you also wrote about making songs: in this area the Digitakt lacks the most. Do you really want to always perform pattern switching by hand? Or build-up only temporary chains which cannot be saved?
Just read:
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Or a Tr8S and a digitakt / digitone combo is about same price as rytm mk 2…
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I can attest to this. Killeeeeeerrrrrrr combo!
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Hi guys,
Thank you everyone for pitching in and I appreciate your input greatly. I’m happy to let you guys know, that after reading all of your comments, reading some more on both Rytm and Digitakt, I’ve decided to borrow Digitakt from a my local store TStudio who kindly agreed to let me test it. I’ve spent in front of it around 6 hours and I must say, this thing is just amazing. It ticks so many boxes, it’s hard to overestimate how incredible this thing is.
- I can jam without mixer, with my eurorack just plugged straight into Digitakt. Very convenient.
- Sequencer is amazing. Just fucking plain incredible.
- I can control my whole setup with MIDI. Which is incredibly convenient in a gig situation and while jamming with my band.
- It sounds great. Both built in presets and samples I upload.
- Effects sound very good to me and it’s very convenient to have them. I have a few outbooard units I used through the mixer and both reverb and delay sound nice to me. It’s no comparison to El Capistan, of course, but Strymon charges 300 EUR for it.
Anyway, the convenience it brings, the sonic capabilities and performance options just blow everything else out of the water. Especially considering the size and the price. I think it’s a keeper.
In all honesty, I’d be ready to pull the trigger on the Rytm in a moment IF it had same MIDI capabilities as Digitakt. Sampling options are totally enough for me and having analog circuitry is a great value, but man, MIDI control brings so much value to me right now. Maybe in MKIII?
I’ve also spend some time looking into the Octatrack, but man it’s a completely new parallel dimension my whole world of music. It’s an incredible machine, but I only have two hands and half functioning brain. Thank you for suggesting it, but it’s really too complicated. I would rather invest time into working out modular at this point.
Again, thank you everyone for pitching in. I deeply appreciate your insightful opinions and bringing your personal experience into the mix.
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Is Overbridge important to you? If it’s not, I would reconsider a used OT mk1- the built in and midi sequencer has more features than the DT’s
You can also use longer samples in the OT as well as use the OT as an FX processor.
The OT COULD be almost as simple at working the DT- maybe a few extra button-presses here and there but it also COULD go much deeper.
I’ve played with both and I prefer the layout and workflow of the DT- but I’m trying to do a mostly ITB studio so I’m alright with the more modest selection.
I just wanted to make sure you are aware of all the features prior to your purchase.
(The 8x2 sequencer is SUCH a dream compared to the 16x1)
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I really appreciate your comment and I totally understand what exactly you mean.
I’ve watched a ton of videos of Octatrack in the last couple of days. Trust me, I’m very thorough with research before I jump to buy something. It’s an amazing machine, but I will feel guilty AF for not using even half of it’s potential.
Usually I pursue gear with particular goals and this time, Digitakt just works for me both in terms of cost effectiveness and convenience. At this point I’m very exited about the sequencer options, conditional trigs, playing with LFO and effects and I’m really looking forward having a robust setup for live gigs. It may not bring a lot of additional creativity right away, but I have a feeling that even within constrains it has, it will bring a level up to my production.
Also, I think once I get to know Digitakt, it will be pretty easy to sell it at a reasonable price and buy something better.
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I get it.
Ignore the haters- the Digitakt is an amazing instrument! The layout and the workflow of it, I feel, is superior to the Octatrack(not to step on the toes of people that love the OT)
I’d say you’re gonna love it, but you already know
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Well I for one am anticipating seeing what you get out of it with the Moogs!
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Will do my best! Thank you!
Maybe it works for you, maybe it doesn’t, but I realized i was making better drum sounds with my modular, especially kicks. In my opinion, kicks and toms are the only things that it matters to be analog. Everything else could be digital or sampled. Digitakt has a smooth cleanness to it, Rytm is more…analog, and everything that comes with it, including noise. It’s worth noting the A4 is cleaner analog and you can make any drum sound you want, not just what the machines restrict you to. Where the Rytm wins is performance, direct outs, and the overdrive is kinda killer cause it’s amp overdrive not filter overdrive. My setup is going to be my modular, analog 4 mkii, dt and dn. Sound design heaven, and you can sample anything you want drum wise into the dt for playing back. Or resample to add layers. And that DT is easy and no nonsense. It took me 4 months to wrap my head around everything the Rytm could do and that was after owning an a4 for 2 months (mki)
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Kick is the only thing that sounds ungodly on my Drumbrute. Especially through effect stack.
I think analog circuitry handles low end fantastically. Pure filth. But I couldn’t really get a lot out of the rest of the bunch of sounds on my Drumbrute. I played acoustic drums and electronic drums just doesn’t do it for me.
Back when I got the Drumbrute, I couldn’t really afford the Digitakt cause I picked a lot of things along with it — second Mother-32 and a mixer, so after somewhat a bit disappointing experience with Drumbrute (although fantastic value for the money) I decided to swap horses.
Funny you brought the Eurorack route, cause On the Gearslutz I asked question a bit differently: if I should go Rytm, Digitakt or go modular and unfortunately, I decided to not go modular for now. You can come up with great rhythmic patterns with Varigate and Voltage Block, or go with something like Eloquencer, but it will cost me a fortune along with drum modules — even if I go with some inexpensive sampling modules like Pico Drums. I will also need some kind of mixer and a compressor. So everything stacks up to a lot of money. The only upside though is probably the convenience of having one box, somewhat analog sounds and questionable versatility.
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I mean when i made the decision i already had enough modular. I don’t have any expensive sequencers, my digitakt or ableton is the sequencer. Though i do have a clock divider (tempi) i don’t have any drum modules anymore, i do all the drum sounds with synthesis. You could build yourself a pretty good starter rack for the price of a rytm. I kinda got bored with the rytm and sold it for modular actually, the machines it has are good, great even. But my heart wasn’t making the music i wanted to make with it. 15 mins of patching and i already have a banging hard techno set. I have 3 filters (well 5 as two are dual filters) and one of them is dedicated to making kicks with self resonance) beats out any kick I’ve made on the ar, drumbrute or tr8 in terms of impact and bass. So i still say digitakt. But for me that’s in the context of owning other analog gear.
I spent some time recently with both Analog Rytm mk II and Digitakt, now Digitakt seems a bit lacking.
Biggest advantages of both for me:
Analog Rytm:
- sound - it has much more sound sculpting capabilities - overdrive, filters, all analogue. It sounds dirtier and deeper overall
- Trig Mutes, Accent (really miss this on Digitakt)
- form (big, easier to tinker with)
- lit pads
Digitakt:
- form (small, takes less space)
- cleaner sound, might be easier to fit in the mix
- midi sequencer
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As this thread is old and the OP went with the DT already this pretty much moot, but still I think the OT might have been a better option if we consider:
- OP wanted indiouts (OT studio mode gives 4 mono outs)
- MIDI sequencing important (OTs MIDI seq is the most well featured in elektronland)
An OT mk I woulda cost around the same as a new DT
I admit being biased - If I wanted samples & MIDI, I’d either go model:samples (barebones/fast workflow) or OT (say goodbye to limitations/less immediate workflow) . The DT is somewhere in the middle of those…
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hello there,
small question;
i have have the digitakt i really love it but i am still a noob and
struggling to make nice transitions between patterns because of the track levels does not stay the same in-between patterns
so if i lower the level of a track to 50% and move to the next pattern the track will play again to 100% in the next pattern,
is the Rytm doing this too? I want to change the digitakt for a Rytm
or do i miss something here?
thanks guys
always save the pattern after adjusting track levels. The levels are saved along with all the rest of the pattern data.
Hey
Just tried it, it’s the same.
The levels of the track are saved per pattern
If i move to the next pattern the levels are different, no idea how anybody can create a track like this if you cant adjust the levels in between patterns . There is alwaise a jump in the track volume
I have rytm mkii and DT…
RYTM MKII sound far better…i have the same samples loaded into the 2 units and the Rytm just sonically sounds well rounded and full compared to the colder digital DT…i t wins even though the DT can cv contol other MIDI kit. Its definately more lofi for trip hop…
I can see from your earlier comments that digital editing is not you first love…but one thing the Dt has is better visual sample editing and manipulation capabilities. Not that you should mix with you eyes but it is far easier to find the stattpoint of a sample on a DT… you get used be Rytmii and learn to get a feel