I’m hoping to get some feedback. I’ve been using my iPhone to do some field recording for my Digitakt while I’m travelling (sometimes with a Rode IXY-L and sometimes just using the internal mic). I’ve been getting some great stuff, atmos, found sounds and just some plain weird stuff.
The app I’ve predominantly been using is AudioShare and occasionally using Rode Rec. Both these apps give my options regarding sampling rate (up to 96k) and mono or stereo recording.
Taking into consideration the Digitakt converts samples to mono 16 bit 48kHz.
Should I be replicating these specs on my iPhone app or should I record at the highest specs available (in stereo) and let the Digitakt make the conversion?
I would imagine doing as high quality recording as possible on the phone, to be able to trim, normalize, possibly EQ in an audio editor before transferring to Digitakt.
The added perk of doing the sample rate conversion, maybe some dithering, in a dedicated audio editor.
The Digitakt handles the normalizing and conversion just fine. But without having done scientific tests, I’d bet my computer (I’m using Adobe Audition) does it better.
You would benefit from higher quality, if you are working with the audio in your phone or computer, before transferring the files to Digitakt. However, if you are recording directly from your phone, 16bit 48kHz is fine. No reason to use stereo tho, this is not how Digitakt rolls…
Again this is only if you transfer stereo files to the DT.
It actually has some creative benefits, I have some loops that have quite aggressive panning and upon loading them the levels were all over the place, but I found I could get results I didn’t envision with certain elements being more prominent and some less so.
Thanks Carl, I’m a huge fan. I was shocked when I saw you replied to my post. I was nievely hoping to travel light and record these samples directly from iPhone into the digitakt but what you’re saying makes complete sense. I’m was hoping for Elektron to implement a multi-mode filter like on the AR so I could resample each file over and over again, low passing, boosting, notching to achieve the desired results, but in the end, treating these samples in a daw definitely makes more sense. I’m sure you’ve already mentioned this advice on your YouTube videos but I just needed a wake up call. Thanks man
I often find myself initially scratching my head with some of Elektrons decisions regarding limitations (like what you have mentioned with only transferring the left channel instead of summing left and right) but it usually comes full circle and I come to appreciate their decisions. This limitation is quite strange though.
