Should I sell this thing?

Elektron Gear Digitakt
#169

The DT sampling and midi sequencing is nice, but its actual sample playback is really not that great. If you’re looking for a sampler I wouldn’t recommend the Digitakt either. Digitakt excels at playing back oneshots. Good luck trying to set exact loop points on a reese bass sample, or sequencing an amen break. Due to the lack of waveform zoom or slice both are a herculean task.

If you mainly use oneshot drum samples and single cycle waveforms the Digitakt is great, but so is the Rytm. So unless the midi sequencing or sample inputs are a big deal to you I don’t see the Digitakt do anything better than the Rytm currently. I’m hoping Elektron improves the Digitakts control over samples it plays back but I’m not waiting for it to happen.

May be completely different for other users however. Just speaking from my experience. Once I got my Rytm it was game over for the Digitakt.

#170

I’m going to respectfully disagree, Digitakt sounds great, thats a non issue for me, as far as handling loops it may not give u perfect control but its totally workable, I invite u to check this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHZj-F0fgUI

#171

What Sampler would you recommend?

#172

Perfect demonstration of my problem with the Digitakt. You can sequence an amen break… after cutting it up in Ableton Live. You could do the exact same thing with the Rytm couldn’t you? Except with the Rytm you also get a better filter (or atleast more filter modes), analog compressor and distortion and those tasty analog drum engines to stack the amen with.

My needs from a sampler may be very different from yours. The Digitakt is fantastic if you want to play back samples and record and sequence external gear. I recently got a Rytm however, and that has pushed the Digitakt into the role of ‘dedicated sampler’. You may be totally different, but for those purposes I need sample slicing and exact control over longer waveforms. I’m talking chopping up and rearranging breaks on the go, sampling a long track from vinyl and doing cool stuff with it. The digitakt is capable of this but the workflow is really crippled by lack of a few features for me, where I just got really annoyed with it. Elektron may add some of these in the future at which point my complaints with the unit are moot and I may very well pick on up again.

Anyway, to answer your question, if you want a unit that does what I want a sampler to do I think an MPC1000/2500 or Octatrack is closer to it. If you want a box to play back nicely edited samples the Rytm does this just as well as the DT. Atleast that’s my experience. Plenty of users are very happy with the current capabilities of the DT, and it sounds like your main complaint isnt its sample playback. For me though when I got a Rytm the DT got pushed into a role I don’t feel it was designed to fill.

Just my thoughts on the matter. If you love the DT and your only complaint is the lack of OB then you may consider waiting it out. I do think that a Rytm is in many ways like a deluxe DT minus the midi sequencing and sample inputs. I thought it was worth a mention as an alternative depending on what you use the DT for.

#173

Thanks. :slight_smile: I use it for more than drum sounds, so the Rytm wouldn’t cut the mustard sadly.

#174

Thats my point, you have to prepare samples for the Rytm mk1 also, but once in the Rytm mk1 you have no fine control which when dealing with longer samples and loops is essential. Also being able to set loop start and end points and then scrolling through the sample is much more useful than having to parameter lock start and end points all the time. Whether or not one prefers the analog circuitry or not is a matter of taste. I’ve owned and played with my Rytm mk1 A LOT, I know the thing very well, my music is very sample heavy, the Digitakt makes a lot more sense if you need a sampler than the Rytm mk1. it seems obvious to me. Rytm mk1 is primarily an analog drum machine that supports sample playback, its twice the price of a Digitakt and has no midi sequencer, yes u can compare the sampling engines but they are still very different beasts. You want a sampler, buy a sampler, don’t make the mistake I made and buy an analog drum machine instead thinking it will somehow do the job. Thats been my experience anyhow.

#175

I still don’t really understand how chopping everything up in a DAW and then playing that audio back requires any type of ‘fine control’. In that scenario a Rytm would be more capable, as you can load in those one-shot break slices, add analog sounds underneath if you want, use the analog distortion and compression to spice up the beat and finally use individual outputs either physically or with overbridge to record all channels separately.

But yes I will concede the Digitakt is a better sampler than the Rytm. I just think that the Digitakt in its current state is not that much better at sample playback than the Rytm, where the Rytm offers quite a lot of nice extras over the DT outside of the realm of sample playback. I think for some people the Rytm might be a very good alternative to the DT, hence why I suggested it.

Rytm can do more than drumsounds. Not only can you tweak the analog machines to give you bass and lead hits, you can also load all the single-cycle waveforms and longer synth sounds on the Rytm that you can on the DT. Check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBpUWRb4wAw for example. Rytm can do it all baby!:wink:

#176

Because the Rytm mk1 only has 120 divisions for sample start and end, if you want the start parameter to line up nicely with individual drum hits in a beat or rhythm loop its almost impossible. You have to load in either 1 bar loops or 3 bar loops and use the lfo to fine tune start points…

#177

not to forget velocity based pads in chromatic mode and scenes :heart_eyes:

1 Like
#178

I absolutely love my MPC’s…& I think an MPC would go GREAT with a Digitakt. I’m not sure about the MPC Live or X, they probably integrate a lot better with software, the MPC 1000, 2500 & 500 (MPC’s I have) don’t have anything like overbridge, but you can get the same results…with JJOS (3rd party os) you can record mutes (it has mute groups as well) & play the song out live, then resample each track individually into it’s own sample/wav & dump each wav in your DAW via usb. So yes, it would take a little more time, but same results. If you use a Digitakt WITH an MPC, of course it gets even better, the possibilities are endless. & you can sample the Digitakt into the MPC, while the MPC sequencer plays.
An MPC 1000 with JJOS has a TON of features, I got 1 mint condition with JJOS, upgraded sample memory for $650. I adore the sequencer, it has auto chop, time stretch (not real time), pitch, you can 16 level a sample, which turns the 16 pads into 16 different levels of the sample, which could be velocity or tune for example. Effects aren’t great, but I think they’re pretty good, you can layer up to 4 samples on each pad, it has filters, envelopes, I can go on & on. They’re pretty amazing machines all though I know they’re not for everyone & of course buying used brings in other risks as well. But I think it’s worth looking into.

#179

chop your loop and make a sample chain. problem solved. :notes:

#180

#181

No, that wont work for everything and anyway, I don’t want to have to chop a sample into slices and create sample chains every time I want to use a drum or percussion loop, thats just more time spent editing and wont yield the results I’m looking for anyway, not the way I like to work.

#182

Well, I automate this, so time is not an issue but yes, you may like to work with complete loops, I understand that.

2 Likes
#183

I’m in a conundrum with the Rytm MK1 as well as I prefer to record the stereo outs and get all the fx and compression, plus 24 bit recording. There is no EQ on it either so I tend to use the bandpass filter and mute clashing tracks when sweeping filters.
I recently tried recording out each track separately and I didn’t enjoy the final results as much… but that is probably down to my won poor mixing skills…