From github readme
digitakt-song-mode is a desktop app that provides so-called “song mode” for ElektronDigitakt sampler. Piece of music can be crated by scheduling patterns (with specified number of repetitions) and managing the mute state of the tracks.
The app should also work for the Digitone synthesizer - it wasn’t tested though.
Built with diquencer library for MIDI sequencing.
There is a python project that might can save pattern positions as a song and pass the needed midi data to hardwar. Personaly never tested but i will note it for future use.
Digitakt-song-mode
What can overbridge do to get around the lack of song mode?
Iam actually going to sel my digitakt and digitone due to this problem with no save for pattern chain or song mode.
I bought a old faulty MPC1000, soldered on new tact switches and now i have a great centerpiece with song mode =) Sorry Elektron, next maby a MPC One, cant wait any more for you to implement this small but important attribute, i would really be thinking about future proofing digitakt and tone and this with overbridge would really help
So sad, these are so awesome machines but as i use other hardware and like my hands free
How would having a song mode harm your work flow if you weren’t using it? Those who want it can use it (those of us who play other instruments, singers, drummers) if it is there, if you don’t want to use it then just don’t use it.
Song mode built into the actual unit is way more reliable, convenient, and cheaper than lugging an additional laptop and hub to a gig.
A song mode is simple to implement/use and would cost peanuts. It’s a bit of code FFS.
I have the Digitakt. And the box is built without a song mode. And also intended to not have one. Elektron made this choose and it is very understanding. It is cheaper then the Analogs and OT. I think if you want a song mode get one of those and midi sync the Digitakt to it. But use the Digitakt as it was meant to be.
Or should not have bought it with the intention that it could have a song mode. And just for the functions it has.
It doesn´t make any sense for the Digitakt not to have Song mode or why it can´t be added via Firmware update.
It won´t make the Octatrack obsolete nor hurt it sales, since the Octatrack has so many other features the Digitakt doesn´t have! Stereo sampling and slicing! More inputs which are actual stereo and not mono. Compact Flash slot to greatly expand storage memory! Etc, Etc.
These features alone make it worth the extra cost for people who want this to buy the Octatrack over the Digitakt.
Like with the MPC machines.
But now Akai released the MPC One, Elektron needs to step up and deliver on feature requests that are perfectly reasonable to stay relevant.
The Digitakt is the most popular device from Elektron at the moment, outselling all other Elektron gear.
Elektron should capitalize on this and implement Song mode in the coming firmware update, since its the most requested feature. This will keep the Digitakt competitive to the competition.
If I knew early enough that Akai would release the MPC One, I might have bought that one instead of the Digitakt to be honest, if I had the chance.
I really like the Digitakt, but what Akai delivered with the MPC One and the features it packed into that device for the price. It´s impressive.
I must say, I totally disagree. Personally I don‘t miss song mode at all on my Digitakt and it absolutely does not affect Elektron’s competitiveness in the slightest in my book. And I do own an MPC Live also, no comparison between the two
I appreciate though that people want particular features and obviously this thread shows that song mode is important to quite a few people, just saying from my end, it’s not a big deal at all.
I know people managed to work around it, but I just don’t see it as such a big deal as to why it can’t be added.
It shouldn’t take Elektron that much effort at all to implement.
Like I said. It won’t hurt the Octatrack one single bit, since its extra hardware features alone make up for the price difference.
It’s frustrating enough that the Digitone can do full stereo pass-through from the Audio inputs, while the Digitakt can’t lol. Which also doesn’t make any sense, but that’s just my 2 cents.
I agree with Hausland. The MPC is no comparison to the Digitakt. The Digitakt is a very fast and intuitive device. The MPC is much deeper and in my opinion a complete other field.
Sure a lot of features would be nice to have on the Digitakt. But the fact that it sells this good shows that the device works perfectly without a song mode and people don’t really seek after it. People want a quick device without digging deep in any song mode, slices, stereo sound, resampling, time stretching and so on. And to be honest the device does exactly that. For me that is a plus. If I want something deeper I pick my Octatrack, DAW or MPC. It is just what you want to achieve and pick the right device for it. Elektron nailed it with the Digitakt and don’t need to add features. If they add one thing people want the other thing as well.
I would bet my house on the Digitakt not getting a song mode.
Two reasons.
If you think the MPC One is what you need instead of the Digitakt, don’t hesitate to sell the Digitakt and get a MPC One. If that gives you the workflow you need.
That was not the point I was making. I said if the MPC One was available couple months ago and I was to make the decision between MPC One and Digitakt (since I was not into the Elektron workflow yet), my buying decision might have been different. Since they are practically the same price.
Like it or not. People new to Elektron are not just looking at the workflow, they are also looking at what features they get for the price.
I could have also gone for the Roland MC707, but I found it overpriced for what it offered, since it has some glaring shortcomings (which I hope for MC707 owners will be fixed via firmware updates. Some have been addressed by now, but not all yet).
I just don’t understand the hostility. It’s like Octatrack owners are desperately trying to defend their purchase justification by denying Digitakt owners specific features they think should be exclusive to the Octatrack.
I find it seriously very pitiful to think that something so simple as songmode, which is just a very logical and extremely simple extension on pattern chaining should be denied to the Digitakt and Digitone.
If people literally bought the Octatrack for just this feature, spending double the money…just for this feature and desperately trying to defend that purchase desicion to make sure this feature does NOT to come to the Digitakt / Digitone… don’t know what to say really.
If I weren’t an Ableton Live user and didn’t had access to superior sampling plugins like Simpler/Sampler, I would have bought the Octatrack for its “real” extra features over the Digitakt. Two stereo inputs and outputs. Stereo sampling with splicing. Compact Flash slot to expand storage memory up to 256 GB and so on! But then again…MPC One is offering these extra features for half the price.
So if you look at it from that point. Then the MPC One might actually be more of threat to the Octatrack, then the Digitakt/Digitone getting song mode. /shrug
So again. In my point of view for the Digitakt, since it’s basically just a sample player with 8 audio and 8 midi tracks. It makes perfect sense for it to have Song mode. Especially for those who live perform with it and people who try to write entire songs with it completely Out of the Box! Same for the Digitone.
That is the strength of Elektron gear and its workflow. To be able to completely work outside the box. And for both Digitakt and Digitone to have a simple feature as Song mode, should have been there from the start. Like it or not. People have been asking and questioning this decision since day 1. Hence, why it’s one of the most requested features to date!
Elektron offers superior Out of the Box sequencing and Song mode should be just a standard basic feature for all their devices.
Unless you know all the details about the architecture of the firmware, the hardware and the actual restrictions (for example: how much space is left for the OS? how does such a feature interfere with others? how does it interfere with backwards compatibility of the storage structures?) any guessing about the efforts required is worthless.
The limit on the OT is 64 GB (not 256GB).
@Jeronan, thnx for your long writing. I am not trying to be hostile “as a Octatrack” owner. Sorry if it felt that way. I have had the Digitakt first for two years before buying a OT.
The Digitakt is not just a 8 Audio track sampler. It is much more then that. It has still one of the most advanced sequencers in the market. It also lets you up to 8 midi tracks with that same powerful sequencer. You can mangle the samples with great opportunities in a live context per pattern. I think this is the primary intention of the box.
I disagree with that it lacks “live” performance because it doesn’t have song mode. Look at Dave Mech and his skills. He is performing with two Digitakts and a Digitone. Zero song mode needed. Play a pattern and mangle it when needed. Go back to the pattern with the pattern save states. Really it is intuitive.
There are even a lot of people who create songs on the DT with work around a. So if you want it you can!
I therefor disagree that Elektron should add a song mode to the Digitakt. It is not about pleasing everybody. It is about where the unit was designed for and that is as far I know for live performance as I mentioned above and not for creating entire songs within the unit.
I was new to Elektron aswell before I bought the Digitakt. I knew on forehand it doesn’t had a Song Mode and doesn’t had a lot of other features. But I knew this when I bought it and settled for it. Sure they could add a lot of features but it not about pleasing everybody. It’s about adding features that support the vision of the company with the device. And they do a great job with it.
And as a Owner of the OT I still love my DT. And I feel happy about the features it doesn’t have. It is not a competition between OT users and DT users. The boxes are two different things, it is about accepting its features and embrace what it can do.
Sorry didn’t know Elektron had a hard 64GB cap on the Flash card. Since you can buy them up to 256GB.
But 64 GB is still 64x the capacity of the Digitakt. Since Digitakt only has 1 GB left for custom samples and project storage.
@Dani538 I know there are work-arounds with pattern chain, but it’s a pain in the ass and you have to redo it every time.
All song mode does is giving you better control and overview over the pattern chain and allow you to save the pattern chain with the project. Is that such a big a deal to add to Digitakt and Digitone? /shrug
But whatever. I am in no mood to debate this endlessly. So I won’t say more about it.
Don’t worry I understand your point. I do agree with you on one thing. Elektron decided to insert a pattern chain function, but seem to forget to get it saved within the project. So when you reboot the device it is gone. That is something they could fix. So when you create a pattern chain it gets saved.
Don’t worry to much about it and have fun creating music. That’s what it’s all about 
I know it’s not “song mode” but the ability to save a pattern chain would be awesome.