The Digitakt Feature Request Thread

or Rytm!

1 Like

I would love if there was a page button that allowed you to assign more than 8 Midi CC Outs. The creative control in the box would be greatly increased when used alongside external hardware.

3 Likes

You can set more than one track to the same midi channel to get more than 8 cc of midi control per channel. It sacrifices a track but sometimes its worth it.

4 Likes

That is true. However, 7 of my midi tracks are already in use with the 8th soon to be in use when I get my Digitone. Of course, the Digitone does also have Midi Tracks, so that will open me up for more expansion.

I would be content with any form of a feature update. An extra lfo, new filter type, some type of resonator or new effect. Awesome box but could use a few more tools.

3 Likes

iā€™m not quite 100% on how this worksā€¦ is it kinda stacking ā€œnot PREā€ conditions so you can make it a very long chain?

Not sure Iā€™m following you here, can you elaborate? (also thank you for your comment on Youtube!)

Sorry, probably being a bit obtuse - I just donā€™t quite exactly get how you can build a long sequence of pattern changes using the MIDI loopback trick?

is it just a case of using conditional trigs on the MIDI track? or am I missing something really obvious?

I donā€™t have a digitakt so someone can correct me if iā€™m wrong.

Youā€™re right on the money with conditional trigs. So imagine you have a MIDI track and on the first page of the pattern you put a conditional trig 8/8 that only plays on the 8th loop of the pattern. You set this trig to send a CC message to change pattern on the digitakt. On the next pattern you set up your next pattern change.

I guess things get trickier if you want to revisit a pattern. If you used other tracks I guess you could mute the first one to allow the next pattern change? @AldoVino is the reigning monarch of loopback technique, as evidenced by their beautiful youtube series.

1 Like

I take it you mean polyrhythms, right? Digitakt does polymetrics just fine.

@the_duckchild Oh I thought you were replying to another post of mine, aha, thatā€™s why I had trouble understanding the question, Iā€™m bad at internet communication sorry!

Anyway, the pseudo-Song Mode that you can build with the MIDI loopback relies on Program Change messages. The Digitakt is designed to switch between pattern when receiving a Program Change. For example, when receiving the Program Change value 4, it will switch to pattern 4. All you have to do is set a trig (or a trigless trig) on one of your MIDI track and give it a Program Change value with parameters locks.

Unfortunately you cannot build a classic pattern chain with this technique, if you send several Program Change messages in a row, the Digitakt will only remember the last one and switch to the corresponding pattern. So you have to set this little trick in every pattern : tell the Pattern 1 to switch to pattern 3, tell pattern 3 to switch to pattern 6, etc. Also you wanna make sure that your Digitakt is both sending and receiving Program Change (MIDI Config > Sync) and you need to specify which channel youā€™re sending your Program Change messages (MIDI Config > Channels > Prg Chg In Ch).

As @Merv said, it gets complicated when you want to use the same pattern several times with different ā€œdestinationsā€ each time (for example 1 > 2 > 1 > 3). As he suggested, you can set different Program Change on different track and mute/unmute tracks so that a different values is sent each time. It does work but gets mind-boggling really quickly. Another option is to simply duplicate the pattern (you have 128 of them so that shouldnā€™t be an issue), itā€™s just annoying because if you make changes in the original pattern, you have to remember to update all the copies.

Also thank you for the kind word @Merv, aha, thatā€™s too much! The Loopback Realm is a beautiful place, this little trick unlocks so much potential!

Anyway, hope this helps. :slight_smile:

2 Likes

ah, brilliant, yes of course, I knew I was missing something really obvious (I didnā€™t think about the fact that when it switches pattern it would be a different MIDI pattern)

thanks for taking the time to explain it to my tiny brain.

:wink:

1 Like

Iā€™m going to sell my Digitakt.

I thought it was an awesome drum machine because of updates capabilities but nearly nothing was done except fixing bugs and one compressor. It is a very good piece of hardware but if I canā€™t control it with an external midi controller like a XL LaunchControl and control the mixing levels for live performance it is a good bye for me. Actually the mixer is stuck per pattern so once you change pattern your control donā€™t coincide the levels.

Come on, this isnā€™t how a mixer should work at all. Give us an option to controll this mixer ! This request is from may 2017 and nothing has been done.
The digitakt would be awesome if the program was open source.

This is not the only reason pushing me to sell the digitakt, the other reason is that they launch new products with new features (model:sample) that actual products could do with an update. Instead of upgrading the actual ones with updates they release new toys.

I hate this ā€œAppleā€ mind pushing the consumption of new products, good bye elektron

To be fair, you should only buy a product if it does exactly what you need at the time and not rely on things being added to it. Updates (if they do come along) should be regarded as a nice extra imo

4 Likes

This is true but even before release hints were made that features that seemed missing would be added, the sound pool was an added feature but the comp was a late arrival. Along side this, many exsisting Elektron owners have stated that Elektron allways delivers on updates and I can speak from personal experience when I say that based on what I had read prior to buying the Digitakt I thought updating exsisting machines was an expected part of Elektrons road map and one that arguably might sway a decision to make a purchase for some. So although I agree that you shouldnt buy something if it has important things missing, I understand why there is an expectation of more based on history.

I use an LCXL with my DT on occasion. The trouble youā€™re having with the levels will likely be the same with any other drum machine.
The way I have found around it is to nudge the faders or pots slightly to have the DT parameter update to the physical position on the controller. Of course this is best done when a track is muted in order not to get a big, unnecessary surprise.

There are so many things that the Digitakt can do that itā€™s competition canā€™t, that itā€™s place is earned in my studio. Depends on how you work though.

I think itā€™s really cool with the midi loopback trick, you can see the LFO moving the parameter in real time on one of the tracks. But why doesnā€™t the built-in track LFO show any animations? Itā€™s hard to dial in the timing of the LFO purely by ear especially with more niche uses and multiple parameters to play around with.

Iā€™d rather be able to see and hear the LFO together, for ease of use and comprehension. Not to mention any moving parts on the screen adds a little life to it. Given that this already exists in the unit through MIDI control it should be easy to implement overall, no?

3 Likes

Aye, itā€™s fine to hope for new features and to speculate on here, but people should also be prepared for disappointment if their particular feature needs arenā€™t met by updates or hearsay doesnā€™t come true. Just donā€™t get the moaning that X canā€™t do Y when it was never specifically stated by Elektron

You mean like real life!? hehe

1 Like

Exactly :sweat_smile: