Have you ever tried rytm? Ive been considering replacing it with Syntakt since I already have DT/OT for samples
lifehack: shelving is your friend.
and then later, unshelved gear feels like new – but you already know it!
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@sleepfc Def. not the answer in this situation, and if you look through my post history, you’d understand why.
@Stone262 It’s a mix of things - Track count on the ST being enough for me to make full songs comfortably, the DT lacking stereo and polyphony, the DN only having 8 voices and 4 tracks. But together, they all really compliment each other, but sometimes navigating them all together is annoying, especially with the stupid pattern change bug with different length tracks. But they all do work well together. I know I’ll keep them all (unless the ST gets sampling, an arp, 4 MIDI tracks in place of retrig, and polyphony :-D)
@JPM I did try a Rytm. My buddy has one so I tried it and then lusted after it. Bought it. Sold it 2 days later. Syntakt, for me, is so much better.
@chaocrator ain’t that the truth!
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For me is the Digitakt. I still not found a real challenger. I continue to go back to it.
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The Digitakt is ALMOST there for me. Give me OT slicing, stereo samples, and at least duophony so I can have sound tails overlap. Come on!
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I got the ST and it immediately made my DT redundant so I completely understand where you’re coming from.
For real. I wish I could figure out how to get a sampling engine onto the ST!
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The only way to go about that would be to land a job with Elektron!
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Yeah. A lot of people feel that way 
I’m happy to pair another sampler with the ST and simply let the ST shine as the beast it is. I’ve been enjoying it since day 1 and it’s one of my favorite pieces of gear… ever.
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Yeah. I think if the ST turned the 4 RETRIG buttons into 4 MIDI tracks, I could mostly ditch the DT and use an iPad sampler.
I have the opposite feeling. Every time I pick up my Syntakt I think “ok, there’s the kick and snare, got plenty of those in my Digitakt…but where are the sounds of kids yelling in the subway, obscure 60’s choral music and rebar being rolled across the garage floor?”. The sound design possibilities of sampling spoiled me.
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I’d agree with you if the DT had stereo and slicing (at the very least), but since it doesn’t, it’s too limited for me. Unfortunately, the OT and I just didn’t get along after 4 attempts.
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I feel the same way about the Syntakt, it’s an amazing groovebox and my tracks sound full on it. I make more music than ever before, at a faster rate than when I was the most productive on my MPC.
But I do miss samples. I just bought a DT second hand to fill this gap, but honestly I could have settled for an SP-404 MKII just as well for my needs. What I’m missing is the ability to use a hi hat sample when I feel like it, or to resample some glitchy noise for some lovely background textures. And I love using p-locks on samples too, it makes for happy accidents that aren’t as easily achievable with something like the Koala sampler. That said, I’m guessing that the SP-404 workflow leads to other types of happy accidents through resampling, similar to how I’ve managed it on the MPC.
Have you considered something like the SP-404 for stereo sampling if that’s important to you? I feel like the stereo aspect of sampling is a bit overrated given that you have p-locks on panning and can even set a random LFO to pan on 16ths if you want to create some interesting textures or percussive elements in the stereo field. I guess where stereo sampling comes in handy is for lush pads and samples of synth sounds with chorus effects and things like that, but for that, I’d just use my MC-101 or the Syntakt itself anyway.
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For me, the ST isn’t taking the place of a sampler. I use it alone or I pair it with other devices (samplers included).
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Re-listened to the stuff I did on ST when I had it in 2022 for a bit more than a month. Have to say the amount of tracks and variety of sounds (analog + FM) makes it a great groovebox for composing tracks.
But I‘ve decided to stick with DN and DT, since DN has way more options for sound design, polyphony and the arp. And DT works batter for me for beats than analog sounds. That being said, the simplicity of ST synthesis is also a plus for getting stuff done instead of losing yourself in sound design.
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Yeah, it’s definitely not taking the place of the Digitakt for me. In fact, the pair of them is top notch. I do wish it had a machine that could just play short samples. One shot, single cycle etc. That way one could trigger some 909 cymbals, maybe some LM-1 samples, etc. to mix into all the synth engines. It definitely doesn’t need a super-in-depth manipulation engine. Just playback, with direction and loop points really, maybe bit reduction like the the digital tone/noise machine.
Honestly, I’d be very happy with the DN+DT combo too. Maybe even more happy if seen as a unit/combo. What I like about the idea of the ST+DT combo, though, is that the song mainly exists on the ST, and the DT plays a deliberately supportive role of percussive elements, texture and ear candy.
With a DT+DN, all songs would have to be spread out across two devices, and that eliminates the possibility of sketching out a new song with just the ST in bed.
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Agree with all of this! I have the DT+ST pair, and am actually picking up my mounting plate to combine them today in fact. Then I have the DNK on my studio desk as the main hub of the entire setup. I don’t always need the DNK when working with the DT+ST pair, so it’s fine that it stays where it is. Then, when I need to add that (or the M or Grandmother) it ties it all together, and gives me some excellent FM voices as well.
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I hear you but that’s a slippery slope 
I think once you add a sampler or one-shot player (even a basic one), it will automatically be “not good enough” and people will want to add new features (myself included).
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Well, that’s how it is with EVERYTHING that gets released. Somebody on the internet will either hate it, or say it’s not good enough. I say, if you have the capability to release something, do it. There are 100-1000 people that enjoy and appreciate it to every 1 complainer. They just aren’t as loud, because they’re too busy enjoying. That said, I have zero complaints with the current state of all of these machines.
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