I’ve very new to all this, I’m trying to be as DAWless as possible. I have a DN, DT and Typhon Dreadbox and I have got the DN and DT plugged into my computer via USB and can see them in Ableton as below, I think I can use the USB off the Dreadbox and do the same, but not sure how I will do this (VST from their site)?
Anyway, I’m trying to record a tune live from the DN and DT in Ableton and if possible set the track levels after. I’m using all 4 tracks on the DN and 4 on the DT, the Lite Live version only allows 8 channels and I lose 2 with the all channels giving me 6 unless I can remove them?
I’ve watched a couple of videos, but I’m missing something, how can I set the track levels and also record?
You can arm tracks in Ableton by clicking the little record thingy:
Shift-click to arm multple tracks. Then hit record in the main transport section of the UI and your tracks should be recording. This all assumes your Audio preferences are set correctly.
If you’re recording the master output as it looks like in your screenshot then you’d be setting the levels in the Digi boxes themselves (or via the plugin) - if you’re multi-tracking into Ableton then you’d be setting the levels there (and using the levels in the Digis for gain-staging).
I was going to add the individual tracks in Ableton instead of using a master each for the Digitakt and Digitone, if i do that do I delete the master outputs?
Been a while since I used Overbridge so someone else is best to advice on that stuff - but I think you need an instance of it on one of your tracks - but it’s up to you what Digi tracks you’re inputting into the Ableton track (and that can include the master mix or the fx mix)
The faders will be what you want if you want to turn down a track, but if you want to turn one up (Digitone in overbridge mode comes in a little quiet) you want to use the audio effect Utility, which lets you boost the gain of a signal. I’m afraid you’re gonna be out of luck with the number of tracks though - you need to have the overbridge plugin on one track, and that always gets the main mix. So your individual outputs will all be on additional channels (they can’t be seen without the track with the plug-in existing), so you’ll have up to 6 for Digitone (track with the plug-in plus each individual track plus the FX track) - I don’t have digitakt but I guess you have up to 10 (plug-in track plus 8 individual tracks plus the fx track). Altogether you’re not gonna be able to utilise all the outs from your Elektrons with Lite’s channel count unfortunately.
Thanks for the heads-up, the ‘Intro’ version is £69 which allows for 16 channels so I might treat myself.
I did wonder about the amount of tracks, so the DN takes 6, 4 for the tacks and 1 for the DN main and 1 for the DN FX? I did try and record but the effects were gone, but I muted the main, I guess the effects are over the main as I didn’t have an FX one. Could sure do with a screenshot of your setup if you don’t mind.
I’m trying to be as DAWless as possible and work out an easy way to record and set my volume levels right on all my tracks. I did try and USB record to my phone and it comes out way to low.
Where is this audio effect Utility is this in Overbridge?
I’ve given you some misinformation, sorry! It’s been a while since I’ve overbridge’d Digitone, so I forgot that there isn’t an explicit FX Track output - but you can separate all the tracks and the FX though. Just opened up an old template set where I had this going:
So what you want to do is have 4 tracks set up like the Digitone T1 to T4 tracks I have here (don’t worry about the group track Digitone Audio, that’s mostly just for organisation/to apply effects easily to the whole Digitone submix). To get your FX back without doubling the actual tracks, you need to go into Digitone’s Settings menu and then Audio Routing
Now deselect T1, T2, T3 and T4 from Route To Main. Your main output from the Digitone plugin will now just be all your FX. So you end up with 5 tracks: T1, T2, T3, T4 and the main output which just carries the FX. You might notice I’ve got 6 though - the track the plugin is on and the Digitone Effects track. This is because you can only record MIDI clips on the track the plugin is on. If you want to record the audio, you need to have an audio track picking up the main mix from the Digitone plugin (you’ll want to deactivate the Overbridge track’s audio like I have here so you aren’t hearing the FX twice when monitoring). So you end up with 6 after all, as I suggested originally. You need to do all of this when separating out the tracks in Overbridge because the separate outputs for each track are completely dry and you can’t get your FX back otherwise. Never had a Digitakt, but I reckon exactly the same process applies there.
Utility is an Ableton stock effect, you’ll find it in Audio Effects. If you have Ableton 11, it will be inside a folder in the Audio Effects tab that is confusingly also called Utility. It looks like this
You can use the gain control to cut or boost the signal of the track it’s placed on. The faders can also be used to cut, but are pretty limited in terms of boosting. I typically keep them all at 0dB myself and do all gain staging with instances of Utility, but YMMV.
Can you see anything wrong with my setup, when I hit record I don’t just receive what the DN and DT are sending my but it seems I get other sounds on the 4 channels on the Digitone. I ‘think’ Ableton is sending sends too, I’ve no idea really.
If that’s exactly how it was when you hit record, the problem is none of your tracks are armed to record. Sorry, I didn’t put them that way in my screenshot because that bit had already been discussed earlier, I was just showing the routing. You need to toggle the button with a circle in the middle at the bottom of T1 - T4 and FX tracks. Ableton might try to have only one of them toggled on at a time depending on your preferences, if hold shift while you’re clicking them you can have them all armed at once.
I try again later, I’m 99% sure I had them armed too, sorry it didn’t show in the image.
It’s strange as it permanently changes the sound on tracks 1-4 on the Digitone to a different sound on each when I hit record. I have to reload the project on the Digitone to roll back.
When you say a different sound - do you mean like a different preset or a different sequence? Is the Digitakt sending MIDI to the Digitone that you don’t want?
