Trying to decide on my first piece of Elektron gear

Elektron Gear
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The Digitakt is a fun little box. I’ve had mine for a couple weeks now and while it only took about a week to learn it, mastering it will clearly take awhile. It’s very hands on compared to a DAW workflow.

It’s also deceptively simple. There really isn’t a lot to it, but with the available features, there is a ton you can do. The lack of stereo isn’t a deal breaker. It makes me think more about panning and delay/reverb. The beats I’ve made so far sound wider than most of what I’ve created with a DAW. If I ever need to use a long stereo sample, I can add that in through a DAW and OB (when/if it comes out).

There are definitely improvements and tweaks that can/need to be made, but hopefully by the time I get the hang of everything else, those features will be ready.

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Feel free to send me your Digitakt and I can mod it for you. My process involves sampling a variety of high quality frogs and toads from a nearby swamp, after which all sounds are custom pitched and p-locked to fit your amphibious needs.

*not responsible for water damage

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Mind to take a workflow demo video of this? I don’t approach it like this but would be interested.

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I would get the Digitakt over the MD unless I found a screaming deal on one. Newer tech, smaller size more portable and more new features. But I wanted the big daddy for the long haul so I ended up with OT and A4 and they are tons of fun.

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I’ll hop to it and send it out today!

Just don’t let it croak in the process.

(ughhh… we need to stop…)

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True it just depends on what you want to do :slight_smile:

Personally I think that the Digitakt and Digitone make a great couple- sampler/sequencer/drums plus kickass FM synthesizer in a small package.

If I did not want the CV features of the A4 and the ability to handle complex longer samples with the OT, that would be the way to roll for me.

And the Digitone is way too much fun! I still want to pick one up in the future as it is the coolest FM synth on the market that I am aware of and does way more than the cheaper Korg Volca FM box.

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Do you need timestrech? How long are your samples going to be? The Digitakt can handle 33 second samples, no timestretch. You can record them straight in. If you need to manipulate them, I’ve seen others who record/manipulate in their computer first, then load into DT. I guess it depends how frequently you need it.

I normally sequence drums, then record a guitar/synth/bass guitar part, either via sequenced one-shots, or as longer melodic phrases. The song I’m working on now has a 128-step synth loop. I trigger it on the first step, with a condition that triggers it again every second pass. So you can essentially multitrack, as long as the phrases aren’t too long. Because you can assign any sample to any trig on a track, it’s quite flexible.

Pete

ps. just to clarify: the DX7 is the coolest FM synth :slight_smile:

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I’d go mfb tanzbar lite and a MachineDrum (a non-uw vanilla mk2 might meet your needs).

I owned a Rytm mk1 and never touched a digitakt.

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how do you record your guitar into the Elektron? I tried that and could not get it to work. I did see signal path green light and hear the guitar when I played it. Do you use an amp connected to it?

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Usually a preamp is strongly recommended. But my acoustic guitar with active pick up works well with the ot without preamplifier

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I have guitar amps but not sure if I can feed that into my OT or not for recording purposes?

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Use the line out of the amp

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I’m not really one for making vids I’m afraid dude but I can explain easy enough.

Setup midi out from octa to sub37 midi in and sub37 midi out to octa midi in.
Setup an octa midi track to transmit on any channel, say 8 and set sub37 to receive on channel 8.
Set octa auto-channel to say 16 and set sub37 to transmit to channel 16.
Octa should now record the midi notes plated on the sub and start sending them straight back out to the sub on your chosen midi track.
I disable the sub37 panel and mod wheels from sending midi data. I also disable the octa audio tracks from receiving or sending midi.

I find the sub37 sequencer pretty limiting, so this works for me. Loads of scope for modulating the sub through cc’s too.
Veering a bit off topic, sorry.

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First off, thank you everyone for the amazing input and replies. It’s both helped immensely but has also caused me to consider even more possibilities. It would take way too long to reply to everyone individually so I’ll try and hit the main points that I’ve seen being echoed.

First, while I have no doubt that the octatrack is amazing, it seems wayyyy too complex for me and to be honest I just dont have the time to put in right now to properly learn something like that (aside from music I’m trying to finish my PhD along with teaching, running a photography business and organizing events on the side) so something that can be picked up relatively easily is somewhat of a must so there’s more time creating and less time learning.

Second, many of you suggested looking into mk1 products and while I’m sure they’re equally as good the screens are kind of a big deal breaker for me. The price difference between say a rtym mk1 and a rytm mk2 is worth it for the screens alone in my eyes (pun intended).

Third, I’m not sure if I made this clear in my OP but I intend to pair this all with a DAW (ableton). Because of this, I dont think something like a song mode is entirely needed for me. I basically intend to get grooves going on whatever hardware I choose and then record into my DAW for arrangement. I mostly just want some hardware to play with so that the process is more interactive than just arranging samples in a DAW.

Fourth, many of you have suggested a Digitone as well. Ive considered this although to be completely honest FM synthesis seems pretty intimidating.

As it stands, I plan to get the sub 37 for sure, that’s the guaranteed purchase. By this thread, it seems like the best option would be to pair it with the Digitakt and the more I watch videos on all of these devices (I’ve probably watched 12+hrs of youtube videos this week), the more I agree. The thing that was drawing me to the Rytm mk2 were the analog engines for drum synthesis. It’s still very attractive to me but I’m unsure if that is worth the price difference and loss of some features. I would also like to pair a second synth to this setup and am considering a bass station 2, Digitone even though FM synthesis scares me a little, minilogue, or perhaps even an Analog Four mk2.

Looks like I have even more to think about now.

Edit: I forgot to ask, do any of these mentioned devices offer sidechain compression? To the best of my knowledge it seems like the Digitakt does not although I may be wrong. Although live performances is not a huge need of mine, and I would do this in my DAW anyways. It would be useful to me while jaming out grooves during the creative process.

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I run everything through a small mixing board, out to DT for sampling. DT needs line level, so guitar pickups require a preamp in the chain somewhere before the DT. You could use a DI for guitar, but it wouldn’t sound great. I usually mic up my acoustic or my amp for electric guitar, and run it through the mixer. Or alternately you could plug your guitar into a soundcard, run it through a guitar emulator on your computer/ipad, then back out through the soundcard to DT.

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The amp’s line out works, but won’t sound good. Much better to mic the amp and run it through a micpre -> DT.

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I hate to throw “even more” into the mix of possible options but I feel it’s worth suggesting, since a lot of people aren’t necessarily aware of it, to also look into the Audiothingies Micromonsta as an additional synth. Most people on here who have one (including myself) are happy with it, it pairs really well with the Digitakt, pretty affordable, doesn’t take up much space, easy to program, sounds good in my opinion, kind of a nostalgic sound but without actually sounding cheesy and dated (again, in my opinion!), even though it’s digital it definitely has a certain character and warmth to it.

Digitakt - No. Can’t speak for any of the other devices

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The Sub37 + Digitakt would be a sweet combo. You might consider buying those two, then pause before buying anything else. The DT is very nearly a synth, so a second monosynth may not make sense. Unless you need a poly, in which case the Minilogue is fun.

The DT will have amazing DAW integration, some day…

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yea! I actually sampled my Sub 37 to my OT this past week and use that for bass lines and FX pads.

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From everything you’ve personally said on this thread and honoring your original choices of AR or DT, I’d say Digitakt… For the ease of use and the external midi sequencing of vst’s in ableton and the hardware synths your getting… You can make hardware and vst synths come to life with midi and control them along with the audio tracks from a centralized source, and since neither the AR or DT can live loop you’d always have to play the synths if you got AR. You could use it for drums or you could get drums from Ableton. You can make it sound like tons of stuff because it’s a sampler. (I know AR is too but just saying) Cheaper too…

You’ll probably end up wanting an AR too and keeping the DT :joy:, but I think DT would be good to get your foot in the door and would be a nice, focused, centralized master hub to get started…

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