Elektron's New Drum/Sampler/Sequencer

That was dope dimensions.

so u make pattern and tigger them via the pads or is there a pattern string together method?


also would would like to see someone using the trig function to show the work around for chopping and flipping samples, and also would like to see the filters lpf on some kid drums and samples and bass tones

if anyone can demo

Cockdiesel wrote:That was dope dimensions.

Thanks man!

Ill-Green wrote:

DimensionsTomorrow wrote:So I updated to the new OS and it's buggier than the old ones for me. It froze a bunch of times during saving. Until they get it fixed make sure you are saving often to avoid losing work.

Anyway, I made a little mellow, abstract test track today as a test for recording my guitar and bass into it. I think I have the basic workflow for sampling guitar/bass down now, so I want to start incorporating instruments into my tracks more. I'm still struggling with getting a proper mix though. I'm getting some monitors soon, so that should help, mixing on headphones sucks.

https://soundcloud.com/dimensionstomorrow/geometry

Edit: Apparently quick save (Function + Save) is causing the freezes. For now, save your work by going into the actual menu and hitting save. That's apparently the workaround that Simon from Elektron says to use until 1.04.

Yeah, the voices were wrestling with me to not upgrade to 1.03, so I stood on 1.02. Reading the manual, looks like we'll get a stable Digitakt by 1.10 when its all ironed out.

Its stable on my end, even during 1.00. Only thing I encountered was when I put a sample into the Chromatic keys, trig 9 would sound off infinitely like "bweeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrree".

As I learn the machine, I see its all about the sequencer and how you can manipulate each step. I'm still kinda clumsy on it, but now I got the idea.

If you haven't upgraded and aren't having problems, might as well wait for 1.04. 1.03 seems really stable except for the quick save bug, but unfortunately that's a function I use a lot. I'm sure it will be sorted in no time.

The Elektron workflow is so different from anything I've used, so it does take a while to unlock it. The per step thing is super powerful once you get into it. It's a deceptively powerful machine.

One thing I've noticed with the Digitakt, with my stuff and other stuff I've heard on YouTube, etc is that while the sound quality of the machine is ridiculous, so many frequencies get lost on small speakers. Once you put headphones on, it's a whole different world. It's been a long time since I've been doing beats, but I don't remember feeling that as much on the MPC. It's almost like there is a natural mid scoop or something. I'm sure a lot is to do with user error on my part, but I've noticed it with other people's stuff as well. I might try sticking my Mackie between the Digitakt and the recorder next time and see if a bit of external EQing on the main outs makes a difference.

One trick I learned recording my last track is once you get everything sequenced and ready for recording, cut all the individual part levels to halfway down or lower, take out all the reverb on individual parts and back off on the per-track overdrives. It's surprising how muddy things can get as you build a track, so by going back at the end and dialing things back in you can get a much cleaner and more focused final sound, and really choose which elements you want to emphasize. I hope they add some more filters (which they have been hinting that they will do) because that would really help in dialing in those mids per track. Anyway, lots to learn on my end.

So I went in today to do some reworking of that track I posted yesterday and experimented with the Fill mode. Oh my God, I can't believe I was sleeping on that. It's fantastic. I highly recommend messing with it. It's super nice for changing up bass lines and adding little drum variations or bringing parts in and out.

I only messed with fill mode alittle. In all its a comprehensive machine, a lot of focus on performance. So much that little box can do. In that video ill be I noticed it's like the size of his hand... that video is dope too. I can't wait to see what everyone starts doing with this thing. So busy latly but vacation starts next week for me . I'm determined to use the live and digi together, they should be the perfect combo. However getting there hasn't been easy. Got a track on both I been working on. Haven't seen any bugs in the new update but haven't tried the midi yet.

jpeg wrote:so u make pattern and tigger them via the pads or is there a pattern string together method?

Both.

You make patterns A1, A2, A3...etc. You save those and they all in memory.

When you want to record you can chain them and say play A1-A2-A1-A3 and press play and it will them in that order and then stop when it is done.

Or, my preferred method is just to do it on the fly. Meaning while A1 is playing, I hit A2 and A1 will seamlessly transition to A2 when A1 finishes. Then I may let A2 go through twice and hit A3 or decide to go back to A1, etc.

As long as you know what your patterns are it's easy to do live.

Sorry for posting the same stuff over and over, but on this track, the rules of the beat battle were that you had to switch up the sample flip every 30 seconds or less. Each flip was on a different pattern, and just under 30 seconds. So when I recorded, I transitioned to the next pattern on the fly. Notice every 30 second the sample flip changes. Those are all different patterns (A1-A2-A3-A4...)

https://soundcloud.com/dimensionstomorr ... micro-flip

Cockdiesel wrote:I only messed with fill mode alittle. In all its a comprehensive machine, a lot of focus on performance. So much that little box can do. In that video ill be I noticed it's like the size of his hand... that video is dope too. I can't wait to see what everyone starts doing with this thing. So busy latly but vacation starts next week for me . I'm determined to use the live and digi together, they should be the perfect combo. However getting there hasn't been easy. Got a track on both I been working on. Haven't seen any bugs in the new update but haven't tried the midi yet.

I'm really looking forward to seeing those two beasts together. It will be ridiculous.

That Fill mode is so good for adding just a bit of variety without having to have a load of different versions of patterns. It's going to be great for me, because one of my weak spots has always been not having enough variation to my drums/patterns.

It gets boring as hell listening to 3 minutes of an 8-bar loop, but in reality live bands are for the most part playing just a few different patterns within a song with just enough variation to keep it interesting. I think the Fill mode will be great for making an A and B version of each pattern with enough nuance changes to keep things interesting, but not different enough to disrupt the flow of the beat.

jpeg wrote:also would would like to see someone using the trig function to show the work around for chopping and flipping samples

Had a bit of time today and wanted to try out this cheap little Roland mixer thing I bought for recording audio into the camera app on my phone.

Anyway, here is an example of rearranging samples using start times. These are some guitar and bass parts I played into the Digitakt yesterday, so while it's not a hip hop example, you can pretty much flip any kind of sample anyway you want with the start times, just got to use your imagination. Hope this helps.

Also, it's my first YouTube video I've ever recorded. Wish I had a tripod, it's a PITA trying to hold a camera and work a sampler. I could have shown some cooler stuff if I had another hand. Haha.

PS: I don't think the audio came out bad for a $100 recording device!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nuqXu-KvRk

I'd say it ended up pretty good. Get you a tripod or something and you could be jamming like illgreen. I dig both your sounds, the guitar and bass sound way better than I thought they would. Almost a tortoise type of vibe. Ill's got that old school sound down with the breaks and samples. Really excited to see what y'all do.

-Ill I never got to use a sp1200 much but how does the digi compare to one? I heard you say something about it, and only seen one in action back in the day. In fact dude who had it taught me to chop up breaks and play them out instead of looping them. He had a similar sound to you but got crazy with the filters. I bought a dr. Sample from him and was hooked on samplers ever since.

Cockdiesel wrote:I'd say it ended up pretty good. Get you a tripod or something and you could be jamming like illgreen. I dig both your sounds, the guitar and bass sound way better than I thought they would. Almost a tortoise type of vibe. Ill's got that old school sound down with the breaks and samples. Really excited to see what y'all do.

-Ill I never got to use a sp1200 much but how does the digi compare to one? I heard you say something about it, and only seen one in action back in the day. In fact dude who had it taught me to chop up breaks and play them out instead of looping them. He had a similar sound to you but got crazy with the filters. I bought a dr. Sample from him and was hooked on samplers ever since.

Thanks CockD!! Oh man, the Digi is way advanced but you can operate it like an SP1200. Even without p-lock, you can chop samples traditionally and set the chops to the pads and create a pseudo-timestretch like the 1200 ala Pete Rock style. And instead of sliders, Digi got the knobs Both handle 8 voice polyphony but Digitakt has 12 minutes sample time giving an advantage. To me, the sound is huge on the Digitakt.

DimensionsTomorrow wrote:

jpeg wrote:also would would like to see someone using the trig function to show the work around for chopping and flipping samples

Had a bit of time today and wanted to try out this cheap little Roland mixer thing I bought for recording audio into the camera app on my phone.

Anyway, here is an example of rearranging samples using start times. These are some guitar and bass parts I played into the Digitakt yesterday, so while it's not a hip hop example, you can pretty much flip any kind of sample anyway you want with the start times, just got to use your imagination. Hope this helps.

Also, it's my first YouTube video I've ever recorded. Wish I had a tripod, it's a PITA trying to hold a camera and work a sampler. I could have shown some cooler stuff if I had another hand. Haha.

PS: I don't think the audio came out bad for a $100 recording device!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nuqXu-KvRk

Nice guitar work and awesome example!

Thanks ya'll. One thing I figured out in doing that exercise is that I should have recorded the two bass parts as one single sample or recorded separately and then resampled them into one sample. If you are going to use start times for "chopping" and "flipping" you might as well keep it all together because then you only have to use one audio track.

When I get back from my trip, I'll try to do another one with a straight up hip hop sample flip. I have a few ideas for improving my workflow.

man the learning curve has been thick for me. this dude flys through the machine. Got alot of cool ideas for my setup from this video. been spending all my time on the digi, but man the challenge of learning something different is addicting.