Anyone own a Live AND a Digitakt?

I want both. I see myself using the digitakt to mangle samples and explore around For happy accidents, and the live to sample the digitakt, as well as sample and chop in a more traditional way, adding drums etc.. and sequencing.

Thoughts or experience with this combo? Is the overlap too much to justify?

I had a digitakt and still own a live.
The digitakt is a cool box with a lot of potential, but I found it very hard to get the two to mesh sound wise and interface wise. The pioneer toriaz seems to work worlds better for me with the live, although it’s pricey. Take a look at both the digitakt and pioneer forums. Should be way more info that you need.
Have you used elektron’s before? Or a mpc?
It didn’t work out for me but in hindsight it may work a lot better for other people. I can give some advice but there’s a limit to how it can help with out you actually checking them out. You can sample mangle on the live, differently but in many ways is more streamlined that the digitakt.

i have both, the digitakt is a bit redundant though

mpc does every the digitakt can do and more

love both

maybe I'm selling the digitakt though

I did. Sold it and my Octatrack. Haven't looked back since. I love the form of the Digitakt, but I've done more with the Live than in the 4 years I had the OT. Sampling is way more fun and productive with the Live for me.

I had the combo, at first it seem like a wild combo, but as I got deep into both, and like Forsh said, it was redundant. The Live can mangle just like the Digitakt. I wanted to like the Digitakt for its small factor but limited to sample only to 8 buttons (out of 16?!!), the long waits for updates, and then they make new boxes, forgetting the Digitakt. However, I can see Elektron improving and working on bettering the company, so its not all bad.

I replaced it with the DJS-1000 and that was exactly what I needed. Its like the Digitakt but has more elbow room, STEREO samples and still keep the P-Locks

You may want to look into the Roland TR-8S, that may be a Digitakt killer for a hundred bucks less too. It samples but by uploading into it though.

Owned both but sold the Digitakt and kep the Live.

The sound of the digitakt was fantastic. The build quality of the unit was very robust. I intended to use in the same you imagine yourself using it. It really shined for me with the punchiness of the drum sounds I got out of it. Where it fell short for me were the following: Not enough filter options, 1 LFO per track, No Master FX options and NO friggin way to back up. I also didnt care for sequencing MIDI with it.

I also felt like it was gonna take me a while to master the workflow and while I had it I used it alot. I have never been much a step sequencer guy and that is the core of the Elektron sequencer. I found myself frustrated having to always think too hard when I wanted to do less experimenting and just use a straight forward approach... programming rolls or retriggers was just plain uninspiring. Conditional trigs are something I miss but can certainly live without and again, when you want to approach it more conventionally it becomes tedious to have to "think it out". Had I kept it I would have pushed through those hurdles but I sold it so I wouldnt have to

I much preferred the sound and build of the digitakt but imo the LIVE is more flexible and immediate in it's workflow and connectivity.

lets not mension the overbridge support......

and the develeopers very very slow to release software
no battery

the digitakt could be a lot lot better with just a few more extras

don't get me wrong, electron workflow is second to none, but can not beat lazy days in bed or on the sofa with the battery power of the live

its not a comparesion I'm doing, I just feel let down by electron

great machines, bad support!

Ill-Green wrote:I had the combo, at first it seem like a wild combo, but as I got deep into both, and like Forsh said, it was redundant. The Live can mangle just like the Digitakt. I wanted to like the Digitakt for its small factor but limited to sample only to 8 buttons (out of 16?!!), the long waits for updates, and then they make new boxes, forgetting the Digitakt. However, I can see Elektron improving and working on bettering the company, so its not all bad.

I replaced it with the DJS-1000 and that was exactly what I needed. Its like the Digitakt but has more elbow room, STEREO samples and still keep the P-Locks

You may want to look into the Roland TR-8S, that may be a Digitakt killer for a hundred bucks less too. It samples but by uploading into it though.

hey Ill,
What's been your overall opinion on the DJS-1000 ? With sampling can you record a bassline or guitar part and have it play back to monitor and continue layering loops on different pads? I was thinking of picking one up and having my mixer feed all my instruments into it to record 40 second loops on different pads and then trigger those from the pads.

I'm thinking of the Pioneer over actually picking up the MPC Live actually. Just not really sure what the workflow and capabilities of the DJS-1000 are yet.

Gnome Tone wrote:

Ill-Green wrote:I had the combo, at first it seem like a wild combo, but as I got deep into both, and like Forsh said, it was redundant. The Live can mangle just like the Digitakt. I wanted to like the Digitakt for its small factor but limited to sample only to 8 buttons (out of 16?!!), the long waits for updates, and then they make new boxes, forgetting the Digitakt. However, I can see Elektron improving and working on bettering the company, so its not all bad.

I replaced it with the DJS-1000 and that was exactly what I needed. Its like the Digitakt but has more elbow room, STEREO samples and still keep the P-Locks

You may want to look into the Roland TR-8S, that may be a Digitakt killer for a hundred bucks less too. It samples but by uploading into it though.

hey Ill,
What's been your overall opinion on the DJS-1000 ? With sampling can you record a bassline or guitar part and have it play back to monitor and continue layering loops on different pads? I was thinking of picking one up and having my mixer feed all my instruments into it to record 40 second loops on different pads and then trigger those from the pads.

I'm thinking of the Pioneer over actually picking up the MPC Live actually. Just not really sure what the workflow and capabilities of the DJS-1000 are yet.

The DJS' live sampling is out of this world. It can do what you exactly described. You sample in some riffs and it'll loop and you sample some more stuff in all in real time. As long the sampling button is activated you can sample to pads all the sounds you want. To maintain the input sound to keep playing while the sequencer plays, you will need to assign the Inputs to a pad. You can also resample the sequencer or samples with the input signal mixed.

I don't wanna sound like I'm hyping the DJS, but everything it does is done in real-time and the beat never stops as you edit, pitch and timestretch samples as well.

Its a sampler but you can use it like a looper, only thing you have more parameters at your disposal than a looper, which is good.

If you can demo one, test it out with its internal sounds first. That will give you a wide idea of what is it about.

I brought a digitakt after seeing some hype in the forums about it and then after watching some vids from bboy tech report.

but after using it for a few weeks i did not gel with it the workflow was very awkward , some nice sounds but the interface was not for me so sold.

and the fact its not as portable one might seem its kinda hefty and well built but was not a good fit for me.

id like another box as an alternative to the live something quick fast and inspiring but, am currently having a go with the volca.

downloaded some desktop software to see if it gels with me if not will sell and give the op1 a try.

I have a sneaky feeling op1 will be the one

Ill-Green wrote:I had the combo, at first it seem like a wild combo, but as I got deep into both, and like Forsh said, it was redundant. The Live can mangle just like the Digitakt. I wanted to like the Digitakt for its small factor but limited to sample only to 8 buttons (out of 16?!!), the long waits for updates, and then they make new boxes, forgetting the Digitakt. However, I can see Elektron improving and working on bettering the company, so its not all bad.

I replaced it with the DJS-1000 and that was exactly what I needed. Its like the Digitakt but has more elbow room, STEREO samples and still keep the P-Locks

You may want to look into the Roland TR-8S, that may be a Digitakt killer for a hundred bucks less too. It samples but by uploading into it though.

Thanks for the info Mr. Green, yea I'm seriously considering pick one up!
No volume Knob though? LOL what? How's that work?
I've been watching some videos, I'm digging what I'm seeing so far.
So With the new update to 64 seconds does that mean you can basically track in a linear way on 16 tracks for a minute per track (pads)? One more thing if you don't mind, and this is a big one, can your loops not be tied to a master track/loop or tied to a grid? As in can the16 loops on the 16 pads all act as individual loops on their own? I like to make loops and samples that don't fall on the grid and sound arrangements, and I like these parts to come in and out randomly, not always locked to it's own "spot" in a song.

Fyi: mpc live/x has some live sampling features too.

I’m a toriaz user and yes it would be like 16 tracks at one minute. I imagine the looping you’re talking about can be done by muting the the loop. The “tracks” are set up the same way as a Roland 404. You can edit the loops however you want, or slice the loop to the pads very easily. The “hot” slice function isn’t on the toria yet, but I imagine it can help with changing the loops up too.

Tracks are hard to get your mind around on the unit but are very flexible, and almost idiot proof once the concept is down. Sample chains, and loops should be the focus vs just loading up 16 one shots.

Not many effects, but they are solid.

The way it syncs and timestreches/ pitch shift is amazing to me for a standalone machine.

If it was a choice between a djs and a digitakt. Without a doubt a djs or toriaz.

I would also choose a pioneer and a live over a mpc x.

I would only really choose a digitakt if cost and space were the main selling points for you. Or if you needed a drum machine that you can record samples into. Personally I would chose the new Roland over the digitakt covering the first two selling points.

There are threads on these products on here as well. Lots of good info.

Cockdiesel wrote:Fyi: mpc live/x has some live sampling features too.

I’m a toriaz user and yes it would be like 16 tracks at one minute. I imagine the looping you’re talking about can be done by muting the the loop. The “tracks” are set up the same way as a Roland 404. You can edit the loops however you want, or slice the loop to the pads very easily. The “hot” slice function isn’t on the toria yet, but I imagine it can help with changing the loops up too.

Tracks are hard to get your mind around on the unit but are very flexible, and almost idiot proof once the concept is down. Sample chains, and loops should be the focus vs just loading up 16 one shots.

Not many effects, but they are solid.

The way it syncs and timestreches/ pitch shift is amazing to me for a standalone machine.

If it was a choice between a djs and a digitakt. Without a doubt a djs or toriaz.

I would also choose a pioneer and a live over a mpc x.

I would only really choose a digitakt if cost and space were the main selling points for you. Or if you needed a drum machine that you can record samples into. Personally I would chose the new Roland over the digitakt covering the first two selling points.

There are threads on these products on here as well. Lots of good info.

Hey, what's going on man? Thanks for your ideas.

Curious, why the Pionerr and Live combo over the X? Is it to have more options and workflow combinations? The X seems like a one stop shop. I've never owned a MPC, years ago I picked up a Roland SP404 as a tip toe into messing with samplers, but I'm more of a soul music/ experimental guy. Workflow is huge for me, and I HAve heard the the Mpc can seem clunky at times.

I always said if an updated multitracking 404 with wave editing and some basic features hit the market I'd be all over it. Then these new MPC's dropped, and now I'm finding these Pioneer pieces with a simple approach. What to do!?

Just more bang for the buck. Don’t really need both but if I was going to drop 2200 or whatever...
in reality these machines can basically do the same stuff, with a few exceptions that can be deal breakers on each unit.

The volume output is pretty loud but there is a master volume from the touchscreen. Wish there was a knob, but the output I get is pretty loud, on my mixer, its cranked at 10 o'clock but feels like 2 o'clock.