Bank+pattern trigs don't re-send, is this normal?

Elektron Gear Digitone/Digitone Keys
#1

I just started using trigs to send bank and pattern change commands to an external device (Drumbrute Impact). But I noticed that the Digitone will NOT send the command if it “thinks” the device is already on the requested pattern.

Example: Step 1 on the sequencer sends a change to pattern 3, which works as expected the first time through the pattern. But if I manually change the external device to pattern 4, then when step 1 comes around again on the sequencer, the pattern change (back to 3) does NOT get sent. This appears to be because Digitone “thinks” the Drumbrute is already on pattern 3 because it sent the change message previously. (It doesn’t know I manually changed to pattern 4.)

Is this normal behavior for a MIDI master? And, is there a way to force the Digitone to always send the program change command, even it that means it must re-send each time through the pattern?

1 Like
#2

yea, same on the digitakt.

it used to work the way you’re asking for, which was great for tweaking external gear’s params over e.g. 4-bars and then have it return to saved state. but it changed a couple of firmware versions ago and the current way it works is the new normal.

to get around it you can add 2x trigs to your seq - the 1st one (step 1) sets the desired preset (e.g. CC20), and the 2nd one (step 16) changes the preset away from the desired preset (e.g. CC21).

#3

Yes it’s really annoying. Best to file a support ticket. Everyone reading this!

#4

Okay, thanks for confirming. There’s probably a decent reason for the change in the newer firmware, but it would be great to have control over the behavior (old way vs. new way).