can you please share with me your thoughts about what is the best way to record your music (Digitakt DT, Digitone DN here) into Ableton?
Currently I am feeding DN into DT and have just the stereo out to record.
Then I have not enough control in Ableton when mixing.
I now want to record DN and DT into 2 separate stereo channels, which may be little better.
I had a hard time with the seems so famous Overbridge solution…
First of all, I cannot record the send effects. (There seems to be some complicated trick with eg RYTM, but not with DN/DT).
That is a puffy, cause in a mindless dawless session I completely rely on the internal effects (and love them).
Also I have more or less constant crackles while recording with overbridge. Tried different buffer sizes in Ableton (M1 Mac Mini, no CPU dropouts). But seems to be some USB weirdnesses I am unable to figure out (I use 2 Hubs. Not sure if the „official“ elektron hubs will be making a difference).
I could record each channel separately via stereo outs. But I would love to live-record. That only makes sense when all tracks play together…
What is your way of doing it? Very happy for your tipp, cause I feel I have lost already 2 years of my life in figuring this out.
Could you post an example of this? Could be many things but often the type of noise can be a good clue.
I can understand the desire for more control in the final mix however I’m not sure you’ll gain a great deal by seperating out the DN and DT as I assume they’re still both handling multiple tracks - what are your plans there, what are you hoping to do with the seperate tracks once you have them in Ableton?
The advantage of running the DN into the DT is you get to glue it all using the DT compressor - it’s quite a neat setup and if you like the internal effects I’d try and focus on making it work as is, personally.
Currently, no Occasionally it is gone. It doesn’t sound like ground humming. It sounds more like slight system overload. But CPU meter is absolutely “cold”.
Yeah, good point. The glueing of the two digis is actually what I will be missing most.
I guess you can’t have it all.
I intended to stay away from the screen and it actually sounds all decent.
But as soon as I want to record it, I miss something, because all tracks arrive just summed.
Another thought was to separate the two digis and glue the two stereo channels in my physical mixer (Zoom L-12). Maybe also worth a try.
So the only thing I can really do after my dawless session, is to master.
Limitations are part of the journey.
But I guess that is what it should be like, right?
Means: I have to craft everything almost perfectly (like “mixed”) coming out of the digis, just using it internal EQs and stuff. Not too much I can do afterwards.
I think unless you plan on properly multitracking both devices (which I don’t personally see the appeal of, but some folks do), then I think you’d probably just end up with 2 seperate stereo tracks that you won’t do much with other than combining. If you want to make changes to a lead, or improve your hihats - you’re still in the same situation as before pretty much, but now you have to do some extra work at the compression stage - and can no longer sidechain properly as you don’t have a seperate kick track.
It’s a different approach to making music though for sure - you have to commit to your sounds at the recording stage - but I think this helps to build good discipline, as assuming you can fix things later can be dangerous. But if your plan is to arrange and perform a track live on those devices then IMO it should sound right there and then - it’s different if you’re looking to do a big multitrack composition of course, but it doesn’t sound like that’s your thing.
Thanks @natehorn!
Well, as probably many, I recorded most stuff so far in Ableton. But since some years I am trying to find a physical setup that works and I am pretty close to it.
But yes, you are right. I haven’t fully committed to the fact, that the sounds I pick have to be the right choice (and quality!) right upfront.
Actually I did not mention so far that I have some other synth coming to he mix at some point. They will not be glued together from the digis, but go into the mixer (e.g. Novation Peak).
Would you say that fundamentally changes your answer, because not all stuff goes into the Digitakt for glueing (just the Digitone)?
Opinions will vary but it sounds similar to my setup, and I have some extra synths in the mix.
I have a DJ mixer with 4 stereo channels that I can capture individually post-eq, along with the master. I only capture the master, partly due to what I mentioned above and also because I compress on my master insert - so if I had individual tracks I would have to bounce everything back through to mix it properly. It’s also an analog mixer so it would be a waste to capture tracks and mix in Ableton.
Channel 1 is where I have the most going on, that’s all of my drums and samples. But the Euro channels often have more than one voice each too, so it’s far from a multitrack setup.
Then I have Oto Boum on the master which all of that goes through with the Kick output of the AR feeding its sidechain.
If I had a DT, DN and a Peak, I’d be tempted to run the Peak into the DN then the DN into the DT, have it all still hitting the digitakt compressor and you’re on a single track!
I actually spent a lot of time experimenting with this stuff myself - at one point I had a 16 channel interface but it was all getting a bit much - I got it into my head at one point that I wanted to mix with analog EQ and ended up where I am and seem fairly happy.
Now if I want to sit down in a DAW and create a complex arrangement I probably won’t be using my hardware at all - but that’s me!
Actually totally resonates with me to be honest. Maybe you saved me from wasting too much energy.
Also that last sentence is what I was thinking at some point. Either or
Occasionally it is gone. It doesn’t sound like ground humming. It sounds more like slight system overload. But CPU meter is absolutely “cold”.