Hey all, lately I’ve been recording a ton of tracks from my Digitakt, Syntakt and Analog Four mk2 into my DAW. I’ve found that there is a slight drift or jitter on the audio files that I record from Digitakt. This problem has been twisting my melon for the past few months and after an obsessive amount of testing and head scratching, I discovered what is really going on. I’d like to share this with y’all and see if anyone out there has experienced something similar - or knows a solution, because I’m pretty share there isn’t a perfect one. Here goes:
First off, I’m recording all tracks (one at a time) from Digitakt via analog output (24bit/48k) - not digital. (an explanation of why I don’t use overbridge to record is below)
Secondly, I’m not using MIDI clock to sync at all. I only send a Transport start message via USB to Digitakt to ensure that I’m recording only the internal sequencer clock from the Digitakt itself. Obviously elektron sequencers sound amazing on their own and I want the DT’s internal sequencer locked to the correct tempo. MIDI clock receive is set to off.
So after I record a section of tracks analog with no external MIDI clock sync interference, I get the downbeats of the tracks perfectly lined up on Ableton’s grid and when I scan later in the audio file, very often there is a small but noticeable drift in both the +/- direction throughout the recording. This becomes a problem when you have 8 DT tracks playing at once, because all those little timing inconsistencies add up and smear the groove.
With me so far? Ok, so regarding Overbridge:
Overbridge is actually the solution I’ve found for this jitter issue, but its not a perfect one. When I record multiple tracks simultaneously from Digtakt via Overbridge, ALL of those tracks have the same exact jitter/audio drift. So at least the jitter is consistent within that section and the groove is maintained. If I do another recording of the same tracks, they will have a slightly different jitter than the previous take, because the the Digitakt sequencer plays it microscopically different each take. But those tracks in the new take will all be in sync with eachother.
However, despite popular opinion, I haven’t been using overbridge to record, because the recordings sound way better/juicier/fatter/warmer when I go directly out of the analog outputs of DT into my audio Interface/preamp. Recording multiple tracks simultaneously via overbridge is super convenient, but it loses its sonic mojo compared to how it sounds when I’m playing directly out of the DT. Also, when you record multiple tracks at once via overbridge, you can’t print individual track Send FX on or with the individual tracks - as far as I know?
Bottom line: Digitakt (and Syntakt) sequencers have a slight, almost imperceptible inherent drift/jitter. This is probably intentional by design and is part of elektron sequencers’ secret sauce. Recording tracks one at a time out of Digitakt’s analog outputs is tedious, but it sounds way better to me than recording digital via USB through overbridge. The trade off is that I’m having to go in and warp most of my DT rhythm tracks in ableton to correct the audio drift and try to glue the groove back together - which is insane.
I couldn’t find anything anywhere talking about this specific issue… I’m sure someone out there has noticed their groove is a little wonky after they record it… and now we know why. I doubt Elektron would ever admit that their sequencers have inherent jitter… haha. BUT they could implement a way to record multiple tracks via overbridge and print the FX from the individual tracks separately or on the track itself - all in one take - then that would be the best solution for preserving your groove AND also being able to edit the recording with FX.