I’ve had this dream yesterday and I thought to share it with you all. I’m in love with my Digitakt (& Digitone but that’s another discussion). I’ve been so creative with it, I’ve recorded 3 full albums with it (one is released already, one is waiting for a release this summer and the third one is still a demo) and I keep making tracks almost daily with it. It’s such an incredible machine, a perfect balance between an open world of possibilities and a few limited focused tools.
I thought if I’m in so in love with the Digitakt and I just want MORE of that, I should go get an Octatrack. Well we all know that’s not what the Octatrack is. I’m dreaming of an OctaTAKT instead. Or maybe should I call it a DuoTAKT? More sample tracks, more LFO’s (Machinedrum anyone?), just a few more sound design tools (ring mod for example), a few more buttons (or even sliders!) for live performances ( I love recording live on that thing!) and more memory. Just to be clear, this is not just a Digitakt with enhanced possibilities, it’s a whole new device.
If faders are what you’re looking for, I’d suggest getting an Arturia Keylab of some kind as an external control for your DT.
You can map the faders to just about any control on the DT and it can be an extremely helpful and natural-feeling extention of the DT’s onboard controls.
(Of course, you can do this with any midi controller, but Arturias tend to have more faders than other brands, which often just have knobs.)
I think an Octatrack MK3 is what we all want. Maybe in a Digi format if possible.
8 tracks, updated effects, must keep the crossfader, maybe a few more outputs, Overbridge. Yeah. I’d like that.
And a bit on a serious note, NO I don’t want an Octatrack MK2 or 3 . I don’t want all the extra confusion, different functions, years of trying to figure it out, I want to make sounds NOW in a machine that feels direct but powerful. No Octatrack love here. Dreaming of something much better than that. I hope Elektron keeps dreaming too.
I’d love it if Elektron in general sold two versions of the Digis: the regular versions we all know and a “premium” version that comes in a bigger form factor, like the casing of OT MK II or A4/AR MK II. The premium version would come with a few sliders and non-endless knobs that can be mapped individually (think performance macros on A4/AR or OT slider mapping) and a bit bigger knob that’s always mapped to filter cutoff. I feel like this would completely open up the machines to their fullest performance potential. These boxes are made to perform on, yet having to jump between menus and being limited to endless encoders hampers them a bit. And having these knobs/sliders on the unit itself would be way more convenient than connecting an external controller. I would prefer this approach to selling keys versions of synths, use the real estate for knobs/sliders instead.
Concerning OctaTAKT: I’m not sold tbh. You could just get two DT to achieve a lot of what you’ve mentioned, would still be quite compact and not too confusing. Or just add an OT. I feel like sampling tiers are split pretty well between DT and OT right now as they are.
I’m down for that for sure! But I would prefer a few more (just a few) sound design possibilities. Something to get a bit deeper in. It’s a pity also that Elektron doesn’t realize that people are spending money on buying someone else’s midi controllers for their own devices instead of having that “premium” version you just mentioned. Great idea!
