@Eaves / Ivar Tryti’s Music

Elektronauts Our Music
#224

I thought it was about time for another Digitakt + Digitone track. I’ve spent a lot of time them on their own, and lately I’ve been using one of them together with a Beatstep midi controller. Finger drumming is really satisfying, but I’m not comfortable enough with it yet to use it for anything other than simple drums.

Something I was happy about with this track is that I resisted the need to use all available tracks. I don’t HAVE to use all the tracks to justify combining the Digitakt and Digitone. 5 out of 8 tracks were used on the Digitakt, and 3 out of 4 on the Digitone.

All audio is coming from the Digitakt and Digitone, though with a limiter and multiband compressor added in post.

1 Like
#225

I’m planning on making another tutorial on how to mangle drum loops on the Digitakt. This track started out with me just trying different tricks and figuring out what to include and in what order, but I needed a short chord progression to play in the background.

The patterns are all an unusual 48 steps, which gives it this little in-between bar that breaks things up nicely. The first 32 steps on all the patterns are identical, and the last 16 steps are all in different chords.

This is also the first time I’ve used a slapback delay effect, which is most noticeable on the toms.

All audio is coming from the Digitakt and Digitone, though with a limiter and multiband compressor added in post.

2 Likes
#226


I was short on time when I started recording this video. I wasn’t sure whether I should upload it or not, because I wasn’t too happy with the end result. I explain things only when it occurs to me that I should maybe explain things, so there are long stretches of silence every now and then!

What I did here in around 40 minutes, I usually do in 4-5 hours. Making the first pattern happens fairly quickly, but then I get stuck in a loop where I try out new things and just have fun with the pattern. Making the B-section is really hard, because I’m often running out of juice at this point and have to continue the next day, but I managed to make a B-section in record time here!

I went into this video without a plan, and it probably shows. Let me know if you think this unstructured stream-of-consciousness type of video is interesting, or if you prefer more structured/prepared videos with notes. I like doing both, so I could go either way :slight_smile:

The track starts at 39:12.

Thanks for watching!

Bandcamp: https://ivartryti.bandcamp.com
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4ds912FxVqFT78HZulqErS

5 Likes
#227

I love your stuff and I love your YouTube channel!

2 Likes
#228

Thank you very much @mpiecora! Thanks for checking it out :slight_smile:

1 Like
#229

That was a fun tune dude you really crushed, really beautiful! I gotta say though, you should have a keyboard hooked up so you can just hold a step and press the note on the keyboard to input that way. The step also record the velocity of the key you press too, so it’s a double-whammy input method and you don’t have to twist a knob for the velocity you want!

2 Likes
#230

Thank you, @Hawk! I do have a midi keyboard, and I have made a few velocity sensitive patches. I really should try making music with the keyboard included in the setup. I love the simplicity of just one box alone, but it does sound really convenient to have a keyboard there too :slight_smile:

2 Likes
#231

I usually add a limiter or a multiband compressor on the master channel before rendering, but this time I didn’t. All audio is coming from the Digitakt and Digitone, where I used the master overdrive on the Digitone to even out the levels.

On my previous track, I tried using the Digitone’s delay as a slapback delay on all the audio coming in from the Digitakt. I used the same trick here as well.

This is also the first time I’ve used a vocal sample in a track. I feel like I maybe used it too often, but it was fun :smiley:

2 Likes
#232

Before I bought my Digitakt and Digitone, I used to make piano pieces in a DAW. Today I composed a piano piece with synth parts on the Digitone’s sequencer + a piano VST. Also thank you for 2000 subscribers!

Since my last video, I have gotten 2000 subscribers. Thank you very much for listening to my music, everyone!

I originally planned to make a huge Digitakt + Digitone + orchestral VST 2k subs special. I started connecting all the bits and quickly got overwhelmed. I ended up ditching the Digitakt and went with just the Digitone and one piano VST. I’ll have to try again later.

The piano is a really old Native Instruments VST called Akoustik Piano from 2005. I’m using the “bonus” upright piano called Steingraeber 130, which I like more than the other three grand pianos in this VST because it has a dull and warm sound.

I set up the midi tracks like this: T1 is the Arp, T2 the Main melody T3 is Bass and T4 controls the sustain pedal.

While making this I ran into a nasty bug where adding multiple notes or copy-pasting in one track would sometimes randomly add those notes to other tracks as well. The easiest workaround was to add one note at a time which isn’t too bad, but then I’m missing out on one of the Digitone’s best workflow tricks.

Thanks for listening, and thanks again for subscribing, all 2000 of you :smiley:

DT&DN #7 Quiet Confidence


I originally tried using only the Digitakt and the piano VST, but it turns out that the Digitone’s sequencer is easier to work with when it comes to chords. This is the first time I’ve used both the Takt and Tone AND MIDI!

I’m doing all my muting on the Digitakt. Tracks 1 and 3 are drum loops, track 2 is a hihat pattern, and tracks 4 and 5 are just two toms playing every 2nd step over and over.

Tracks 9-12 are muting the Digitone’s synth channels, and tracks 13-16 are muting the Digitone’s MIDI channels, which is sequencing the piano VST (Native Instruments Akoustik Piano).

There’s even more things to keep track of with this setup! I was second guessing myself often throughout the video. That said though, I personally like leaving these mistakes in as long as they don’t ruin the track.

Everything but the piano is coming from the Digitakt and Digitone, and the master channel contains a limiter and a multiband compressor.

DT&DN #8 Game Over Screen

October 6th 2019
This is a melody I made years and years ago, but never developed into anything more than a loop until now. When I first made the loop I imagined a game where death is permanent, and you have to start over. To make the death easier to accept, a nostalgic track plays along with stats and records and awesome highlights from that character’s playthrough. I also imagined a softer, piano-only version of this track playing when viewing or deleting the save slot the dead character used.

Digitakt: Drums and choir
Digitone: bass, lead, keys, sound effects
VST: Native Instrument Akoustik piano (sequenced by the Digitone)

3 Likes
#233

I like this idea a lot of posting it all into one thread. Keeps it tidy and you can also see an ongoing progression/conversation!

3 Likes
#234

I gotta thank @LyingDalai for finding all my posts and sticking them together in this thread :smiley:

2 Likes
#235

I was happy to help! But it surely wasn’t smooth :wink:

1 Like
#236

Played around with a funky bassline, then added my loudest and screechiest bass sound to compare. I liked the sound of both even if they clash, so I kept both :slight_smile:

I’ve started and abandoned more tracks than usual lately. I would have abandoned this one too if I hadn’t decided to upload it whether or not I’m happy with the results. I like the ideas I’ve been playing with on this track, but I’m not completely confident in the song structure, hence the title.

Digitakt: Drums, bass guitar and lofi flute sounds
Digitone: bass, BASS!, plucky synth and synth break melody thing

All audio is coming from the Digitakt and Digitone with no post processing.

2 Likes
#237

I resampled a drum pattern on the Digitakt after running it through the Digitone’s master overdrive and chorus, then used the results in this dramatic downtempo track with some synthy choir


I tried making a couple of new drum loops by having the audio pass through the Digitone’s master overdrive and chrous then resampled back onto the Digitakt. I was so happy with the results of the first loop that I ran with it and made this track.

I’ve been playing a lot of Resident Evil lately and have been itching to play old survival horror games again, hence the title ‘Tank Controls’.

All audio is coming from the Digitakt and Digitone with no post processing.

2 Likes
#238

Digitakt No Pause Challenge (october 14th 2019)

On the Discord server “synthesizers, yo” I chatted with Ilmai about recording ourselves making a track from scratch, but without pressing stop during the whole thing. The camera mic is muted during the parts where I’m not talking.

0:00 - Intro and setting up drum samples
2:35 - Pressing play
8:57 - Making the B section
12:20 - Finger drumming!

All audio is coming from the Digitakt, with a multiband compressor added in post.

Digitakt Sketch #33 The Adults Are Gone! (October 17th 2019)

One day the adults disappeared. Abandoned streets were soon populated with kids playing until way past curfew! I made an energetic and funky beat on the Digitakt with this scenario in mind.

I haven’t chopped full piano phrases like this since my digitakt sketch #19. I made a couple of piano loops in FL Studio using a VST called Akoustik Piano, and then sampled them into the Digitakt (at double speed to save space, as usual). I did my usual drum loop resample trick to get those lofi drum sounds (link to tutorials below!) and tried using some vocal samples too.

T1: main beat
T3: louder beat
T5: bass sample
T6: vocal sample
T8: piano (I recorded three separate loops)

I had so much fun with this one. It’s waaay faster than my usual 80 BPM, so I felt I had to stretch out each pattern to make it 3 minutes long.

All audio is coming from the Digitakt, with a multiband compressor added in post.

Digitakt Sketch #34 Practice (October 20th 2019)

I haven’t used my guitar or bass in a while, and thought it was about time to use them in my music. I’ve always been a bit careful about sampling whole phrases into the Digitakt because it only has 1GB of space, but I tried out a new trick!

To save space, I did the following:

  1. Recorded a 16 step bass “main” loop.
  2. Recorded a 16 step bass loop where I just go up and down the pentatonic scale
  3. See 1 and 2, but for guitar.

Then I placed trigs on every other step and spaced the start points 15 units apart, then mixed and matched which trig would play the “main” loop and which would play the pentatonic loop. This way I could record short snippets and save space, but slice them like I do with drums to make a whole 64 step pattern for the bass and guitar :smiley:

This is definitely something I’m gonna experiment more with, and next time the track is gonna have a bit more interesting chord progression :P.

Digitakt Sketch #35 Very Cool And Tough! (October 22nd 2019)

I made a few loops in FL Studio using strings and flute samples, and sampled them onto the Digitakt for further chopping. I didn’t go into this expecting a heavy beat, but I’m not surprised considering what I’ve been putting out lately :P. I originally wanted to make the orchestral bits more central to the track, but they turned into scratching instead.

I recorded the same bassline twice, one octave apart, then played them back both at the same time for that big bass sound. I had recorded a whole B-section, but managed to unintentionally delete it. It’s OK though, I wasn’t totally convinced it would fit the rest of the track.

3 Likes
#240

:blush::pray:t2:

2 Likes
#241

Thanks a lot, @VandaZandes :smiley:

1 Like
#242

DT&DN #11 Stealth Advantage (October 25th 2019)


I’ve been having a hard time coming up with interesting main melodies lately, and have been trying using more very long notes. The root note doesn’t change throughout the track, so I tried to keep things interesting with different textures instead.

On the Digitakt, the top row mutes and unmutes the sample tracks, while the bottom row mutes and unmutes the Digitone’s synth tracks.

All audio is coming from the Digitakt and Digitone, though with a multiband compressor added in post.

5 Likes
#243

Love this one!

1 Like
#244

Thank you very much, @mr_bernard :slight_smile:

1 Like