hey folks,
So I’ve recently added another Elektron box to my entire set and so far this is what i’m looking at:
OT mkii as the *mixer loaded up with ezbot’s mixer template(if anyone knows roughly what that looks like it might help to better understand what I’m attempting to setup here).
–Audio routing–
LEFT and RIGHT outputs of Digitakt into Input A&B of Octatrack
LEFT and RIGHT outputs of MinilougeXD into Left and RIGHT inputs of Digitone
LEFT and RIGHT outputs of Digitone into Input C&D of Octatrack
(this way i mix all “synth sounds” from Digitone and MinilougeXD to the Octatrack’s A&B, and the drum/sample sounds into Octatrack’s C&D respectively)
–MIDI routing–(so far)
–Digitakt is main clock source–
MIDI OUT from Digitakt to MIDI IN of Octatrack
MIDI THROUGH from Octatrack to MIDI IN of MinilougeXD
MIDI OUT of MinilougXD to MIDI IN of Digitakt
===this way I’ve been able to sequence the MiniXD via the Digitakt===
I guess this is where I’m kerfuffling myself, as previously all i had was everything BUT the Digitone, and i would like to send clock to that as well for obvious reasons… am i going to need some sort of MIDI hub? or is there some super obvious and simple routing setup as far as MIDI goes that i could integrate the Digitone into my existing setup and I’m just simply too much of a smoothbrain (sorry fairly new to hardware gear) to realize it right now.
Thanks all in advance, and again I apologize for any ignorance on my part.
Can you go midi thru of OT to DN midi in, then DN midi thru to Minilogue XD? Then just set up your channels so that things intended for the Minilogue XD don’t affect the DN tracks?
I guess I could in a way, though if that is the case couldn’t I simply run the thru from the DT to the in of the DN and set things up so that only clock is received from the DT?
I’m not 100%, like I said I’m but a freshspawn to this whole MIDI thing, I have experience from years past getting the odd MIDI controller hooked up to my PC but I know next to nothing about best practices when trying to rout various hardware boxes together in this fashion.
either way I’ll have to wait until tomorrow as that’s when I’m expecting my new MIDI cable.
Fingers crossed
It can help to think about what each box needs to receive to get it to behave. Some only need clock (because of using their own sequencers) while others will need both. So set things up in order of priority, while also accounting for any boxes that don’t have midi thru.
If so just add it to the chain. All the elektrons have midi in out thru, so no extra midi box needed.
Midi thru = a copy of what arrives at the Midi IN port. So it passes the incoming midi through to what ever device you connect it to.
Personally if I had your set up, I would go
OT master clock( because you’ll get tighter sample loops of your incoming gear this way)
Midi out to DT in.
Out to DN in
THRU to Minilogue.
You can still achieve the same thing if DT is master clock. Just make sure DN sends midi to minilogue via THRU.
I’m a little confused here, do you me the out of the digitone? Or the thru of the Digitakt? Or the thru of the octatrack??
We’ll I recived my need midi cable…. But now attempting to fallow these steps NOTHING is working LOL
I do apologize like I said I’m extremely stupid when it comes to this stuff I’ve never quite been able to wrap my head around the MIDI protocol. I’m sure it’s simple, I just have never had anyone show me, and I tend to soak things in a LOT more easily if I see it being done.
Here’s what I would do with the boxes you have. Forget about audio routing for now. That’s far easier to solve. For the midi routing, try this:
DT Midi Out -> OT Midi In
OT Midi Thru -> DN Midi In
DN Midi Thru -> Minilogue Midi In
(BTW, I don’t see why you are feeding midi back into the DT at the end of the chain, as that’s more liable to create unwanted feedback loops).
OT and DT are interchangeable really if you want to follow @Microtribe’s suggestion. It just depends on which device you want to be sending the clock and sync. Put that one first in the chain.
I will try this suggestion and see how it all jives with my setup, thank you very much!
the reason I’m trying to send MIDI back into one of the boxes is so that i can play my minilougeXD using the keys while having one of the boxes in live-record mode. thus capturing my performances and tweaking later using the power of the elektron sequencers.
In that case I was using one of the DT’s MIDI tracks for this purpose, but I think I’ve managed to set things up to where I accomplish this using a MIDI track on the OT. I then make sure to carefully setup each box so that I dont have any MIDI conflicts and only the signals I want coming and going to each respective unit, whether its CC messages, clock, or both being sent/received in the right places.
I realize I’ve probably made this more complicated for myself by doing this, but it’s the way I’ve worked out I would like the units to work together in my head for how I’m trying to use them.
Okay, add one more. Minilogue Midi Out to DT Midi In. As the Minilogue doesn’t have Midi Thru, it shouldn’t pass through the same midi through the system in an endless loop. Unless it has a ‘soft’ midi thru? I’ve never owned one, so I wouldn’t know about that.
You are correct in that the minilougeXD lacks any MIDI Thru, as for “soft MIDI Thru” I really wouldn’t know as I’ve never heard of such a concept.
though, I wish it did have one, I’ve been able to manage without even with my limited understanding of the MIDI protocol in general.
never the less, i think I’ve miraculously fumbled my way into a working solution using that understanding, and the great tips you all have so gregariously provided here Thanks loads folks!
I settled on using the OT as the clock source sending clock to all other devices (sort of?)
and MIDI note data go both to and from the OT and MinilougeXD so that i can play the keys on the synth while the OT is in live record mode. I then later do a bit of alterations to those arrangements on the OT sequencer and utilize some of the tools provided in the electron sequencer to add that extra bit of magic.
The audio, as you mentioned is the easy part to figure out, and I’ve gone with in A&B for left and right of the DT, and in C&D receiving all the “synth sounds” via the audio going from the MinilougeXD, into the inputs of the DN, then into the C&D of the OT.
With some magic from the setup I’m using in the OT right now, I’m able to send the “live audio” through cue outs to my headphones, and record loops of all the devices to the outputs of the OT which are heard on my monitors.
This allows me to effectively tweak the sound as I hear them in my headphones, record everything to the recorder buffers of tracks 5,6,7 (5=DT 6=MiniXD&DN 7=full mix) then fade them to the main outs as I like. all seamlessly allowing me to effectively remixing my arrangements live without any sort of jarring starts or stops
The OT really is the corner stone of this setup for me and I don’t know if i would be able to achieve anything close to this without it lol
