Elektron Transfer - Feature requests

Elektron Software Transfer
#1

I just bought the Digitakt and have been distilling the best of my sample collection and transferring to the DT storage via Elektron Transfer 1.1. ET is a nice piece of software and interface. Crashed/hung a few times on Surface Pro Win8.1 with no error message requiring a Task Manager kill, but otherwise not much bother overall.

I built a directory structure on my DT for the usual kicks, snares, hihats and other things. The value of organizing samples with hashes is immediately obvious to avoid duplicates on a limited storage space. Very smart feature from the Elektron devs here.

Suggestion 1)
As Elektron Transfer is becoming a key component of the workflow and organization of our newer machines, I suggest that a ‘product tag’ be created here on Elektronauts to discuss and organize topics around this application, similar to OverBridge. I expect that Elektron users will be using ET more in the future now that increased USB management of our devices is possible.

Suggestion 2)
I suggest that a ‘100% machine backup’ or ‘super-snapshot’ is needed to capture the entire state of the machine including songs, projects, samples, sounds, configs, ., to the extent that this is accessible/restorable via USB. This is a feature that all Elektron users will benefit from. Backup the entire box and be sure that it can be restored anytime in the future. Safeguard musical ideas or perhaps return to earlier machine states as desired. And also - to transfer the entire contents to another box if a user might have bought two units for any reason.

Suggestion 3)
When transferring files to the DT using ET 1.1 on Win8.1, it is not possible to drag/drop files to a folder, when that folder is displayed as a list of destinations folders in the right pane. A user has to enter the specific target directory and then initiate the sample transfer. When transferring files from a source directory containing many kinds of sounds, this becomes tedious due to the amount of clicking involved as the user decides which sample to transfer to which target directory. Too much unnecessary clicking and changing folders. I went through 17000 samples this way and started to resent the lack of folder-level drag/drop. I expect that this should be an easy feature to add.

Suggestion 4)
If S3 above might be implemented, I also suggest that the list of target directories be increased in screen vertical font size or perhaps made configurable for the user so we can drag and drop quickly while exploring thousands of source files in our source directory structures and making quick decisions about what we want to transfer to the target machine eg. Digitakt.

Suggestion 5)
I noticed that drag and drop on ET 1.1 / Win8.1 did not always result in a transfer of the sample file to the DT target directory. Upon inspection, I realized that I had ‘flicked’ the file too far to the right screen border while browsing quickly though the source directory - so that the mouse pointer had landed on the border of the Elektron Transfer window when I released the mouse button. When this happens there is no error message to the user and no file transfer occurs. This is just an inconvenience but hopefully something to improve.

Suggestion 6)
Some Elektron users have been exploring the possibilities of single cycle waveforms or other short loopable material on their sampling-enabled Elektron boxes. A selectable looping feature in ET with perhaps a configurable_decay_time defaulting to maybe 0.5 seconds would help users explore spectral tones or short loops that they would like to experiment with. Think of downloading all the AdventureKid waveforms, Oxford Overdrive or Immortal Waves and figuring out which ones to transfer.

Sugestion 7)
It would be helpful if future versions of ET could show vital statistics for the machine such as as available sample storage slots, remaining disk capacity, or anything else that would assist users to manage the content or state of the machine.

Thanks for reading if you got this far. Corrections or feedback for the above are welcome if I didn’t have complete knowledge. I hope the above suggestions might be considered for ET 1.2+ and primarily the ‘super snapshot’ for all Elektron gear that has a USB interface.

6 Likes
Import Midi files via Transfert App ? Could be Nice
#2

These are all good suggestions and had been discussed before. First we’d need to know the current state of the development regarding Overbridge and all that. Backup is obviously crucial too. There is a serious lack of information from Elektron.

#3

It would be cool to import directly .Midi files with the transfert app !
To have a complete transfert app to support Audio + Midi !
easy to manage project with audio files & midi files

1 Like
#4

Indeed.
Export as a MIDI file of sequences created from the DT would also be useful.

3 Likes
#5

In addition to “Suggestion 2”

On the RYTM, I would love to be able to backup specific patterns within a project along with their sample slots. Basically I want to make a live project and copy in the patterns used for each song. This should also restore the samples to the to the new project and reassign their slots so there is no overlap.

Currently I can dump the sysex for each project but then I need to manually load back up the samples. Since the screen is so small it is a real PITA figuring out the different names and restoring them to the new project.

#6

It would be great to have the hability to make Samples chains in transfert ( with pre listen). That’s would be useful, especially for model Samples.

#7

A propper Data Backup would be great.
Not only the Wav-Audio Data.

#8

Hello,

IMG_20210313_120951
IMG_20210313_1209514000×3000 1.77 MB

I can listen to the samples in the “my computer” column on the left in blue.

At the same time, I would like to decide whether or not to remove a sample from the column in red, ‘’ Digitakt ‘’
So be able to listen to it before the transfer

Thanks
To your attention

#9

I like all these.
Project backup would be an amazing addtion (samples+patterns)
Another would be the ability to move kits/patterns etc between projects (similar to how Elk Herd works on digitakt)
Would be great for making template projects containing all your favorite kits.

If a random user can make something like Elk Herd then surely Elektron can do even better!

#10

DUPLICATE FILE NAME WORKFLOW -> RIGHT CLICK “RETRY RENAME”

When copying samples with same file names, the transfer of a sample with duplicate file name fails.

While this is unlikely to occur when copying samples directly from OS file browser, it happens frequently when drag and dropping samples from a sample managment software, where selected / filtered samples span across multiple folders and therefore easily contain duplicate file names.

#11

Judging from the amount of people that have reported this ‘issue’ -

Add a message to update to latest firmware on devices .

Eg
Lots of reports from people on digitakt and rytm saying they can no longer transfer samples … 99% it has been that the device hasn’t been updated to latest firmware even with it being mentioned on posts, instructions , release notes etc etc

Make it big, red, flash , with an alarm sound and dancing cats.

2 Likes
#12

An option to auto trim start/end silence when transferring samples to the Digitakt would be a nice feature to help save some space. Transfer already converts samples anyway, so it could be incorporated into that process.

#13

Not sure if this is the right place to request this, and I’m sure it’s been requested elsewhere, but I’m desperate for an iOS version of transfer (an official one, that works properly). Being able to just take the digitakt and my phone with me, and be able to upload any samples I make or come across - in bulk, not just recording them in 1 by 1 in real time, would be absolute gold.

#14

I think transfer is lacking some essential features to facilitate the optimal use of Elektron devices:

-ability to rename any Items on the machine (projects, sounds, patterns) is long overdue. The built in writing-engine is too inconvenient for this. I use Overbridge where possible to name and save sounds using a computer keyboard, but it appears impossible to do the same for project and pattern names.

-on my (a bit outdated) laptop, transfer only works on digitakt. It discovers my Digitone and Syntakt, but consistently crashes when I try to connect to those (Oberbridge works fine though).

-complete backup of a machine

-exporting sequence data as midi files

I have the feeling that transfer was neglected somewhat lately, with everything happening around Elektron. However, transfer is a key application for all Elektron users. I am slightly worried that attention to transfer might fade now that Elektron is starting to integrate it’s file management with cloud services (nothing against cloud services per se, but I think that local file management solutions are essential tools for all users). Transfer could do a lot more than it currently does.
Maybe, integrating transfer and Overbridge would be desirable, but I don’t know how feasible this is technically.

2 Likes