Yeah, it’s kind of funny. I’m super jazzed about it as a beatmaker. But for a lot of folks, something as simple as a piano roll with a few lanes of automation would be a lot more useful.
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What really blows my mind is the way that Electron have implemented a very comprehensive midi set up with an auto channel, fx channel and various other assignment possibilities, then you actually start using it with your controller keyboard and discover that pitch bend and other controllers are not passed on to your synth or recorded in the sequencer. 5 years down the line and still nothing has been done. This is what you would expect from a toy, not a fully fledged sequencer.
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I never asked anyone to define song mode, please don’t put words in my mouth and instead read the reply chain again. I was (and still am) confused with what @circuitghost is asking for here because he seems to be asking for something entirely different and he wants us to ask why we want song mode. The question felt almost philosophical to me, but I think I’m missing his point. I still don’t understand what @circuitghost is looking for, do you? (Which is totally fine, @circuitghost, I’m sure I’m just slow today!)
I know exactly what I myself would want with a song mode (and why), which is pretty much exactly what @LyingDalai described, which is why I replied to him saying as much. That’s the thread you seem to be mis-paraphrasing. I also made it clear that I’d personally be equally happy with a midi cc workaround to do this with external gear.
I think the tension is that Elektron make performance instruments, not compositional tools.
This creep towards things like clip launching and arranging sounds more like a DAW than live performance hardware.
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Yes, interesting, just we must be aware that motion sequencing a la korg and live recording plocks a la elektron seem to be different things tecnically. One guy said it in a comparison dn with op6. Korg is smoother but of course possibility to plock a step has a great addictive charme. My old korg er-1, and even tanzbär is smoother but the elektron step plock is addictivevand fun. But the nicest glitches in dn can not get recorded, for that a computer or tape must be on and i mostly forget or just make a quick lazy jam.
( didn‘t read the rest of thread yet)
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Spot on. But I get the initial reasoning of “I love so much my Syntakt that I would really appreciate if it didn’t demand me constant practice in order to get a good performance of a song structure, offering something like a song mode” I’m on that camp too. I have the time to create some patterns and all that but not enough to get a song structure nailed on in real time because I don’t have enough time to practice it, only to create it. It’s my only frustration point with Elektron devices. By the time I can return to a project to record it, many times I can’t even remember many performance important details that will prevent me from recording that song in an efficient way…
EDIT: maybe we should just approach these devices as one would approach a piano. Demanding INSTRUMENTS which require constant practice and focus to get the more (or even anything at all) out of them. And we all surely know several examples of extremely jaw dropping Elektron devices performances from people who take them like that.
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Mmm this desire in my eyes would be something like a map. Not necessarily with a direction, but with a legend and faithful representation of different “places”
It could be organized by time, frequency signature, and other things.
Having more refined visual access to samples patterns and sounds that would let me mix and match, drop in and out different components of the music at any time without scrolling and looking at words. Words r ok but I can pick out colors shapes and patterns more easily I think.
I think that would allow me to write better music. Some parts feel similar to a daw tho.
Maybe this would be like an ai accompaniment
Anyone ever check out lars, Lucy, and 8 legions???
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I don’t think this is the case, if you mean song mode as cycling through patterns as you hinted at above. The Digis can chain patterns just fine. It’s just that they don’t save them with the project, which is a bit of a ridiculous and silly limitation imo.
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If you use more than one pattern for your tracks, you’re basically making jazz music.
And I got news for you, bud: I don’t like jazz 
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I’m not questioning your desire for song mode, I’m just not sure how it results in a better performance for you?
My AK has song mode and I never use it, or chains for that matter. I’ve never found it hard to just switch patterns as needed, it takes a fraction of a second to make the movement.
The AK is the one Elektron where I’ve found the song mode really useful!
I think it works well because
-only four voices
-kit structure
-good keyboard integration
It’s nice to plan out a song that may include a lot of repetitions of patterns, bouncing back and forward between different parts of the bank, and being able to figure out the structure and duration you want and record that live while maybe tweaking some things.
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Very nice idea indeed. A performance recorder is a step further, that would not be possible in the cufrent machines.
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this seems like something Elektron would want to make a ‘mission statement’ about, publicly give their philosophy of why they stopped putting song mode on devices… especially with how often it comes up…
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I want to say early into digitakts life there was a statement from an elektron employee that they were working on an improved chain implementation but didn’t go into details and nothing ever came in an update. My guess is they shelved whatever idea it was.
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Pianos do have a song mode, it is a pencil and paper.
If you compose a song on a piano you will tend to score it during the composition.
Obviously you could do the same with the Digi boxes but, as they contain CPUs, memory and run firmware, people probably expect something a bit more elaborate.
What would notation for an OT song look like…? That’s an interesting question. Maybe Elektron could include printed pads for notating pattern sequences and mute states in the box with the devices to encourage this practice.
I think the 4-bar pattern length is more of a songwriting limitation to me than the lack of a song mode or song mode restrictions. Being able to set tempo to 1/2 or 1/4 without losing resolution- or more importantly, the ability to place up to 16 steps per bar at the original BPM - would be really useful.
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I soon get my Bach feeling when i launch my next Sytakt beat and pullout my note sheet. 
Elektron response from DK day one has been
Time to get the
over it I think. Do what I did, cancel you order, or don’t buy one at all, or just sell it. Regardless whether it’s a performance grove box or not, the ST,DK,DT all prevent you from saving your hard work as a self contained sequence. So if you value your work in that way, don’t buy the damn thing.
edited for community G rating.
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It’s also so clearly not a piano.
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is a pattern akin to a track in the Elektron world (so you have 16 tracks) or does it contain several tracks like patterns in the Elektron world?
Is a clip a dedicated track where you can place patterns (tracks?) on its timeline (a meta-track to sequence other tracks)?
If each track can use its own time signature, what are the rules to switch to another clip?
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