Whenever someone calls the Digitakt menu dive-y, I turn to my Korg Electribe 2 and strike an evil grin.
And you gotta love those menu shortcuts which are not printed on the faceplateā¦
Itās a lot easier to dirty up a clean signal than it is to clean up a dirty signal - Jane Fonda
Iāve fallen out of love with all my elektrons at one point or another.
Good thingā¦ I fell back into love again each time
same
Update: I listed my DT on Reverb just as a feeler and it got snatched up immediately.
I grabbed a Drumbrute Impact on Friday and was ready to return it the next day. Iām all for limitations but that thing is shockingly limited. I think the Volca Beats has more control over the sounds!
I have a Model Samples on order, I think the knob-per-function and no pages is really what Iām looking for. I actually intended to originally get the MS instead of the DT but I was convinced that I really needed to be able to sample into the box directly. After using it for a few years it turns out that is just not the reality and I did it exceedingly rarely.
Letās see how this goes!
And if that fails, the Roland SP-404 MKII is being announced on Wednesday!
I think what youāre after might be the tr-8s
Iāve gone through many stages with the DT having owned it since it came out. Ultimately, it is limited but not too limited meaning that there is a lot you can do with it but itās scope is narrow enough that it will eventually lead you to approaching it in different ways. Initially, it was a straight beat machine, then I incorporated melodic samples from everywhere (vinyl, Youtube, my own ancient recordings), using it to construct melodies from single tones sampled from other machines, etc. Right now, I am in a stage where I construct my own samples created on my synths and sample them into the DT. The (possibly) under appreciated aspect of this machine is being able to sample in while a beat is playing. In that way you can really dial in how a melody or chord progression will work in the context of a beat and tempo. I too have struggled to complete songs on the DT but with this targeted approach you can quickly and easily construct A, B, and C parts over the same beat/tempo to insure they flow with each other. While the machine itself does have itās limitations it is pretty malleable to different approaches with how you construct music.
OTOH, if it doesnāt provide you with the desire to find the workarounds and stretch itās capabilities (as well as your own) chuck it and find something that does.
canāt wait to see if elektron announces slicing on weds after Rolands announcement, or the digi mk2!
Yeah but then we have to wait, I really want slicing. That SP looks lovely, I have how easy and fun the SP are. But for me the sequencer is the biggest issue I have with it/
OP-1
Easy to grasp toy like features with minimal menu action.
No āsequencerā in the traditional sense for arrangements.
=OR=
OP-z if you want sequencing and with a much less eye watering price tag
I had an OP-1 years ago, it was a ton of fun but I never got much more than doodles out of it, and couldnāt justify keeping it around for what I could sell it for. I really think those should be at the $300 mark.
I got my Model Samples last night and am already digging it! Itās basically everything I liked about the DT and the MC (which I had for a while earlier this year) mixed into one device, which seems obvious but is really working for me now.
Iāve got both and thereās no comparison. The drumbrute impact is kind of a one trick pony. It sounds how it sounds and the variations are minimal. If you want a drum machine thatās more performance oriented, the Roland TR6S (or the bigger one) is more capable and thereās less menu diving. The digitakt still does more and is more programmable, but the performance controls on the Roland are superior.
The polyend tracker has a pretty dope performance mode too, but thatās all sample vs the roland drum synthesis-hybrid thing.
Well, Iād say each to their own.
Treating it more as a sketchpad might be a solution. But if the DT doesnāt work for you intuitively just in general, then itās tedious and not very enjoyable, and I would sudgest that you part with it, unless youāre someone who enjoys challenges of course.
I have never tried to make whole arrangements on any Elektron device. Just ideas and a simple loop thatāll work as main part for a track. Even with OT. Actually makes it much less complicated, when you donāt intend to use it in a complicated way.
Iād just mute/unmute tracks and do simple dubmixing.
Have you considered the M:S as a more intuitive solution? Would of course be even more sketchpadāish. I donāt know
Many users are talking positively about the Novation grooveboxes. Personally I keep away, because I donāt like their modern looks that reminds me of going to a nightclub. Iām not really much of a nightclub guy, so not that kind of associations that I subconsiously want to be affected by
Edit:
Sorry, should really wait commenting till after Iāve read the whole thread.
But glad that M:S seems to be the better choice for you
Having spent time with the DT and the MC I really am loving the MS, and I havenāt even used anything but the factory soundbank yet!
And it doesnāt feel too expensive have lying around when not having time for it, Iād imagine