MIDI > Recorded from ableton to Digitakt

Elektron Gear Digitakt
#1

Hello,

I’m struggling to find a way to persist ableton midi sequences into my digitakt.
To give you some context, i have worked on a live in ableton, respecting the constraints of digitakt 64 step sequencer. My idea was to then play from ableton through the DT then press the record button in order to persist the midi into the DT (without having to write all the MIDI manually through the DT).

My issue is that even if it sometimes works when i press the DT record button at the exact same time i start sequence in ableton, but most time there is a desync making the midi start a few steps before the first one.

Hence, I’m wondering if it is a way to do one of thewe two things:

  • trigger DT record from ableton when i start sequence (I dont think it exists)
  • launch ableton sequence from DT when i press record+play.

Any input infinitely appreciated

Gastonn

#2

If you sync the Digitakt via midi clock you can press play in Live and it will also start the Digitakt.
Go to Ableton´s preferences, under the Midi Sync tab go to the Digitakt output and activate Track (so it Live can output notes, you already have this active I guess) and Sync (so that clock and start, stop messages are output to the Digitakt).

Also possible, you have to activate Sync under midi input for the DT. Then when you press start on the DT, Ableton Live will also start.

If midi clock sync is not working well enough for you, you can also use Overbridge to sync the Digitakt to Live. The procedure is explained step by step in the Overbridge manual.

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#3

Schnork, Thank you infinitely for time and your quick reply.

Considering the first option, it’s already what i have: when i press play in ableton, the DT plays, but that doesn’t solve the issue I have which is about recording when I press play, not only playing. Here is my current MIDI config in ableton:

Screenshot 2023-02-23 at 16.04.19
Screenshot 2023-02-23 at 16.04.19750×438 33.4 KB

In the DT, in the SYNC options, I have:

  • Clock SEND
  • Clock receive
  • transport receive
  • transport send
  • prog ch receive

Considering Overbridge, i’ll give it a try now and keep you updated.

#4

Not working in overbridge mode either, i must be missing something because when i tweek the config in digitakt and i press play i see ableton reicives a midi information but nothing else.
Back to the starting point.

#5

This is my workflow to transfer midi patterns from Ableton to DT:

  • Sync DT transport receive from Ableton
  • Set the Ableton midi pattern you want to record in a loop
  • Press play on daw, DT will now follow in sync
  • Wait til the end of the pattern on daw
  • when loop start again press rec on DT

In case of a long daw midi sequence, you can chain patterns on DT, this means that you can record seamlessy on pattern 1, 2,3,4, etc…

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#6

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I ended up finding the same workflow a couple of minutes before reading your message. For the record, this is what happens:

  • i start sequence in ableton, triggering the DT loop which respects the signature of a ableton loop (eg, 64bars each).
  • then, at any point, as its a loop, i’ll press record on DT and midi will start to write down.
  • after a full loop, never mind the starting point, the midi will be on DT and I just have to play DT to check if the result is the expected one.

Kind regards

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