Hi everyone,
I am trying to figure out if there is another way to use the Midi tracks unless I am plugging an external device.
I stumbled on this video where the user seems to use each Midi Tracks as an FX. See at second 00:13.
Do you know what he did there?
Many thanks!
In the video description he states that he’s mapped the midi tracks to effects in FL Studio, most likely on/off.
So I suspect that on the press of a midi trig, it sends a midi note on a midi channel that he’s mapped to the respective FX Vst’s on/off (Bypass) switch.
You could take this further and for each midi track map the encoders to the respective FX so that you could manipulate the effects parameters in realtime.
Just thinking out loud:
It looks like audio hits his computer via USB/Overbridge, which means there’s the option to affect tracks individually.
So if one would want to take this further, one could map the same effect to each individual track (eg in Ableton Live…Overbridge incoming tracks each get their own track in Ableton and then each track gets their own FX unit of the desired effect - eg reverb).
Then, keeping to his logic, each midi track could be dedicated to one FX type. But instead of just mapping the trig’s midi note to the on/off of the FX on the master track, one could use the digitakt’s keyboard overlay in each midi track to control a bunch of on/offs or even FX states.
So what I’m thinking is eg:
T9 - note C2 -> turns on/off reverb on Audio Track 1 in Ableton
T9 - note C#2 -> turns on/off reverb on Audio Track 2 in Ableton
T9 - note D2 -> turns on/off reverb on Audio Track 3 in Ableton
etc etc
I see.
So what you are saying is that he is tweaking the DT to use it as a sort Midi Controller.
Good to know. Thanks for the insights, however this seems to be a flow killer don’t you think?
I don’t see why it would be a flow killer. The DT has eight midi tracks that can control anything that will accept midi (Tracks 1-8 are audio tracks, Tracks 9-16 are midi tracks). So this could be a synth, another sampler or FX, be that outboard or in-the-box.
The way he set up the FX as master effects actually works really well in his performance and once it’s set up, all he has to do is press on of the midi trigs of the DT to on/off the effect. That’s as immediate as it comes I’d say.
The setup itself also isn’t all too difficult I imagine. Place all the effects you want on your master track of your DAW and map their on/off buttons to each midi trig’s standard midi note. Done.
Judging from the video, he’s set up the effects in one way and leaves them there (set and forget), so it’s really just on/off on the master.
Where do you see the potential issue?
On the execution part when you know exactly what you are looking for it is not so complicated.
My issue is more on the creative process, when you don’t know where you are heading. Being able to link you midi track to any possible effect on Ableton is bringing too many possibilities and you could end up spending too much time setting up your DAW with your DT.
I like putting limitations to get more creative.
I hear you. I’d think of it as standard transition and “special FX” effects…like that Vinyl effect…they are sort of cliche and everyone understands them, also not so dependent on exact settings.
Once you practice with those “no brainers” (eg 100% wet delay in and out, vinyl effect etc), you’ll start to find a more deliberate and personal pathway to the effects.
but I’m the first one to sign off the limitation argument, that liberated me from years of not knowing what exactly to do and where exactly to start 
I will keep your great advices in mind. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions. 
Sory, guys, maybe i’m crazy but does it means that there is a possibility to use midi tracks like some sort of send\return fx channels by controlling external fx device via midi?
You can tweak any MIDI effect/instrument/device with the DT MIDI tracks.
Map a knob to a dry/wet control, have a trig control the on/off state of a 100% wet delay or reverb, control some sort of glitch plugin like Breaktweaker, a multi-fx like Turnado… You can do anything you can put your mind to.
And you can plug midi out back into midi in to control DT sample tracks and effects.
You could also use a midi loopback to control the DT effects themselves if you just want to use them for something with just the Digitakt.
you either have to remember not to press anything that causes a midi feeback loop or get some kind of midi filter device.
ha, too slow, what Schnork said.