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This.
I got a Digitakt instead of another sampler exactly because of the different workflow.
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People act like there is no downside to adding complicated features. What features are not included are as important as what are. They’re building musical instruments. The design of the interface is critical.
The phrases like “they’re holding back features so you’ll buy the bigger boxes” make them sound greedy. Looks like they have around 100 employees? They’re not Amazon. I bet almost everyone who works there could go make better money working for a bank or some other evilcorp. If they don’t put slicing in DT for business reasons it’s because they can’t afford to not because they’re greedy. Software is expensive to make and the music industry is shit if your goal is big profits.
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Very interesting thread. I’ve had samplers in the past, and my brain only kinda works in the hip-hop workflow sense - chop up and rearrange.
What workflow does the Digi have? Is it more for one-shot sounds etc? I’m struggling to wrap my tiny mind around it!
Reason I ask is lately i’ve been digging into alot of Dub Techno & Ambient Dub music…not the sort you’d would really chop.
They’re a business like any other, people feel a personal connection to smaller brands but that’s exactly what they sell you on. If I could place a 50 year bet I’d say they go the way of all businesses. It’s already showing. You fail small or live long enough to become evilcorp. Elektron isn’t the small student project it started as. They still make fun toys though.
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This is disturbingly cynical, although I can get on board with the idea that money and capitalism ruins human relationships and brings out the worst in us eventually. I prefer to stay optimistic about synth makers etc. They are just people trying to make a living doing something they love. There are much better ways to rip people off than “let’s hold back features from the flagship sampler, MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA”.
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You can definitely chop samples on the Digitakt. Since any step can play any sample from any point in that sample you’ve actually got a few ways to chop samples.
Where I think the Digitakt falls a little flat is that because there is no slice mode, there are only work arounds for experimenting with chops. I think your best bet is either:
-Put the sample in all 8 tracks, set 8 slices on each track and mess around with it that way. From there if you want to record this you can lock the start points and/or sample slot in each recorded step and combine it to one track. You can also obviously just resample this.
-You can use the method @Eaves described where you place different variations on one track and copy and paste things around. This is my preferred method, as well. You can use trig preview here but it’s not the same as being able to play your chops.
Personally, I like using my Circuit Rhythm first. It’s got a few ways to quickly chop samples. And I think that I would probably use the Rhythm or my Zoom Sampletrak to mess around with sample chops even if the Digitakt got a slice mode. But that’s for sample management reasons. On those two machines I don’t need to name things or worry about folders.
At the end of the day though, once you get your idea going, I don’t think anything beats the flexibility of chopping samples on the Digitakt just because you can basically do what ever you want.
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It’s a disturbing world my friend and that’s not even the tip of the iceberg. That’s just common business sense.
I really don’t think it is. I can guarantee it is not free or even cheap for them to include a slicer on DT. It also makes the UI more complex. Elektron surely has good data on how complex they can make a device before it starts turning people away. I won’t argue that some of the deciding equation could include “if we put a slicer in DT that’s one less reason to buy OT”. I don’t think it’s a much of a factor. If it was a simple, cheap feature they’d probably just add it to stay competitive with other companies, speaking of business sense…
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please help us stop the war on slicing 
the most important feature that elektron implemented was the update feature, after that they have been continually implementing more features that were not there upon release… I for one don’t think this is just coincidence… I think they intended to implement more features, have implemented more features, and quite possibly could implement slicing… any anti slicing statements could have been already said about all of the other features they’ve updated the instrument with and some even have… but as soon as they made those updates the hands started clapping and I haven’t heard one person say pfffft I ain’t using those new features man forgetaboutiiiit
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Yeah, I think that whole argument relies on the assumption that the only thing someone considering a Digitakt might be considering is an Octatrack when MPCs, the new 404 and any number of other machines also exist.
And there’s something to be said for UI. All over the discussion of the new 404 you can see people with concerns about how the new features figure into the workflow that they’re used to and like.
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The Digitakt was the first hardware sampler I bought in the smartphone era of ongoing feature upgrades. It also taught me not to buy something if it doesn’t currently do what you want it to do and pin your hopes on it being added later. It could never come or take 5-10 years.
That’s why I am totally unphased about most of the complaints and wishes for the SP404mkii in the other thread. I’m getting it because it already does what I want/need it to do. Future updates would be nice but I definitely wouldn’t buy one if it was missing a key feature I needed it to have. That goes double for Elektron which was insanely slow to even implement what it said on the box when I bought it. (And this is coming from someone that actually likes the Digitakt).
If slicing isn’t here in another five years, you might feel the same.
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if slicing isn’t here in another 5 years I’ll still be in love with the Digitakt, but I would love a sample slicer on the dt… I don’t really understand the train of thought that if you want slicing on the dt just get an octatrack and adding a slicer to the digital would not make it feel like an octatrack, I mean look even p.locks don’t make the digitakt feel like an octatrack lol I don’t think elektron has to worry about stepping on their own toes unless they are about to release an digitakt mk2 with slicing, more memory, and more storage, stereo sampling and more available sample slots per project… but adding a slicer is in no way imho going to make people feel like they have an octatrack. The octatrack workflow and features are on another realm
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Why is it so difficult to understand that it’s not based around a slicing/sample chain workflow, full-stop, it wasn’t designed that way. It’s a one-shot machine folks 
If you want to use chains and p-lock start/end points per-step you can, and I do every once in a while, but it’s fucking clunky as fuck compared with using pre-prepared sample packs of one-shots. Get a slicing sampler if that’s the workflow you’re after.
If you use a chain on a track and p-lock the start and end points per step, and then adjust any parameter, it will affect everything and your track will sound totally borked. It takes away so much of the reason for even using the Digitakt if you try to use it in this old school way.
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I think the difficulty is that we are people who have other samplers that do slicing, but would enjoy using this feature on the digitakt…
what would you do if they implemented it, refuse to use it?
it depends on how they implement it though
This sounds appealing to me 
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Yeah I mean absolutely I wouldn’t use it, why would I want that clunky-ass style of sequencing when I can treat each track as a separate voice and really dial in all my sounds in a super intricate way? I have a keyboard connected to the Digitakt and I love having each sample on a separate voice so that when I’m programming I can play them chromatically into the sequencer, if you have chains assigned to the keyboard then you get one pitch per sample, weak sauce. Then if I want additional sounds in a track that’s dedicated to a sound already, I just p-lock it in real quick.
Like let’s say you add an envelope filter to a track on DT that has your chain all prepped in a world where slices get assigned chromatically, then every single one of those drum hits has that envelope filter. In that workflow you’d have to play your drums out live into the sequencer, then go through and add envelope filter to only the hits you want it on, then use trig preview to make sure it’s sounding like you like. Definitely more work unless you just don’t really want to use the synthesis of the Digitakt very much.
Haha dude I know as I was writing it I was like I hmm I do like borked actually. But you know what I mean, control-all will get you to that same borked place real fast 
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I’m sure they’d allow you to truncate the slices, this isn’t pioneer we’re talking about here, anyway what you call clunky some people love, even some people that agree with calling it clunky still love it… it’s all about having the options and if you wouldn’t use it like you say then that’s fine too. I have a lot of faith in Elektrons capability to not only implement a slicer but to do so in a unique and interesting way, I don’t think it’s a job that is too big for their britches, and I think they are capable enough to do it without destroying anything on the digitakt.
Maybe so. If it’s sick and works well within the core concept of the takt then I might use it sometimes, but really the Digitakt is so nice to use already, slicing won’t help me write better drum parts on the Digitakt. I already use zones on the Digitone Keys MIDI output to get different samples in different octaves, gives me the ability to record multiple parts live while still keeping the chromatic aspect.
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