First post. Just got a new Syntakt for Christmas. Very happy so far.
Been trying it out to play sequence samples in an Ableton drum track using a Syntakt MIDI track. (I want to avoid buying a Digitakt just yet)
Everything is mostly working great. I set up a MIDI track on channel 1 and can live trigger samples using the Syntakt as a controller. I used live record to record just kick and snare. All good. I recorded some hats over the top. All good still. Some of the hats needed editing and this is where I got stuck. Some hats fell on the same sequence spot as a kick or snare. Can I edit these independently of each other?
All which follows assumes you want your drums on one Syntakt track.
You can enter Grid Record mode by tapping [REC]. In this mode, tapping a trig toggles it on or off: holding a trig and fiddling with controls lets you “parameter lock” the trig. Syntakt tracks are mono, in two senses: they can only have one trig per step, and when you use a Machine you can only trig one note at a time (multiple oscillators notwithstanding). When you add trigs to a MIDI track, that trig can be set to send four MIDI notes. You can’t “pick up a note and move it on top of another note” like in Ableton; you’ll have to hold the trig and set it to play two notes at once, either by tapping a note on an external controller, or by picking the notes you want using the knobs, on the SYN page, I think.
Some of this I have figured out already (but appreciate you explaining clearly) and yes I am wanting my samples triggered from one MIDI track.
My pattern is simple, kick and snare on trigs 1, 5, 9 and 13. Hats on 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 15. I live recorded them. Kick and snare first, then hats after.
I have on trig 1 a hat and a kick being sent to Ableton. When I hold trig 1 to edit there is only one note available for edit. Notes 2, 3 and 4 are not set, yet both the kick and hat play. The kick and hat are slightly off time and I want to micro time them but currently only the kick is available.
I could enter my beats/patterns programmatically using the technique mentioned above. However, for creativity I prefer to play my patterns if possible.
Is it possible to play patterns in like this using live record and then edit them after to correct any timing errors?
Looks like Syntakt can’t quite do what I want. If I live record my kick and snare first, then record hats afterwards then the hats that lie on the kicks and snares overwrite these. Mildly annoying. Especially as the Syntakt can record chords if all notes are played together.
Anyone know if the ability to overdub additional notes over the top of a recorded MIDI track is in the works?
If not, I might end up getting that Digitakt for my samples
You could use two tracks set to the same MIDI channel.
As to the rest, no, it wont do what you want if you only use one track. The “hat” trig will overwrite the kick trig: it doesn’t merge trigs.
If you want to keep the kick’s timing and later add a hat to that trig, you could do it in Grid Record mode. Or play the kicks and hats at the same time in live record mode.
The hihat is probably on a trig next to the kick, fully nudged to the left or right so it plays sort of the same time as the kick. Nudging a trig next to another trig completely to the left/right is a “famous” Elektron sequencer trick.
Sidenote: A MIDI track can play up to 4 notes, but all these notes share their length, velocity etc. So there is no way to adjust the hi-hat velocity or length independent from the kick in your case.
The DT audio tracks have the same limitation. I’d try to use another MIDI track on the Syntakt first (with the same MIDI channel) to play the hi-hats.
