Great! I’d rather stay in Logic and already have Sampler. I’ll wait for that!
2 Likes
I have it on my Android phone. I had that issue a few versions ago. Loud noises for no apparent reason. Now it just doesn’t start most of the time. I wish they’d stop updating it and just fix the thing. It’s cool that there’s an EQ and ping pong looping and all that. But I would much rather not have any of that if it meant that the program would run every time I tried to run it.
2 Likes
@looms Stems look interesting but idk what fx/studio gear they’re using to make the actual track beef up to sound nice. To my ears, it sort of sounds like a tiled bathroom reverb effect on the sample from the start and idk how that sound would impact the production workflow 
Still looks dope I’m just so cynical on automation.
@woolsee thanks for another Koala recommendation I think I’m finally going to embark on that experiment to see how it sounds
@Doug Which phone do you have if you don’t mind me asking? I’m rocking a Samsung S10+ at the moment, but I hate those EOL updates that occur/ companies not being able to maintain old tech from how fast things are moving atm in the advancement of gear. Old generations got to pass down all their cool old equipment but it seems like now it’s just rapid tech thrown at us from every direction. And they all look so cool, which is the hard part 
1 Like
Oh it’s a bottom of the line Nokia thing that I got like 3 years ago. It’s a bad phone. But it used to be able to run Koala. Some of the old versions ran perfectly. Even this version will run every now and then. It’s very annoying. I used to recommend Koala to anyone thinking about making beats. I wouldn’t do that now.
1 Like
@Doug Thanks for the honest feedback! 
I might try it just to see what it’s about because for $5 it’s intriguing, and if I don’t end up using it maybe it can encourage my young niece or nephew into making music early (if it works out 
). Are you still using the DT/Zoom combo? That last beat you upped in the HH thread is so clean/smooth!
1 Like
Thanks! But no. I haven’t really been using my Digitakt at all since then. Something about having what feels like half of a slice mode has been bothering me more than not having one at all ever did. So I’ve been thinking about switching things up. I’ve been messing around with MPC Beats and trying to learn that way of working. So far, I like aspects of it. I like being able to make multisampled instruments. I like being able to layer pads in drum programs. I like not worrying about voice limits. But while having a piano roll is cool for polyphonic stuff, I definitely prefer the Elektron sequencer overall. Part of that might be using the software instead of the hardware. But I think I’m mainly just spoiled by parameter locks. And there are things I like to do that involve modulating the start point. I don’t think that any of the Akai stuff is capable of that.
It all kind of feels up in the air right now. I want to change things up. But I also don’t have any money so I would need to sell some stuff before I can get anything.
2 Likes
On my old mpc500, you could assign start point to velocity, and then play the pad on 12-levels to get 12 different start point. No the same thing than a LFO scanning thru the start point, but it’s something.
The mpc way is very different: you have lots of pads, and way more polyphony. What you used to do with plocks is either a 2nd / 3rd / 4th pad with variation of your sound, round robin, or carefully programmed velocity mods for super expressive fingerdrumming / programming.
I’ve been eying the mpc’s for a while as well. Wait for a bit: from what I gather, a new line will be launched in a month or two.
2 Likes
Yep. As far as I can tell, there is going to at least be an updated X that probably has all the bells and whistles from the Keys. I would not be at all surprised if they also announce updated versions of the One and the Live, as well. NAMM being right around the corner. That would probably be the earliest that I could raise the funds anyway. So it could work out.
1 Like
Damn thats sad to hear… youre one of the kings of digitakt hiphop, would be sad to see you move on to something else.
I can see the fixed slicing not doing anything for you, but what about the other features, like sample rate reduction?
When I use another sampler like my mpc2000xl I always start to miss the control over timing and sound per step the elektron sequencers give me pretty quickly.
4 Likes
I appreciate that. I’ve pretty much ruled out selling my Digitakt though. I thought about selling it for an Octatrack mk1 but I don’t think I want to go that route. I’ve got some other stuff to sell that I don’t use much. The one thing that I will probably miss is the Circuit Rhythm.
As far as the sample rate reduction goes, it’s definitely my favorite part of the update. I think it sounds really good. But if I’m going that route, I usually prefer to just use the Sampletrak. It’s an effect sitting on top of the sample and not the real thing. And I like how things like pitch changes are effected on the Sampletrak.
That’s also one of the things I’ve been doing with the MPC software. Pitching samples around on the Sampletrak, running them through the analog filters on my Uno Synth Pro and making multisampled keygroups out of that. I’m trying to get that old Akai rack sampler thing going without spending any money.
So yeah, I don’t know.
3 Likes
Wholeheatedly agree with you in that P-locks can spoil the best of people
Is the new slice mode that bad? I believe you, btw, I’m just trying to understand what it is that’s causing those feelings of disappointment from the recent update.
I went MPK49/Reason 5 > MPC 2kxl > MPC 60ii/s950 > MD > MPC 60/Ableton > OT, and various combos of them in between. I think I finally found a home on OT, but it took me a lot of time trying to absorb the architecture (coming from MD helped tremendously), and now I want a second OT to pair because of the track “limitations.” Usually like to layer my drums like 3/4 different songs/sources at a time, but I think I’m being lazy there and need to prepare the chops into one long sample instead (to free up tracks). STATIC Machines are great on OT because like a DAW, you can play with an entire song vs. chopping things up and loading them in, but by doing that I think one sacrifices some magic that the FLEX Machines offer. And you have a “digital tape recorder” that can record up to 5+mins in 24bit/48KHz, or 8+ mins 16/44.1. I usually get a solid 4-5 mins of record time on my projects recently (I’m only recording 16/44.1 atm; before it was much less which I’m blaming myself/user error because FLEX machines tend to use more RAM resources). But this is all because I’m hellbent in trying to find a single box to perform in. There are also several unpleasant characteristics that the OT has actually, and I’m trying not to oversell OT with a bias because I have one. Sometimes, Timestretch/Pitch manipulation can introduce a lot of unsavory digital flavor, but that can sort of be “hidden” with other samples.
My honest experience with older Akais is that they’re fantastic but it always used to feel like something was missing, or maybe the gear just needed to be serviced. I try to get the job done on as little gear as possible, as I go in waves of varying broke-ness. MPCs are my first true love, and I’ll always be fair to them for the amount of time spent with them, and the instant cred they bring from non-musicians. But Akai was bought out by the same parent company who owns Numark and I developed a conspiracy theory that the parent company tried to assassinate Akai to make way for other companies under the umbrella 
I’m all for affordable gear, so that people can learn and express themselves how they yearn to create, but after a while it becomes evident that certain flavors can’t be achieved (if you’re picky like me) unless you get that exact og tech that the second hand market is price gouging, and other companies are so eager to emulate. I agree with you even more in your previous response. I’d personally avoid the OG Akais because of the various hardware/UI limitations. But every OG Akai has their own distinct character! OT is like right in the middle for me, sort of a best of both worlds of ana/digi production (I used to avoid step sequencers like the plague 
).
Will investigate and let you guys know!
@Sleepyhead Well said, man! And he’s right @Doug. Wanted to ask you before, but how do you like working with the 404/tape recorder? The last few album shares you uploaded here are seriously really awesome man, and I meant it when I said you discovered a juicy formula 
That’s originally the route I was planning on going before my cousin showed me his Digitakt many years ago!
3 Likes
Good to hear youre not planning to sell your DT. I think changing things up might inspire you, but at a certain point I believe youll be back on the DT!
3 Likes
Are you asking me or Doug about the tape recorder/404? 
If me: I use the ARmk2 as my main workstation, and switch out the 404 and zoom sampletrak as secondary machines for chopping, sound and fx. I record everything into the AR for sequencing and saving.
When finishing a tape I use 4 of the AR outs (usually main lr, and 2 drumtracks, or bass separate) to record to 4 track cassette on my portastudio. This helps with some eq-ing, but keeps me limited and inspired as well. I love the sound of cassettetape, maybe because its what I grew up with.
2 Likes
It’s not bad. But it’s limited to grid slicing in 4, 8, 16, 32, or 64 parts, which isn’t particularly useful for a lot of the things that I want to sample. Like even with a drum break that’s exactly one bar, you would probably have to go through it and parameter lock the start point to correct the timing and then resample it. I think that what I really dislike about it is just that it’s like half way there and that’s more frustrating than it not being there at all. There’s nothing stopping me from using the old work arounds. I think I might just be kind of tired of work arounds.
All that said, I love the sound of the Digitakt. I love how fast it is, especially compared to trying to do things in MPC Beats. And yeah, I’m deeply spoiled by the sequencer. I have no doubt I’ll pick it back up in the not so distant future.
Yeah, unless I just had an extra few hundred dollars that I just had to throw at something, I probably wouldn’t pick one up. Between those and the old Emus there’s some really cool stuff out there for not that much money. But I also can’t imagine a way to set one up that would be at all comfortable to use anywhere near my desk, unless I got one with the remote front panel. With my luck, I’d get one where the previous owner botched the installation of a floppy emulator or something like that. I’d find out like a month in when it doesn’t boot all of a sudden.
For now, I’m pretty cool with just faking it on my Sampletrak and MPC Beats. I’ve made a few keygroups that I like. I think I’m going to spend tomorrow just making those and figuring out what to do with them later.
I think that if I was going to get something to pursue this angle in earnest, I would probably go with the Liven Lofi 12. That seems to get at everything that I want in terms of polyphonic playing and sampling at lower sample rates in a package that’s a lot easier to use. And it’s new so I don’t think there would be as many headaches. Also, sample start point is something you can control with a cc message. I haven’t seen anyone try that out but it could open up some interesting possibilities.
Also, there’s the Wofi sampler that’s on the way some time in the future that’s supposed to be able to emulate a bunch of old samplers. I would want to see what that’s all about before I pulled the trigger on anything. If it can do some of those weird Ensoniq things then that’s the one I would want.
1 Like
Would have to be you. I’m interested in trying the new 404 but I haven’t yet. And I hated the original. Not having any pitch control made it pretty much unusable for me.
On the other hand, we’re both in the cult of the Zoom Sampletrak. Hell, I like it so much I learned a little code.
3 Likes
Once I get my DT back I’ll try to run your code for the rk002! Looks awesome.
I have both the 404sx and mk2. I somehow like the sx and the zoom sampletrak better than the 404mk2 when using them in tandem with the AR. The 404mk2 is amazing because it does everything, but it fries my brain and it sounds less nice than the 404sx and zoom sampletrak in my opinion.
2 Likes
Sounds great. Now I just need to learn Dutch.
2 Likes
@doug and @sleepyhead thanks for sharing your workflows/experiences guys, but ran out likes, so here are these for now
IOU
@Doug Yeah I understand what you mean. The slice grid layout is the same on OT, so not much advice there/ don’t think that will help you much. OT can sometimes steer in that regard (especially when it’s 64 slices on an entire song in a static track), and initially that bugged me too, but I’m getting more used to PLOCKing everything like it’s a Christmas Themed sequencer just make things fit a little bit better. It takes a little time, but it’s kind of fun/therapeutic in a strange way like digging for the beat. MPCs are nice for playing like an obscure piano and it’s a little different on both DT/OT especially with no legit polyphony on octa (though it’s sort of possible with RK002).
This has been my exact experience with old Akais. In a way I’m thankful because it forced me to learn a lot more about electrical design haha.
Maybe you can ask @Funk_Illuminati what he thinks about it so far because he just picked one up recently and showed it in a vid he posted about his setup! They’re so damn affordable that it’s existence doesn’t make any sense in this current market. The CC messages playing with start would be dope!
I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface with the MIDI capabilities Elektron boxes have, and also not trying to be a lousy unpaid spokesperson, but think that’s also possible on OT, too with the 3 LFOs per track and you can hear an example in my submission for our recent Bi-weekly battle. Wasn’t getting any cute sample-combos that weren’t obvious, but after playing with LFO Start + 2 Filter LFOs (can’t remember which exactly but think it’s BASE and Q on that one) with a slight RTRG to get a lil glitch, and messing with the LFO Designer in an unconventional manner. OT provided some neat vocals out of Bruce Hornsby that were completely unintentional. 
Again, not really advice considering the slice grid being the same layout, but I agree with you in that random start time can be exciting/bear some interesting fruits. 
@Sleepyhead Sorry for the confusion earlier haha. That’s dope how you’re using AR to separate tracks. Does the AR being analog (obviously ) make a big difference compared to other gear you’ve used when recording to tape?
I remember reading/watching about a lot of 404 users feeling the same way as you in comparing the different models sound. If memory serves correct different 404s were being used by Dilla, right? Hearing your take just solidified that consensus in my head btw, thanks. I really want to try recording to tape someday, and it seems like a lot of fun/nostalgic of childhood days copying cassettes for my mom.
2 Likes
Nah, you can set your own start and end points on the Octatrack. You can also have an odd number of slices. I don’t think that you can modulate the number of slices on the Octatrack though?
Like I was saying, it’s not bad. But not being able to edit start points really limits how useful it can be for me. And it makes it feel like half a feature even if it’s cool for other things.
Yeah, it’s kind of wild. If I had extra money it would be a no brainier.
2 Likes
That’s an interesting design choice 
Yeah I’d be bothered by that too, that’s odd, and I wonder what the reasoning is behind that. Regardless, whatever you made and shared on it comes out delicious man, and I understand your want for a common start/stop editability.
Yeah I don’t know about that man, but it can randomly select slices and with the LFO SPD/DEP you can somewhat tame the randomness.
1 Like