When I plug in my Keystep and record little lead or bass lines with grace note bends and such, the playback sounds very stiff and out of time, and often the grace notes just play simultaneously with the note they precede, and form an ugly dissonant chord. Is the sequencer not capable of that kind of resolution, or what? AFAIK I haven’t had similar problems with that kind of soulful playing on the Digitakt, but I haven’t tried it since I started having this problem with the Digitone. If it doesn’t record verbatim, it’s a bit useless to me.
The sequencers on all Elektron instruments are essentially step sequencers, with a nominal 16 steps per bar. The microtiming feature, if enabled, allows the timing of those steps to be offset from strict 1/16-note resolution but all notes on the same step play simultaneously.
If you’re noticing a difference between Digitakt and Digitone, it’s likely because the Digitakt’s audio tracks are monophonic.
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Maybe check if quantize live recording is on…
Rec + double tap play…
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Welcome to the weird world of the elektron sequencer. takes some getting used to. it’s not for skilled key players…you’ll need to team it up with a proper MIDI sequencer.
I use the elektron sequencer for drums and simple key parts like chord stabs or single note melodic lines. for intricate polysynth playing i slave my DT to live or PT and record MIDI there.
Thanks both of you for the replies. When I was recording, “un-quantized live recording” was popping up on screen, hence the topic. I also understand all the stuff about microtiming divisions, but the resolution of these machines should be more than capable of handling grace notes, which are almost certainly no faster than 1/128, especially at 102 bpm or whatever I was at. I hate to have to switch to a mono voice, as I often accentuate lines like this with little chord hits. Anyway, I’ll keep fucking with it…user error is still always a possibility.
The basic resolution of the Elektron sequencer is 16th notes, it only records one event per 16th note, it is a step sequencer vs a linear sequencer. The event on Digitone can have up to 8 notes…
The resolution can be increased to 32nd notes with a x2 scale setting, but the pattern will be half as long…
On Rytm I believe live record will record as “retrig” if you play faster than 16ths, but I don’t see this on Digitone, and it’s just for repeating the same sound…
This blurp may be helpful concerning velocities and length:
Things being recorded can be recorded with microtiming offset, but still only one event per sequencer step (16th) is recorded…
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I think that recording notes in-between steps as retrigs (or arp ?) is not a thing yet.
But iirc correctly something in this direction was in a manual, I don’t remember from which exactly.
Would let suppose that Elektron is looking for a way to go in such direction…
Even with arp or retrig that would probably only work for the same repeated note, not different notes…
Still useful…
No, with arp you could imagine some smart implementation to get the rate, length and the notes right.
What would be required would be plocks MG the arp parameters, which in theory could be a thing as you are able to plock sounds with different arp parameters…
I get you, it just seems far fetched, but I’ll forget I just said that…
I accept a solution if one appears!
I don’t think it’s that hard really…
Simplest implementation would be :
Every new note between two steps you add a note to the chord and choose the rate so that they are played with even space in the 1 step interval.
This way you have a fixed relationship between number of notes and arp rate.
That’d be awesome, but would really complicate the elektron sequencer. it’d be nice to have the option, on MIDI tracks to change the sequencer from a “trig-based” one to a more traditional “event” based one. That way for a couple of tracks you can be more expressive with your playing.
but then again, if limited to 64 steps it will always be kind of a basic.
bottom line, you need another, proper MIDI sequencer, for higher-end MIDI productions using elektron gear.
The Squarp Pyramid does step sequencing, but also takes keyboard input absolutely verbatim. Just saying. Probably shouldn’t have gotten rid of mine.
I use both the OT MIDI seq and the MIDI seq on my MPC live for exactly this reason. Best of both worlds (with the aid of basic MIDI splitting/merging).
For which reason?
I use the DT MIDI for quick and easy stuff, as well as Ableton and Digital Performer for deeper sequencing needs.
the MPC live has a MIDI seq which captures mMIDI data of even the most intricate playing. In elektron land, unless using retrig/arps, you can not have more events than the 16 steps per page, ie = 16 notes per bar
then you combine both sequencers, running in sync, and merge their midi data and you can step seq with the elektrons or play unquantized from mpc live, or even both 
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I’ve been trying to avoid getting the computer involved, but that’s an interesting method. I’m going to tape a lot lately, so I guess my method for the time being is just to sequence simple things, make some chains, record those basic tracks and then just do live overdubs instead of dicking with sequencing. Vive le 1993!
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