Was thinking about sequencing the DN with the OT in order to get the MIDI arp and per track timing. I’d love to map the CC controls on the OT to the parameters on the DN for plocking on the OT. Is there a way to get he DN to send it’s synth parameters back to the OT? For example, on the DN, if I set the AB HARM to 20, can I get that knob location sent to the OT so that I can also edit on there? Basically, can the 2 machines talk to each other and stay in sync with the knob motions?
To do this you’d have to configure the DN to a “local off” state meaning the DN’s knobs won’t directly change its internal state but rather send out MIDI instead which hits the OT and then in turn is sent back to DN. This is done by setting the encoder and or other destinations on DN to “ext” instead of “int” or “int+ext”. With midi tracks activated on the OT for the DN’s tracks MIDI channels, when you turn a knob on the DN what will happen is the DN will send MIDI to the OT to update whatever knobs are mapped, and the OT will echo back the data in realtime to then actually change the parameters on the DN… When you turn a knob on the OT it will still control the DN’s knobs as well.
That’s the concept anyway, done this with my Little Phatty and it works fine. DN is more complex though with more going on, don’t have time to brainstorm potential issues but wanted to share the “local off” concept…
2 Likes
I set the DN up the way you suggested. DN is set to int+ext. DN is set for T1 to channel 11 and the OT MIDI track 1 is set to 11. I have the I/O hooked up. The OT can control the DN fine, but DN changes aren’t being mapped back to the OT.
Yo…
With this type of setup you’d want DN encoder dest set to “ext”. The idea is when you turn a knob on DN it sends the control change to OT so it can register and adjust any mapped knobs and the OT sends it directly back to DN to actually control it. The OT sort of sits in the middle of any parameter changes so that OT knows what’s happening and immediately sends it to DN so that the actual parameter on DN changes, all fast enough that you don’t really notice. “Int+Ext” in this situation would be messy as when you turn a DN knob it will directly change the parameter and well as send it to the OT which bounces it back to DN, basically doubling the signal sent to DN to control a parameter.
To me it seems like your DN wasn’t sending CC’s or at least not to the MIDI out or possibly on the auto channel instead of track channel. Hopefully just some settings to change on DN…
In DN MDI/PORT CONFIG menu you’ll need:
-“OUT PORT FUNCTIONALITY” set to MIDI
-“OUTPUT TO” set to either MIDI or MIDI+USB
-“OUTPUT CH” set to track channel
-“PARAM OUTPUT” set to CC
-“RECEIVE CC/NRPN” enabled
At least for now I’d also make sure the OT and DN autochannels aren’t the same as the channel(s) being used. There are some configs that could use them but especially to begin/verify working it’s more straight forward to just have the DN track channels match the OT midi channels. Also make sure no OT audio tracks are set to the same channel(s) as if so the audio track will block the midi track from receiving data. Probably make sure no DN midi track channels are set to the same as well.
When you turn a knob that is mapped to whatever DN parameter the DN value should change as is working for you, all it’s doing is sending a CC to the DN and the parameter changes… When you turn a knob on DN it should send midi data to OT where as long as a midi track is set up on the same channel it should echo the data back to DN so the parameter changes. DN knobs that send CC’s that aren’t mapped to any OT midi knobs should just bounce right through OT to change the DN parameter, if a knob is mapped on the OT you should see the value change on the OT knob.
Hopefully it was one of those DN settings that was wrong for you. With those settings it should work.
Cheers…
3 Likes
Hey all, first time posting, so a quick thanks to this this forum for being so useful for an Elektron newbie! I’ve managed to find answers to all of my questions browsing this forum (and the manuals ofc.!), but a couple of things have me stumped a little, so I’ll try and keep it [as] brief [as i can].
Currently running Octatrack and Digitone (latest OSes).
First Thing - Using the Sequencer on the Digitone, Sync and Transport Slaved to OT
Sending clock and transport to Digitone from Octatrack over MIDI, DN set up to receive clock and sync. (Channels for this set to 12 since I read somewhere that Auto isn’t the best).
DN goes back into a Thru machine on the OT.
- I find that when I hit play, often the first midi note on the DN sequence doesn’t play. Anyone know why this might be?
- When I hit [STOP] on the Octatrack, the Digitone does stop, it pauses. (This means that when I change banks or patterns on the OT, they don’t change on the DN unless I hit stop on the DN too, is this normal?)
- When changing patterns on the OT whilst playing, the Digitone doesn’t change patterns at the same time, i.e. there’s always a delay. (I’ve read a lot on this, kept pattern lengths the same etc., but there’s always at least 2 steps delay, or it doesn’t change at all, I’m really stuck with this)
Second Thing - Using OT midi sequencer to DN
So I gave up on the DN being a reliable slave to the OT, and decided to just use it’s sound engine.
-
I’m playing long(er) midi notes, so the p-lock when I’ve played it in is note length INF - fine fine, so I added a trig to play the same note at velocity 0, expecting this to stop the note when I change the pattern, but it doesn’t. So then I tried the same with LEN at 0. I also tried this on the first note of the next pattern, but that didn’t help either, the last INF note I sent to the DN is held, like, forever! What is this behaviour?
-
I noticed also that when I have the arpeggiator enabled, if I play a note in chromatic mode (on the OT, sending midi to the DN), the arp holds indefinitely, like I have a sustain pedal or something. I checked all the settings on the THRU machine and there’s no FX or anything that should hold it like that. This doesn’t stop unless I hit double STOP on the DN; playing or stopping the OT doesn’t kill this midi note.
End of nonesense
So, thanks for reading, and thanks for any ideas there might be for what I’m missing here. I know the OT is a complex machine (the DN less so but still quirky), and I’m getting to grips with it, but this seems like it should be a straightforward thing and I’m missing something important. I did also try this stuff with 2 x midi cable between the two for turbo midi, but nothing changed, I dunno if turbo is just for sysex stuff.
THANKS!
-
It’s a known bug, there’s been discussion, the popular workaround seems to be to micro timing the first step forward slightly.
-
Single hit to stop is more of a pause, double hit to stop is stop. Maybe try double tapping stop and seeing if that changes the behavior.
-
PC programmed into the midi sequencer to change patterns seem to have at least a 2 step latency. There has been a bit of discussion about it on the board. Have you tried using the midi sync options to keep patterns in sync rather than sending plocked program changes?
4 Likes
Thanks a lot for the clarification on 1., I saw some discussion but didn’t spot the workaround, good idea.
Double stop doesn’t behave the same way over midi as it would by pressing double stop on the DN (also disarms my thru machines, I’m sure there’s a setting to disable that but I’ll have to revisit the manual).
I assume I’m using midi sync for the BPM, transport etc., I suppose I could just pattern change on the DN manually, unless that’s not what you mean. I’ll have to go over a few configurations to see what I can wrangle from the midi, good to know a couple of these things are bugs and not features 
Thanks again!
There is an option under the midi settings that allows you to sync up elektron boxes so their patterns stay matched across boxes when you change patterns. Basically pattern a1 on the OT means pattern a1 is playing on the dn, when you switch patterns on the OT the pattern will change on the dn. This option functions without the need to plock program changes into the OT midi sequencer. Are you utilizing this or are you plocking your program changes?
1 Like
I’m using this, yeah, the way you describe it (no PC plocks). And it does work, so long as both units are properly stopped (i.e. not just paused, like the OT tells the DN when you press OT Stop), or when playing a pattern, only with the delay on the DN when switching patterns on the fly.
I think it’s set up right, since when it works it’s really cool, just a couple 'o little kinks I think need ironing out. I’ve seen this mentioned in the bug list after you mentioned it so I assume this might resolve in a future update. Similarly with the arpeggiator behaviour; it kinda works, but smells like a bug!
Concerning pattern changes with OT master clock, does Midi Sync Prog Change works properly for others ?
@Unifono @AdamJay, @LyingDalai, @unbesbai…
If anyone is up to it, please also try with slave elektron in advanced/individual track length mode with a long master length and utilizing the change length parameter…
1 Like
@genghis_karl If I were you, in such configuration, I would slave the OT to the Digitone.
Indeed in the other way you cannot decide to have OT transport not trigging DN transport. But that bothers me, not you.
Then I believe in this configuration Pgm Chg are received correctly. At least I think, cause I don’t use this much, I’m an improvisation / not much preparation person.
Now about your other points :
- Auto Channel means the selected channel.
It’s very handy with a keyboard: you set the keyboard to DN auto channel and you can play the selected track. May suits your needs in such configuration. But I hope I least you get what this means now. - Note length to INF and Release set to INF are pretty cool for drones. But if you want the note to stop on the next pattern, either put a new note on the new pattern (even with vol to 0) or more simply configure note length and release to your taste, which is way better. You have to experiment a bit with note length (that can be a fraction of a step up to 64 steps, and then INF) and ENV settings. Once you get this, it’s going to be way clearer.
Good luck dear.
Midi Pattern Change communication on Digiboxes is weird, not the same as the other boxes.
I have not checked if it’s fixed on the beta OS.
1 Like
works without a problem here - had the same issue but using a MIO10 now made the problem go away. I had problems and support says the DT late PC is fixed. My problem was a bit different though (I had a midi merger in the chain)
This was what support wrote:
Support answer
“The program change bug in the Digitakt has been solved so I don’t think that’s your issue. In order for the PC to be sent in time for a synced change you need to send the MIDI thru from the Micro Korg straight into the Midi merger. When it goes through the Octatrack, like it does now, it doesn’t send the program change until it happened, thus making it a bar to late. A midi merger in itself always introduce some sort of latency, so it would probably be better to use a MIDI thru box to send forward the PC message to the other machines. It doesn’t work without latency either but should work better. Those are the things I would try to make it run the way you want it to.”`
1 Like
In Midi > Sync > Prog Change Auto is confusing : it is not Auto Channel, but the lowest midi channel of audio tracks (Midi > Channels). No OT is not weird. 
1 Like
Oh. THIS « Auto ». Let’s call it Otto.
1 Like
I figured out this topic is pretty common, so I merged the threads.
@genghis_karl There should be some relevant info above 
2 Likes
the pattern change bug octa to digitone is not solved, it works sometimes but not in complex scenarios with different track lenghts etc. i think its the octas fault sending the commands not early enough.
The DN doesn’t seem to have “ext” only, the only options are “int” or “int+ext”. I’ll have to look at the track channel thing, I think it’s set to auto-channel. That’s probably the culprit.
Thanks!
1 Like
normally i don’t use pattern changes because with the OT i do all the drums and percussions and with the DN i do all melodics suff…
but i’ll test it anyway
Fired up the OT (Master) and the DN.
Midi Config: OT Send (Transport, Clock & Program Change) Active > DN Receive (Clock, Program Change) Active
Pattern Length : 64/64 - Scale 1x
Conclusion: The pattern don’t change on DN