A little BTS info on the end jam and two more features which we couldn't fit into the video: All sounds in the end jam are coming from the Digitakt 2. The chords are programmed on three separate tracks. The bass synth and the chords are sidechained to the Kick. The Intern plays the vocals on a keyboard that doesn't have a DIN MIDI Out, so the MIDI signal takes a detour to a computer and from there back into the Digitakt 2. We made a single cycle waveform from one of our favourite free chiptune synths (YMCK Magical 8bit Plug 2) and mapped the keyboard's modwheel (or rather touchstrip) to an LFO that creates vibrato. The same modwheel movement also controls the delay send, which introduces a really nice echo effect during those parts and keeps the rest of the mix clean :) There are also two handy new features which we've used extensively during testing but didn't show in the video: When in mute mode you can prepare mutes. Hold FUNC and press STEP 1-16 to mark tracks for muting/unmuting. When you release FUNC the mutes are applied collectively. You can save a trig with all of its parameter locks as a preset with TRIG + PRESET/KIT.
Since there seems to be a bit of discussion about the USB upload transfer rate here's a real-world example for further illustration: We've transfered Goldbaby's "SP1200 Collection" onto a freshly booted up Digitakt II with firmware 1.01 using the newest Transfer software 1.8.6. The pack consists of 4143 WAV files (mono and stereo), mostly one-shots with a few longer loops. The samples take up a disk space of 658.030.592 Bytes (≈ 658 MB or 628 MiB). 1 MiB = 1.048.576 Bytes 1 MB = 1.000.000 Bytes The transfer took 50 minutes and 37 seconds (= 3037 seconds) to finish. This means the data transfer rate is roughly 0.2 MiB/s, so even lower than the 0.33 MiB/s speed shown by the Transfer app which we based our calculation in the review on. This transfer rate is the same on both PCs we used.
@@suki4410 yes, it's absolutely no issue in most cases. The only situation I can think of where it could be problematic is when you need to transfer your backups to a new machine right before a gig ;)
@@CaptainPikant Sounds to me like you forgot to put the Digitakt II into USB only mode. The original Digitakt supports USB 2.0 transfer and MIDI speeds, but only if you disable the DIN ports. This is a hardware limitation, if it would receive MIDI at USB 2.0 speeds it would be impossible to forward that to the DIN port(for MIDI thru) at 1/48th the speed. So it drops back to USB MIDI 1.0 speeds for compatibility when the DIN ports are enabled.
😄😄😄 Oh it has a strict beauty routine between each take involving three types of dust brushes, microfibre cloths and - if things get tough - alcohol. I wish I was kidding...
Even if I might be repeating myself with this statement: This is one of the few music channels that I would recommend without reservation, also because of its clear concept and its great way of presentation and pointed humorous interludes. And there really aren't that many of them.
Watched dozens of Digitakt videos all week and finally found this one in suggestions. Clean, clear, concise, well thought out and presented in good tempo (pun not intended). Amazing work. Thank you!
CaptainPikant you are so freakin good across the board. These videos demonstrate so many skills across many disciplines from the birds-eye view to every detail. Amazing. Thank you.
Great video and perfect production, thanks!! Watching this after having already bought a used OG DT, but yeah I hope it will still be fine for my first box 🙃 What I really like much more about older Elektron machines is the OLED screen colour, the greenish-amber tint is so much warmer and industrial-ey and hacker-ish and whatnot.
Love your instructional videos the best of them all. Great and clear visuals, text and pronunciation. Works also well at 2x speed :) The visual screen enlargement is great. 👍👍😃
I hope some of these features are added to the Digitakt, I think 128steps, compressor track bypass, and chorus could be added. I think 128steps probably will be added to all their boxes, specially when devices or connected with midi cables for pattern change between devices
You're entirely too kind 😄That's me doing all the sounds. You can hear it when you pitch it back up. My neighbors were probably wondering why I kept yelling "Oh Yeah" in a deep voice all morning ;)
Great review as usual! I'm not sure but I'm liking the sound of the Mk2 more, I always felt the Digitakt had a "hole" in the mids which i don't hear much here in this new revision PS 10:28 The Vermona owl is back!
I have a work around for the lack of swing per track. I set the Micro-timing all the way to the right for any note trigs that fall on the even numbers and then dial in the "swing" by adjusting the track quantization. You can adjust the track quantization as the track plays back to find the perfect sweet spot. It's a bit tedious but it gets the job done for me. Disclaimer: This method can fall apart and start sounding bad if you try to apply a lot global swing or use retrigs in your sequence.
Fantastic video, excellent update. I really hope they add time signature support for people like me that seem to use 6/8 a lot. 8 pages with each page displaying 12 steps would be amazing.
I'm really into Pikant videos as they are sooo well-implemented. Even if the only conclusion I got from this one: drum-machines are veeery difficult. :)
Excellent overview, thanks! Only thing that's missing for me (I think, based on what I've seen so far) is there's no possibility to adjust slice position in the Grid machine. It seems to be the same as the Digitakt OG Slice mode. Otherwise this looks look like a superb upgrade.
Thank you. Last night I sold my mint SP404 mk2 to a friend specifically to buy Digitakt 2. I already own a Model : Samples that I'm gaining confidence on and with a Modal Cobalt 8 Synth and cool Meris reverb pedal, it completes the only digital music gear I posses. To reach the opening cost of the Digitakt 2, I will obviously have to spend more money than what I gained from my friend with the Roland deal. So I'm here again to consider whether it makes most sense to pick up the original Digitakt or remain on the waiting list for the Digitakt 2. All recommendations welcome if community here would be so inclined..... I'm very new to digital music production but have a guitar foundation started 40 years ago. /cheers 🍻
THEN you go and finish it all off with "Heartbeats" by The Knife!? What an inspired choice! I mean, I preordered halfway through the video, obviously, but it was still great to finish so strong.
Amazing work on this 👍🏻 Maaan that peel-jam! 😂 Gotta say it looks a bit overwhelming to learn. Expensive too. But perhaps worth it in the end if I’ll finish songs.
Still no SD card for transferring samples and data. I'm leery about buying musical hardware that requires a software plugin or app because as we all know well built hardware can last for decades, long after software support has dried up. Is the device class compliant? i.e. if you plug the device into a computer can you see the file system without drivers, etc.
The absence of polyphonic chromatic playback and limited midi note out is an absolute non-starter for a $1K sampler. These are things even the TE KO ii does. There's no excuse at this price point. Hard pass. That said, this was a GREAT review and really enjoyed the video.
Yeah I don't know what to think about it... This device would otherwise be like a dream. Something like Roland MC 101 has polyphony and very similar capabilities (less synth for sure) but for half the price. But perhaps the answer is that you should not be composing polyphonic stuff on a small groovebox like this - you could import samples with chords and play with that perhaps?
8:20 why would you not just load the same kit to the two patterns (to stop it changing when you change patterns), why is the perform kit mode thing necessary? Don’t they act like normal kits like the Analogs?
Kits are not implemented like on the Analogs, they're basically presets for the 16 track sounds. After you load a kit you can change the sounds as you like, this won't affect a saved kit or other patterns.
hi and thank you for the tuto , how to have the auto preview always activated, each time I leave the sound bank and come back to choose a sound I have to reactivate it, thank you very much
It surprises me that Digitakt II isn't meant to be a polyphonic MIDI sequencer. It seems very well made; I just love the power and immediacy of the KO2.
Captain are you a Mc707 user? Would love to see a video how you use this amazing machine, I think it's the most complete groovebox without falling into the "DAW in a box" escheme.
The inital price for the Digitakt was pretty good, so I'm happy with it. Spending nearly double for the nice extra features didn't make sense to me. For the price of one Digitakt II I have both a Digitakt and Digitone (a good price on the used market), so that makes sense for me.
it really needs a proper sample editor or a manual mode added to the slice machine. the lack of manual slice is the biggest thing holding me back from using my Digitakt very much these days.
no choke groups, multisampling, chromatic polyphony, velocity pads, sample editor, cv i/o, the lack of standard features always surprises me. the mki doesnt even have kits. for a drum machine.
Love it but will stick to my OG Digitakt...hope we will receive at least one more firmware update as there is still a plenty room to improve OG version. Anyway, excellent video. Thank you!
A little BTS info on the end jam and two more features which we couldn't fit into the video:
All sounds in the end jam are coming from the Digitakt 2. The chords are programmed on three separate tracks. The bass synth and the chords are sidechained to the Kick. The Intern plays the vocals on a keyboard that doesn't have a DIN MIDI Out, so the MIDI signal takes a detour to a computer and from there back into the Digitakt 2. We made a single cycle waveform from one of our favourite free chiptune synths (YMCK Magical 8bit Plug 2) and mapped the keyboard's modwheel (or rather touchstrip) to an LFO that creates vibrato. The same modwheel movement also controls the delay send, which introduces a really nice echo effect during those parts and keeps the rest of the mix clean :)
There are also two handy new features which we've used extensively during testing but didn't show in the video:
When in mute mode you can prepare mutes. Hold FUNC and press STEP 1-16 to mark tracks for muting/unmuting. When you release FUNC the mutes are applied collectively.
You can save a trig with all of its parameter locks as a preset with TRIG + PRESET/KIT.
Since there seems to be a bit of discussion about the USB upload transfer rate here's a real-world example for further illustration:
We've transfered Goldbaby's "SP1200 Collection" onto a freshly booted up Digitakt II with firmware 1.01 using the newest Transfer software 1.8.6.
The pack consists of 4143 WAV files (mono and stereo), mostly one-shots with a few longer loops.
The samples take up a disk space of 658.030.592 Bytes
(≈ 658 MB or 628 MiB).
1 MiB = 1.048.576 Bytes
1 MB = 1.000.000 Bytes
The transfer took 50 minutes and 37 seconds (= 3037 seconds) to finish. This means the data transfer rate is roughly 0.2 MiB/s, so even lower than the 0.33 MiB/s speed shown by the Transfer app which we based our calculation in the review on.
This transfer rate is the same on both PCs we used.
@@CaptainPikant Still no problem for me, even when it could be faster.
@@suki4410 yes, it's absolutely no issue in most cases. The only situation I can think of where it could be problematic is when you need to transfer your backups to a new machine right before a gig ;)
@@CaptainPikant Sounds to me like you forgot to put the Digitakt II into USB only mode. The original Digitakt supports USB 2.0 transfer and MIDI speeds, but only if you disable the DIN ports. This is a hardware limitation, if it would receive MIDI at USB 2.0 speeds it would be impossible to forward that to the DIN port(for MIDI thru) at 1/48th the speed. So it drops back to USB MIDI 1.0 speeds for compatibility when the DIN ports are enabled.
@@DiversionScience thanks for the suggestion! We put it into USB only mode and tried again, but it didn't improve the transfer speed.
The ASMR screen-peel-turned-into-scratching-jam was a friggin' GENIUS stroke. I literally LOL'd in pure joy.
Glad you liked it :)
haha , same ... when the screen was peeled i was like : 'oooh thats a nice sound , perhaps i should ... o wait , hahaha'
LOL'd in pure joy gang
Amen brother. Its a special moment.🙌
How do you manage to keep your OG Digitakt so clean? Mine looks like it was in an MMA fight...
😄😄😄 Oh it has a strict beauty routine between each take involving three types of dust brushes, microfibre cloths and - if things get tough - alcohol. I wish I was kidding...
@@CaptainPikant guys please do a captainpikant vs badgear crossover please
@@ponkan95 MeME fight night !
@@ponkan95there was one in badgears anniversary video
@@CaptainPikant Dust brushes versus dust puppies (inside joke, let's see how many get it 😁).
The Knife jam made me so happy.
foreshadowed by an actual knife!
Me too! It gave all the warm fuzzies.
Heartbeats, such a classic.
Me too
I watched most reviews already and yours is by far the best, both in terms of explanations, real lifee user cases and music quality, thanks !
Even if I might be repeating myself with this statement: This is one of the few music channels that I would recommend without reservation, also because of its clear concept and its great way of presentation and pointed humorous interludes. And there really aren't that many of them.
Nice Charanjit Singh reference for the baseline demo
Hahahaah....sooooo good!
3:47 When this started, I was like "Wait... is this..." and then I saw the pattern name was Raga :) Nice!
Whenever Captain Pikant uploads I scream with rapturous delight and wake my neighbor upstairs
😂
I think this is the best Digitakt 2 video I've seen yet. Elektron should have a trade in your old Digitakt 1 deal to get a new Digitakt 2.
Watched dozens of Digitakt videos all week and finally found this one in suggestions. Clean, clear, concise, well thought out and presented in good tempo (pun not intended). Amazing work. Thank you!
Lost it with the Charanjit Singh - Ten ragas to a disco beat 303 sequence! Great review as always!
CaptainPikant you are so freakin good across the board. These videos demonstrate so many skills across many disciplines from the birds-eye view to every detail. Amazing. Thank you.
I love the “the way you make me feel” Easter egg around 19:00.
It's actually "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" by Tears For Fears, but the two are VERY similar :)
@@CaptainPikant blimey!
That Trentemoller bass reference @11:40 was a nice touch! 🤩
Lovely video! Love the Heartbeats remake, so appropriate.
Great review. A real gem like all your other uploads. The channel is a real gold mine!
Top notch. It really feels like they took their favourite elements fron the ot and the md and put it intonthr syntakt. Pretty sweet.
Shoutout for recreating the classic Blade 303 acid line
What a massive upgrade. Im blown away.
That is one delicious chorus FX!!!! I'm so surprised pleasantly about the improvements. Seriously considering this!
Great video and perfect production, thanks!! Watching this after having already bought a used OG DT, but yeah I hope it will still be fine for my first box 🙃
What I really like much more about older Elektron machines is the OLED screen colour, the greenish-amber tint is so much warmer and industrial-ey and hacker-ish and whatnot.
The best early video. Well done, yet again 🎉
Your videos are amazing, so sharp!
Great video, thanks! 24:10 lol!
instant sub! great vid! best comparison ive seen on yt period.
26:09 loved The Knife - Heartbeats cover ( was it ? ) 😍
I can’t believe I’d never subscribed to you! Thanks for being awesome and cheeky! ❤❤
Adding the chorus effect seems Logical 😉👌🏼💥
Your content it’s pure gold
Love your instructional videos the best of them all. Great and clear visuals, text and pronunciation. Works also well at 2x speed :) The visual screen enlargement is great. 👍👍😃
Thanks Elekktrikk, we really appreciate it :)
03:47 loved Charanjit Singh - Raga Bhairav cover ( I got that reference listening to Glass Beams 😍cover )
That's a really cool cover :) :)
I hope some of these features are added to the Digitakt, I think 128steps, compressor track bypass, and chorus could be added.
I think 128steps probably will be added to all their boxes, specially when devices or connected with midi cables for pattern change between devices
This video was outstanding. Well done!!!
I really wish they will port some of these functions over to Syntakt.
Me too, all the little workflow improvements would be really great to have there as well :)
10:28 sounds like the dry/original samples from yello - oh yeah. where did they come from?
You're entirely too kind 😄That's me doing all the sounds. You can hear it when you pitch it back up. My neighbors were probably wondering why I kept yelling "Oh Yeah" in a deep voice all morning ;)
Good job!@@CaptainPikant
I learned a lot in this video, thank you!
Albeit a bit niche, but still the most underrated channel on teh interwebz
great job dude!
Brilliant review. Thanks!
Great review as usual! I'm not sure but I'm liking the sound of the Mk2 more, I always felt the Digitakt had a "hole" in the mids which i don't hear much here in this new revision
PS 10:28 The Vermona owl is back!
So glad there are some Vermona owl fans out there 😄It's still our favourite sound from the DRM-1 review!
I have a work around for the lack of swing per track. I set the Micro-timing all the way to the right for any note trigs that fall on the even numbers and then dial in the "swing" by adjusting the track quantization. You can adjust the track quantization as the track plays back to find the perfect sweet spot.
It's a bit tedious but it gets the job done for me.
Disclaimer: This method can fall apart and start sounding bad if you try to apply a lot global swing or use retrigs in your sequence.
That blade reference tho. 😄
Fantastic video, excellent update. I really hope they add time signature support for people like me that seem to use 6/8 a lot. 8 pages with each page displaying 12 steps would be amazing.
Thanks!! That would indeed be awesome - constantly thinking outside the 16 step grid in those time signatures is really tiring :D
This is a very very very good overview of the new features, better than Elektron's own
Sick sticker scratch sampling.... wow!
I'm really into Pikant videos as they are sooo well-implemented. Even if the only conclusion I got from this one: drum-machines are veeery difficult. :)
Very nice overview again. Thank you very much! ❤😊
Would it be so nice if at least the retrigger update was later integrated on the og digi :)))
Excellent overview, thanks! Only thing that's missing for me (I think, based on what I've seen so far) is there's no possibility to adjust slice position in the Grid machine. It seems to be the same as the Digitakt OG Slice mode. Otherwise this looks look like a superb upgrade.
This is the reason I got an octatrack and it's the only feature I'd consider switching for
Thanks! Yes that would be a hot candidate for a new machine in a future update :)
you can loop a specific page btw through holding page and pressing one of the trigs from 9 to 16
It was added after we filmed the segment, hence the text popup at 5:35 :)
the screen is huge i love it
Great review. Thanks for todays amen dose
I love the cover of Heartbeats so much
Cant believe its been 7 years
I love my digi, but the lack of stereo file handling has always been upsetting to me. I am so thrilled for this new design.
Best Digitakt II video, you're the best!
Thank you.
Last night I sold my mint SP404 mk2 to a friend specifically to buy Digitakt 2. I already own a Model : Samples that I'm gaining confidence on and with a Modal Cobalt 8 Synth and cool Meris reverb pedal, it completes the only digital music gear I posses.
To reach the opening cost of the Digitakt 2, I will obviously have to spend more money than what I gained from my friend with the Roland deal.
So I'm here again to consider whether it makes most sense to pick up the original Digitakt or remain on the waiting list for the Digitakt 2.
All recommendations welcome if community here would be so inclined..... I'm very new to digital music production but have a guitar foundation started 40 years ago.
/cheers 🍻
THEN you go and finish it all off with "Heartbeats" by The Knife!? What an inspired choice! I mean, I preordered halfway through the video, obviously, but it was still great to finish so strong.
Thank you so much!
Thanx for being.
The combining of trig conditions is something I’ve been screaming for for years. Well done Elektron for implementing that.
Yello samples melted me 11/10
Amazing work on this 👍🏻 Maaan that peel-jam! 😂 Gotta say it looks a bit overwhelming to learn. Expensive too. But perhaps worth it in the end if I’ll finish songs.
11:41 - HALT AND CATCH FIRE 😭
Dude this video is a work of art🙌🏻 thanks so much for this🔥
Thank you so much :) :)
Must have it. Waiting for full availability though. Nice video as always!
hope the syntakt gets some of these new things. i.e comb filter, sequencer, etc. And of course, makes me wonder if they’re going to update the octa
Thanks for your great job!
Great video!
the yellow screen looked so much better
Still no SD card for transferring samples and data. I'm leery about buying musical hardware that requires a software plugin or app because as we all know well built hardware can last for decades, long after software support has dried up. Is the device class compliant? i.e. if you plug the device into a computer can you see the file system without drivers, etc.
Yes
I'm hype about the Digitakt II, but the Knife track got me the most excited :)
The absence of polyphonic chromatic playback and limited midi note out is an absolute non-starter for a $1K sampler. These are things even the TE KO ii does. There's no excuse at this price point. Hard pass. That said, this was a GREAT review and really enjoyed the video.
I use the retrokits rk002 cable to implement polyphony, with the 16 audiotracks it's now very comfortably to sacrifice 4 or 6 track for a polysynth.
Yeah I don't know what to think about it... This device would otherwise be like a dream. Something like Roland MC 101 has polyphony and very similar capabilities (less synth for sure) but for half the price. But perhaps the answer is that you should not be composing polyphonic stuff on a small groovebox like this - you could import samples with chords and play with that perhaps?
Just what i thought!
I'm probably never gonna buy one of these, but I do love these vids. "Peel it" #1
This thing just moonshotted up my wishlist. They really went all out
8:20 why would you not just load the same kit to the two patterns (to stop it changing when you change patterns), why is the perform kit mode thing necessary? Don’t they act like normal kits like the Analogs?
Kits are not implemented like on the Analogs, they're basically presets for the 16 track sounds. After you load a kit you can change the sounds as you like, this won't affect a saved kit or other patterns.
Love your content. Really nice! 🎉 also I think you can choque with the NEI neighbor condition.
I wish it had a full color OLED display. The 16-bit monochrome graphics just aren’t satisfying to work with.
Then the mpc is the way to go.
hi and thank you for the tuto , how to have the auto preview always activated, each time I leave the sound bank and come back to choose a sound I have to reactivate it, thank you very much
Great review, ending with The Knife is so based!
When I saw a knife I was like WHAT
Then the jam started 😍
8:28 WOW WOW WOW…….. very very interesting for live performances………..
OK, 3:52 was ace 😂 - Ten Ragas FTW!
It surprises me that Digitakt II isn't meant to be a polyphonic MIDI sequencer. It seems very well made; I just love the power and immediacy of the KO2.
great job!😊
Dope video! Loved the aesthetic at the end - which font did you guys use for the credits?
Thanks! That's my handwriting :)
@ love that! 🫡🫡🫡
Do you think is possible that they add choke (for hi hats) function in the future?
Captain are you a Mc707 user? Would love to see a video how you use this amazing machine, I think it's the most complete groovebox without falling into the "DAW in a box" escheme.
No, we haven't used one yet but it's on our radar :)
The inital price for the Digitakt was pretty good, so I'm happy with it. Spending nearly double for the nice extra features didn't make sense to me. For the price of one Digitakt II I have both a Digitakt and Digitone (a good price on the used market), so that makes sense for me.
ouuff the knife ending
For me absence of slicing and start/end point editing, no SD card and no polyphony make me stick to my OT2.
it really needs a proper sample editor or a manual mode added to the slice machine. the lack of manual slice is the biggest thing holding me back from using my Digitakt very much these days.
4:18 next phonk track halfway finished with just that cowbell
no choke groups, multisampling, chromatic polyphony, velocity pads, sample editor, cv i/o, the lack of standard features always surprises me. the mki doesnt even have kits. for a drum machine.
good update to UX ❤
24:24 swing per track is aready possible with microtiming
True but that's super tedious 😅
3:44 10 Ragas to a Disco Beat ❤
Awesome video! Thanks so much. Can we backup Kits through transfer app?
Thanks! As far as we've seen you can only backup projects and sound presets.
Love it but will stick to my OG Digitakt...hope we will receive at least one more firmware update as there is still a plenty room to improve OG version.
Anyway, excellent video. Thank you!
Easily one of the best video on the topic to come out. :) also