Digitakt 2 - Tips & Techniques (Chopping Breaks, Pads & FX)

[@joepolophotography]

a 13 minute masterclass, take my like and subscription

[@groovining]

Cheers ledge! and thanks for buying some of my sample packs. Hope you like them and appreicate the support. ✌️😊

[@joepolophotography]

@@groovining oh you saw that eh haha wish there was some more dnb drum loops to slice from them but I'll make do with my existing blu mar ten pack for that

[@groovining]

@@joepolophotography haha👀lots of people have been asking me to do drums so I'm building a pack at the moment. I always assumed every had tonnes of breaks like me from all those packs so the sounds, FX etc were more valuable. I've also got a lot better at processing my drums so I'm ready now. 🥷

[@joepolophotography]

@@groovining hell yeah do it, would be great timing with digitakt 2 release

[@thamesmusicc]

I really enjoyed this because you cut straight to the chase and explained some actually useful things - unlike most music gear videos which are overproduced and filled with info you already knew from google. kudos +1 subscriber!

[@groovining]

Thanks mate. Yea i'm much more into the techniques side of things than just reviewing equipment. Actually doing a new Digitakt mk2 vid coming soon. Can't wait for the manual slices update if that ever comes! ✌️

[@HL-ji5bs]

Nice!! I didn’t know you could trig lock the note so easily with a midi keyboard

[@groovining]

This is the technique! 🥷

[@Designguidetv]

needed some inspiration, this was it thanks!

[@groovining]

That's what it's all about. Hope the session went well :) 😊

[@GoLoopAudio]

Great to see the sampling workflow, thanks for uploading!

[@groovining]

Now we patiently wait for the slicing update 🚀✌️🌴

[@GoLoopAudio]

@@groovining Yeah the workflow seems a little convoluted atm. Would be nice to have auto-slicing like the Sonicware SmplTrek. That and Overbridge and then I have no option but to buy it! Cool beats btw 🙂

[@groovining]

Cheers about the tunes. Auto slicing would be amazing and solve a lot of the problems. Overbridge also we need! :) 😊🚀

[@johncitizen8828]

That was great. 👍 More DT2 deep dive chopping tutorials would be appreciated.

[@groovining]

Yea for sure! I'll do one specifically on breaks soon! :) ✌️

[@dokma_eu]

Thanks for the Digichain info - I too have Digitakt and now I am considering getting Digitakt 2, but I had no idea of Digichain URL and what it is used for, so thanks again for this valuable info! and if there are other tools that you consider useful, please do another vid! Cheers!

[@groovining]

The other one that I used to use a lot for organising was electric.kitchen/crunch/elk-herd/ They will probably update this to Digitakt 2 soon also though the transfer app is getting better and better by Elektron.

[@jackherz2584]

Awesome video! Really appreciate the info on how you use Digichains, surprised how little video info there is out there on it

[@groovining]

Thanks mate- Yea I know, I use them all the time now as they're a great way to have breaks ready to go for multiple DAWs devices. 😊

[@Bobo]

Thank you for these great tips and tricks. Do you possibly have a sample packs with these ready made amen breaks? 😄

[@kylewall8521]

Yeah that amen sounds really crisp

[@groovining]

I'm currently working on a Sample Pack of breaks like this but it won't be for a month or so. I do give a lot of this stuff out to my Patreons as a thanks for supporting me. 😊 www.patreon.com/groovining I explained it a bit in the video but the Amen was sampled from Turntable sped up, recorded hot into the Akai which adds some clipping & crunch. Then pitched back down in my Akai s1000 to get it back to close the original tempo & reduce sample rate for more crunch/lofi. Then EQ'd just on my mixer channel. I used the analog heat mk2 for pseudo compression but a normal compressor would be fine here. Slow attack 30ms, fast release. Finally I soft clipped the signal in StandardClip just to roll off some of the peaks and get it nice a loud. Maybe a bit of extra overdrive in the Digitakt but not much needed at that point. I love getting my breaks sounding fat right from the get go and building the track around them. Generally helps things sound a lot more professional in the mix.✌️

[@Alckemy]

Tbh I’d recommend just getting the placement of the trigs down and then adjusting a few slice start positions. Then just copy the hits in the subsequent triggers. Would also prefer to have the kick and snare separate if you’re going to use the aidechain compressor. Just my 2 cents!

[@lawdviola]

Agreeeeeed

[@groovining]

The lock start point technique does work well but you can't be super accurate with it is the problem I find. If you could zoom into the waveform in the sample mode that would help a lot! ✌️😊

[@kylewall8521]

Just got the dt2, the digichain tip is genius.

[@groovining]

Digi chains are actually a game changer when you get into them. You can set up your chops just like an old akai all up and down the keyboard. Proper slices inside the Digitakt would be incredible but Digichains is great for now :)

[@benjiwill]

Such a great clip, thanks for sharing these Digitakt walkthroughs and tips and tricks! 🙏

[@groovining]

All good Benji! The Digitakt 2 is a beast - I loved the first and very happy with the upgrades even without the slicing. Digi chains is a great workaround. Lots more on the Digitakt 2 coming soon. Do you have any other Elektron Boxes? ✌️ 😊

[@benjiwill]

​@@groovining I've had most the Elektron boxes over the years, the OG Octatrack being the main one from way back, but the parts/samples management just became too much to work with in the end (pre overbridge etc). The DTII looks like a solid option to just play back some stereo pads/foley stuff finally. Here's hoping they get the slicing ability for the DTII in a future update though! Cheers again, looking forward to more breaks chopping tips n tricks! 🙏

[@NicoResonic]

Super useful! Thanks!

[@groovining]

No problem mate, glad you enjoyed :) ✌️

[@MavScientific]

great stuff!

[@groovining]

Cheers brother - Lovely channel! Epic scenery to listen to be rolling out some dnb in :) 😊✌️🚀

[@ProfilerGman77]

Some great tips keep em coming 😊

[@groovining]

Thanks friend! Will do for sure ✌️ 😊

[@jeuneshinobi5949]

dammm the digichains is the thing !!!!

[@groovining]

Yea its a game changer! :)

[@MUNRO13]

Great stuff, thanks!

[@groovining]

Cheers mate! ✌️ 😊

[@MrVincent97133]

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

[@groovining]

I didnt even know about auto preview! That's annoying about it resetting though. Not sure I can help there sorry - could be something they will fix with an update. ✌️

[@dylanmassey7748]

Great tips which I think will push me to a Takt 2. What’s the keyboard you are using?

[@groovining]

Arturia Keystep 37 - it's fantastic

[@giuseppemagistro6648]

one thing is not clear to me in this process, when you use digichain and you have lets say 22 chops, how do you fill the other 10 left? do you fill with duplicates ones?

[@lukesyrylo388]

Great tips. I am having trouble understanding what digichains is doing. From what I can gather is that it just takes all of your individual slices and creates a composite file with equal spacing etc. How does this work with samples of different lengths ie. 8ths n 16ths? I’m assuming it’s this space that allows you to pitch the break up and down without ruining the audio too much. Can someone explain to me what I might be missing

[@groovining]

Yes exactly. All it does a look at the number of samples & their length and then builds a file that distrubutes them evenly. 12 samples will be distrubuted as 16th Notes. 24 samples will be distributed as 32 notes. It just makes copies of the last sample to fill the rest of the space. The reason you can pitch the sample up/down is not actually to do with digichains. That techniques it purely around slicing a break at every single hit and programming that way. What it means it you can program a sequence & then change the BPM, Pitch, Decay etc. per hit. The sequence will still play perfectly around in the way you've constructed it. When you use longer slices of a break they are tempo dependant. If the break was originally played at 130bpm then you can't pitch it up because it will speed it up. By slicing all the hits you take control of this factor.

[@lukesyrylo388]

@@grooviningcheers man, big up for the lengthy response. What I’m trying to wrap my brains around is, won’t the digichains output suffer from the same issues when changing tempo? Or have I viewed as one solution when it’s two? Is the better way to slice and save each individual hit and then construct your own break that way?

[@groovining]

@@lukesyrylo388 With Digi Chains, you could load up sections of a break containing multiple hits if you wanted. All Digi Chains is doing is spacing the files you add to it evenly with some silence between each hit to space them out correctly. If you slice a break at all the hits and program it you can always pitch the break up or down etc. If you slice a break in longer sections then it's tempo dependant. You can pitch it without multiple hits speeding up therefore throwing off the groove. Digi-chains is just used here as a way to manually slice a break to your liking and load it on the Digitakt in Grid mode. :)

[@SvintMvrcus]

Hey bro I bought myself an emu e5000 ultra and jv-2080 for some jungle and now I’m moving from US to Italy. Both units show 100v-240v. Would I be good to use a simple adapter at the end of the plug? I have a digitakt 2 as well but I heard you can buy the European plug version that should work with the original power block since it’s replaceable/ interchangeable

[@groovining]

EU is 230v these days I think so you should be fine. Shoot Elektron a message or even better ask chat gpt this type of stuff :) - - Chat GPT answer - - "You're in good shape with the Emu E5000 Ultra and JV-2080 since they both show 100V-240V, meaning they support the voltage range in both the US (110V) and Italy (230V). A simple plug adapter for the Italian outlet should be fine as long as you're not dealing with something specialized. As for the Digitakt, you're right-it comes with a replaceable power block that supports 100V-240V. You can just get a European plug version or use a plug adapter to match Italian outlets, and it should work perfectly with the original power block. In short, you should be all set with just simple plug adapters, but always double-check the specs on the power blocks just to be safe."

[@SvintMvrcus]

@@groovining thanks so much for the response and I only semi trust ChatGPT now because one time I asked it what a capacitor was and it got it wrong lol but I did look up what I needed for 100-240v gear and it seems all I need is the adapter. Im super happy to hear this because I absolutely love the sound of those two units and the Elektron is quickly becoming one of my new fav pieces of gear. Thanks again bro !

[@groovining]

All good - Yea The Digitakt has a wicked sound quality! I'm the same with Chat GPT but use it quite a lot just to double check things :) 😊🌴

[@mastermachetier5594]

Around 7:20 you have a fill that has some pitch sequencing how did you program that

[@groovining]

Either parameter locking snares and just chaning the pitch on each subsequent step. Or getting a snare one-shot and using a forwrds loop with a triggered ramp LFO on pitch.

[@Malwensound]

What do you use to sync your Digitakt/hardware sequencers to your DAW btw? I've been using an ERM Multiclock for 3-4 years now but seem to have never ending latency issues!!

[@groovining]

I use Overbridge for the Digitakt which seems to work the best for me even though I’ve had a few latency issues. For everything else I just use standard midi from the DAW with plugin delay compensation

[@swiggit]

whats this pitch down and up technique do?

[@groovining]

It's an old Hip-Hop/Jungle technique that essentially reduces sample rate. I made a whole video about it :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/l2OalYR7jreEpac

[@Rufusdos]

The finished track is like '95 Bukem ... in the best way.

[@groovining]

Appreciate that mate! I love all the progressions sessions stuff. R.I.P Conrad 🙏

[@frejmostrom3458]

Is it possible to get a download file for the break fixed and ready to go?

[@groovining]

I used to give this stuff out for free a lot but now it all goes to my Patreons who support me to make more content like this. Breaks all slice and ready are up on there. ✌️😊 www.patreon.com/groovining

[@romi2910001]

D2 needs an easy macro maker tool 😊

[@groovining]

That would be dope! :) ✌️

[@kylewall8521]

Does anyone know if you can destructivly render slices in bitwig? Or Is this just a renoise thing

[@groovining]

I'm sure there will be a way as most DAWs can do something similar. Renoise is great tho with how easy it is to export everything. ✌️

[@kevinkearney3836]

Have you tried the preset performance mode to play in slices live? That seems like a nice upgrade despite the hassle of saving 8-16 presets.

[@groovining]

Yea this is another great alternative. What's cool about this is you can also reverse the chops etc which you can't do in the slicing mode. However, it;s annoying to make 30+ presets with a lot of breaks slices but good for certain breaks and techniques. ✌️😊

[@lawdviola]

That seems way slower than start and end point plocks!

[@atetraxx]

i cant believe they didnt add ping pong loop.. only reason i havent bought one.

[@groovining]

Ye i have to say trying to perfect a ping-pong loop by using a square wave LFO on sample forwards/reverse is not ideal! :)