Five things Digitakt 2 Got Wrong (and what you can do about it)

[@dc9662]

A battery would be great, but I wish it would have had USB-C, an SD Card reader, and XLR/TRS combo jacks.

[@ThePlughugger]

I wonder why Elektron gave up on cards. The Octatrack have Compact Flash. Why not SD cards for Digitakt?

[@Sangejzer]

I put battery in my DT1 guided by probably the guy you mentioned and it worked like a charm and was super handy. I assume it would be similarly easy to do in DT2

[@ThePlughugger]

Wow... now I'm jealous. Was it very difficult to add the battery?

[@michael_homan]

Nah it’s pretty easy I did it too. It’s a little sketchy soldering the battery cells together but other than that it’s super simple. You can buy expensive tools that properly connect batteries so you don’t have to solder but we don’t have time for that. Just solder em. Take your time and follow the forum posts (google and you’ll find it). Project is completely reversible should you regret adding the extra weight.

[@Alckemy]

Does the digitakt 2 have usb over audio? I know overbridge isn’t there yet but I haven’t been able to set it as an interface in bitwig

[@ceraunian4554]

DT settings, system, midi audio usb

[@Alckemy]

Thank you!!!

[@nyanko2077]

At least we get that so I can record samples from my ipad using usb. Overbridge on mobile devices would be great though.

[@tristanisidore7887]

A way to get different delay and reverb settings per track! And polyphony of course

[@ThePlughugger]

That would be fantastic. Personally I would settle with double amounts of sends. Two reverbs and two delays is often all you need.

[@touchthatdial]

The biggest misses so far for me are 1) cannot adjust slice positions, as you mention in your video, 2) no zoom function for samples that you’ve loaded from the Drive+ into project RAM, you can only zoom in and edit samples just after you’ve recorded them… a crazy oversight IMO, and 3) no zero crossing detection points when editing samples which makes trimming loops a random click-fest and can be seriously annoying. For me, points 2 and 3 are pretty silly really. Samplers have had zoomable waveform displays and automatic zero-crossing detection for almost as long as sampling has existed. Come on Elektron, please fix this.

[@gripnsip3000]

bet u 100 bucks they brainstormed these on the first day and intentionally left em out so they have selling points for the mk3 in 2027 lmao

[@NEKRWSPHERE]

What about importing samples IN STEREO FFS?!?! Another thing that would be useful to me is the XY pad. I'm at a point where I will probably sell my Digitakt. As a sampler, - it's fairly complex. But as a groovebox - it's severely lacking, and just being a mono sampler doesn't justify its ridiculous price for me. Personally I found Electribe II Sampler much more versatile and useful to me for performances and DJ-ing, even though it's a bit counterintuitive as a sequencer and lacks reverb per part.

[@ThePlughugger]

It's interesting that most people I've talked to thing the OG Electribes are the better ones. Have you tried them?

[@istvantoth7431]

Isn't the new digitakt at least partially polyphonic?? All monophonic samples still?

[@ThePlughugger]

No polyphony yet. Stereo samples with the new, compared with mono on the old. But still no polyphony.

[@robertgarvansnyder4665]

The A4 was my first Elektron box, and it was released as only 4 mono tracks, with the voice stealing polyphony option added as a firmware later. So that’s some precedent. I feel like I’m doing it wrong for just loving the DT2 as it is. The sound is so good. Lack of slicing is my biggest gripe, but confident we will see it soonish. I would consider doing a battery mod, though. I never cared for portability with Elektron boxes until now, but I think samplers do kinda need it.

[@ThePlughugger]

The same here. Until recently I didn't care for battery operated gear, but now I've seen how fun and inspirational it is to physically move out from your normal creative space.

[@jean-pierremartineau4136]

My only complaint is the lack of polyphony. They need to add it, especially in the light if the way it was implemented on the Digitone 2.

[@ghavinga]

For me what might be great new features for the DT II are polyphony and multi (layered) sample support. Most classic samplers use more than one sample file to assign to MIDI note / keyboard zones, some samplers go one step further and support multiple samples for the same note range with different velocity values. But I can also view the Digitakt II as 16 monophonic instruments. I will start experimenting with different multi--samples per trigger (but long release stages might be an issue) or perhaps one sample per track. Should be fun ;-) Subscribed by the way, thank you for your efforts.

[@ThePlughugger]

Thanks! And yes, changing your point of view often results in interesting ideas. The same for Analog Rytm and its DVCO engine - you can easily see that as being for monos in one drum machine.

[@gripnsip3000]

"But I can also view the Digitakt II as 16 monophonic instruments" i'm amateur level and make random noise for laughs but this is exactly how i see the digi boy. it's not the god tier all-in-one box some people say it is, and honestly there's no such thing yet even if digitakt is the closest to it, but for playing around pretending to be conductor of a 16-piece band made up of literally any sounds you can imagine, it does a pretty sick job

[@scottlerocin]

Removable storage (too late for that now) and multiple jack outputs live playback after sampling

[@ThePlughugger]

I never understood why Elektron gave up on removable storage.

[@nyanko2077]

Slicing would be nice but if at least we could get a zoom in function and have more precise control on where the sample starts and finishes, I would be content. As a side note, it would be really good if they ported some firmware changes into the Syntakt, like the easier menu diving and colored buttons to indicate which trig parameter has been modified at a glance.

[@ThePlughugger]

I have no inside info from Elektron, but I would be very surprised if these things wouldn't appear in the Syntakts as well.

[@l00kns33]

I want even more modulation sources (read LFOs). Two on the mkI and three on the mkII is not enough. 5 LFOs would be great. I often randomize one LFO with another, then there is none left on the mkI. At least you have one more on the mkII but I'm always left wanting more. Having more LFOs makes the sound design much more interesting.

[@ThePlughugger]

You have a VERY good point. I often do exactly this when I am making sounds, having maybe 2-3 modulators to just humanize the sound a bit with tuning, pan and filter.

[@vadjuse]

You can use soma metaconformer to add polyphony capabilities

[@ThePlughugger]

It seems you can do almost anything with the Soma!

[@23jackleeder]

Multiple audio out assignable as 2 stereo, or 4 mono, or as a combination of stereo and mono. That would be killer but probably straying into Octatrack territory. Personally I would consider a built in battery undesirable and I wouldn't want to use cells to run a 12 Volt machine. Maybe if it only needed either 9 or 5 Volt power, that would be nice tho. Agree about the screen colour. Nice solution you've laid out for that. Cheers!

[@findjonmoses]

Just buy a Dirtywave M8, most of what you are asking for is built into that device at half the price. Best thing is once you learn the buttons on the M8 it’s possible to make music in the dark or low light conditions thanks to the gamified muscle memory

[@ThePlughugger]

I've been looking at the M8 for some time. It really looks interesting. I bought a Polyend Tracker Mini and I made a few tracks on it - but I didn't really connect with it.

[@ILLUDIUM_Q_36]

You really need to check out the LoFi-12XT ❤. It addresses most of your grips about the Digitakt 2

[@ThePlughugger]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll definitely check it out. Have you tried it?

[@o3rMeNs]

I want track select with a midi CC.

[@ThePlughugger]

You want to control the DT from a controller?

[@o3rMeNs]

@@ThePlughugger I already do, but I want track select with 1 button press without the sound triggering.

[@yoesbenli]

Sample slicing, polyphony and loop crossfades! My Akai S2000 late nineties could already do all those

[@hollownation]

Personally not fussed about battery power just get a ripcord and a power bank that way you don’t need to worry about the battery inside your device much less risk and easy to replace in the future it’s great for gigs no messing around with power and sounds great never issues with ground noise when running off usb power

[@ThePlughugger]

Yep - this is by far the easiest solution.

[@IMakeBeats]

The white display is way better! I will never use over-bridge! The battery 🪫 would be nice but not a deal breaker! Having slicing control would be nice! Polyphony would also be a nice addition .

[@ThePlughugger]

The white display is alright. But I miss the cozy yellow. Maybe it will make its return in a Digitakt 2 Mk2.

[@IMakeBeats]

@@ThePlughugger i hope that any new features can just be added thru a firmware update, and not another unit! It would be nice if we could just pick the color display! 🤣

[@deathtrapdan]

Agreed, the white display is much nicer

[@ThePlughugger]

@@deathtrapdan 🟨

[@andreash3906]

Still no usb host capability ...

[@substance90]

No polyphoby is a real head-scratcher for me. Akai and E-MU samplers from the nineties already had polyphony and many more tracks than the Digitakt mk2, let alone mk1.

[@williammindreaders1029]

with polyphony it would be near to perfection.

[@ThePlughugger]

I agree!

[@nitroxbadman1682]

2 more fx & an external fx send would have been Sick

[@ThePlughugger]

You mean like more effect types like flanger/phaser/etc or effect slots?

[@IMakeBeats]

I just did a 14 day review on the digitakt2 hope you stop by the channel and check it out! 👊🏾

[@ThePlughugger]

Checking it out now!

[@TheCptCrl]

live loop and overdub per track would wreck

[@ThePlughugger]

You mean like an audio looper?

[@ferencmolnar1651]

Yellow screen was better. Battery is not important for me but a SD card slot and 16 voices polyphony sharing would be great.

[@ThePlughugger]

SD card would be absolutely fantastic.

[@busterbuster1641]

No multiple outs ffs

[@8bitBarry1]

What about the never ending Elektron Digitakt beta test, or a pathetic 20gb drive that causes the machine to lock up / crash when dragging samples over, or no mono sample mode (come this is 2024!) and all the other things said below. I returned mine after just a few days…

[@tsunami979]

Elektron please dont listen to him

[@ThePlughugger]

How do you mean?

[@tsunami979]

Batteries are a weakness

[@ThePlughugger]

@@tsunami979 How do you mean?

[@tsunami979]

@@ThePlughugger well they tend to get old and fail eventually while a power adapter is easily

[@ThePlughugger]

@@tsunami979 Yeah, that can be a problem. A combination of both gives the best of both worlds, I think.