The Best Workarounds for Syntakt + Digitakt + Digitone | You NEED to know these tips!

Support us: / ​ We show you the most important workarounds for the Elektron Syntakt, most of which are also directly applicable to the Digitakt and Digitone. As much as we love these Elektron boxes, here's everything you need to know in order to not go crazy when working with them.
► Instagram / captainpikant
Table of contents:
0:00 Introduction
0:42 Kits
3:03 Choke Groups
5:03 Portamento
10:06 Vibrato
11:12 Accents
12:00 Pulse-Width Modulation
14:07 Arpeggios
15:51 Sidechain Compression
17:35 So?
18:00 End Jam
Produced by Jean-Claude Dirckx and Sophie Hoppstädter

[@CaptainPikant]

Hello everyone! With firmware 1.10 Elektron has introduced native portamento on the Syntakt - no need for a workaround anymore :) We show how it's used in our "How to 303 on a Syntakt" video kzbin.info/www/bejne/j3OXpYpsoNmsmMU

[@MrMarcLaflamme]

Sound Locks different colour!!! That's amazing! Elektron take note please!

[@stepan.martyanov]

Syntakt is an infinite tool in music, much like Vim in Linux. Thank you for the amazing lessons!

[@ChumpyDumps]

Your diagram at around 13:20 is really helpful. Took me awhile to figure out exactly what depth did when I first got into elektron gear and showing that visual should hopefully help a lot of people

[@badaegis]

“Kits” alone was worth the price admission. TY!

[@patfinn2697]

The Portamento gods clearly received your sacrifice! Portamento is now implemented! It’s very flexible as wellz

[@CaptainPikant]

I know, right?! :D I'm very happy they added that so soon.

[@hollywood4834]

This is really great, keep them coming!

[@Hysteric_Subjects]

Thank you so very much dude. This was awesome. Especially the PWM part. The descriptions of what each param's numbers actually refer to/do, as well as any basic math around assignment of these things, is a rare find in videos and instructionals available. Cheers.

[@CaptainPikant]

Thank you so much, we're really glad you found them useful :)

[@soniquest]

Super useful, thanks! Even though I had *some* idea how to approach these, I've struggled with the exact solutons and this is really clear

[@AhmetKizilay0]

These tricks are very useful! Thank you for sharing them.

[@AndrewJohnClive]

Captain, thank you! Brilliant as ever!

[@GeorgeL909]

Thank you soooo much. Extremely useful tips, I had no idea about the reload sequence data hack!

[@Hardest]

Hight quality and very helpful Tutorial as always, thanks allot 🤩

[@eliezerbrandao]

You are awesome! Big thanks! ❤

[@SpikesStudio3]

Ace as always. My good Captain.👍

[@sadlantis]

Really great tips, well explained. This was excellent!

[@Phear0w]

The first one is an absolute game changer! Never knew this was possible, might actually change the way I work with my digis. Thanks a lot!

[@CaptainPikant]

You're very welcome! Glad to hear it's useful to you :)

[@bubuAudio]

the first issue is among the reasons I sold my digitakt . these are incredible powerful instrument but bring some limitations that are deal breakers

[@apeman939]

This is an unbelievable resource. Thank you so much

[@damooro8606]

Thanks for the great training, well explained and understandable

[@Lo-fi_Hi-brow]

Liked & Subscribed. Best new Elektron tutorials out there. More, more, more! I'd love to see some Digitone vids.

[@kirkleblanc5899]

2 minutes in and my mind is blown. Thank you!

[@HappyB0T]

Appreciate the effort here. Thank you. Super helpful

[@marcelsmoorenburg]

Thanks for the tips and for this outro!

[@Kaje05]

That outro was amazing 🙏

[@anthoo0n]

Nice, thanks for the video

[@halop9514]

Thanks! very useful tips...and thanks to remember me all these hours spent on Bubble Bubbles 30 years ago!

[@user50]

gorgeous video

[@muitosabao]

well done, and very useful tricks!

[@muitosabao]

the sound pool one doesn;t seem to be working for me. I load a sound from the sound pool in a step (and I know it's there cause when i press/hold that step the machine changes) but when just plays the other machine on that track. Any idea why that might be?

[@stephankerkman]

What a treat, Giana Sisters and Bubble Bobble on a Saturday morning!

[@Sn0wP1ay]

Had the Digitakt for nearly a year, and didn't know that there was a pattern sound pool and associated sound locking. Awesome thanks mate.

[@Jamison_IO]

What's really fun it to put an LFO on the "Sample" parameter. It then moves through the samples according to the wave shape (including random). Lots of cool variation.

[@G4Nazarener]

Captain Future at 10:00 ! This is a great tutorial! Thank you so much!

[@chucksevenbone]

Thanks a ton!! Master Blaster was always awesome!!

[@manucontrovento]

amazing end jam ;)

[@marcelbielawski640]

Super impressive lfo tips!

[@nikolafeve]

Excellent video thx

[@TimesOfTheSines.official]

If you use lfos in bpm modes. Set speeds +or- at rates of 1,2,4,8,16,32 or 64 for the lfos to work in time of the bpm. Values of 3,6,12,24 & 48 work too for dotted note & triplet timing speeds of lfos. Much like finding & using the right delay times & pre delay reverb times to be bpm dependent. The same value apply for setting speeds of the bpm lfos

[@MattJacques]

Thank you!!

[@StefanWolfrum]

Ohhh, so THAT‘S how this works! This was one of my biggest mysteries on my brand new Syntakt (my very first Elektron device)! I never understood why I still can choose a speed value when I already said that the LFO speed should be in sync with the BMP. And sometimes (most of the time, actually) it wasn‘t in sync despite the BPM 1, 2, … setting. Now I know that 2^n values need to be chosen with the speed parameter to stay in BPM sync! Brilliant! 🙏 👍👍

[@LordoftheBadgers]

Thank you so very helpful. Liked and subbed

[@BrunoVackier]

Nice learnfull video, thx

[@RalfSiegesmund]

thx for showing those LFOs some LOFE!!! You make it look easy. Great to learn!

[@tutschdamoon]

Thx for the tips and captain future. Lovely memory.

[@CaptainPikant]

Finally someone recognized it :D

[@AlkisT]

Hah, Great Giana Sisters at 13:45.

[@aidanduffy5443]

Straight out the gate the first tip is something that was really annoying me while working on my new digitakt yesterday. Thanks a lot for that workaround!

[@JamesBermingham]

Perfect video for my new boxes, Digitakt and Syntakt. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 🪄 Subscribed thank you

[@thomassourice407]

THANKS !!

[@meilstone]

Love the Captain Future theme 😂

[@Jxnxdoe]

This is big!

[@alexisduffo3922]

Merci pour le tuto Captain Bubble Bobble :))

[@FredF78]

Thanks for the first "kit hack tip". Seems like a retro fitted feature that is still too hacky as it requires an operation to all patterns involved but easier than an operation per track and per setting of course. The pluck at 13:47 made a smile on my face. One of the best menu music ever made. Made the wait for loading time worth it. Kids today have no clue :)

[@petereaston8456]

Bubble Bobble ♥️

[@zh1dky122]

you'r genius ✨

[@Primadosis]

Captain Future Einspieler war mega. 👍🏼😂

[@ZozillaThaGreat]

Exellent , one thing i was really pissed off is the lack of kits , but i understand now the power of this choice in fact , one can have a whole set on one project , each set tracks on one pattern Your hack is exellent and not crazy to implement since i will mainly try to use this in studio (just ordered mine , gonna give it a try , this features lack was one that scared me ....) Nice channel , clear explainations , clean hands (no fancy nail colors lol ) and background , nothing distracting : pro .... from a containt creator to another . Take care and i take this occasion to wish you a happy neew year , health , peace of mind and sucess ;)

[@Rainersherwood]

You truly get what you pay for with elektron. New software updates means you can just p lock portamento. Combine with 32nd length notes and and add some longer notes in combination with p locked portamento for slides. Now you have 303 sounds from most elektron boxes.

[@zipnone1996]

Great tips! I do hope Elektron is hard at work with a new update 😉

[@neonpop80]

Bubble Bobble! Classiccc

[@forbesy8568]

Tremendous

[@MrMarcLaflamme]

It's interesting how they even reference "Kit Data" in the pattern reload menu but don't provide the option to copy or paste kit data.

[@CaptainPikant]

Yeah that always made me hope that they implement some more features to manage the sounds.

[@bigbeatnut]

@@CaptainPikant Is the Kit workaround something that works on the Digitakt and Digitone too ? I wasn't very clear on that from the video or description.

[@CaptainPikant]

@@bigbeatnut Yes it works on all three boxes :)

[@baarth8305]

​@@CaptainPikanthave it been updated since ?

[@danderskij]

the Kits suggestion is great, i'm sure i will use it, thanks a lot! But can i suggest you a little trick? When you try to get an integer number on a value (like 12 on LFO depth) use func + knob ;)

[@ukbloke28]

The bulk copy paste is quite mad actually. I wondered what the limit of how many pads you could use it with at the same time was - no one can practically press all 16 buttons at once and hit the two shortcut buttons at the same time ... but I improvised a way to do it wedging a book across the pads and sure enough, you can actually copy all 16 pads at the same time. I love that Elektron allowed that even though logically you wouldn't be able to use it.

[@CaptainPikant]

😄 Love that you actually tested this!

[@arenreiser3643]

Really Good Videos! Pls Show More Tipps and tricks about the FX Track. Maybe a highpass on Kick with the fill Mode? Hmm nice idea :D

[@CaptainPikant]

That's an excellent idea, can't wait to try that out!

[@knob_agency]

i dont even think about fill steps in FX Block!

[@the8bitdeity]

One of my biggest laments about the Digi series compared to the A4 is the significantly expanded modulation capabilities the A4 has. 1) Dedicated Vibrato LFO 2) Dedicated PWM LFO 3) Auxiliary Envelope with multiple destination slots 4) 2 Destination Slots + Amounts per LFO 5) Slide Trigs 6) Accent Trigs 7) *Param Slides* . Everyone memes about Song Mode compared to the big grey boxes, but for me it's the *significantly* reduced modulation capabilities. Don't get me wrong I *love* my Digi trio but I also know so much more of what they could be. I mean, the fact that you cannot assign velocity modulation on the Digitakt is mind-blowing.

[@CaptainPikant]

The Analog Four was my first Elektron box, so I absolutely get where you're coming from. I personally miss the slide trigs and parameter slides most :(

[@deepseafishmusic]

Nice tips and the production quality is outstanding! I didn't know about the "kit reload" trick, but surprisingly enough I didn't miss it at all (coming from the Analog Keys). Though I can see why it would be splendid to be able to choose between kit/kitless modes, especially when it serves solely as a drum machine. I'll definitely try the PWM one in the next track :) That's the thing I find with Elektron boxes: while limited, they still inspire me to create more so than most other pieces of gear I have tried because they offer enough flexibility/detail and yet that quick workflow. Granted, other synths and grooveboxes have far more to offer, but recording them and producing a track is so much more of a hassle for me than to just sit somewhere nice and tweak away on an Elektron box until it sounds worthy of KZbin.

[@creatingspacesproducer]

Tx for sharing! Can you group tracks together on the digitakt also for the sidechain?

[@CaptainPikant]

Sadly no, but the Digitakt's compressor has a sidechain source setting. Just set that to your kick track. Good compressor settings to start with are a high ratio, low threshold, negative sidechain filter and 75% mix.

[@creatingspacesproducer]

@@CaptainPikant tx man!

[@ShawnBrandon888]

If syntakt had portamento and could record pitch bend I would be happy. Lfo work around is good but not quite same thing. Very good tutorial

[@CaptainPikant]

Thanks! Yes, ideally you wouldn't need all those workarounds. I'd very much prefer a native solution in the sequencer.

[@out_of_band]

I had a dream that you could hold down the LFO button and use the level encoder to scroll between many individual LFOs, each unique to their own track. It was a beautiful dream and I didn’t want to wake up. 😢

[@iamsteveshoe]

Bubble Bobble!

[@robertsyrett1992]

Yes, more LFOs. And they should have keyboard tracking as an option.

[@antonv13]

Do you mean filter keytrack? If so.. FUNC + ... -> Setup -> Filter KT.

[@robertsyrett1992]

@@antonv13 is that a global or per track?

[@antonv13]

@@robertsyrett1992I believe, per track.

[@robertsyrett1992]

@@antonv13 well you learn something new everyday!

[@aseomg]

Captain Pikant just saved Elektron users & interested hopefulls, from switching to Teenage Engineering

[@flaviobanterla]

Professional and funny as always, thanks Captain! Any tips for the lack of song mode? 🤐 I imagined this one: in ableton live we create a drum rack, each slot has an external instrument with different midi channels 1 to 12, so in one track you can write the whole drum part and control the syntakt as it was purely a drum synth, like a vermona for instance. Now the difficult question: can you record all tracks using overnridge at the same time? As the USB midi in overnridge mode can't receive midi data, I suppose it will work sending via the 5 pins midi... Anybody tried something like that? Captain? you know everything! 🙌🏼 To me using the syntakt as a drum synth, sending notes + automation, and multitrack ir via overbridge would be the ideal solution for songwriting

[@zipnone1996]

oh ya, song mode! much desired feature

[@CaptainPikant]

Thanks so much! Song mode is a tough one. You could use the program change capabilities as a workaround and sequence the pattern changes from an external device. The feature is enabled in SETTINGS > MIDI CONFIG > SYNC > PROG CH RECEIVE. You can set the channel under SETTINGS > MIDI CONFIG > CHANNELS > PROGRAM CHG IN CH. If you send a MIDI program change message (0-127), this will then select a pattern (A01-H16). But I really hope Elektron will implement a way to save at least a simple pattern chain sometime in the future.

[@flaviobanterla]

Thanks a lot for answering @@CaptainPikant So, if I use an external device to sequence pattern changes (or Ableton Live) could I still multitrack everything via overbridge? I don't own a Syntakt yet, mostly because of this question.. I read in the manual that USB Midi and Overbridge are exclusive, but I suppose you can sequence patterns via 5 pins midi and multitrack via usb.. can't find anybody who confirm that :) all the best!

[@CaptainPikant]

@@flaviobanterla I think that should work, but I'd have to try this out myself. I don't know when I'll have the time though, so maybe you could ask in the Elektronauts forum?

[@flaviobanterla]

@@CaptainPikant Yeah, I'll try again on the forums, after this conversation I think I can explain it better, so thanks for that. If someday you end up trying it please let us now :) thanks again for your great content!! peace

[@superultramega77]

Almost the xtal beat in the beginning :-]

[@CaptainPikant]

It actually is :D

[@superultramega77]

@@CaptainPikant all that mofos work is tattoed upon me earlids. Thanks for the cheat sheet! Subscribed to the patreon for that lil beauty. Im on day 5 with the Syntakt and couldnt be more impressed with the workflow/ sound design. Thanks a million

[@CaptainPikant]

@@superultramega77 glad to have you on board :)

[@illegalgiant_]

isnt there a compressor in the 'mixer' page with sidechaining?

[@CaptainPikant]

Only on the Digitakt, the other two unfortunately don't have it.

[@illegalgiant_]

@@CaptainPikant had no idea! somehow I keep finding additional benefits to the elektron gear

[@w-h-y-]

Bubble bobble?

[@telegraph_hill]

do these still apply after the 1.10 update?

[@CaptainPikant]

Yes, but since firmware 1.10 the Syntakt's sequencer has portamento built in :) Watch out for our next video where we show this in detail.

[@ThisPageIntentionallyLeftBlank]

I have legit never figured out sound pool, locks, or like 7/8ths of this thing. Honestly, I like my Digitakt/Digitone much more than the Syntakt. It’s like a shitty synthesizer with some great controls and a common workflow. There’s several things I don’t like about the menu compared to the other devices, but whatever. Between the DTakt and DTone… the Syn has a ton of menu diving compared to the others.

[@Hakucho64]

Sacrifice an LFO to the Portamento gods! 😂

[@vwvwvwvvw6143]

Do I really NEED to know anything about I don't have? :)

[@CaptainPikant]

Granted, though "You really NEED to know these if you have or plan to aquire either a Syntakt, Digitakt or Digitone" exceeded the KZbin video title character limit ;)

[@leNotstrom]

Bubble Bobble on Syntakt? How?

[@CaptainPikant]

Editing magic ;)

[@DrLaemmerbein]

I think you should have skipped the tutorial to show bubble bobble directly!

[@CaptainPikant]

Yeah, we're thinking about putting all of our end jams out as short videos :)