Why you NEED an Elektron

You'd rather go on your favorite 2nd hand-platform and grab your ‪@WeAreElektron‬ Digitakt. Or straight go and buy a new one. But having OS 1.5 in place is worth the money and effort.
In this video I'm focussing on OS 1.5's Slice Mode-only and will show you why this is key for making Jungle / Atmospheric Drum & Bass.
Marc Renton on Spotify ▶️ open.spotify.com/artist/5gSzz...
Marc Renton on Bandcamp ▶️ marcrenton.bandcamp.com
Marc Renton on Soundcloud ▶️ / marc-renton

[@atetraxx]

Prices already going up! The day they released the new update so the $600 units sold out immediately.

[@1111undici1111]

Amazing jungle beats man! Inspiring!

[@fulanxi6434]

Great video!! Just bought one + a digitone. I am amazed. I will get my octatrak next week. Feel so excited haha.

[@dezem7]

Very good! I was thinking about one of these bad boys just for the exact same randomise and record scenarios. 👍

[@VikerTurrit]

Danke für die tolle Demonstration, habe den Rytm Mk2 black und Analog Keys, nun, der Digitakt ist wirklich attraktiv geworden und Platz ist sicherlich hier noch frei:-) mach bitte weiter mit deinen Videos, auch gerne abseits von DnB, Grüße

[@davidbock201]

Yes! Great to see someone simply getting into it and jamming. That's the whole point right?👍

[@timshady7099]

I've been looking a lot at Digitakt lately. I almost exclusively make DnB and only recently started going Dawless. Good video, I think I'm convinced now.

[@MarcRenton]

Glad it was helpful!

[@FANKANable]

Did you get one?

[@timshady7099]

@@FANKANable Not yet. I might just get a Maschine

[@marcosrotllan]

​@@timshady7099thinking about an akai force just for dnb

[@djalextruth9152]

love it

[@SpikesStudio3]

I bought mine really early on and have absolutely loved it. And there's 8 midi channels on top of that!!!!!!! Have to mention though, i also have an MDuw and that thing still amazes me. 👍

[@1111undici1111]

It's amazing that this device is so well supported after many years it was introduced to the market! Elektron has done a great job supporting its customer base with these firmware upgrades!

[@okematoko7198]

Ein wirklich schönes und absolut erstaunliches Firmwareupdate. Dass die Random-Funktion übrigens solche abgefahrene Slice-Ergebnisse ausspuckt wie Du sie im Video demonstrierst ist schier unfassbar! Wenn ich das GAS nicht schon vor langer Zeit erfolgreich bezwungen hätte würde umgehend ein Digitakt bei mir Einzug halten.

[@MarcRenton]

Ach komm, so eine kleine Groovebox mehr kann doch nicht schaden ;-) Danach kannst du ja aufhören Gear zu kaufen ;-)

[@jahmoresound7895]

Ahh you gave me a gem so always import drum loops without any swing? Or with it time adjusted to hit the grid perfectly. Such as with MPC / Ableton threshold chopping and quantisation

[@richiedon9133]

i wasn't interested but after i played with the overdrive on drums,...oh boy

[@boombap08]

Good content dude. As a drummer first, i find the digitakt sequencer amazing! Still have to play more with the new machines.

[@TimesOfTheSines.official]

It's become a better quick resampler now too with 1.50... I highly recommend resampling any loops u use, & adding bpm synced lfo modulations to things initially... Prior to doing anything experimental or drastic with a loop, for using warp or slice machines... I like to resample a loop that is initially sampled to fit with the bpm, or warped/pitched to the bpm I'm working within... & I'll use both x2 lfos on different sources to modulate interest & movement, rhythmically to a loop. If u resample a loop about 3 times, with each time u do... U can have a loop that has had x6 lfos modulating filters, volume, overdrive & the bit + s/r reduction parameters. The loop is more experimented on by then, to experiment more with for werp or slicing tricks.

[@MarcRenton]

Great advices

[@sgsrules]

Great content Marc. I've pretty much set my mind on getting an octatrack as a performance mixer for my syntakt, and to add sampling support. is there anything the digitakt does better than the octatrack? I though about getting both but that's expensive and they overlap a lot of features.

[@MarcRenton]

Sure, consider it, there are many people that count on the Octatrack. But (saying only for me, not in general, IMHO:) the Digitakt is rather built for what I am doing (here and there firing some drums, using it for what I am showing in the video). While the Octatrack tries to replace Ableton Live and all its great audio-manipulation features.

[@Claidheambmor]

The DT isn't going to replace the OT anytime soon. The DT is now like an 'OT-lite' and I love it. I find the OT causes me a great deal of stress and I don't enjoy making music utilising the OT. The DT on the other hand is a piece of cake.

[@eliashorhammer5126]

Well, Octatrack has way more features such as custom slices, which is not available on DT (yet). So i find it a bit hard to slice breaks that are not already been edited to fit a 4, 8 or 16-Bar loop. In that case you will have to resample and then slice. thats not a problem on the OT. The OT has way advanced midi sequencing aswell, so the OT is still king imo, besindes the hard learning curve.

[@bike.krueger]

Eine etwas erweiterte Frage zum Digitakt: momentan lasse ich mich am liebsten mit laufendem Sequencer am Monologue treiben. Das Schrauben und überrascht werden taugt mir sehr. Nun hätte ich gern mehr Soundvielfalt und mich reizen 3 Szenarien für Geräte mit direkter Zugänglichkeit zu Synthese und Filtern: Digitakt, Digitone oder Minilogue XD. Oder doch ein Minifreak? Für Effekte und lange Samples/Loops hab ich die SP-404 MK2. MPC One und Midikeyboard ebenfalls, aber das Ganze ist so verschaltet und nervig, dass ich mich durchaus davon trennen möchte. Die SP 404 war in ihrer Direktheit eine wahre Offenbarung :) Vielen Dank und darauf ein Helles, Cheers!

[@InTheHoose]

I wonder if you could use the stretch machine to prepare the sample? That way you can do all the work on the Digitakt ?

[@Hakucho64]

Yeah, maybe you can resample the stretch (werp) machine then play that new sample with the slice machine.

[@tubeMonger]

For me using the slicer as "multisample" technique is the most interesting thing. What I mean by this, I can sample notes (such as bass), slice them up and play them without having to transpose them using a frequency.

[@MarcRenton]

This is such a great hint, Thank you for that. Also your technique can have multiple directions: Eg instead of controlling the pitch you could "play" a sample's starting point. I was doing so in my Mike Oldfield-Bootleg kzbin.info/www/bejne/o3mrh2pqdtp2iJI when playing the Chord-sound.

[@user-fi4yd2kf6g]

You have got a beautiful studio! May I ask where did you get this wooden stand?

[@MarcRenton]

DIY 😊 I’m going to make some more videos on this topic very soon

[@user-fi4yd2kf6g]

@@MarcRenton Great, very interested in that!

[@Tinmar_Isation]

interestingly enough, the first Amen is still played on an old MPC tho so I'm still a bit puzzled on what the Digitakt does better than any recent MPC being doing since the past 5 years? Especially for DnB, sample slicing & integration, virtual instruments, mixing & FXs, live performance, overall versatility, etc... I don't see where the Digitakt takes the edge. Maybe on the global sound quality and dynamics, being the MPC weak point in my opinion but even that, Akai been improving constantly. Biggest MPC flaw for me is the weird Warp looping artifacts in Clip mode and potentially the terrible Splice integration. Not trying to start a fanboy war guys, but I'm really interested in fellow DnB producers POV 😅. Thanks for the video!

[@MarcRenton]

🤣🤣🤣

[@sooperheep]

you answered your own question dude

[@2ToneUltra]

❤

[@Pharmacymusic1]

Nice video. How do you feel about your loops being in mono?

[@MarcRenton]

Indeed this is a limitation and separates the Octatrack from the Digitakt. However I see this more as a challenge rather than a limitation: For example when playing a chord- or pad-sound I use the internal effects to add Stereo-information again. Of course, this is not the same as using the original Stereo-information. However, for me the whole thing about Digitakt is to edit and process sounds to a different way. If I need everything Stereo and limitless, I go with Ableton Live or Logic for Vocal editing.

[@Pharmacymusic1]

@@MarcRenton Yes, I think chords and pads are fine in mono, especially when effects are used. With drums however, to meet this challenge I might want to record onto 2 tracks and pan left and right. Or I suppose you could have a minimal loop in mono (eg. just kick, snare and hi-hat) and use some other percussive hits panned around that. I'd probably prefer the latter option personally, as it's hard to process a loop live when you have the same audio on 2 separate tracks.

[@landonh3535]

Octatrack can do all of this as well I believe, plus stereo samples for the pads.

[@MarcRenton]

Indeed, but two things here: 1) Isn't it interesting that Elektron is adding more and more features of Octatrack? Eg Song-mode in the past. 2) If you see my older videos you'll notice an Octatrack. However back then I sold it because it did not work out for me.

[@landonh3535]

@@MarcRenton Yep I think maybe the DT is the new OT? I don't know, just a guess. Of course the OT can be purchased used for quite the deal as well. Regardless I love seeing these boxes used for jungle, they are a nice break for me from moving MIDI notes around in the DAW to sequence a drum break.

[@Claidheambmor]

@@landonh3535 The DT is not the new OT. The DT will never be a live looper or a performance mixer or have kits or the live performance features inherent to having a crossfader. But the DT is a very capable little sample mangler, especially now it can timestretch and chop and assign random chops and repitch. It's a little monster and I love it.

[@tubeMonger]

Digitakt can do stereosamples as well if you use two tracks 😀

[@landonh3535]

@@Claidheambmor My point was more that the creators behind the OT have been long gone from Elektron so the DT is possibly their flagship sampler moving forward. Of course knowing elektron maybe they surprise us with yet another OT update, but I'm not holding my breath.

[@jhscotty]

i don't quite understand at 3:11 when you say you need to edit the sample before working with it. what do you need to do and why?

[@MarcRenton]

Drumloops like the Amen are not really quantized. Hence, they do not fit to the simple grid that the Digitakt is using to chop up the loop.

[@Ulvens]

Hi! You can do all of this, and more with the MPC One. With velocity sensitivity, much better pads, better sample control, better fx and plugs, a lovely LCD screen, and it's cheaper. Tell me where in this the Digitakt is not already overhyped, overpriced, and less user friendly. :) The MPC's are going down in price, and I find it hard to believe that the Digitakt will go up in price. For the price of a "new" Digitakt, you could get an MPC X. It's a monster, an AKAI flagship, and the price is dropping hard. You can get one of these bad boys for under 1100 euro, and the MPC One for well under 500 euro. Elektron is the Apple of music gear. Well except for the Octatrack... The Octatrack is something else.

[@MarcRenton]

Sure, the MPC One seems to be a nice device and it's great that its price is going down to be more affordable. Anyhow, prices of new Digitakts already have increased and will, this is my observation on eBay eg. People have their opinion on the Octatrack, but I sold mine some years ago for my own reasons. You remind me, I should do a video about that.

[@benhall2235]

High praise. I’ve never been to a single studio that didn’t use apple computers and I’d never trust a windows laptop on stage.

[@Ulvens]

@@benhall2235 You are welcome to visit mine. It works like a charm. I know it's very hard for apple sycophant's to believe such a thing, but alas. I have no issues, and if I had issues, I could actually fix them myself. I'm not a big fan of closed systems like Apple, that won't even give you schematics for your own product. If you end up with an Apple issue, you need "special" people to help you. I am free of that nuisance thankfully. I have sole control of all my hardware. :)

[@benhall2235]

@@Ulvens me too. I have apple MacBooks and they have never let me down but I’d never buy a desktop so I built a hackintosh , dual boots windows and osx. Windows for one program I use that’s windows only. The rest is on osx. I’m not an apple sycophant at all , but after many years of using android and windows , switching to apple was a revelation. I have no problems upgrading my hardware when necessary. Electron gear is all about the sequencer and the limitations , the elektron way of doing things. I don’t doubt the mpc line is good if you want a daw in a box but that’s the last thing I want to make music with. Elektron boxes are moser like instruments and for me they spark creativity every time I use them. Unlike any daw I’ve ever used, even Ableton live which for me is the best of the bunch for that.

[@musicator304]

​@@benhall2235 Mr Bill uses windows on stage kzbin.info/www/bejne/a5_XgaSZbsR4hpY and in his studio.

[@Alex-nc6en]

Nice to see rent boy staying off the junk (watch Trainspotting)

[@MarcRenton]

🤣🤣🤣 Choose Life, choose a job, choose a proper music and start producing it!

[@tapsy]

Servus :) What's your opinion about Analog Heat?

[@MarcRenton]

Puh! I thought a lot about your comment! On the one hand I don't get it why one wants to add external-gear complexity to spice things up. The basic question is again analog vs digital sound processing. On the other hand I'm a big fan of distortion/overdrive etc. For me this is like adding spice to a meal. And it's always good not only to stick to salt and pepper, right? How we're used here in Germany, right? :D

[@tapsy]

@@MarcRenton haha I totally agree! seems to me also that it is a compact box to take around if playing live gigs, not only in the studio. My fingers are kind of itching, but the price tag nowadays is quite high. So for now I'm sticking to digi + sp404mk2 for processing/flavour

[@Digiphex]

I have been doing this on Octatrack for many years and the Digitakt has almost caught up with the OT but can't because of the limitations of inputs and no hardware AB fader and lots of other things. Looking so forward to the OT 2!!

[@futureworldmachines4407]

I sold my Digitakt a year ago and got a Roland Verselab instead, I just didn't like the Elektron workflow, but these updates look great.

[@ChumpyDumps]

Yikes

[@6ix611]

is this a good drum machine for a beginner? I just want to jam out and create and not get so caught up in being intricate with controls at the beginning

[@mindexpansionpuzzles]

Yes

[@xxralphyy]

Und ein lecker Augustiner 🙂

[@hypebeastdad]

Where did you get your digitakt stand?

[@MarcRenton]

DYI. My Elektron-stands were the first project I kicked off back then in 2020 when Corona-lockdown forced all of us to stay home, lol. However you remind me to do a video of all my other DYI-stands (the RD8, Novation Launchpad, my 19"-gear ...)

[@hypebeastdad]

@@MarcRenton thanks for the reply they look amazing. Very good work. Your studio looks really cool.

[@poss420]

i wish i even had the budget for a digitakt

[@MarcRenton]

Haha I know your pain. As a teenager I spent ages to get my first money for my first synthesizer. I was selling my Playstation to get a used one. Then I sold that again to get my Virus B :-) This was in 2005.

[@CelticStone]

took me a year to save, but didnt regret it once it arrived

[@thelibrarian3734]

Just put Impc pro and Koala on your phone/ pad and the gear lust will disappear very quickly trust me, we were doing this shizz over scsi using recycle on an Atari back in the day!

[@AeonHorus]

Amen to that mate! I just bought one for mashing up some nice jungle soundz. Looks like its a contender right up there with the PolyEnd Tracker after this new update. Poor Poly she might fall out of favour now I have Miss Diggy in my life lol.... Cheers... Just subbed... Ps.... Do you have any tutorials on how you slice n dice up the breaks in the Digitakt?

[@hypebeastdad]

Digitakt 900 now 😮

[@sentokan]

How do u know prices will go up??

[@RadekPilich]

KZbin clickbait statement

[@MarcRenton]

Haha yes of course. But seriously. You're right I could have explained this better in my video: 1) Digitakts have been around on eBay etc for a while for a very constant price if you'd follow 2) It startet with $600 initial price, these days big T sells it for €900 3) Current economic/political situation. No further explanation needed. Or shall I make a video about the value of gear that's value increases? Have you checked prices of the JD990? 4) And finally. OS 1.5 adds SUCH a value to the product and this is what I am focussing on in my video.

[@RadekPilich]

For the sake of discussion - are you aware of and product it's resale prices increased due to firmware update?

[@touchthatdial]

Prices have, indeed, now gone up. And by a lot. UK price was around £600-650, now up to £750.

[@bbsoundsb9579]

akaiforce?@@RadekPilich

[@LordHando]

#octatrackgang

[@mklztr4542]

Marc Renton? Like Trainspotting?

[@MarcRenton]

Indeed 😀😀

[@mareikemacinnes7764]

Ich kann fast alles genauso mit meiner Akai Mpc 2500se programmieren wie es mit dem Digitakt möglich wäre! Es ist nur etwas umständlicher und braucht etwas länger um es im Song oder Edit Mode zu Programmieren. Kann ich mit dem Digitakt, 64 Midikanäle ansteuern wie es die Akai 2500 kann! ;) Hat der Digitakt eine Midi Latenz von 0.02ms wie die Mpc 2500? Nein ;) Grüße aus Norddeutschland

[@MarcRenton]

Indeed sehr cooles Teil! 😀 ich wusste nicht, dass die 2500se so dermaßen viele MIDI outs hat, sowas hatte ich noch nie gesehen. Damit kann man ja tatsächlich das gesamte Studio steuern (so wie der Name MPC auch eigentlich das suggeriert). Latenz nachmessen wäre tatsächlich mal sehr interessant. Ich bin immer wieder schockiert, dass das in der heutigen Welt noch ein Problem ist. Liebe Grüße zurück aus der südlichen Provinz 🤣

[@mareikemacinnes7764]

@@MarcRenton 0,67ms Geh mal auf Innerclocksystems und guck nach dem Litmus Test. Das sind Messungen der Latenz von bekannten Instrumenten unter wissenschaftlichen Bedingungen. Aufgeführt in einer Liste mit Daten.

[@tacticalcenter8658]

Back in my day and even some people today use free trackers like fast tracker etc. You dont need to spend all this money.

[@ZenMountain]

No, prices never went up. It was all just your imagination.

[@SlickGriminals]

For the same price of an mpc you get less capabilities lol

[@adev8565]

I wonder what "I have no desire advertising any lame sponsored content to my audience" means to you exactly, seeing you heavily promote the Digitakt and wearing an elektron shirt in your most recent video.

[@MarcRenton]

Indeed! If you're from Elektron-marketing then I'm sorry for the lame advertising ;-) Maybe you still could contact me and offer a job?

[@Harzurner]

Lol you don't need it, and prices haven't gone up, if you want a tank fixable for life old-school hardware sequencer the MPC 2000XL is what your looking for, not the dam digi or octa.

[@sooperheep]

those are some Kardashian level end cheeks!😄