Who would want something smaller, simpler, and more affordable than an Octatrack?
Well, uh… lots of people. So while Elektron’s elder flagship Octatrack gets up in years, the Digitakt is satisfying existing Elektron owners (including those augmenting their Octatrack) and newcomers alike.
I haven’t talked to anyone who got their hands on Digitakt who didn’t immediately fall in love. It’s not hard to see why.
It’s a powerful drum machine with loads of control.
It adds eight audio tracks (making up for the limited sample memory, since you put audio on tracks, not as one-shot samples). And it’s got eight MIDI tracks, to boot – making it a nice hub for other gear. Use a nice internal sound bank, or easily load your own samples.
Then there are the little touches. Think DIN sync and independent MIDI. Take the LFO available on each track, and assign it to any parameter – even sample select (hello, IDM glitches). And all those little touches come together in a really simple, accessible workflow.
In other words, less might be more. I’m still trying to get hold on a review unit, because I think the real story here may be the hacks people find to make this an effective performance instrument – just like the Octatrack and the Analog line and, well, anything Elektron.
In the meanwhile, I’ve loads of respect for Hamburg’s Stimming, a talented producer and performer, so enjoy his obsessive hands-on: