NAMM 2017: Digitakt 8 voice drum machine and sampler from Elektron
5,0 / 5,0 | 
Elektron teased a blurry image a few days before the show. It looked like some box of tricks and we now know it’s a bit of a drum machine. The Digitakt is an awkwardly named 8 voice digital drum computer and sampler to be more precise.
Digitakt
It’s compact, very square and apparently rugged and houses a “formidable drum machine”. I imagine it’s of the likes we’ve never seen before. The digital sound engine is highly flexible, allegedly. The sampling capability gives you the ability to generate your own sounds. The sequencer is designed to be “live friendly” and you have the means to control external gear. It has the obligatory OLED screen and a bunch of buttons. Off you go.
Inside there are 8 tracks of audio and 8 dedicated MIDI tracks. Each track has a filter and an assignable LFO. Delay and reverb are available as Send FX. The sample memory is only 64MB but the internal storage is over 1GB. Stereo in and out, MIDI in, out and thru and USB 2.0 are also provided. The sequencer will let you sequence external gear – something the Analog Four never could.
Overbridge
There’s something called Overbridge support which allows Elektron instruments to be handled as software plug-ins. Routing audio and MIDI between DAW and machine looks pretty useful.
It’s a compact, serious looking affair. Unapologetically digital and ready to make some grooves. How it all works and fits together remains to be seen… as soon as we find a video we’ll add it to this post.
The price is also a surprise at €650. It should be available in the spring. More information on the Elektron website.
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