Tips for Digitakt patterns with more than 8 audio tracks

The Digitakt is a great device, no quesion: in a compact housing, it offers an insane number of possibilities for bringing repetitive music to life.

But at the same time, there are some limitations, of course. And one of them is what this article is about, namely the limitation to 8 audio tracks.

And these are quickly filled! My patterns have usually drums sorted on track 1-3, chords on track 4, bass on track 5, and tracks 6-8 are reserved for textures and melodies. I quickly reach the limits and often seek for additional tracks to make the arrangement more complex.

Additional tracks with the Model:Samples?

I recently bought the Model:Samples to solve this. It works great and expands the 8 tracks of the Digitakt by adding 6 more audiotracks, which I mainly use for drum programming.

But what if I don't feel like wiring and only want to go with the Digitakt? For this case, I have developed a few tricks that I would like to share with you!

Play different instruments on 1 Digitakt Track more granular

You can fade in and out more granularly, for example, several instruments running on one track, by using conditional triggers. Assume you have the snare on a track and decorate the triggers between the snares with a few clicks. Program these as Conditional Triggs.

If you now lower the volume of the track on the "AMP" page, it will only apply to the snare sound of the track. The other sounds that you programmed with the conditions continue to run at their normal volume. This allows you to play the clicks first and then slowly fade in the snare. It appears as there are 2 separate tracks running, but it is only 1.

Add higher frequencies by adding Bit Reduction

Another trick is to give a track that plays in the lower or middle frequency spectrum some additional high frequencies with the help of Bit Reduction. I often use this to create textures.

For example, maximize the send reverb settings (long decay time) of the track and make a looped pad sound that's running with a high send reverb and a slightly increased bit reduction rate.

The bit reduction is now modulated with the help of the LFO. Take the random waveform, relatively fast speed and medium depth (depending on the sound more in the middle range).

The sounds that are now repeatedly played briefly echo for a very long time and thus create a second layer above the actual pad sound in the mid frequency, so to speak. You can learn more about this technique in my video tutorial about Digitakt Textures.

I hope to bring some variety back into your tracks with these two tricks! Let me know if you have any questions - just post them in the comments below!

Learn something new!

My Digitakt Online Class is a video course focussed on creating tracks with the Digitakt. The class covers LFOs, Arrangement, Performing, FX and many other interesting topics, and I add new lessons frequently.