How to Build an Easy to Use & FUN dawless synth setup // Summer of Synths
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- Опубликовано: 3 авг 2024
- Do not overcomplicate your hardware synth setups. Todays special guest will show you his go to setup and its surprisingly easy to use. Summer of Synths is sponsored by Perfect Circuit a great store for all your synth needs: bit.ly/PerfectCircuitSoS
CHECK OUT TODAYS GUEST
RUclips: / @slowhaste
Instagram: / slowhaste
GEAR USED IN TODAYS VIDEO
Elektron Digitakt (sampler): bit.ly/DigitaktPC
Elektron Digitone (synth): bit.ly/40apfSw
Arturia Keystep (midi keyboard): bit.ly/keystepPC
Keystep 37 (more features than the original Keystep): bit.ly/3hbiawW
If you use any of the affiliate links you support the channel without any cost to you
CONTENT
00:00 Intro
00:44 Todays special guest & music demo
02:25 Walkthrough of the setup
BUSINESS INQUIRY
bonurmimusic ( at ) gmail.com
#dawless #hardwaresynthsetup #summerofsynths
Thanks so much for having me Bo!! I hope the rain lets up so you can finally catch some waves 🏄♂️
Excellent video! I see that other DAWless musicians like to sequence on the Digitone and use the Digitakt MIDI tracks to mute the channels on the Digitone. Can you expand more on why you prefer this approach? Also, if you were to add a Syntakt to this setup, where would you put it in the signal chain?
It took me a long time to figure out but my current favorite minimalist setup is an mc-101 paired with sp404 mk2. It's absolutely insane how much mileage you can get out of those two for about a grand, and the sound palette is insane. Feed mc101 loops into the sp404, sculpt the loops with dynamic live effects, resample and add layers infinitely...
MC-707 + Push 2.
Even just the DIgitakt and the Keystep can be all you need, using single cycle waveforms the Digitakt easily turns into pretty functional a (mono) synth, you can have 5 tracks for percussion and 3 for melodic things.
100% I really think Digitakt is much more versatile than Digitone
@@pizzamanmepI'm literally considering exchanging my dn for a dt atm.
But i'm worried i wont get much versatile used out of it.😊
@@r3dsnow757 just to tell you that you can literally use short length looped waveform samples on Digitakt and combined with the ADSR and filter you get a pretty legit synthesizer that tracks multiple octaves. For me Digitakt is waaaaaay more versatile than the Digitone cause you also get a killer drum machine too
Both paired together are something else though
Yooooo! Awesome video! Great way to start the week! Thanks Bo and SlowHaste!
The connection/set up section was extremely helpful. Well done @slowhaste
very nice video format! I really like to see how people have found their own gear setup and how they concretely use it. thanks!
This was fun to learn. Thank a lot!
This was nice! Thanks for this episode.
Nicely done, lads! :)
This channel rocks! Loving every beat! 💓🥁
Really cool info! Love the music at the end!
I really considered a Elektron box or two until I realized the MC-707 workflow is a better fit for how I tend to work. This is definitely one hell of a compact set up and I can see some people getting a lot of millage out of it.
Mc707 is great! All you need in one box
So awesome to see @slowhaste here!! 👏🙌🫡😎
looks like you've gotta love learning menus
great video
You really can’t do any better as a first decent hardware synth setup. These Elektron boxes are easy to get into and they can also go deep when you’re ready. The Digitakt also performs very capably as a MIDI controller should you want to add extra synths later. But this may be the only setup the synth curious or DJ’s looking to create their own sound may ever need. Elektron build quality is terrific and their products are a joy to use. Elektron support and community are second to none and these products hold their value too.
Yeah, all people really need is a Keystep (or similar) and some sort of nice groovebox. There's the Digitakt+Digitone pair as shown here, or Syntakt by itself, or MPC, or my personal favorite, a Force. Anything beyond that is extra.
@@Domn879I like it because it's basically Ableton in a box, plus the best stuff from MPC. It covers the entire music creation process, for writing and producing songs without a keyboard and mouse.
@@Domn879The Deluge is good too. It has some really powerful features. The UI makes those features a little hard to get at though, so most of the Deluge owners I know eventually traded it for something else.
My live show set up is digitone-models/cycles and bass station with a few pedals. Super fun but I’d love to get an octotrack to really seal the deal
Take your Keystep, add your Phone, install Korg Gadget ==> DAW-less setup DAW or any mobile synth! Disconnect one wire, take your phone to Kitchen table or Restroom-studio 😂 Easiest!
Whenever I hear slow haste‘s music I think to myself, maybe I should give elektron gear a whirl, but then I watch one beginner overview video and think, nope, I’m not learning that anytime soon 😅 One day. Maybe?
Try Dave Mech's Digitakt/Digitone courses.
Also, you could just use 1 midi channel "A and set it to 11" and set DN auto to 11 then what ever ch selected on DN will be played. Freeing up more midi channels etc
The dual mono is a pointless step if you’re plugging in a stereo image no? Just use the stereo input mixer setting. Just making this harder than it needs to be. I can understand if you were using the L and R outputs as busses with panning and not using the internal digitone effects but that doesn’t appear to be the case?
Yep, they’d both work just as well for this use case!
A great DAWless setup for the outside/camping/beach is a Digitone & myVolts Ripcord 12VDC & Anker 733 & earbuds (& BigBlue 3). From sketching, to mastering a complete piece can be done easily on a Digitone. Even a hundred miles from another human being.
I think a digitakt and an ipad make a great combo too. With AUM or another AU instrument host app, you can run a variety of synths on the ipad and sequence everything on the digitakt. The two just connect via USB.
I'm doing a similar thing with a keystep37, a Deluge and an Empress Zoia. Minimalist but at the same time powerful
Maine is class. I was there to see my brother, well cool spot.
It’s the best!!
Thank you . What kind of equipment stand is he using ? 🎉
i figure beethoven didnt have a "hole" in his setup because he didnt play every instrument in the orchestra, and he never once had GAS. he just had consistency and dedication to a single instrument. Id argue that since the tools are even more advanced now, its even more important to narrow your focus and simplify your setup. a lot of musicians just end up stuck in the mud because they waste all their effort on learning new setups rather than learning actual music theory or other relevant skills. amusingly a lot of musicians even swear off composition or other difficult skills under the premise that its useless because "its all been done". thats what they said in beethovens day too and yet it didnt stop him did it?
Excellent video! @SlowHaste I see that other DAWless musicians like to sequence on the Digitone and use the Digitakt MIDI tracks to mute the channels on the Digitone. Can you expand more on why you prefer this approach? Also, if you were to add a Syntakt to this setup, where would you put it in the signal chain?
Hey thanks! The answer is pretty simple and kind of silly - I just enjoy the tactility of using the colored track buttons on the ‘Tone to help me remember which synth part is on which track
If i was going to go with a one box solution, i probably go for MC101. Which you can also connect to iPad with audio and midi.
Hey Bobeats, nice vid! Which box would you recommend for sound designing drum/percussion the Rytm or the Syntakt???
Rytm if you can afford it for sure. Syntakt is the more fun groovebox tho imo
@@BoBeats Awesome, I appreciate your response and keep up the great work you do, thanks!!!
Im new to this, But if I use the Digitakt and want "keys", is there any benefit to have a "synth" like the minilogue, microfreak, or Hydrasynth.....or is the keystep all I would need? My overall goal is Ambient nature sampling infused with keys of some kind. Love your channel!
How would having a Keystep Pro effect this setup? This is where my brain starts to break. Like would it make my KSP kinda useless? Like I’d have to make the KSP the salve and sequence my other gear from the Digitakt. Which might be a great new way to do things. It’s very new to me.
I think having the KSP would still be useful if the idea is to utilize the KSP internal sequencer (which is probably why you have the KSP anyway). You would just set the channel of each device to an appropriate sequencer channel on your KSP and then use it as normal.
@@tehbigshow This is kinda what I already do, except I can only sequence one of the 4 parts of the Digitone because the other three sequence lanes of the KSP control a Virus Ti-1, Korg Radias, and and Tasty Chips GR-1. If the Keystep pro had 3 more sequence lanes it would work, because I could sequence all 4 parts of the Digitone with the KSP, plus the other three synths. The Digitakt is just clocked to the Keystep Pro as a slave, so I can use The Digitakt’s sequencer to write sequences outside of the KSP as I punch in the data on it. Perhaps I have to just change the settings of the Digitone. As of now it won’t allow me to record what I play on the KSP in the Digitones sequencer. It plays all the 4 parts if I select which part to play on the Digitone, but when I try to record a sequence in the Digitones sequencer it records no sequence data. It may just be a setting inside the midi routing of the Digitone. I’d be cool with just using one of the 4 sequence lanes of the KSP just to play sequences into the Digitones sequencer. I suck at this side of production. Can make music all day, but when it comes to all the connectivity I’m not so smart. At least I have it all multi tracked. But yeah that’s why the Digitakt as the master brain interests me, because it has 8 midi channels instead of 4 on the KSP. In a nutshell my I confused as to how to sequence all three synths and all 4 parts of the Digitone. That’s 7 midi channels I need to control. I don’t even need the the KSP at that point. I can use a Keystep 37. The only thing is I’ll miss the workflow of the Keystep pro and it hold button that lets me make drones. So confusing, but I’ll figure it out eventually. It helps to discuss it with others. Thanks
UPDATE: I don’t know what I did, but I figured it out. I changed some settings inside the Digitone and now it lets me record all 4 parts in the sequencer of the Digitone while playing it on one of the Keystep Pro’s dedicated midi lane 😂 See just talking about it helps. This is a breakthrough for me lol Now let’s upgrade that firmware on the Digitone so I can use song mode like I do on the Digitakt. I held off because I was sequencing it with the KSP.
KSP allows 4 sequences, 3 synths and 1 drum, you also have CV/gate out too, and to add, arps.
You can transpose, MIDI map some knobs, it's a really nice piece of kit that I would not ever do without.
So to answer your q, you can master the KSP, slave the Digi and have its own sequences running, just that you enable start and stop on the KSP through the software.
I generally use it as my master.
Have the same setup. I would like to record the main outputs of the DT with my Zoom F3 and use headphones at the same time. But it seems that I just can't control the volume of both outputs individually. Can I control the outputs (Headphones/Output) seperatly from each other?
Ive been on and off about getting into a DAWless setup, i currently have a Blackbox from 1010music and a Korg Minilogue XD. I also have a Akai MPD218 and MPK49. That should be enough to get started right?
More than enough
Guess it's time to sell my MiniFreak and get a Digitakt, huh?
Unless you want both a sampler AND a synth. IDK how well the Microfreak syncs... it should sync fine, no? That, and a Keystep, is still a pretty minimalist set-up!
I mean the Microfreak plus the Digitakt plus a keystep. The microfreak can handle samples now, right? Still, it's not got all the channels of the digitakt.
Only sell the freak if you're no longer interested or need the money.
I have one and quite like it - I'm pondering a Digitone as well - but I don't sell current things to get other things usually. I don't look at them as being better than something else right away. I think of them as friends or siblings - but if I end up not using one 6 months later, then perhaps a sale.
Let’s not be to hasty there, if you have any a little bit of cash, or can save up, get a new Polyend Tracker (assuming you have a Keystep Pro)
I'm a bit confused why you recorded into the Digitone (about ten minutes in). Wouldn't it make sense to record the MIDI data into the MIDI track on the Digitakt, so you're just using the Digitone as a sound module?
My Digitone keys is by far the greatest synth ever can’t believe people dump on it
What are the coloured instrument cables that he’s using?
Whenever I record an arpeggiated sequence unquantized on the DT it plays / saves completely different / out of sync / buggy.
It's the same here at around 10:00. Is there anything I can do about it?
It is driving me nuts.
Why can't it just be saved exactly how I'm playing it? It works with the arp turned off...
There is a record- quantize setting, which I thought was off by default... that's particularly odd because I would expect an arpeggiator to be rigidly quantize to begin with...
Is it possible your arpeggio is faster than the step length? Seems doubtful, but it might explain your symptom...
Have you tried midi recording a chord and sending the message back with the arpeggiator on?
I remember when you got a push and Ableton. I don’t really get why dawdles is the Holy Grail?
It isn’t.
Really good suggestions here! This really has a lot of parallels to the circuit tracks in my workflow. The novation circuit tracks is probably worth a mention here or even a video of its own in this context...? In addition to sequencing 8 tracks, it accepts two inputs and has mixing functionality with automation recording for volume levels, pan, filter, and FX. The FX sound great and include a wide range of delays, massive or small reverbs, gated reverbs, and modulated reverbs. Not only that, it also has side chain compression available for those inputs and includes a master limiter and master filter. The built in sequencer is very capable including probability, microstepping, reverse, random, half time, and double time pattern modes, pattern 'scenes' and finally they have added song mode. You can seamlessly switch projects during playback to connect multiple songs together which basically means you can live perform up to 64 songs together without any gap in the audio to load a different 'pack'. All you have to do is hookup two synths to it and run it into a portable recorder and you have an incredible 'just push record' DAWless setup. Aside from some basic EQ or running mastering plugin/scripts on your single mix file you won't really need anything else in post processing which makes for a fantastic workflow.
The circuit has excellent FM synths, so add an analog synth to it and you're good to go and have a channel leftover if you want to add in a poly, and... It's portable and battery operated too so take it with you for building songs and then when you get back to the studio add in the other two tracks. Teams up well with a microfreak and even more so with another groovebox style synth like the Roland JDXI. But When I recently got a softpop2 I said, OK now this is it what it really needed to be teamed up with. A powerful and crazy little analog synth. 😃 We sure are lucky to have all these crazy options available and no need for daws!
It is already mid-July... shouldn't we get already some news about the new product from IK Multimedia?
Soon! But it has been delayed :-(
@@BoBeats :(
@@BoBeats Uno Synth Pro X already leaked out - so no time to waste with the review ;)
KeyStep - yes. Swap Elektron with MC-101 and you are all set
Digitakt with mc101 could be a fun setup
you will see it´s really easy... 7 minutes later of configuration in menu diving.. me totally lost.
Bro, its Di-JEE-takt
Bro, no! Its a Swedish company and a Swedish word.
Digi as in Digital
Which is pronounced with a hard G in Swe
And Takt meaning Beat in Swedish
🤦♂️
Am I the only one shocked by how bo is using other RUclipsrs ? I saw a 3rd one popping in like 2 weeks (summer of synths ) Bo is basically doing nothing but introducing another youtuber , Like if you follow some of those guys you don't learn really something , are they paid in exposure? I hear that it might be interesting for smaller RUclipsrs to have that exposure yet those videos are sponsored so it does raise some ethical questions in my opinion ...
@@chrisegonmusic I hear your point , i'm yet failrly sure slow haste is not making a living out of his youtube channel yet ,and i'm pretty sure Bo does , i'm happy it worked in your case but beeing paid in exposure still sounds problematic to me , maybe in this case it's not but i feel it's lacking transparency and i don't think it would hurt anyone to have some in that regard
Yes I agree with you. It's pretty weird. I don't even know if Bo really knows music lol
MC-707 way easier. Cheaper. You have a drum track + 7 synth/looper/samplers track. You always know where you are in your tracks and which clips are playing. You have a mixer and if you add a launch pad it integrated very easily to launch pattern. Elektron is for hipster.
by the time you configure all of this you'd prob lose all musical inspiration. are we mad scientist or musician ?
A bit of both?!
That's not the point...
You do this ONE time, after that you are ready to go...
@@ickebins6948yep - this right here!
Musical inspiration is like the city bus in Manhattan... we didn't ever look at the schedule, because the next one would be along soon enough, and they didn't run on schedule ever anyway
If we ran to the bus stop, we might sometimes catch the previous bus, but there's always another.
I can't listen to this guy say Diggy instead of Diji for one second longer. It's painful.
Its a swedish product name by a swedish company so its pronounced diggi
@@BoBeats People pronounce words according to their own country's pronunciation hence way Americans pronounce Moscow Mos🐄 when Russians don't. Words beginning Digi... are pronounced Diji... in English speaking countries. If the guy in the video was a native Swedish speaker then I'd take your point, but as he's not, I don't 👍. It's Diji. No further questions your honor.
@@endoflevelboss I was exposed to Elektron via some lovely Swedes, and therefore learned that particular pronunciation without any other context. Tbh it would feel a bit inorganic & arbitrary to revert to “diji” after that - sorry if it bothers you to hear me pronounce it as such!
@@SlowHasteit did ruin my day to be fair so I appreciate the apology
Im sorry but someone for once make something a total novice can gain from...
If you close your eyes and listen, you would think it’s coming from a toddler musical toy. Elektron is extremely overpriced.
i want to see that toddler music toy, send me a link and i'll buy it asap
My other favorite toddler music toy is the OP-1
2:00 who else has a factorio trauma?