So I got my Pyramid a couple of days ago and have been playing around with it a bit now. I have it hooked up to a couple of synths and my Digitakt.
Right now I have it set up with one MIDI channel per sample on the Digitakt (as in Kick on channel 1, Snare on channel 2 and so on up to Cymbal on channel 8). I set it up like this because the Digitakt was set up like this, and I just went with it.
I guess this is nice since I can control CC’s for each of the drum samples, and if I use other samples (f.ex. audio or use Digitakt as a synth voice) I can play scales per track.
I was just wondering if any of you guys have set it up differently, and why. Do you see any pros or cons with the way I have it?
Will I be able to control all CC’s if I set up all the drum sounds on one channel and play them as notes?
I guess I’m just curious as to how you may have set it up and why you set it up that way.
Also, enjoying my first days with the Pyramid. Such an awesome machine!
I just ordered a Pyramid…the Digitakt is currently the centerpiece of my set up, but the Pyramid sequencer looks so powerful that decided to take the plunge. I was thinking of setting it up the way you mentioned, so the Digitakt would be my “drum machine”, but also more if i had a chromatic sample in one of the slots.
Would love to hear if people set it up a different way and why as well so I can be prepared when I get the Pyramid
For Digitakt and RYTM, you can actually sequence all eight tracks off of one channel (if you don’t need pitch control). Track 1 (Kick) starts at C-2, while Track 8 (Cymbal) is G-2. I didn’t find this out until recently, despite having these boxes for a while. Overbridge 2.0 finally had me diving more into the MIDI stuff.
Hello. I’ve been trying to find an answer to how I set this up, but am drawing a blank.
I want to sequence the Digitakt using just one MIDI channel, mainly to save definition file space on the Pyramid.
How can I set this up?
Grateful for a reply.
Like trickyflemming said, you can set one track on Pyramid to send one channel to Digitakt. Then playing C-2 through G2 will give you Trk 1 trough Trk 8 on the Digitakt by default. Loopop also briefly shows this in his tutorial for the Pyramid, though he doesn’t explain it in much detail, he shows how he has renamed C-2 to Kick, C#-2 to Snare and so on, so that it’s a bit easier to work with, and how he uses poly editing to sequence.
I still haven’t made the jump from 8 channels to 1, mainly because my setup hasn’t been up for a long while. But it’s up now so it’s time to dive into some tutorials and get back in the game again!
Thank you, both!
It’s been a long time since I watched that tutorial, a tutorial that was the reason for me buying the Pyramid in the first place. Seems like it’s time to brush up on a few forgotten features! I love the machine, it works perfectly for what I need and it is certainly deep enough to keep challenging me for a long time.
New years resolution here is to work solely with Pyramid + Digitakt to hash out all these small things and get the flow under my skin! So, back to the tutorials, manuals and menudiving to get the setup right and the music flowing! Glad to help, and if you figure out any nice tricks with the two boxes please post in this tread!
Great thread all!
I have managed an interesting and really versatile setup with the DT and the Pyramid:
I use a MIDI merge to merge ‘MIDI out A’ from the Pyramid and ‘MIDI out’ from the DT. This runs into a THRU box which feeds a variety of synths/drum machines. The ‘MIDI out B’ on the Pyramid feeds the ‘MIDI in’ on the DT. This setup allows me to utilize both sequencers for all the instruments as needed, but still allows for the DT to be sequenced by the Pyramid.
As a keyboard player, I like controlling most instruments from a real keyboard so I have one running into the ‘MIDI in’ of the Pyramid. As the DT has an omnimode channel, this allows me to play chromatically easily on any given DT track through the omnimode channel (if I want to sequence from the DT) or on any individual track channel (if I want to sequence the DT from the Pyramid). Setting up 8 individual tracks + an omnimode track eats a lot of tracks (only 55 remain…sheesh…hardly any), but depending on what one has in mind for a project, the single track, note number system might be the better way to go.
In any case, this arrangement has allowed me to get the best of both worlds in terms of sequencing capabilities and allows them to be weaved together as needed.
Hey noumenaut…
Your setup interests me quite a bit - which device is the master (clock)?
I really enjoy my Digitakt, so much so that I’ve added a Digitone to pair it with.
Basic MIDI flow at present: MIDI keyboard out > DT (which is master) > out (for sync) to DN > out to Through box > out to sound modules etc.
Nevertheless I’m not a fan of the 64 bar limitation, or the workarounds I’m aware of.
I’ve been debating a Pyramid for quite some time to help structure those loops (and allow full transfer of multi-track MIDI files into Cubase Pro if needed).
Back to your setup - I wonder if my limited MIDI knowledge is correct in thinking that I might also be able to tag the DN into this kind of setup by connecting DT MIDI Thru > DN MIDI in > DN MIDI out A > MIDI merge in (I’m looking at the Kenton 4in/2out merger)?
This merger only allows one master clock device though - which presumably will be the Pyramid.
Any ideas on this ‘theory’?
Nice! So if I am understanding correctly, you would be aiming to have the Pyramid, DT, and DN running into the merge? Yes, my setup does have the Pyramid as Master clock, which should work fine in the arrangement you describe, utilizing the THRU port on one of your Elektron boxes. The only drawback to your setup I could see is that you would give up the ability to sequence your DN from your DT if it was just out of the THRU port.
Depending on your preferences, this might not matter. If I added a DN into my setup, I would probably stick it on the other side of the merge so that it could be sequenced from either the DT or the Pyramid…mainly because the DT and DN play so nicely together. But in that case, the ability to control other synths with the DN would be hindered. Always compromises! haha
In any case, it will be a lot of fun and produce interesting results. Pyramid is a rock solid Master clock.
Well, it’s an enticing prospect - that’s for sure.
And yes, to your point about how the DN can slot in, I guess this is the beauty of the potential interoperability of many of these clever devices these days - there’s more than one way to skin a cat, as they say.
So, a little late to the Pyramid party perhaps (and I will need to sell something to generate the funds) but I think i’m finally going to pull the trigger.
At which point I can revisit this thread to try out the various MIDI/Digitakt (+Digitone) suggestions.
I’ll report back here - for the greater good!
Hey, I realize this is an old post but thought I would drop this info in case it helps you/someone. On my digi at least, the 8 tracks correspond to notes N0 - N7. . . so my definition file looks like this:
NAME:DIGITAK1
OUT:A
CHANNEL:1
3:TRG NOTE
4:TRG VELO
5:TRG LENG
7:VOLUME
10:PAN
13:FLT TRG
14:LFO TRG
16:TUNE
17:PLAY MOD
18:BIT REDU
19:SMP SLOT
20:SMP STAR
21:SMP LENG
22:LOOP POS
23:SMP LVL
24:FXR PRED
25:FXR TIME
26:FXR SHFR
27:FXR SHGA
28:FXR HPF
29:FXR LPF
31:FXR MIX
70:FLT ATTK
71:FLT DCAY
72:FLT SUST
73:FLT REL
74:FLT FREQ
75:FLT RESO
76:FLT TYPE
77:ENV DEPT
78:AMP ATTK
79:AMP HOLD
80:AMP DCAY
81:OVERDRIV
82:DLAY SEN
83:REVB SEN
85:FXD TIME
86:FXD L>R>
87:FXD WIDT
88:FXD FDB
89:FXD HPF
90:FXD LPF
91:FXD>REV
92:FXD MIX
94:MUTE
95:TRK LVL
102:LFO SPD
103:LFO MULT
104:LFO FADE
105:LFO DEST
106:LFO WAVE
107:LFO SPH
108:LFO TRGM
109:LFO DP C
110:LFO DP(LSB)
111:CMP THRE
112:CMP ATTK
113:CMP REL
114:CMP GAIN
115:CMP RTIO
116:CMP SC S
117:CMP SD F
118:CMP WET
119:CMP PVOL
N0:KICK
N1:SNARE
N2:TOM
N3:CLAP
N4:COW
N5:CLHAT
N6:OPENHAT
N7:CYMBAL
It does seem like using these notes will limit your ability to sequence CC/parameters for each track from the pyramid. (but of course nothings stopping you from sequencing that other stuff on pyramid tracks that correspond to the digitakt tracks you want to paramater sequence)
Aaand, all that said, I actually find it really rewarding to mostly sequence the digitakt from the digitakt and just sync it to the pyramid.
I’ve only recently purchased a Pyramid and I’m trying different ways of using it within my setup. First try was using 8 tracks on the Pyramid with the corresponding 8 drum/audio tracks on the DT and now I would like to try using it by only using 1 track on the Pyramid. I’ve read through this topic a couple of times, I’ve used the def file graciously provided by rstn, but I just can’t seem to get it to work??
Whenever I use Live mode I get the kickdrums played in notes/pitches when I use the keyboard on the Pyramid and using N0-N7 as per rstn’s is a mystery to me too, I can only use C-1 to G9 (in Step mode).
What am I missing?? I can’t seem to find my answer in any youtube video or tutorial and I’m starting to really doubt myself.
What I think you are trying to achieve isn’t doable with just the pyramid and digitakt. You can set all of the DT’s tracks to receive from the same midi channel, but they cannot be assigned to different notes. The tracks will all play chromatically at the same time.
I have often wished this was possible too, but I don’t think it is.
There may be some other gear that could make this happen. Something that customizes midi sgnals, but I don’t know what is best there.
But if I read previous posts in this topic @Pontus at some point specifically asked the same question and @Spazzickagent and @rstn replied that they made it work. But I don’t understand their explanation. But they both explicitly said they worked with the Digitakt using only 1 track on the Pyramid.
Hey again. Well I’ve learned somethjng here today! Just did a test and the DT Will in fact respond to one channel. This is neat.
Looks like using the auto-channel midi channel on the DT Will get you there. In step mode on the Pyramid, it is C-1 through G-1 that triggers each track.
My solution was to buy a Hapax, download the def file for the digitakt from the forum here and that instantly worked (controlling the tracks with one channel)… I’m not saying it’s the cheapest solution, but hey
Thanks for coming back on this topic btw, cool to keep discussions going and to keep on learning
and yeah it’s plenty powerful
Glad to help, and if you figure out any nice tricks with the two boxes please post in this tread!
