no worries ha, I also got swept up in the comments.
I’d gladly take multi track over usb and not have the UI.
2 Likes
Okayyyy, I thought you were talking about multitracking over usb in general, but it’s just the overbridge application that you don’t see the benefit of.
I understand better and personally I was thinking of audio over usb via overbridge, since that’s obviously how Elektron does it.
1 Like
People talk about plugin FX commonly, or multitracking, but if someone is into automation mapping from within the DAW (and there are many use cases where Elektron LFOs won’t cut it or get someone the desirable goal) then modulating Elektron parameters from within the Overbridge plugin is much faster to set up and more efficient. Visually you also have in most cases a single pane of view for multiple areas, with enhanced visual feedback versus the hardware counterpart. On the hardware for example, you can’t visually see what an LFO is doing or how it is moving. You have to listen for that.
It’s not perfect and I’ve also suggested many times to Elektron to get the UI up to par with visual representation for things like waveforms on hardware that are presented as a knob in Overbridge, but it’s still an improvement over the hardware in the current state from my point of view anyways.
4 Likes
Yep. This is what I use OB for… adding FX on a per-track basis in Ableton Live that go way beyond what you can do inside an Elektron Digi box.
Overbridge has transformed how I use Syntakt in particular… Drum Buss on kicks, Valhalla reverbs, Dimension D chorus plugin turning the ST Chord Machine into a pretty decent pad option etc etc.
I’m holding off on DN2 until OB is out for that reason.
5 Likes
Yeah, sounds like you could get away with multi track audio over USB as well. No need for the OB interface?
Correct. I literally never look at the OB UI. It’s all about the separate outputs per track for me. Live is essentially my mixer at this point.
The only two downsides of Overbridge are latency (although that’s manageable IME) and the fact that you lose the ability to set per track levels via the mixer on the Digi box itself and panning on the Amp page doesn’t do anything.
That said, I use a Push 3 so it’s pretty simple to open up all the OB inputs and adjust volume and pans using the encoders on the Push. Still feels like engaging with hardware directly that way.
I can still p-lock FX sends on the Digi box itself (eg dialling up Delay on a particular trig) as I also route the Delay and Reverb returns via OB. So the insert FX I add per track in Live sit alongside the Delay and Reverb sends per track inside the Digi box.
It is a powerful setup. If you use a DT2, ST and DN2 (once OB for DN2 is out) that is like putting up to 44 individual track outs from 44 different synths into a seriously big mixing desk.
Admittedly I am unlikely to use all 16 DN2 tracks simultaneously (when I eventually buy one). I reckon I will usually use around 3-5 tracks simultaneously as the main role for the DN2 for me will be pads, other chordal stuff, leads and basses.
But still, around 4 tracks out of DN2 plus 16 out of DT2 and 12 out of ST (I almost always use all of the tracks on the ST) would use up every channel on a 32 channel desk in the analog world.
And all that over just three little USB cables. Witchcraft, basically.
2 Likes
Well, I understood that it took so long for the first device on this new platform, but I never expected it to take so long on the DN2. Isn’t it pretty much the same logic as DT2? 16 tracks out etc.? Whether the source is a synth voice or sample, isn’t the rest pretty much the same?
I have absolutely no clue of how the internal logic for these things work, but I would expect a lot of stuff to be reused for DN2 as the DT2.
Well, obviously not otherwise it would be done already. For one thing, it’s not simply a synth voice- the DN2 comprises four different synth machines each with its own set of fairly complex combinations of parameters. So maybe that’s a thing? Idk (nor do I claim to). I very much doubt tho that this delay is down to complacency on Elektron’s part.
Sure, but isn’t the sound sent through Overbridge the “summed audio” after the synth voices (and effects) have done their thing?
So whether the summed audio is, let’s say, playback of a sample that’s 2 cent pitched up or the FM drum synth voice with different parameters, shouldn’t it be transferred to the app in the same way?
Also, you seem like a nice guy.
Have you used overbridge? It’s a lot more than what you’ve described there, it enables full programming of the instrument from within the software. I can only imagine that it would be incredibly complex to code.
Thanks?
2 Likes
and have the same interface work across something like 12 devices… can you fucking imagine?
like a true magician, elektron is making the hard part look like an afterthought. kudos to the devs.
7 Likes
Overbridge, ruiner of otherwise excellent threads since…
7 Likes
Haha, sorry.
But it is sold as Overbridge enabled, so it is a bit disappointed that it’s not ready:
https://elektron.se/explore/digitone-ii
3 Likes
No, you are right, there is a lot more than multitracking. I have only used it for multitracking.
1 Like
Personally, I’m glad they release the hardware first, and then focus on the OB stuff afterwards. I may be biased because I prefer to use the hardware interface, but it allows one to get into the hardware, and then eventually the OB software shows up. It always does show up though, so nothing to worry about. I know it sucks waiting for things though. 
I also understand that everyone uses things differently, and many have REALLY gotten into OB. I think it’s cool, but I don’t use it myself. I can definitely see the value in it for some situations. I use Elektrons to get away from the computer though (at least as much as possible ) It’s definitely on topic, so don’t mind me. I just like the general conversation better than the OB conversation. Once again though, that’s just me.
4 Likes
I make everything on hardware, but I already have a lot of music I want to mix and master from the DN2, and recording stereo out doesn’t give the fine control that I want.
But of course we just have to wait. I still would prefer it if they wrote “Overbridge coming” or something on the product page though.
3 Likes
i think if it makes sense business wise and we end up with this amazing box and elektron get to spend the time needed developing overbridge it’s great to release it as and when.
it’s sold as overbridge enabled, i.e it can run it, it’s not misleading at all.
i’m happy to wait if it works well and it’s sustainable for them!
i’ve been having a blast with DNII already - being able to run it through fx in ableton is going to be so good.
1 Like
I think OB will be nice at times when it comes out. Many times with my Syntakt I record everything in one track at a time analog because I don’t always want the Fx and especially some of the FX block stuff on a separate track. I’m imagining similar situations on my DT2 once it’s OB enabled.
glitched, dubby …
brutal, hardcorey …
15 Likes
Understand completely on that, and that is definitely where OB becomes interesting.
I do things a bit strangely perhaps in that I tend to compartmentalize gear. Not rigidly, but I tend to make say, Digitone tracks, modular sound scapes, noodly arpeggiated and key-played space music on whatever keyboard synth I have at the time, and then if I really want to put an idea together from the ground up, I use the computer and program every nuance one nuance-unit at a time. 
Sometimes I group a couple together, on rare occasions I get the whole studio synced up and make something. But I find that when I focus on these little compartments things turn out better. I push myself more to squeeze things out of the instrument (kind of the tracker mindset from decades past maybe )
I of course understand and employ when I need to a more multi-track studio approach, but more often than not, my music is just me and the given box or synth of that moment in mostly raw format with a bit of post production. I think most people would find that limiting, and if I think about it academically, I’d agree. However, I’m at my best with that “here’s what I’m making music with today, make it work” approach. 
So OB while cool, and I appreciate it, doesn’t have a big pull for me.
2 Likes