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7.3 TEMPO AND METRONOME

7. QUICK START > 7.3 TEMPO AND METRONOME · PDF p. 22–23 · OS 1.15A

# 7.3 TEMPO AND METRONOME

7. QUICK START
7. QUICK START
This quick start will guide you through some of the basic operations to start using the Digitakt II right away.
First, connect it as described in section “3.3 SETTING UP AND STARTING THE DIGITAKT II” on page 14.
7.1 PLAYING THE FACTORY PRESETS
You can find a number of preset patterns, presets, and samples in the Digitakt II. Follow the instructions
below to get started exploring your new instrument.
1.	 Press [PTN] and then use the  [LEFT]/[RIGHT] keys to select bank A. Then press [TRIG 1] to select
pattern A1.
2.	 Press [PLAY] to listen to pattern A01.
3.	 Press [PTN], and then press [TRIG 2] to cue pattern A02.  It will start once pattern A01 has reached
its end. Select pattern A03 by pressing [PTN], and then press [TRIG 3], and so on.
4.	 Press [STOP] to stop playback.
7.1.1 USING KEYBOARD MODE
You can use the [TRIG] keys to play any track chromatically.
1.	 Select the track to play chromatically by pressing [TRK] + one of the [TRIG 1–16] keys.
2.	 Press [KEYBOARD] to enter KEYBOARD mode. The [TRIG] keys will light up in a pattern that
resembles an octave of a piano keyboard. Only lit keys are playable.
3.	 Play the [TRIG] keys. The preset will be pitched differently for each of the playable keys. Press
[KEYBOARD] + [UP]/[DOWN] to transpose the virtual keyboard up or down one octave.
For more information, please see “8.5.1 KEYBOARD MODE” on page 25.
KEYBOARD mode is an effective way to add musical variety to your beats. The timbre,
tonality and impact of playing a preset chromatically depend on the character of the
source preset.
7.2 USING MUTE MODE
You can mute any of the sequencer tracks in this mode. Unlike the KEYBOARD mode, it makes no
difference which track is active when this mode is activated. You can access all tracks simultaneously.
1.	 Make sure a pattern is playing.
2.	 Press the [FUNC] + [TRK] key to enter MUTE mode.
3.	 Press any of the [TRIG] keys to mute the corresponding track. Press again to unmute. The light of the
[TRIG] keys indicates the mute status. Unlit keys are muted tracks. Lit keys are active tracks.
For more information, please see “8.5.3 MUTE MODE” on page 26.
7.3 TEMPO AND METRONOME
Press the [TEMPO] key to open the TEMPO menu.
7.3.1 TEMPO
To change the BPM setting, open the TEMPO menu by pressing the [TEMPO] key. Use DATA ENTRY
knob A or LEVEL/DATA to change tempo. Pressing the knob while turning it changes the tempo four
BPM at a time. Use DATA ENTRY knob B to change the tempo in decimal steps. You can chose between
a tempo for the whole project or use a separate tempo every pattern. Press and hold [FUNC], and then
use DATA ENTRY knob E to switch between these modes. On the main interface screen, you can also

7. QUICK START
press and hold the [ARROW] keys [LEFT] or [RIGHT] to nudge the tempo 10% up or down temporarily.
Release the key to revert to the original tempo.
To tap a tempo setting, hold the [FUNC] key and tap the [TEMPO] key in a steady rhythm. After four
consecutive taps the average tempo of the taps will be calculated. By continuing tapping, the average
tempo will keep on updating. You can also use an extrnal MIDI controller to tap the tempo by sending
note C0 on the selected FX CONTROL MIDI channel.
When in the TEMPO menu (and with PROJECT tempo mode selected), holding [FUNC] while turning
DATA ENTRY knob A will not change the tempo to the selected value until the [FUNC] key is released.
While doing this, “PREP.” flash in the bottom left corner of the screen.
Nudging the tempo is very handy when manually syncing Digitakt II to a turntable or an
external sound source. Note that you do not need to be in the TEMPO menu to nudge the
tempo.
DATA ENTRY knob D to adjust the swing setting of the pattern, to employ a propulsive, rhythmic groove.
The swing ratio can be set to 51-80%. The default setting is equal spacing, 50%.
7.3.2 METRONOME
The metronome settings controls the internal metronome of the Digitakt II. Use the DATA ENTRY knobs
to change the settings.
METRO activates/deactivates the metronome. You can also press [TEMPO] + [YES] to toggle the
metronome on/off.
SIG. controls the note and beat measure of the metronome time signature.
PREROLL controls for how many bars the metronome will sound before the sequencer starts playing.
This setting is only relevant when you are in LIVE RECORDING mode.
VOL controls the volume of the click.
7.4 EDITING PARAMETERS
Each track has six PARAMETER pages. Press [PARAMETER] keys TRIG, SRC, FLTR, AMP, FX, and MOD to
access the different PARAMETER pages. These parameters affect the sound and signal in various ways.
1.	 Make sure a pattern is playing.
2.	 Press [TRK] + [TRIG] keys 1–16 to select a track.
3.	 To change, for example, the cutoff of the filter, press the [FLTR] key to open the FILTER page.
The parameter labeled FREQ changes the cutoff of the filter. Turn DATA ENTRY knob E to change
the parameter value, and hear how the sound is affected.
Try out the rest of the PARAMETER page parameters to explore a variety of sound shaping possibilities.
7.5 SAMPLING FROM THE EXTERNAL INPUTS
Digitakt II can also sample audio. It can sample audio from external sources, via the external inputs, and it
can also sample audio internally from the Digitakt II itself.
1.	 Connect your audio source to the IN L/R inputs of the Digitakt II.
2.	 Press [SAMPLING] to access the SAMPLING menu and then use DATA ENTRY knob A to set
SOURCE to IN L R.
3.	 Keep an eye on the input level meter and play the audio source and make sure that the volume of the
audio source is as strong as possible, but without clipping or distorting. Set MON to POST MIX to
monitor the incoming audio through the Digitakt II’s mixer and effects.
4.	 Again, with an eye on the input level meter, use DATA ENTRY knob D to set THRESHOLD just above
the indicated background noise of the audio source (when it is not playing).
5.	 Use R.LEN to set the length of the sampling.
6.	 Switch ARM to ON to arm the sampler and then play the sound source. When the input audio exceeds
the set THRESHOLD level, sampling will start.
7.	 Press [YES] when you want to stop sampling, or with an R.LEN setting of 1–128, the sampling stops
automatically. The sampling also stops if it reaches the max sampling time (66 seconds). The Digitakt
II then automatically normalizes the sample.
8.	Use the DATA ENTRY knobs E and H to set the parameters TRIM START and TRIM END to trim the
sample to the desired length. You can use the DATA ENTRY knob F to zoom in and out to make it
easier to see where to trim the sample. Use [FUNC] + F to zoom vertically. Use knob G to position the

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