Digitakt vs. TR-8S - Sound Comparison (Sample Playback, Compressor, Filters, Reverb, Delay) 

Youre welcome! Thank you.

@@kyrylo1220 it is you who compares :-)

Np, youre welcome.

Bobeats is a Swedish Elektron fanboy not a professional musician. Jeremy is more open minded in my opinion. But after I owned a Digitakt, I doubt that not many professional studios use this device in production.

The TR-8S screen looks like a 1980's calculator. The interface has nothing on the Digi, in my opinion - it does sound really good though.

exactly the same history here, and yes, TR8s is much better in every aspect

'Digitakt not good for live' Check out Dataine and Dave Mech. Sure it's less forgiving, but a guitar is less forgiving than either of these instruments.

:-) Its invaluable, for sure!

youre welcome!

It was the TR8s as far as i remember. With high resonance its filters produced some crazy peaks in the frequency spectrum. A limiter should help here ;-)

@@umonox there's limiter option for doing exactly this.

did you find a way to do it?

yep, this Tape Delay also got me. It sounds a bit harsher as i would expect it. I had a Strymon Timeline back then - its Tape Delay was fu**in awesome, but this Comparison is truly unfair :-) For what it is its really useful on that TR-8S. The other two Delay Types are rather basic though. The Digitakts Delay is more versatile here as it allows for a Stereo Spread Control. Which is somewhat mandatory for a Delay imho. But overall i also like the Effects of the TR-8s quite a lot. They definitely add something to this little Box. For sure!

I actually like Digitakts delay even though it's basic it has a nice and full sound.

Yes

Splice ?

Google

Thx. I would keep the Digitakt, since i like to be able to program a lot of stuff into the patterns. The TR8s doesnt shine here because you can only map one single Parameter to the CTRL-Knob. Bit of a letdown. Might be interesting to see how the MC-707 performs. But i currently dont have the option to get my hands on this thing. So its just a guess that this newer Roland machine might be a better allrounder in the end. Would recommend you check out some videos about it before making your purchase ;-)

@@umonox correct me if im wrong but I believe the new 2.5 update now allows up to 6 parameters to be mapped to the CTRL knob..

@@slimyzombie6 at the same time? So you can affect 6 parameters all with the turn of the knob?

@@grazstarr yes, macros basically

Overbridge

Drumbrute is analog and sounds relatively "hard" compared to the TR-8s. The modelled Sounds on the TR-8s were a bit more pleasing to my ears. But the Drumbrute is absolutely straight forward, everything is in direct access. And it has individual Outs too. Check out my Videos i did with the Drumbrute and listen to Videos from others as well. If the Sound fits for you. go get it. Otherwise the TR-8s would be the better choice i think. Both are very easy and straightforward in the end. The TR-8s has Samples on top of the modelled Engines and is therefore more versatile. It also has Effects and offers more Sound Editing Capabilities. Its the more "complete" package in the end, i think :-)

Perfect answer, I think I'll get an 8S.

You used the phrase "the tr-8 is just a drum machine", as a negative, however, I would make a case that this is the main strong point of the TR8-S. In other words, a Stratocaster is "only a guitar", a Ludwig Black Beauty is only a snare, Moog One is only an analogue synthesizer, a Stradivarius is only a violin, and yet, they are superb executions of what they are intended to do. The Roland TR8-S is a superb DRUM MACHINE - it tries to do that very, very well, and it does. If you need something to be a sampler and/or a sequencer, I could make an argument that you'd be better off getting an SP-404 MK II, an MPC-X, or a Maschine+. For that matter, the sequencer on my Sequential Pro 3 is better, IMO than the one found on the Digitakt (and yes, I do have a Digitakt, but I enjoy using the TR8-S much more, because it's such a fantastic DRUM MACHINE.) My point is, it's OK that the TR8-S is just a drum machine, because it's such a damn good one, in so many ways, with so few compromises.

so in the end you agree with me, the tr-8 is just a drum machine :), a good one but a drum machine. Drum machines you know ... we all know them. Digitakt is just a whole lot more than a drum machine. its a fantastic sounding and creative piece of gear. its a unique instrument. Sp404 or MPCX are completely different stuff and not that great. Digitakt its unique and what you can do with it you can not do with a tr8 Sp404 or whatever other gear. Maybe you should get one and work with it for a couple of months, you will understand what i mean. Aside of that, i have owned several MPC´s , Octatrack, Sp404 etc and nothing compares in sound to the Digitakt. Digitakt is the best sounding sample based machine ever. whatever shitty sample you play on it, just sounds incredible. you can not understand that just watching youtube videos. Anyway .. maybe you should just keep going with your tr8, Digitakt is not for everyone :), that is also true

@@toddthomas4761 Yeah well, maybe it´s not the fault of the TR8s, its just that Digitakt is fantastic

@@toddthomas4761 you owned them all? what you mean? you owned all the drum machines? :)) all of them? lol

What means “just”? It doing it’s best in drums 🤷‍♂️ DT same drum machine but not so powerful as tr8s. Tr8s is about standalone production & live - more knobs, more control, more about making powerful drums, more settings is under the fingers. DT - just for fun & portable.

Sure you can, via usb or midi out.

Hi. Samples are from a Sample Pack called "Shades of Techno". Its made by Niche Audio - my all time favourite Company when it comes to quality Samples. You can get it here: www.nicheaudio.co.uk/shades-of-techno - or from Loopmasters (where i bought it).

thanks man much apreciated!

youre welcome!

Definitely. That was my feeling as well. Even if you turn the Resonance down, the Filter seems to resonate a little. And once you dial it up, the Resonance gets very pronounced in a very short amount of time! Hard to tell which one is better for Live usage. The Faders and the direct access to a couple of important Parameters make the TR-8s quite potent in that area - the Digitakt doesnt allow you to control several Tracks from one single Screen, except for the Track-Volume. You could counter this with a separate Controller, sure, but its not the same. On the other hand you can design Patterns on the Digitakt in ways not nearly possible with the TR-8s sequencer (which is rather basic) so you can use several Patterns on the Digi to do all the fancy stuff you would do with a couple of direct Effect Controls. The Digi is definitely more versatile here if you spend more time preparing the Stuff. The TR-8s lets you move on directly with no additional preparation - but we know how few parameters you have available in general. So you may get stuck at a certain point.

Filters are different type for sure.

Did you end up getting a digitakt? I'm in the same situation.

What was the result of your journey? I'm one week in with the TR8s and thinking about changing... thanks

Should've stuck with the TR8 - they have random now!

Agree, I have my Rs7000 since 17 years ago 😬😬 and still using it 😍😍

@Mike DeGrasse Tyson lol.. for boom bap Hip Hop its perfect!

You can change the Pitch of the Samples on both Machines, of course! If your question relates to setting an actual Note value (like C1 or D#3): This is not possible on the TR-8s, but possible on the Digitakt. It only works properly if the Sample is properly pitched of course. Which is not a Problem because you can still adjust the Pitch on the Digitakt while changing the Notes of the Sample. These two Parameters are independent from each other.

What I meant is that if I had a sequence playing in one key could I transpose the whole sequence into another. Apologies that the original post didn't really get my question over correctly.

Ah, now i get ya :-) Track Transpose is not possible on both Machines. People asked for this on the Digitakt for ages, but its not available. I dunno if this was possible on the old TR-8, but on the new TR-8s this feature is also missing.

Got your point. But you miss an important thing: For the people out there it is irrelevant where a machine stores its Samples. It simply has to load them fast and it has to offer a sufficient amount of memory for that. In both disciples the TR-8s fails and this HAS to be pointed out! Especially because this Video is a comparison between the TR-8s and Elektrons little magic Box. Which is what my subscribers requested. And therefore: These things matter! ;-) Btw: If you turn off the Digitakt and turn it back on, the Samples are automatically loaded from the non-volatile memory into the RAM again. So you also dont "loose" anything ;-) And its still fast. There's simply no excuse to the really long Sample loading times the TR-8s has. Not today, where fast Memory is affordable for everyone - including companies that make Drum Machines ;-)

Respect to all *TLDRs but this hit me in a spot where I hate YT. With all due respect, you said you got my point, but you clearly didn't. You compared two things that aren't even apples to oranges, but more like apples to a shrimp burrito and then said which one failed. I believe you know a lot of stuff and I will stay subscribed to you but if when someone that knows something more than you comes by and says something and you dismiss it, then regardless of the fact that you think you have so many subscribers at 5k, that doesn't impress me. What would impress me is if you engaged the question at hand and came up with the correct answer or at least had a discussion about it rather than taking one of your followers and tell him why he is wrong when in fact I am not. Volatile vs. nonvolatile RAM is not slow vs fast RAM, in fact with saving something as small as a tiny audio sample, even if it was saved at it's highest sample rate that makes sense and bitrate would make no difference in speed with modern RAM even if it was slow RAM. To put it into terms that your other subscribers can understand, I will lay it out. First, you know more about both machines than I which is why I haven't caught something else that you may or may not have said wrong. As an aside, I build UAVs (drones) and before I was proficient in everything about it and started my own channel which on FB has 110k subs and on YT is approaching 45k, I used to get my info from a "Tom's Tech Time" and I was only trying to learn about how to fly it but once he started making videos about photography of which I am a Director of Photography and an area I know more than most, I realized he was talking out of his arse. I am not saying you are doing that but it made everything else he said go out the door, because I challenged him on something I know he said wrong as I am doing here and instead of engaging, he did the exact same thing you are which is to say why you are right instead of engaging a conversation and maybe learning why you are indeed wrong in this particular case. Now, knowing that you won't engage and ask something rather than tell something, I cannot take all of the other videos I have watched of yours and I have watched all of them, unless I know it now, if it comes in the future, I can't be sure it's right because you are wrong here. One is not worse than the other because it writes to volatile vs nonvolatile. That is a matter of choice. TBH, even this comparison is apples to oranges but the RAM comparison is not. For perspective and understanding, when you get a firmware update, it is software that is written to nonvolatile RAM which is why it takes longer to write a firmware file than it does to load a sample (that is just loaded from a drive or a wav to Serato or whatever, even if the sample and the firmware are the EXACT same size, the firmware will take longer to write). That alone should explain it but to take it farther, some people who perform on stage, like the idea of knowing that their samples that they will depend on are written to nonvolatile RAM and that it's there and doesn't need to be loaded up at the sight but is ready before the set. Others would rather have the speed for a multitude of reasons but the "the RAM is faster in this one because it loads faster, see" completely leads the uninitiated about RAM to believe you and then your answer didn't even address that, you just said, it loads it when you reload the pattern in the Digi. I love the DIgi. I am not railing against it but apparently you have a desire to prove one over the other. I love analogue almost always over digital but I happen to love the instruments on the ACB boards on the Aira line. It's the best analogue modeled circuitry I've ever heard so that's why I chose to use it to scratch out beats before on-lining/sweeting them. So "for the people out there" it is not "irrelevant where the machine stores the samples" as people that want their samples stored like firmware, and not have to rely on it reloading EVERY single time you load the pattern, they want it stored in non-volitle RAM. Here is another thing to keep in mind on the same exact subject. How about adding up the aggregate amount of time you need to load ALL the samples for every pattern, where it takes the time you showed EVERY time on the Digi, yet on the 8S, it literally takes ZERO full seconds to load the samples other then hitting the buttons because it's essentially already "loaded". For some this is a problem, as it does limit the amount of space you can load samples. Some people would rather have more space than faster samples. On the other hand, a loaded into nonvolatile RAM sample is better than one that is read from a moving parts machine like a hard drive or even an SSD drive so there is that. There are plenty of things that the DIGI does better than the sample loading times and since they are night and day different types of saves and holding, you have compared a corvette to a hotel and made a decision as to which one was "better" because the pool is nicer at the hotel. I am sorry this is so long but I want everyone to trust themselves and in this world of YT the I know so much stuff and I'll show you the way to do it leads to mass incorrectness. I wonder how many people think that the load times are just faster on the Digi because of this without knowing the reasons why because they haven't read this post. I have been a producer for 20 years and I am here to learn from you so I don't fall into the category of "teach me because I know nothing". I am humble but also not afraid to say when I know something or when someone else is telling wrong info. I own a ton of gear and have since I was a kid. I like to scratch out beats on gear because I believe in body and soul. I have been using my MPC2000XL for years to start my patterns and I have just tired of doing the 8 outs all the time so I finally loved the sound of the 8S and with the 8 patterns, decided it was time to use it and it IS an instrument and I love it. My friend has the DIgi and although I feel it's more limited, I find it also awesome but for different reasons but you are just wrong here and you shouldn't be so adamant when you are. It means that I can't trust anything you are sure about because you don't even consider what others that know a thing or two are saying. There may even be a way to save to nonvol RAM however I just looked and there isn't. Not to mention, you need to have your +drive with you for that pattern or it will screw up your whole pattern which you didn't mention so that's another moving part that you not only better have two of (one idtendical) but not forget it or say goodbye to your pattern. Another reason, I am fine with waiting the extra few seconds to wait for it to load to the machine rather than wait 20 seconds less and have to carry a drive around with me so it can load the samples EVERY time. (unless the +drive is internal but even worse because then I can't back it up and what if the drive goes bad at a gig. I carry a duplicate of every part that is a clone on anything that is a drive or computer for every gig we play because the last thing in the world I want is to not be able to play our songs because something doesn't work. Tour manager 101 stuff. At the end of your second sentence in your response, it doesn't even make sense. "If you turn off the Digitakt and turn it back on, the Samples are automatically loaded from the non-volatile memory into the RAM again. So you also dont "loose" anything ;-) And its still fast." --- It loads it from your card or drive and into volatile RAM where it disappears when you turn it off and reloads it when you turn it on. The 8S loads it into nonvol RAM and it's just always there. Also, not to be grammar police because I normally hate that but it's "lose" and you don't need to capitalize "samples" every time, it's not a pro-noun. Sorry for that, couldn't resist. I am not saying one is better than the other. I am just saying what actually happens with the samples which BTW, if you are using either of these as your sampler anyway, give it up. ;) All I'm saying is don't be so quick to close someone down and why don't you do a load pattern with samples and see which one wins after you load them. Just a guess, but since I know there is literally no waiting on the 8S, it wold win that. I know things the Elektron is better at but this is just something you have missed the mark and are SURE of it. I am super thankful for your videos and have found them useful and do think you know what you're talking about but you should also know when you don't. I happen to know about this one thing and that's why my ears perked even when I saw the title of this video and I was interested to hear your explanation of volatile vs. non-volitle and your take on the whole thing but all you did was show one thing slower than the other and left out everything I just said which is info that is important to the user that actually wants to know what's going on. Respect and thank you. Sorry if I came off rude, but there is no way to say someone is wrong without sounding rude. I am again very grateful for the time you take to help us. I am leaving my thumbs up and am still subscribed but I hope you will treat me with a little more respect and also a little more open mindedness. Go Google around. I knew what I knew before I wrote all this but I googled it and read the manuals to be sure I wasn't posting incorrect info that was a polar opposite to what you are saying. Let's just be real, yeah? I hate complaining when people are doing kind things and you are and I TRULY APPRECIATE IT and have nothing against you and love the channel. Please just in the future, before you shut someone down like you did me, do a little research to see that "hey, maybe he's not wrong.". Your users will trust you more and appreciate honesty.

^ should have published this on kindle!

+Adam Cohn write a book dude. Just as you claim he has an agenda in promoting one over the other, you seem to think listing all your accolades (irrelevant skill sets, number of RU-vid subscribers etc) somehow validates your stance or gives you credibility. It doesn't, just for the record. Sure, maybe those people are out there that knitpick about the different forms of memory, but the vast majority want to know how it operates in practice, they want to know the practical side. Is the digitakt, especially in its most recent firmware, known to be unstable? Seems to me it's a hit among the live performance crowd, and talk of issues in such a high stakes environment gets around quickly. The digitakt is snappy and reliable. Honestly for all your prefacing about how you respect his knowledge and will stay subscribed despite this and that, my subjective opinion is that you simply like to hear yourself talk, and enjoy cutting others down as an opportunity to wax poetic about your vast knowledge and skill. He gave a casual demonstration here with sincere intentions, it's not NASA, and he wasn't being "disingenuous" as you implied whatsoever. If it's not up to par for you, move along. No need to drag him into some kind of pissing match Just my $0.02

Looking at your comment I think.... What would a “normal” person do... write a few lines about a video and move along or dedicate an entire day of life arguing about a trivial things like you just did? If you do a google search about attractive personal qualities, you will note that the qualities that you displayed in your comment... nitpicking, accusing, rambling and blaming are missing from those. Maybe that will give you a hint...

They are swedish so it sounds like it is spelled. Get over it.