Live Looper for Elektron Digitakt

A looper machine for one audio track: it records the master mix or the inputs all the time, catches the loop playing now at a button press, and keeps it playing through pattern changes.

Module version 0.1.0-experimental. Base firmware: 1.54.

About this module

The LOOPER machine turns one audio track into a looper: it records the master mix or the inputs all the time, loop by loop, on the sequencer's step grid, and a button press (FILL or UP) hands the loop playing now to the track, where it keeps playing through pattern changes, with or without trigs, and can follow the tempo. Push D on its SRC page to keep a loop as a sample through the stock trim editor. The looper is based on sumedho's RAM Machines.

• Catch the loop playing now with one button (FILL or UP) and keep it through every pattern change.
• PICK plays the loop from the step grid with no trigs; PTCH and WARP make it follow the tempo, with or without its pitch.
• GLOB keeps the loop track's sends (or more) the same in every pattern.
• Push D to keep a loop as a sample through the stock trim editor.

How to use it

1. On an empty audio track, press FUNC + SRC, choose LOOPER and confirm with YES. Press SRC again for page 2. Set MODE to CAPT, PLAY to PICK and leave LEN at 64 (four bars).
2. Press PLAY. The looper records MAIN in the background all the time.
3. At any moment press PAGE (fill on) or press UP on the SRC page: the banner says CAPTURE, and when the loop ends it says CAPTURED and the loop plays on the LOOPER track.
4. Change pattern. The loop keeps playing on the beat, through every pattern with LOOPER on that track. Set MODE to OFF or press STOP to stop it.

Controls

FUNC + SRC

Choose LOOPER (the looper) for an audio track and confirm with YES. On its SRC page, push D to open the loop in the stock trim editor.

Page 2: A — MODE

OFF, ONCE (arm, record the next loop, keep it) or CAPT (records all the time; capture the loop playing now). For the whole unit, saved on the +Drive.

Page 2: B — LEN

The loop length in steps: 1, 2, 4 … 128, or PT.LEN, the pattern’s own length (M.LEN, or LENGTH in PER PATTERN mode); N/A while that is INF or over 128. A loop holds up to 33 s.

Page 2: C — SRCE

What is recorded: MAIN (before the master compressor), IN L, IN R or IN LR.

Page 2: D — RLEV

Record level; 100 records as heard.

Page 2: E — BTN

The capture button: FILL (fill mode on), UP (on the the looper SRC pages) or BOTH.

Page 2: F — GLOB

The loop track's parameters that stay the same in every pattern: OFF (stock), SND (delay and reverb sends), FLT (also the filter page), AMP (also the amp page), ALL (also the SRC page and the LFO).

Page 2: G — PLAY

TRIG: the track's trigs end each loop and play it. PICK: the module plays the loop on the step grid, no trigs needed. PTCH: PICK that follows the tempo like a record. WARP: PICK that follows the tempo at its own pitch.

Page 2: H — LOOP

Shows the looper's state (OFF, WAIT, ARM, REC, LOCK, RDY, LOOP, CAPT, NRAM) and the loop's progress.

Compatibility notes

• Built for OS 1.54 only, with Core 2.1 and Machine Pages.
• Not beside RAM Machines (it replaces it) or Digi Health (FAST AUDIO patches the same audio routines).
• A kit with RAM Machines' RAM-R1 or RAM-P1 does not turn into LOOPER; choose the machine again.
• The looper takes 4 MB of sample memory for the take and 8 MB more for the loop buffers in ONCE or CAPT; with the memory full, page 2 shows NRAM and retries every 3 s.
• The take and loops are lost at power-off or project load; page 2's settings are saved for the whole unit, not per project or pattern.
• One mono loop at a time. PT.LEN counts the pattern’s steps as sixteenths, whatever its scale.
• Changing the machine on the loop track discards the loop.
• With an Overbridge instance open (standalone or plugin) the unit gets slow; closing the instance ends it. Not yet compared with stock.
• Known bugs: changing PLAY mode while the loop plays restarts the loop mid-way; in PICK, PTCH and WARP the looper track’s trig key retriggers the amp envelope, so the loop fades down at the default DEC.

Test evidence

Emulator (digiemu, OS 1.54, LL02): LOOPER in the machine list, page 2 with stock SRC paging, values on hold and the header message, an ONCE take armed while stopped recorded from PLAY, STOP while stopped calling off the arm, PT.LEN, GLOB ALL carrying the filter across patterns, load measured. On draadpiraat's Digitakt I the combined LF03 build passed every looper check, and LL01 (the looper alone) passed its checklist with the findings fixed here; LL02 then ran “perfect” on the same unit.