"The next chapter in the story of this little box of magic": Elektron Digitakt II unveiled with stereo sampling, an expanded sequencer, more tracks and new effects

Digitakt II is here. Following a leak that revealed the details of Elektron’s successor to its popular sampler, the Swedish manufacturer has made an official announcement and Digitakt II is now available to order.

Elektron says the next edition of Digitakt has "so much more power under the hood", and it's not wrong; with the addition of stereo sampling, an expanded track count and sequencer, more memory, effects, LFOs and a host of workflow upgrades, the machine is likely to please devotees of the original while offering something a little more capable to those thinking about making the jump. 

Up from Digitakt's 8 tracks, the new version has 16 that can be freely assigned to trigger either the internal sampling engine or external gear via MIDI. The original's 64-step sequencer has been doubled, and now supports patterns of 128 steps. You'll also find a new Euclidean sequence generator onboard. What's more, the II has been equipped with a far roomier storage capacity than its predecessor, with 20GB of sample storage and 400MB of sample memory (RAM). 

While the visual aspect of the Digitakt is pretty similar, there are a few extra buttons on the interface that point to new or improved features; an FX button can be used to access the expanded selection of effects, which now offers delay, reverb, chorus, bitcrusher and sample rate reduction per track, along with compression and overdrive master effects. A keyboard button activates Keyboard Mode, which lets you play chromatically across 10 octaves or experiment with 30 preset scales.

Digitakt II features new, 'swappable'; filters, with a base/width filter per track and an additional slot to be filled with your choice of five filters (Multi-mode, Low pass 4, Comb, EQ, or Legacy LP/HP). There's more in the way of modulation, too, with three LFOs now available per track. In terms of I/O, Digitakt II offers much the same as its younger brother, with balanced stereo ins and outs, a headphone output, MIDI In, Out and Thru and a USB 2.0 connection for hooking up with Overbridge via your computer.

Digitakt II is priced at $999/1049€. 

Find out more on Elektron's website.

elektron

(Image credit: Elektron)

elektron

(Image credit: Elektron)

elektron

(Image credit: Elektron)
Matt Mullen
Tech Editor

I'm the Tech Editor for MusicRadar, working across everything from artist interviews to product news to tech tutorials. I love electronic music and I'm endlessly fascinated by the tools we use to make it. When I'm not behind my laptop keyboard, you'll find me behind a MIDI keyboard, carefully crafting the beginnings of another project that I'll ultimately abandon to the creative graveyard that is my overstuffed hard drive.

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