Strange Eight / Setup guide
Set up your shadow tracks
Tracks 9 to 16 become the controls for Strange Eight's eight channel strips. You set up one track, copy it to the rest, and you're done. The example below is a Digitakt II; the Digitone II is identical.
01 Before you start
Set these once in the hardware's settings menu, then connect it to your Mac with a single USB cable.
- USB CONFIG Overbridge
- INT TO MAIN Off
- MIDI OUT USB
- CLOCK SEND, TRANSPORT SEND On
02 Set up a channel
Digitakt II and Digitone II. Start with track 9, which plays strip 1.
-
Select track 9, the first shadow track. It shadows audio track 1, the track button above it.
-
Press FUNC + SRC to choose the machine type, and set it to MIDI.
-
Press SRC to configure the MIDI machine.
-
Hold FUNC and press encoder A to enable the MIDI channel, then set it to 9 to match the track number.
-
Hold FUNC and press each encoder on the bottom row (E, F, G and H) to enable PB, AT, MW and BC. These play the track's effect.
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Press FLTR to configure the first page of MIDI controllers.
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Hold FUNC and press each encoder, top and bottom rows, so all eight send MIDI. This page is the strip: dynamics and EQ.
-
Press AMP to configure the next page of MIDI controllers.
-
Hold FUNC and press each encoder, top and bottom rows, to enable them too. This page is the eight sends.
That's it! The channel is configured.
03 Your controls
The hardware encoders now play Strange Eight, right from your device.
Assign either of the track's two LFOs to any controller on the MOD page, and parameter-lock any value on any step.
Digitakt II and Digitone II
FLTR: dynamics and EQ
- DRIVE
- TONE
- COMPRESS
- TRIM
- LOW
- MID FREQ
- MID
- HIGH
AMP: sends
- 1 PLATE
- 2 HALL
- 3 GATED
- 4 CLEAN
- 5 TAPE
- 6 MULTI-TAP
- 7 PHASER
- 8 GRANULAR
SRC on T9: the plate
- PB TONE
- AT SIZE
- MW DECAY
- BC MOD DEPTH
What SRC plays on each track
PB, AT, MW and BC reach into the effect that belongs to each shadow track.
-
Plate
Tight, bright ambience with a modulated tank.
- PB
- tone
- AT
- size
- MW
- decay
- BC
- mod depth
-
Hall
Large, dark, smooth tail that stays smooth on repeated drum hits.
- PB
- tone
- AT
- size
- MW
- decay
- BC
- mod depth
-
Gated reverb
Opens on each hit, holds, closes on a curve. Snappy drum ambience, or the full 80s snare smash.
- PB
- tone
- AT
- size
- MW
- release
- BC
- gate
-
Clean delay
Dotted-16th ping-pong. Offset pushes echoes off the grid for swing or slop.
- PB
- tone
- AT
- division
- MW
- feedback
- BC
- offset
-
Tape delay
Dotted quarter that darkens and saturates with each repeat. Wow from subtle to seasick.
- PB
- tone
- AT
- division
- MW
- feedback
- BC
- wow
-
Multi-tap delay
A Euclidean rhythm of echoes that can carry a part on its own.
- PB
- tone
- AT
- division
- MW
- feedback
- BC
- hits
-
Phaser
4 to 12 stages, seven LFO shapes, locked to the bar, with an envelope follower.
- PB
- center
- AT
- rate
- MW
- depth
- BC
- env
-
Granular
Pitch, cloud and freeze. Keys on track 16 capture and re-pitch loops.
- PB
- pitch
- AT
- size
- MW
- feedback
- BC
- loop
Track 16 also plays notes. Notes on track 16 trigger and pitch the granulator.
04 Set up the remaining channels
Copy track 9 to tracks 10 through 16, then set each channel.
- On track 9, press TRK + ○ to copy.
- Select track 10 and press TRK + □ to paste the MIDI settings.
- Press SRC and set the MIDI channel to match the new track number: 10.
- Repeat for tracks 11 to 16.
These settings aren't the MIDI machine's defaults. Save them as a preset and future setups only need the channel.
05 Alternative controls
The defaults give you direct control over the most-used parameters. You can also reach deeper.
To control Strange Eight parameters beyond the defaults, open the second page of the MIDI controller setup by pressing FLTR or AMP twice. Use the encoders to pick other CC numbers for the parameters you want to control. Each effect's deeper parameters are on CC 86 onward, listed below.
The original Digitakt doesn't have two sets of CC controls, so you'll likely want some custom mapping there.
Deeper effect parameters
Send these on the effect's own shadow track: CC 86 on track 9 sets the plate's predelay, CC 86 on track 16 the granulator's density.
| Track | Effect | CC 86 | CC 87 | CC 88 | CC 89 | CC 90 | CC 91 | CC 92 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T9 | Plate | predelay | bandwidth | diffusion | damping | mod rate | low cut | |
| T10 | Hall | predelay | diffusion | hf ratio | lf ratio | mod rate | low cut | high cut |
| T11 | Gated reverb | threshold | decay | damping | diffusion | low cut | ||
| T12 | Clean delay | ping-pong | low cut | high cut | ||||
| T13 | Tape delay | offset | drive | ping-pong | low cut | |||
| T14 | Multi-tap delay | offset | steps | rotate | tilt | spread | low cut | high cut |
| T15 | Phaser | sync | shape | feedback | stages | stereo | retrig | |
| T16 | Granular | density | spray | texture | reverse | spread | scan | root |
06 Original Digitakt
Follow the same steps, with a few differences.
- Tracks 9 to 16 are already MIDI machines, so skip choosing the machine type.
- Only FLTR has a page of eight controls to enable, so you get eight mapped controls by default. We picked the most useful set, but you can customize them on the AMP page.
- There's no page for the sends like on the II series.
- AMP works like the second FLTR page on the Digitakt II, for setting up alternative controls.
- There's one LFO per track.
Digitakt
VAL page: desk, dynamics, EQ
- DRIVE
- TONE
- COMPRESS
- TRIM
- LOW
- MID FREQ
- MID
- HIGH
SRC on T9: the plate
- PB TONE
- AT SIZE
- MW DECAY
- BC MOD DEPTH
One VAL page per track, so the eight knobs default to the strip. Reach a send by re-pointing a VAL to CC 78 to 85. Pan each strip on CC 10.