Full stop on multiple Elektron boxes.

For several months, I’ve enjoyed using my Elektron synths. I have a Digitakt II (DT2) and a Digitone II (DN2). These grooveboxes help me create new songs and tracks quickly in the studio without the computer. That helps maximize my focus and creativity. But it was difficult to make full stop on multiple Elektron boxes work perfectly.

Spoiler alert: All that’s required is that the first box needs to be transmitting MIDI to a channel the second box hears, either through auto channel or a track. That’s it. But I understand that some people may not be totally comfortable with the concept. So this blog will lead you through the process in steps.

NOTE: Many people are visual learners and reading a lot of text makes learning more difficult for them. Others prefer reading for the opposite reason. Hopefully If you prefer to see how this works, rather than read it, check out my YouTube video. I hope you’ll give it a Like if it helps you. I have a lot of other synth content on my channel as well, so feel free to subscribe if that interests you.

Why does it matter?

The Elektron interface lets you hit STOP once to pause, or twice quickly to stop all notes and sound. I call this a full stop. Even an infinitely looped sample or a long reverb running will be instantly silenced. This is especially handy when experimenting with sounds, or to fix a mistake and start a pattern or song again. And of course if you record your tracks into a DAW, you usually want to start fresh from silence.

Many Elektron users have multiple units like me. When these boxes click with people, they tend to want more than one. However, simply connecting the units together with MIDI cables won’t make full stop on multiple Elektron boxes work. Additional configuration is required. The good news is it’s incredibly easy and works like magic!

How it works

This full stop creates a genuine MIDI message called ALL NOTES OFF. Some other synthesizers respect it too. Through careful experimentation I figured out how to make it work on my Elektron boxes. You do this by making use of a clever setting called the auto channel. The auto channel helps Elektron boxes work well when paired with a MIDI controller. You must also set up one track as a MIDI track in your pattern.

This method has only two minor drawbacks:

1. It consumes one MIDI track in any pattern where you want it to work. (Which is probably all patterns.)
2. You must add the MIDI track to any new pattern you create. You must also update any old pattern without the MIDI track if you want full stop to work while playing it.

I rarely use all 16 tracks for any pattern, so I find this an acceptable tradeoff. Setting up the track takes less than 10 seconds so it needn’t interfere with my flow — especially since I’m often copying patterns when I make a new one. The copy will contain the setup from the source pattern so there’s usually nothing for me to do.

There is also a side benefit: the track you use instantly becomes a potential MIDI controller for your receiving box! You can simply select a track on the receiving box and then twiddle its filter, envelopes, effects, and more. Simply set up the desired MIDI mappings in the sending unit’s MIDI track that’s now connected to the receiving box auto channel

Important stuff before you start

In my setup, the DT2 acts as the clock and transport sender, and the DN2 as receiver. I also send program change information from DT2 to DN2, although that’s a personal preference. (Many users apparently share it, though.)

From all the tests I conducted, this applies whichever direction you go (DT2 sending MIDI to DN2, or DN2 sending MIDI to DT2). Here I’ll call the “primary” unit the one sending through its MIDI Out connection. The “secondary” unit receives data through MIDI In.

First, make sure your secondary box is getting messages from the primary. That means your basic MIDI connection is working. The manual will help you if you haven’t done this already, so I won’t cover that here. Here are the rest of the required steps.

Configuring full stop on two Elektron boxes

Primary box setup — all of these are submenus of Setup -> MIDI Config:

1. Sync – clock and transport send enabled
2. Channels – set Prog Chg Out to the auto channel of the secondary box, so patterns change together (optional, but recommended; won’t affect the full-stop)

Finally, set one track on the primary box to be a MIDI machine on the auto channel of the secondary box, so NOTES OFF messages flow to it.

Secondary box setup — all of these are submenus of Setup -> MIDI Config:

1. Sync – clock and transport receive enabled
2. Sync – program change receive enabled (optional but recommended, see above)
3. Port Config – receive CC/NRPN enabled
4. Channels – ensure that at least one of the following is true:
   • Auto channel is set to the MIDI channel you used above for receiving the NOTES OFF and other messages, OR
   • At least one track is receiving on that channel

If you follow these instructions, when you hit STOP twice quickly on the primary unit, all sound will also stop on the secondary one. Congratulations. You’ve set up full stop on your Elektron boxes!

Things that don’t matter

• Primary box settings for encoder, trig key, or mute destination (internal only, for example) is irrelevant.
• Whether the secondary box is receiving note information — the NOTES OFF message is a CC or NRPN message.
• Whether the same MIDI Channel being used for NOTES OFF is used for other hardware/purposes — but keep in mind some synths respect NOTES OFF and may be affected!
• Whether the primary box has any MIDI channels enabled per track in in Setup -> MIDI Config -> Channels — only the secondary box setup matters. Either auto channel, or a track channel, must be set to receive on the designated MIDI channel.

I don’t have a third Elektron box, so I haven’t tried that setup. However, I expect you could do this by wiring an additional receiving box’s MIDI In from either:

• MIDI Thru on the first receiving machine, OR
• MIDI Out from a router that also gets input from the sending machine…

…and then using the same auto channel on that receiving box too. The first receiving machine doesn’t generate any ALL NOTES OFF CC message in this scenario, so you couldn’t use MIDI Out on the first receiver (the secondary box above) to go to MIDI In on the second receiver. The message from the primary only outputs from the first receiver’s MIDI Thru port.

Conclusion

Getting full stop on multiple Elektron boxes to work isn’t hard. In addition, the tradeoff is extremely mild and very much worth it in my opinion. I hope this gets you the most out of your Elektron setup!