Sophie for Digitakt
Sophie is a metallic percussion synth machine for the original Digitakt
(Mk1), OS 1.53. It began as a fixed-point adaptation of
Sophie for Schwung by mestela and evolved
into four different models: FUSE, BOOM, PIPE
and SHARD. It uses Digitakt's regular AMP,
filter, mixer and effects path. The source, not a modified Elektron OS,
is what this repository distributes.
Changelog
- S031: BR is replaced with Sophie’s FOLD wavefolder.
Get the current .elemod and release notes from the
v1.1.13 release.
USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. This modifies your instrument's firmware; back up your projects and sounds, and keep a stock OS file for recovery.
One instance runs without FAST AUDIO; the original hardware
test found two instances practical with FAST AUDIO enabled. Eight-track
operation is not claimed.
Controls
| SRC knob |
Control |
What it does |
| A |
TUNE |
Pitch |
| B |
MODEL |
FUSE / BOOM / PIPE / SHARD |
| C |
FOLD |
Sophie-only wavefolder with output level compensation; zero bypasses it |
| D |
SAMP |
Stock sample selector; Sophie does not use the sample |
| E |
SWEEP |
Bipolar pitch sweep toward the played note |
| F |
METAL |
FM/ring intensity |
| G |
FBK |
Oscillator feedback |
| H |
COLOR |
Inharmonic character |
The custom controls can be parameter-locked. The normal AMP page controls
the note envelope: set HOLD to NOTE for TRIG LEN to determine when the
release begins. Use a finite DEC to hear that release. DEC INF can keep
the sound going indefinitely. Retriggering chokes the previous voice on
that track, with a brief transition to suppress a click.
SWEEP starts at zero. Turning right begins above the played pitch; turning
left begins below it. Holding FUNC while turning uses the stock TUNE
octave-step behavior (-60 to +24); ordinary turning reaches the complete
-64 to +63 range.
Install: no compiler required
You need only the prebuilt
Sophie mod,
elekloader, and your
own original Digitakt Mk1 OS 1.53 .syx
The .elemod contains this project's code, not Elektron's firmware.
You do not need ColdFire tools, Python, or a source checkout to install it.
- Open elekloader and select your stock OS using Change stock firmware.
- Choose Install from file and select
digisophie-1.1.13.elemod.
Enable SOPHIE. elekloader's built-in core 2.1 should enable with it.
If your elekloader has an older core or shows a dependency error, update
elekloader before building.
- Optional: install and enable the bundled
digihealth diagnostic too. This is
the configuration used for the earlier S027 hardware test. It adds SYSTEM INFO
and an opt-in FAST AUDIO setting; without it Sophie still works.
- Wait for elekloader's Ready to build check, set the four-character
OS version to
S033, then choose Build Firmware. Save the generated
.syx on your computer.
- Send that
.syx to the Digitakt with Elektron Transfer
Elekloader builds and verifies the OS; Elektron Transfer does the actual
upload to the instrument. Do not power off during the update. Neither
the stock nor modified OS file belongs in this repository.
Build the mods from source (developers only)
ColdFire tools are needed only to change or recompile the mod. You need
Python 3.9+, a source checkout of
elekloader, a ColdFire cross-toolchain
(m68k-linux-gnu- or m68k-elf- assembler, GCC and linker), and your own
stock OS 1.53 file. From this repository:
ELEKLOADER_CROSS=m68k-elf- sh scripts/build.sh \
/path/to/your/Digitakt_OS1.53.syx /path/to/elekloader
This builds core 2.1, Sophie and the optional diagnostic from source,
lints the combination, and writes the verified custom OS to
out/Digitakt_OS1.53_SOPHIE_S033.syx. To test DSP alone, run make test;
make cross-check additionally compiles for ColdFire. Optional emulator
probes in tests/ require digiemu.
Use and recovery
This changes firmware on the instrument. Back up projects and sounds first,
check that your stock OS is OS 1.53 for the original Digitakt, and keep
that stock file for recovery. If you install the optional diagnostic,
FAST AUDIO is off by default; SYSTEM INFO and FAST AUDIO can be enabled
separately in SETTINGS. See diagnostics for the monitor.
Sophie is independent of, and not endorsed by, Elektron or the estate of
SOPHIE. It contains no Elektron firmware or samples.
Source and licenses
The Sophie adaptation is MIT licensed. The original Sophie
attribution and the separate GPL-2.0-or-later digihealth source are
documented in THIRD_PARTY.md. The digihealth license is
also included in its source directory.
The DSP audit,
hardware performance notes,
SPICE architecture idea and
oscilloscope feasibility note record the
development history; the latter two are ideas, not implemented features.
