How to Record an Elektron Digitakt II into Your iPhone

Four things and one setting change that matters more than any of them.

• An Elektron Digitakt II.
• Its PSU-3c power adapter. The Digitakt II is always mains-powered and is never powered over USB, so it needs its own plug.
• An iPhone, plus the right cable for it. The Digitakt II has a USB-B port, so the cable differs for USB-C and Lightning iPhones.
• A recording app. Reel is the one I make and use for this, but any class-compliant iOS audio app works.

This is the step everyone misses. On the Digitakt II go to SETTINGS then SYSTEM then USB CONFIG and choose USB AUDIO/MIDI. That is the class-compliant mode your iPhone can record from.

The other options will not work with a phone. OVERBRIDGE is a computer-only driver, so an iPhone gets no audio from it. USB MIDI sends notes but no audio. If you connect the Digitakt II and your phone hears nothing, this setting is almost always why.

The Digitakt II uses a USB-B port, the squarish printer-style connector, not USB-C. So for a USB-C iPhone (iPhone 15 or later) you need a USB-C to USB-B cable. The USB-A to USB-B cable in the box will not plug into a USB-C phone on its own.

Plug the USB-B end into the Digitakt II and the USB-C end into the phone. That is the connection.

For a Lightning iPhone (iPhone 14 or earlier) use the USB-A to USB-B cable from the box together with an Apple USB camera adapter. The Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter is the one to get, since its extra power port lets you keep the phone charged while you record.

Connect the adapter to the phone, run the A-to-B cable from the adapter to the Digitakt II and plug a charger into the adapter's power port.

Unlike a battery-powered box, the Digitakt II is never bus-powered by the phone. It runs on its own PSU-3c adapter into the wall, full stop. The USB cable carries data only.

This is actually simpler than gear that can draw power from the phone, because there is no risk of draining your iPhone battery or under-powering the instrument. Plug the Digitakt into the wall and forget about it.

The Digitakt II runs at 48kHz, 24-bit. Set your recording app to 48kHz so nothing has to resample on the way in. In Reel this happens automatically when the Digitakt is connected.

Over class-compliant USB you get a stereo pair, the main mix, not all sixteen tracks as separate inputs. True multitrack streaming is an Overbridge feature and Overbridge only runs on a computer, so on a phone you capture the stereo main. If you do want stems, the Digitakt's USB OUT setting can route a single track or a pair of tracks to that stereo link, so you can bounce them two at a time.

With USB CONFIG set to USB AUDIO/MIDI and the cable connected, the Digitakt II shows up as a stereo input. Arm a track in your app and hit record. In Reel each take lands as a clean 48kHz capture you can overdub and mix.

One thing to watch: Elektron outputs run hot. Keep an eye on the input meters and pull your track levels down a touch if it is clipping, rather than pushing the USB gain up. Monitor from the Digitakt's own outputs or headphones for zero latency while the phone records.

Reel is the app I use to record these takes, so if you want to see the workflow before you buy, here is a quick overview of how it works.