Probably a bit much to expect the Volca to cover all the bases for what it is, still pretty darn close to the Yamahas I have grown up with, plus an arp. I rarely ever used a DX direct from the output, having some analog gain staging/saturation/etc or even a filter or FX really broadens the potential of the tones, dissonance and rough edges. So I suspect, with most gear comparisons, it depends on the immediacy and personal tolerance for programming effort invested.
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Digitone is more smooth like TX81z in a way, the filters of course can take it into analog sounding territory to an extent, Volca FM is rough like TX7/DX7, both are a lot of fun.
I think the Digitone is a bit more polished in sound and operation, and donāt forget the Digitone is multitimbral and has great delay and reverb to further refine/polish, and can do a different sound on each step across 4 tracks, which can be very handy and great for experimentation - as well as more standard ensemble stuff.
Reface DX is great too, but again different, it is much like a updated DX100 but without the roughness, easy to edit and fun, but in terms of realtime sound control nowhere near the Volca FM, let alone the Digitone.
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Appendix: I use digitone and operator. I guess they are generally more fun to program than the DXs
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Sorry to take it to round 25. I understand there is a difference in response and behavior between samples and synths (the condescending responses here never cease to amaze me. Iām done.). For my purposes - just wanting a bit of FM flavor and sounds in a song, I was simply wondering out loud if itās worth buying a ~$700 FM synth, thatās all. Especially when I feel the Cheap Volca FM sounds better, imo.
Relax, I was joking with the Round 25 comment. It was a long-winded way of saying that if youāre happy with your āfolder full of old classic FM samplesā, then no need to buy FM synth.
I bought a Volca FM myself because I knew Iād never be satisfied with DX7 samples. During my brief stint as a keyboard player in a band, I was lent a DX7 and so was rehearsing on that. Later when I tried romplers and the like with DX7 samples, I was always dissatisfied - something was always missing even when playing simple piano parts. Then whenever I played a real FM synth, I was blown away by the sensitivity and responsiveness to even my mediocre keyboard skills.
As for Digitone vs. Volca FM, no comment.
In what way?
Hereās a guy trying to explain why he prefers a Volca FM to simply playing FM samples from his Octatrack.
I like a lot of things about the Volca FM (slider to vel, arp, automate everything) but found the sound quite weak and tinny. Also it doesnāt accept prog change via midi which is a bit of a vibe killer. Despite that Iām still thinking of getting another one for portable wild sequences and sample fodder.
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So just a few technical details on the sound engine of Digitone might be of interest in this thread:
Internally it runs the synth engine at 32 bit 96kHz with oversampling as well, meaning that the samplerate is doubled (twice in some places) and then scaled down to reduce aliasing. This means that it can modulate deeper and produce richer harmonics (cleanly) than some lower fidelity implementations.
Also, the lookup table playback (oscillators) is interpolated, meaning that any odd samples (which will occur when changing frequency of the oscillator) are smoothed out so that the intended shape of for example a sinewave is possible at any frequency.
Oscar, who implemented the DSP routines (in assembler!), really did an outstanding job with the sound quality.
Sound quality was super important to us since we wanted an FM synth that really reflected the parameters entered. Most older FM synths have an inherent sound which you cannot get rid of - for example a lot of quantization noise, aliasing etc which will imprint on the sound regardless of the user patch. For some this is a desired effect, it sounds like FM synths in the 80s and has a nice retro feel to it. However, for the Digitone we wanted something more ānowā, or even futuristic.
Thatās perhaps why some say it doesnāt have bite or is tame, but I would rather say that itās just more open. You can add bite and roughen it up by using the features on hand, something thatās much less easy to do the other way around.
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New player in this game, due to be released in December:
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Thanks for the insight Simon! Do you think there is future scope for an option to turn off interpolation? I think a lot of us miss the weird overtones that come from the aliasing of early FM synths. Itās definitely possible to emulate that on the Digitone, but it would be great if it were possible to introduce it, even through a resample/bitcrush option for each raw operator.
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Thanks for the info Simon!
While youāre hereā¦ Is it possible for portamento to be added in an update? Iām curious why it was left out, as it seems like an obvious choice for an FM synth!
I have a love / hate relationship with FMā¦its like the girl who had a little curl rite in the middle of her foreheadā¦when its good its very very good but when its bad its horridā¦I am seriously looking at the DN thoughā¦i have the volca but find it plasticy and toy like in its soundā¦i also have a tx81z and it sounds LOADS better as it has more complex waveforms (DX and Volca are just sine) it can be far nastier due to the additional waveforms but menue diving is hideous and not always rewardingā¦i have taken inspiration from the DN and am now running the TX81Z through an electrix filter factory and lexicon reverb but want the immediacy of programming that the that set up lacks and the DN bringsā¦the volca is limited and i rarely have as many happy accidents with it sound wise.
I would only get a volca for the fact they are a cheap battery powered portable synth you can mess with on a bus, but never find its sound working well in a mix and have now removed it from my set up and have it on my coffee table for shits and gigglesā¦i have some samples of it in my DT that can work really well, they are imediate and i can apply filter, reverb and p locksā¦the flow, effects and elektron sharp plocks are making me want the DNā¦which on sound cloud sound stellar compared to the volca and the txā¦
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I also know what you mean by Lush. Slight and Dainty.!!! I once heard someone refer to fm as āContancorous yet still Fragileā soundingā¦ha that nails it for meā¦
Simon,
a more negative interpretation would be that you removed one of the sound characteristics that made some genres use FM in the first place. Adding some distortion after the fact does not produce the same dirtā¦
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why is there a need to find a negative interpretation of the design choice of the team that created the digitone? Design choice is just that, choice. Personally I find it refreshing to get an fm box that doesnāt attemp to capture the old retro fm sound.
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Yeah time to create a new genre, shall we? 
Tonetech or digicore
A new or fresher way of thinking doesnāt require new genres of music. Only an open mind 
On the other hand Iāve never understood chasing a retro or vintage sound. Even when I was mostly a guitar player I didnāt get people lusting over 30 year old guitars.
OT: if youāre looking for some fm sounds similar to the dx7 the volca fm is adequate. People generally say its thin but Iāve found in lower octaves on poly mode with a bit of chorus, strings and pads sound quite nice on it.
If you like the sound of the Volca FM I say go for it. I love the Volca series, so much bang for the buck.
I agree with the comments that the Volca FM can sound thin, but like jefones pointed out, the lower octaves sound thick. I was actually surprised by how full the lower octaves sound (can make some nice bass).
I also get great results with layering. Make a patch/sound, sample it, then layer the same sound, but an octave lower & sometimes even add another layer, an octave higher. I like to do this with sequences too, make a patch & sequence, sample it, then make a new patch (or use same patch in a different octave), but keep the sequence to layer with the other.
Layering made a huge difference for me, but I am still learning fm synthesis, so not great at creating my own patches yet.
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