Analog Rytm MK2 VS Digitone II

This could probably be a thread with a poll: how do you use the middle Tom row? I suspect 80% will use these for samples, at least that’s what I do. Would be nice to assign some momo synth stuff there, especially since we have several different ones of these now but have to sacrifice kicks or snares for them. So you can’t actually use them if you’re not just using samples.

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I use the noise/impulse and samples on this row, I suspect that the tom machines unlike the bottom row have only one type oscillator, don’t know if it’s a sine or square but it’s probably not as flexible as bottom row that can produce a lot more, but even having this oscillator as a mono synth function without the pitch envelope would be great.

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it is a perfect marriage, I have DN OG and AR MK2 and I love the way the 2 fit in the mix.

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Sound Design is part of my composition process, so my perspective is: On Rytm and A4 I have a useless graveyard of Kits and the extra step of saving cr_p slows me down, while even on DTII and DNII, I use Kits almost never and just fly.

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Yes the way kits work on rytm and A4 is burdensome and you can’t ignore them unlike on the DTII and DNII.
What’s slowing me down the most though is copying sounds across patterns or having to copy paste the patterns and use the reload sequence trick for every little change to keep the sounds consistent (I would lose my mind if i actually did this, I usually do it later in the process).
So I guess the answer would be a new improved kit system

But that does work with DNII and DTII, no? Just not with DT, DN, ST …

With DNII and DTII, as i said a little earlier, a change made to a sound that’s in a kit won’t affect all the patterns automatically. You’d have to load the new saved kit in each pattern.

Yes, and the workarounds you’ve mentioned are not needed anymore :wink:

I have the last gen Digitone and Rytm MK2. Both great but Rytm does more for rhythm best making stuff. Though feed Digitone to Heat and gets crunchy techno drums too. New Digitone looks amazing so harder choice. Smaller size too if space an issue.

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But this is exactly what the Analog kits solve. It’s the default behaviour of the devices as you work on new patterns. Where’s the burden?

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I recently sold my Rytm (mk1) when I got my Digitone 2.

For me, the Digitone 2 is the better more versatile drum machine and synthesizer as well as midi sequencer.

Rytm is a lot of fun, and I like how it sounds, but for its size and price it felt very limited in annoying ways. Digitone 2 feels like a great all in one groovebox. Can dedicate 8 tracks to drums, and still have 8 left for synths or external midi sequencing. Sound design can go a lot deeper, 3 LFOs per track instead of 1 on the Rytm. Base width filter is super useful, it’s hard to fit Rytm tracks into a mix without sending them all via external outputs to a mixer with EQ per channel.

I will miss the performance mode on Rytm which is lots of fun, though I think I can do similar with DN2 and an external midi controller, and I’ll miss the Direct Jump pattern mode, which you can sort of emulate on DN2 with copy and paste, but it’s a bit tedious for performance.

As for samples, I didn’t use the sample part of the Rytm very much, but you can layer some preset samples into the DN2 FM drum which definitely helps. DN2 I think is generally better at drum synthesis than Rytm, though Rytm filters can get pretty fun and crazy and raw sounding. Pairing the DN2 with a sampler like Digitakt 1 would be good to fill in a bit, but DN2 does 90% of what I want for a full mix.

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