First off, I got nothing but love for the Digitone and am really impressed with its FM capabilities, tho I’m just an FM beginner. But I was just wondering if anyone could compare the two engines? All I know is digitone has 4 operators and FM-X devices like the Montage have 8. I’d imagine the X stuff might not be as intuitive or well laid out as the digitones, but that’s just my speculation. Anyone who knows anything on the matter, let me know what you think
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i used to mess with a Montage at work. for a year or so i strained my neck messing with it. i’d sit and start building an FM patch then as my neck started to hurt, as i got tired of the touch screen and switching between layers and envelopes etc i’d stop playing with it and stretch my neck. then sit down again later and screw around with presets.
it was not what i’d call a good time. i’m sure it’s capable of a lot but i didn’t enjoy the workstation like interface.
my advice, before you consider something like a Montage or MODx is that you find one to demo and spend some time with it. also, unless you want all the other stuff the montage offers you should check out the MODx. it’s more affordable and less like a tank.
i don’t have any experience w/a digitone though. but i know it’s like 1/10th the size of the montage.
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Not that I think it’s a great alternative to either digitone or montage but you could download dexed to play with and see if you like more complicated fm synthesis, just before you spend money on some dope hardware, you know.
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Word. Yea I figured it was gonna be less fun than the Digitone but probably more capable. I actually have the Digi and will have the x soon. I was mainly just wanting to hear about others experiences and use cases. And yea, I definitely will be using a lot more than just the fm section of the mod x. As much as I love the digitone, it seems more suited to be a supplimental piece than a dawless workhorse, at least for my setup.
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Too late
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lol
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Yea. The x is already here. I’d been eyeing it over the last year. I’ve been looking for a rompler type device for a little minute now, and the Fm part was just a bonus. Am currently waiting for a mount and some other stuff before I even mess with it. And I love Fm. Haven’t seen that Daxed yet, but I’ve heard folk talking about it. Going to see what it’s all about.
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That’s sick, hope it ends up being useful for you. Dexed is a 6 operator Fm plug with the style of yamaha DX7. If you ever want to watch some videos a lot of people dig preen FM which is hardware also up to 6 operators (4 instruments I think).
there’s also a preenFM3 but this is the 2 model.
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Dexed looks pretty cool. I’d probably be all over it if I were daw based, or not too far down the tank with this other fm gear. The preen looks pretty sweet. The price is right too
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I’m not too heavy in the daw either but it’s useful for what takes 10 steps too many on hardware to accomplish. Sometimes click and drag is just a better option. Only sometimes lol.
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Word
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IMO it takes only the understanding of a 2-operator combination/algorithm to get the head around the most important facts about FM-synthesis.
If we have more operators we can have much more options going from just layering some operators one-by-one, in pairs, in tripples, or other more or less complex algorithms.
This said, a 4-operator FM can do less complex sounds than a 5, 6, 7, 8 operator machine.
Sometimes complex algorithms are only a mixture of basic or advanced combinations of 2 or 3 operators, used in parallel, creating something like a layering of single patches.
My suggestion would be, get your head around a pair of operators, the frequency relationships, feedback-loops, and you have climbed most of the learning curve already. The rest should be experience and imagination, what could be done with even weird seeming algorithms 
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I have owned a Digitone and I do own a MODX.
The Digitone is nice and has wide sweetspots. The MODX is a lot more capable and it is not just the more powerful FM engine but Motion Control, The Arpeggiators and the FX section are huge.
If you keep things simple (2 or 4 operators only) creating sounds is not too bad.
I don’t normally buy sound packs, but if you do get a Montage/MODX I highly recommend the
Montage FM-Xperience sound pack
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10-4
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Word. Yea I’ve heard some very interesting sounds coming out of it. And thanks for the recommendation. I’ll be getting that asap. Do you have any other fmx pack suggestions?