I have a hybrid setup based around Live 12 with Push 3 (controller) and various bits of hardware including a Prophet 5.
I’m in the market for a second polysynth to complement the Prophet that can do some basic VA but is mainly going to cover ‘digital’ synth (FM, wavetable) duties.
DN2 is top of the shortlist, not least because I’m already a big Elektron fan (I have a Syntakt and used to own the DN1 and DT1).
I prefer to do all my MIDI sequencing directly from the Push 3, and my workflow is based around getting ideas flowing on hardware (including drum machines like my TR8S) then capturing sequences as audio clips that I then process and manipulate in Live. I use the Push Step Sequencer a lot and ‘trig lock’ individual steps. This includes using the Live CC tool to send CC messages to my Syntakt on individual steps to p-lock specific parameters. In practice it is very similar to the Elektron workflow IME.
In other words, if I pull the trigger on the DN2 I won’t be using the sequencer on it at all. It will basically be a polysynth module sequenced externally.
I already do this with my Syntakt and prefer it to using the onboard sequencer (not least because I can add arps and all sorts of other MIDI transformers from the Push 3 that don’t exist on the Syntakt).
I’m curious if anyone else using the DN2 (or any other Elektron box) this way?
Consider the DN1 for this. Same FM synth engine, and if you’re using it with the Push/Ableton anyway you don’t need extra FX or tracks. You can just record a track when it’s done for infinite tracks.
this is how i sequence my Digitone from Deluge/Hapax and it works great (for me). the main thing that gives me pause about Digitone II is I’d have to sacrifice 12 other MIDI tracks/channels to take full advantage of the 16 tracks v. four on the OG Digi.
I don’t have enough experience with DN2 to comment on that, but if you’re sure you’re not going to use the sequencer (and presumably the keyboard as well), there’s a lot of UI that will just be wasted. I think you should consider the ASM Hydrasynth desktop module.
That’s a good thought. DN1 is 8-voice poly which is fine for a single track. But the DN2 has more to offer beyond the DN1 in terms of sounds which increases the appeal.
Not a Minifreak fan personally. I used to own a Hydrasynth Desktop, loved it in some ways but not others and ending up trading it in to help pay for my Prophet 5 (which beats any VA I’ve ever played in sound terms). My instinct is I’ll get more out of a DN2 than from a Hydrasynth overall although I’m not completely averse to buying one again in future. Not really looked into a Micromonsta but the UX seems pretty fiddly to me.
Yes I get that, the sequencer is a big part of any Digi box and I won’t be using it under this workflow. As in my other reply above, my instinct is I’d get more out of a DN2 than a Hydrasynth in the context of my setup overall (also I have limited space so the more compact DN2 is another plus). But I’m still working this through in my own mind hence the question!
When I acquired my Push 3 it triggered an Elektron crisis. I love Elektron’s sequencers but it was too difficult to keep them in sync with Ableton’s clips. I tried your model but realized that without the sequencing, using my Digis as sound modules weren’t really worth the added complexity vs their native device equivalents.
I’ve just decided to sell the Elektrons. Sad day, I really enjoyed the era where they were the center of my setup. But the new Push’s support for MPE + scale aware devices has made everything else feel obsolete.
for me, just one Preset per song/project, basically. with each Digitone voice/track assigned to its own MIDI channel. corresponding to one of four tracks on the Deluge/Hapax (out of 16 total)
That’s interesting. For me, a lot of the value of Elektron devices lies in the immediacy of getting into sound design via the buttons, knobs and interface. It’s just that much faster to tweak synth parameters, adjust filters, assign LFOs etc than trying to do the same in Live’s stock devices via the Push.
I think the most accessible stock instrument in Live is Drift, which is pretty good for dialling in a patch from scratch directly on the Push but it still feels a lot slower than creating a sound with modulations etc on the Syntakt.
If I think of Elektron gear as hardware synths/samplers first and foremost that happen to have onboard sequencers, it makes more sense to me.
Syncing hardware with Live can be a PITA for sure. Overbridge gets around that - it’s sample accurate - but it introduces latency for everything else played in live which isn’t ideal.
I’ve found a workflow in which I sequence hardware via MIDI from Push, record the output into a clip on Push using the Fixed Length option, then trim the start of the clip using mouse and screen to take out the effects of any latency. It’s pretty fast and I quite quickly end up with a bunch of clips that I then start to lay out into a structure in Session view, then start jamming away to shape the track overall.
The big advantage is I get all the happy accidents from playing around with hardware together with the all the good stuff that comes from having audio clips in Session view in Live (eg chopping up loops to make new sounds in Simpler, Live audio FX etc). Plus I can use a bunch of MIDI FX and M4L FX when playing the hardware that TBH blow past Elektron’s onboard options (like having an arp on Syntakt tracks, for starters).
And by Preset you mean ?
How do you recall them, manually ?
On my side I’m using « empty » (with no sequencer data) patterns as placeholders for up to 16 sounds.
More precisely, track 1 to 8 reserved for drum sounds, + one or two synths voices.
Thanks to @qlamerand I found a decent workflow to keep the project clean, using « save pattern to project » to save new sets of sounds but still allowing to recall a « clean » state of the project.
Digitone 1 is a fantastic 8 voice FM poly synth that can do more than enough for what you’re describing. You can get it for around 350-400€ right now, which is insane. It’s super deep and versatile and will surprise you for years. Everyhting that was added on DN II isn’t that important for your use case imo, unless you need more than 8 voices at the same time. Even if, you can still do a lot and get surprising results with the flexible voice stealing menu. It’s also nice and small with enough controls for sound design, it seems perfect imo for your use case, do sound design on the box and then neatly stash it away and do the rest in Ableton.
As a multitimbral poly synth I think everything added is important, much more versatile with new machines, new filters, KEY TRACKING, more polyphony, more multitimbrality, more fx with switchable routing, compressor with routing, control all config, kits…
Only pros for DN1 are price and MULTI MAP ! (Why didn’t they…)
Colored buttons…
DN2 can be used in a simpler way as VA. With DN1 you have to tweak several parameters to mimic a non perfect saw, a square…
1 knob to select waveform on DN2.
Not sure, but I do dig sine waves… they are quite hard to find in the analog realm, so I don’t use them often. (Thinking about it, out of my whole collection, only my MnM and SH-2 have sine wave oscillators.)
About the chord thing, back when I experimented using chords from being almost exclusively mono, I found that the DN sounded a bit odd. It sounded as if there were many mono-notes going off and blending into each other and not really producing a proper chord. (I could be wrong, but that is what I recall.)
There’s one thing about playing chords using many mono notes combined to produce a chord, and playing a mono note in a function like a chord machine to produce that chords pitch. Just note, hehe, I do not know chords or any of that… so I just go by what sounds good.
What I meant by my initial post was that I found playing more than one note on the Digitone sounded a bit off to my untrained ear. So, although it can technically do chords, I believe there are less expensive options for chords. (I was getting a digital synth this week to do exactly what OP is about to do, and having the right sound, pre sound design, lead me to a D-05.)
The DN 2 seems like a nice sequencer that can do 128-steps and transpose, but if the OP wants chords, I think the sound engine may not be worth the $, especially not for chords. (I do exactly what OP does with all my synths, I bypass all sequencing options and use the Octatrack for everything)
First time I hear Digitone is bad for chords. Most of people ask for polyphony.
Btw I recommend you to to compare sine wave chords with natural scale vs tempered scale, major chord with root note. Tempered scale is a compromise in order to have 12 equal intervals. Some chords can sound particularly wrong with sine waves…
