Comparing the Tonverk to Digitakt 1, 2 and Octatrack

comparisons are not my forte, but it sounds like a good idea and maybe someone will chime in, your thread is full of info that helps users pi down what they might be looking for, so thanks for that

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No worries. I do think having a more extensive comparison is a great idea, so I’ll set up a google sheet later and report back when it’s available, we’ll see who wants to contribute.

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Somehow I feel a Venn diagram would be more appropriate wrt workflow.

:wink:

edit: Thanks for this great comparison. Confirmed my decision to stick with my OG Digitakt. I primarily use factory samples for beats + random samples like movie dialog, cartoon sound FX, birds, bugs, city noises and more. I like the idea of plugging a mic in and sampling the world, but I never do it. The internet will provide.

Add a piano and a looper + an OG Digitone and I’m happy.

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MIDI comparisons can be expanded. There is a lot that is commonly misunderstood here as well. I don’t know for Tonverk, but Digitakt and Octatrack for example allow up to 4 notes of polyphony per MIDI track. Which devices have MIDI arp, which have MIDI retrig, which have MIDI learn, etc.

Max voices per MIDI track

Digitakt: 4 (x8 = 32 total)
Digitakt II: 4 (x16 = 64 total)
Octatrack: 4 (x8 = 32 total)
Tonverk: 16 (x12 = 192 total)

LFOs per MIDI track
Digitakt: 1
Digitakt II: 2
Octatrack: 3
Tonverk: 2

MIDI Arp

Digitakt: No
Digitakt II: No
Octatrack: Yes
Tonverk: Yes

MIDI Retrig/Ratchets

Digitakt: No
Digitakt II: No
Octatrack: Yes
Tonverk: Yes

MIDI Learn

Digitakt: No
Digitakt II: Yes
Octatrack: Yes
Tonverk: No? (Not mentioned in manual)

EDIT: I would also suggest not using ‘polyphony’ for total track count in general (outside of MIDI). Digitakt, Digitakt II, and Octatrack are obviously not polyphonic without workarounds. Someone might find this comparison down the road in search results and get the wrong impression.

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I rely on my Digitone for an arp. That and polyrhythms on the Digitakt can produce arp’ish behavior.

MIDI arp is already in the table, maybe not obvious enough. I can add the information about MIDI.

I’m not interested in TV’s MIDI features, so I wouldn’t know anything about that, but if somebody can provide the missing info, I’ll add them to the table.

I was looking for a way to make monophonic tracks, polyphonic tracks and subtracts comparable. Can you suggest a more appropriate label?

Voices per track? It’s 8 for Tonverk and 1 for the others. But I leave it to you - it’s your comparison and just a suggestion. I updated my comment with all info. The only one I don’t have an answer for is if Tonverk has MIDI learn, but guessing no because it’s not mentioned in the manual.

Thanks, I‘ll update the table. I think I‘ll change the label to voice count, and the entries to 8 x 8, 8 x 1 etc. Would that work better?

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Nice post, super helpful.

Not sure if it’s useful but you could add an item about file transfer, whether as USB Disk access, or Elektron Transfer software.

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That’s a nice comparison but let’s make sure it’s correct. The Digitakt II also has AT, PB, ModWheel and Breath Control macros.

I’d also consider adding a Live Performance row which explains how they differ there (eg Digitakt has Control All while Tonverk does not, if I understand it correctly).

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Thanks, I had that in there and wanted to highlight the differences of Velocity and Keytrack, must have accidentally deleted the rest. Editing large tables is a bit cumbersome.

I’ll give that a try.

Good idea, I’ll add that.

Well, it has Velocity and Keytrack too. Pretty much has them all. :slight_smile:

I know, I had the full list in there and wanted to make Velocity and Keytrack bold to stand out.

Another fix: there’s no Multi-Mode filter on the Digitakt 1 as far as I’m aware. I believe it has the legacy filters (LF, HP, possibly a bandpass, I’m not sure) and the 1-parameter EQ.

Edit: Interestingly they seem to call it a multi-mode filter in the Digitakt 1 manual, but it’s clearly distinct from the literal Multi-Mode in the DT2 that can morph seamlessly from low-pass to high-pass. So I’d consider calling it out as the “Legacy LP/HP” instead.

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Thanks, fixed.

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A little nitpick if we want to be nitpicky: the blurb Elektron uses on their product page for Digitakt II is “16 track drum computer & stereo sampler”. :slight_smile: But now I probably should get back to work. Thanks for building the list, it’s helpful!

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Thank you for all your hard work!

It helps to put things in perspective

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Another thing I found. Your table has a row called “Resolution” - I don’t know what that means here exactly, but the DT2 manual says:

So it’s not 24 bit for the samples at least. Maybe the DACs have a different resolution though and that’s what you’re referring to? Perhaps a row that lists sample file specs would be useful.

It should be the resolution the samples are converted to/recorded at. But it’s clearly wrong at least for the Digitakt 2 and Octatrack (both are 16 bit in fact.

Multimode just means it has more than one filter type - the newer one is a morphing multimode filter.

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