Cycles or digitone?

Elektron Gear Model:Cycles
#21

I have the digitone and the cycles and I have to say I spend more time with the cycles. The immediacy of the cycles is great, and the ability to quickly do drum tracks and melodies. With the digitone all that is possible, and it technically has more voices, but you have to adjust everything to use all those voices. having 6 sequencing channels is quite nice compared to the on the digitone.

I also really like the sound design that went into the machines on the model:cycles. The fact that all the knobs have similar effect on the different machines means that when you control all and change everything it all changes similarly, which is not the case with the digitone. With the digitone and control all you can quickly make a bass drum no longer sound like a bass drum.

I think they are an amazing pair though. The percussive ability of the cycles and the harmonic and melodic capability of the digitone works really well together, and they have a cohesive sound. You have to like that FM sound, but it is cohesive.

1 Like
#22

Digitone for sure. M:C sounds a bit more percussive but also a little more hard IMO. I really like using the DN for drums since it can do vast variety of sounds where M:C is much more limited. Iā€™m not really using my MC anymore since I like the DN for drums and I may sell it.
The DN is much easier to use since it has plenty of buttons and knobs where MC is a bit of a pain to use with itā€™s single press knob for menus.
But take a good listen to the official demos because they do sound quite different.

#23

Digitone. Seriously.

1 Like
#24

Got Cycles on friday and IĀ“m squeezing so many different sounds out of itĀ“s crazy. By not using the machines for what they were intended for. MD style. Tone can do some really nice kick drums and metal is great for FXs. Just doing chord progressions on Cycles is so rewarding with the twist of a few knobs. Damn.

6 Likes
#25

digitone. the cycles is a lot of fun and sounds lovely, but i always felt like i was pi**ing in the dark using it, as the macro functionality of the knobs meant that, for me at least, as quickly as i reached a sweet spot with a sound, one adjustment and id lose it to a completely different sound, which just ended up being frustrating. with the DN you have a laser sharp control over everything thats happening. also the DN is super flexible and broad in its sound palette (ive commented a bunch of times before how much i love it!), whereas the M:C gets fairly same-y sonically in quite a short time

4 Likes
#26

Yeah, you are right about the voicing but it is still limited to the eight voice structure weather you stack or microtime them on a single step compared to Cycles pseudo-chord voicing per track or however they do it.

#27

Iā€™ve had both and the DN always seemed like more of a proper instrument, but that might in large part be down to the construction and interface. However, people can do amazing and expressive work on just the M:C alone, as @Ess and @blushresponse have convincingly demonstrated.

2 Likes
#28

Why not both?

4 Likes
#29

Personally I traded my Digitone in for a Cycles. Maybe I didnā€™t put in enough time, but I could never get totally comfortable with FM, and ended up using the Digitone as a preset machine, or at best as a ā€œtwist random knobs until something interesting happensā€ machine. Iā€™m also just not that in to how it sounds on pads and leads.

With the Cycles I feel way more focused, and drums are what I was going for anyways. Itā€™s extra delicious going through the Heat.

6 Likes
#30

sorry for being ā€˜thatā€™ guyā€¦ have you checked kq dixie and fm4 on ipad? both are basically digitone and cycles.

and also you can hook up your ipad to dt via usb without any midi cable juggling and get/send both audio and midi from the same cable.

1 Like
#31

get both.

2 Likes
#32

I was thinking about using a heat. Sounds nice with the cycles!

#33

I was thinking about getting a Heat for an alternative to mastering. Is it worth the 800 bucks? I might get a used one for 600. I only have Cycles and Samples for hardware. I record them in FL studio and sometimes throw a Gross Beat on for effects.

#34

These are the only examples I could find on youtube with Cycles and Heat. There is an external reverb as well, so the final sound is less sharp. For saturation only I would get a cheaper fx, but Heat is much more than that.

#35

I used the Cycles and Heat together a fair bit before I sold the Heat. They make a great pair.

Other than the main synth line and a bit of background Lyra, this track is all Cycles and Heat.

15 Likes
#36

Brutal. Just off to AE to get checked out after that , think Iā€™ve got a-ninjury

1 Like
#37

Wow, that one is violent! I love it! How did you do the visuals?

2 Likes
#38

Bog standard Android freeware video app.

1 Like
#39

Loved the Cyclesā€™ Chord machine concept so much I built it in Kyma. :slight_smile:

2 Likes
#40

I just googled every word in your comment separately and combinations of with each other but couldnā€™t find any app :frowning: can I kindly ask for a link?

1 Like