Yeah that’s my thoughts as well, the extra engines aren’t all that.
I wish they gave it something a bit more interesting to be honest.
Have to disagree on the new machines in the dn2 being uninspiring, they can be pushed really far and create some unusual timbres, tho it’s not always apparent from much of the videos on YouTube. One good one that springs to mind is Sarah belle Reid’s in depth video, she gets into some territory that a lot of the other videos don’t (at least last time I checked anyway). I’ve never been a fan of the syntakt as it feels too much like a jack of all trades, tho I’m sure plenty will disagree. Alternatively, circumvent hardware altogether and look at Fors and Rainbow Circuit. Both developers are coming up with some really nice stuff in both the synthesis and processing realms, also at a fraction of the price of a new machine…
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Both are great - I’d consider the Syntakt for more of a raw analog sound…deeper house/harder techno
The DN2 is pretty awesome as well - You can go from full on classic house and techno sounds to the more obscure type stuff…
I find myself exploring and creating more sounds with the DN2 - the Syntakt, I usually just randomize the Synth page and go from there.
Here’s a recent beat I made with the DN2 and OT
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I made a list for myself to be sure that DN2 was worth adding (I already had DNK and am keeping it).
4 audio, 4 MIDI tracks → 16 tracks, each can be audio or MIDI
8-voice polyphony → 16 voice polyphony
Three new synth engines: FM Drum, WaveTone, Swarmer
Former engine called FM Tone, old presets can be transferred
New filters: multimode, comb+, comb-, EQ (peak/notch)
Filters can be repositioned in signal chain
2 LFOs → 3 LFOs per track
Master compressor
Master overdrive
Note edit window with duration and microtiming per note
Polyphony is recorded consistently with new note edit capability
Euclidean sequence generator
Up to 64 steps per pattern → 128 steps
Page loop
3 new trig modes: velocity, retrig, preset pool
MIDI presets with CC naming
4 track buttons → arp, note edit, transpose + / -
Song mode button
Two SYN buttons, two pages each → One SYN button, four pages
Trig conditions, probability, fill now separate / independent
Key tracking modulation source
Noise options in oscillators
Kits
Perform kit that can persist when changing to a new pattern
Pattern transpose mode (can choose tracks to exclude)
Can choose tracks to exclude from control-all functionality and compressor
Prepare mutes function
Pattern chaining now easier
Long-press step shows where parameters are locked
Added in updates:
Overbridge support
New and improved chord mode
Still no multi-map mode (and no promises?). The new engines are really easy to use, very nice for quick sketches.
As for Syntakt, I have never been tempted, because I had a Model:Cycles, and sold it. Syntakt improved on the physical aspects, but I listened to a lot of demos, and my issues with sound design on it did not go away.
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Owning both a Syntakt and a Digitone 2, I find the DN2’s filter routing feature by itself opens up so many new possibilities in sound design. I’d prefer the DN2 over the Syntakt anytime, not just because the Syntakt unfortunately doesn’t have filter routing but it really does matter to me whether let’s say distortion is applied before or after a filter. Filter routing also sonically sets apart the DN1 and DN2 by far.
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IMO, if you plan using Elektron groove boxes as sound sources only, and to add as an expander to a DAW and its plugins, it seems to me to be no good idea.
The strength of the Elektron boxes is their unique combination of sound-engines, sequencer capabilities, playability, live performance options, you name it.
IMO
- Digitone provides a fine hardware FM synth, but most of its sounds should be possible with plugins as well.
- Syntakt combines analogue and digital sound engines, and many sounds should be possible with other gear and plugins.
In both cases the p-locks, ease of setting them, even in real time recording mode make a difference compared to other gear. If those capabilities are not used or required, it seems, more affordable gear could do the job as well 
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My perspective on this comes from a very pragmatic, head over heart kind of way: 2nd Hand Syntakts are currently very reasonably priced. You could buy one now and try it out and if you still hankered for a Digitone 2 could probably sell it without much loss and in the meantime a 2nd hand DN2 would have come down in price anyway…
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I reckon if you were just planning to use the box standalone, then Digitone II would be the clear choice for me. DN2 fixes all the major annoyances that prevent me from being productive using the SN as a standalone box, those being: Polyphony, 128 step patterns & Kits.
However as you said you’ll be using with Ableton, then I think those considerations are less important.
Not much of a yes or no answer to this one. At the end of the day, there are people doing fantastic things with both devices, but in some of those scenarios it’s due to a lot of work and time being invested in the devices themselves to achieve the desired results.
Since you specifically use the term sound source to describe what you’re getting out of this, I’m not sure how to interpret your desired use but one would imagine that in whatever scenario you have outlined in your head, the raw sound of the device first, and then the additional sound design possibilities will be the deciding factors for you rather than performative or sequencer features.
If you’re hearing DN and DN2 as sounding “samey”, then maybe you just don’t like the sound of the digitone, and if you don’t require polyphony or the additional tracks or the other features which make DN2 a good standalone option, perhaps a syntakt is the better choice.
I would not, however, dismiss digitone 2 based on what you hear a couple of people doing with it on youtube, as there are quite a few ways to make non-FM sounds with a digitone, they just take more work perhaps.
Anyways, good luck with your search.
This is where you’re wrong, bud. DN2 is easily one of the best, widest range instruments Elektron has ever made. FM Tone is wild, FM Drum rocks in so many ways, Wavetone covers all the basics, and Swarmer… gives you THAT sound without eating up voices. The only thing missing, to me, is a master filter and effects (Heat+FX), and a sampler, which can be solved by DTII or something like Koala.
One issue you’re going to run into is, a LOT of what is out on youtube or whatever is going to be posted by people just getting into these things, and its going to sound like it.
All that said, if you’re based in Ableton Live and want to stay there, I would say… Elektron shines in a hardware setup. It will work great with a DAW but to me, the fun of it is being away from that.
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In your situation, I’d go with a Syntakt. It can bring a lot of synergistical benefits to an ITB setup. You can not only use its analogue sounds to add to your ITB sounds, but you can also utilize the Syntakt’s FX block for adding analogue processing for your ITB tracks.
From the other side around, you can make Syntakt sound much doper mixwise when you can pipe all that stuff into your DAW tracks via OB2. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that using OB2 with Syntakt is the only way tp tackle some mixing issues that can present themselves, since the box has no individual outputs (unlike something like A4 & Rytm, which can be mixed to any level of polish OTB)
For FM synthesis, if you got Ableton Operator, that’ll give you plenty of FM and then some. Add in a copy of Renoise Redux and you can replicate a lot of the trackerist workflow of an Elektron FM box ITB (plus algorithmic sequencing etc etc). Since its all digital, does it matter all that much if its made ITB or OTB?
Once you have mastered all that software, then perhaps look into DNII… if you still feel the itch
just my 2 cents (jm2c)
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I have both and like them both, no real plans to move on from either. As someone who does not make house or techno or “beats” the vast majority of elektron related content on the internet is purely educational about workflow and has no concrete examples of the synths sounding the way I like to make them sound, but both are a lot deeper and more capable than people could infer from a YouTube video.
The biggest strengths digitone ii has over the syntakt besides polyphony are the sequencer updates and arp but those are really substantial strengths that are basically worth the cost of admission on its own and the fact that it’s a great sounding and versatile multitimbral synth with good master effects and a compressor is added value. The syntakt fx block is also its primary value imo as its analog synths do sound pretty good but are nowhere close to as versatile and interesting as most standalone analog monosynths. I would describe them as functional and workmanlike but missing a lot of the wildness that makes people enjoy analog synthesis because they’re too well controlled really. Maxing the overdrive just barely gets you to the level of wildness that a Typhon has before you enable the overdrive. As an overall package it’s a super useful synth and both analog and digital machines sound good and quickly get you in the neighborhood but I don’t really see it as being much better than digitone ii, just has some features that digitone ii doesn’t and so I like to combine the two to get the option to run digitones synths through the sequenced fx block. The main difference if you have to pick one is immediacy. I prefer to use the syntakt for drums because it’s fast and monophonic and has retrigger buttons and I don’t usually need long sequences or 3 lfos for drums. For anything that does need more detailed sequencing or more modulation or synth machine fine tuning digitone ii is better. I think if you have to make do with just one digitone ii would do a better job being able to fill the same roles as syntakt than the other way around, though.
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I think the main update is in the sheer amount of independent voices you are able to sequence, meaning you can go far more towards a full sounding track than you could attempt on the OG DN.
This project above has 3-note chords with 2-voice unison, plus a lead with 2-voice unison, plus drums (3 voices), bass (2 voices), texture/atmosphere (1 voice), an arp (1 voice), all at once at the peak towards the end. (Interesting sounds or not is more a matter of taste though - you are still free to call this indistinct and similar to the OG DN sound 
.)
But I’d argue that another big part of the update is the broadness of the sound palette. Interesting sounding or not, as subjective as that is, it’s way past FM at this point and it can do really faithful analog sounds now too, it even has an amazing Drift parameter, sync, ring modulation, etc. So even if it has “just” 3 LFO destinations, you get parameters like Drift that replicates what used to require at least one but probaby two of the LFOs on the OG DN. Add to that the new filters, including a really useful 4-pole filter and the more exotic comb filters… it all adds up in my opinion!
This doesn’t in any way negate the uniqueness of the Syntakt though, which is the topic discussed here. The Syntakt, in my opinion, is mainly about the analog machines (SY CHIP is amazing!) and the overall approachability - you can make music so quickly on it! My point above was simply addressing the comment that the DN2 isn’t a big update to the OG. I’d argue it’s a massive upgrade.
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I admit never having used a DNII, but do go take a listen to the recent SSL threads… DNII can do all that?
I’d say neither box can replace the other. Its a matter of which you prefer really
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Again. I have both and I just spent some time with the Syntakt. In my opinion, the sound design depth I could go with the Syntakt was way more limited than how deep I feel like I can go with the Digitone.
The Syntakt can go deep! But with my limited sound design skills, I can come up with more varied sounds with the Digitone than the Syntakt.
More exploring to do though 
And I’m not a fan of browsing sounds with the Syntakt manager. What’s analog. What’s digital. Boooo
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It is not just the limitations, but the uses to which the device is to be put. For me, there is a distinct contrast between the Erica Synths DB-01 Bassline (pretty limited sound but it is very good at what it can do, and a lot of fun to play) and the Model:Cycles (broader sound palette overall, but I didn’t enjoy using it as much, physically, and ultimately its limits were more frustrating).
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it’s the top feature of the digiboxes, macro controls not only enables control of four parameters simulatenously, but also non-destructive control of parameters. no filter jumps anymore after pattern change.
i recommend mapping all knobs to the rest of available macro controls (BC, PB & AT), IF your controller allow these mappings.
I use all of them on all 4 OG DN Tracks and 8 Syntakt Tracks for a total control of 12 tracks and 4 macro controls each, means 48 macro knobs / 192 parameters control + 12 volume and 12 level knobs
it’s a lot of preparation and tweaking but totally worth it.
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It’s not a bad thing. Just comparing the Syntakt to the Digitone. In my opinion, you can go deeper with the sound design in the Digitone versus the Syntakt
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