I’m not that knowledgeable on midi sequencers since I’ve only used other Elektron gear and a Squarp Pyramid. But having researched thoroughly on industry leading midi sequencers like the Oxi One MK2, Squarp Hapax, Cirklon 2 etc. I’m left wondering if the DN2 is not just as capable as all of these? What’s it lacking? None of the other sequencers have velocity sensitive buttons or pads which really surprised me, considering prices.
DN2 is cheaper (except for Oxi) and has LFO automation, P-locking, 16 tracks, 16 note polyphony, note editor, chord mode, I could go on. And then you’ve got all the synth capabilities on top of that.
What say you sequencer aficionados, what important features am I missing except for the midi arp? How could I benefit from sequencing a Virus or a Blofeld from one of the above instead of the Digitone 2?
Digitone ii is a badass sequencer. You can literally sequence 8 synths and then use onboard tracks for 6 drums, a bass, and still have a 8 voice polysynth on board to play or sequence. Terrific master hub of a setup IMO.
The primary advantage of others will be various generative possibilities and shortcuts. Elektrons sequencer doesn’t have any kind of pattern generator beyond the Euclidean pulse generator while something like a T1 or Oxi will literally populate triggers in a scale for you with some parameterized control. So the elektron way requires a little more initial decision about where to put triggers and what notes to use, then you can use conditions and various generative techniques to create evolving sequences. There’s nothing like the stochastic or matriceal modes or autofill options of Oxi one though, or the harmonic Euclidean generation of T1. Oxi one even has a “harmonizer” that can create a sequence in harmony with an adjacent chord sequence you input, the closest digitone ii has is neighbor conditions to let you use neighbor tracks to gate if a trigger plays or not.
Elektrons sequencer also doesn’t have anything like random step mode or reverse mode. It’s just less oriented around those kinds of ways to mix up a pattern, but it also has page loops so you can still move around the patterns different subgroups of 16 triggers in a different way. The song mode on the digitone ii is very nice though. The elektron stuff is more focused on manipulating the sound design while your pattern plays while Oxi is more about manipulating the pattern itself constantly if you’re performing on it. Both are great, and those generative modes can be tremendously inspiring but also don’t just write music for you. The other advantage something like Oxi or Hapax have are instrument definitions to quickly load up a known cc mapping for your synths on a new track. It is very nice. Oxi also has an insane thing for those with too many synths or to control grooveboxes and drum machines called multitrack where you can split out a single poly track into 8 mono sequences and then a midi flow controller called the split that lets you keep different synths in different groups. You can have address like 96 different midi channels that way and with multitracks you can theoretically sequence 64 monosynths at once. So if you like to have a huge studio where everything is always connected and keep track in a spreadsheet Oxi is the jam. With a multitrack you could control two analog fours playing different things on every voice with only one sequencer track. It’s nuts!
As for the velocity sensitivity I think the logic is that if you can afford a thousand dollar sequencer you can also afford a keystep to play note data into it with if you want and a lot of them offer music generation or note entry modes that are kind of removed from the notion of keyboard playing anyway so maybe you can just modulate the velocity in the sequence and call it good.
Great reply mate, cheers for taking the time! I assumed it was something of that kind of caliber, like CV outs and other ways to connect to modular aswell. For someone with my needs and a somewhat rudimentary multitimbral setup, DN2 is still king for the cost I believe for now. Thanks for confirming this. Although I might check out Oxi or Torso one day to delve deeper into generative features Happy weekend!
So the sequencing MIDI does not take away from the internal polyphony?
And the MIDI sequencer has 16 voice polyphony within only 1 track? So theoretically I could sequence 16 external devices with 16 voice polyphony and 128 PER device?
Yeah. You could sequence 15 distinct MIDI channels’ worth of devices (each MIDI track can only do one channel) while also keeping all 16 internal voices for one sequencer track or you could sequence 16 devices if you didn’t want to use its internal synthesizer at all.
I guess on reflection, it’s probably one of the best deals around for standalone hardware sequencing considering the track count, polyphony, chord mode, song arranger, and 128 steps with euclidean and trigger conditions/probability etc and even if you never touched the synthesizer it’s still a pretty solid deal. The fact that it’s quite a beast of a synthesizer is just gravy.
Happy weekend!