Digitone Operator Tuning

Elektron Gear Digitone/Digitone Keys
#24

I here what ya sayin’ but to me a big part of what gives the digitone its character is when sweeping through the defined ratios. It’s very musical. With other FM synth it’s not as jolly.

Maybe a cool feature would be to be able to scale the ratios differently for a different character of sweep and fine tuning… but boy howdy this is by far my favourite synth out of all the hardware and software stuff I’ve tried. Sometimes when there’s a parameter you can just end up tweaking it for the sake of it and if I couldn’t get a good sound out of the digitone I’d be right there on the frontline with ya, but a dog educated by a monkey could make this thing sound great, fiddle with all the encoders into random posotions whilst throwing it down the stairs whilst jumping out of a window and it still sounds great.

Personally I’d like it limited even more by reducing the relative amplitude of the operators because I’m don’t like the clipping noise edge some folk like with FM and I never use the detune so… I guess that’s me.

Also expect some bias, as this is an elektron forum and some of us are still all amped up from defending the digitone keys to strangers on facebook.

#25

Yes, but it reads not only to me like a complaint … like giving a child a bicycle with a supporting wheel would be more of a “restriction” rather than “help”.

As @soulfood says, the design of the DN machine opens quite new territory too.

#26

I will keep that in mind in the future! I really don’t want to upset people, which clearly I have.

2 Likes
#27

I prefer the Digitone’s streamlined approach to FM synthesis over all others. It’s just plain effective, and feels more “musical” to me.

The only thing I would wish for is being able to sound more lo-fi. I prefer aliasing, noise, grit, etc. with FM synthesis.

2 Likes
#28

Just to add a little contribution :

I think PaxLibertas is right, it would be great if they add detune per oscillator and the ability to switch to fixed frequency. I don’t think it would be a matter regarding the simplicity of the workflow.
Its a great machine indeed which make FM synthesis easy to use.

2 Likes
#29

I agree.

#31

I enjoy a lot the UX for sound design in the Digitone and it’s what I expected of something advertised as “master of the digital method” instead of some sort of “FM sound design power house”. The limitations were pretty well thought to get musical results easily.

I think one of the issues is expecting a device to be what is not. A quick glance at the appendix of the manual will show the parameters available and how they affect certain operators.

That being said, the summary that OP made of the capabilities is nice and it’s fine to want more features in the devices you own. A good compromise to satisfy both people like me and like OP can be an extra page to add individual operator detuning if you like, so you only use it when it’s needed.

One piece of unsolicited advice for OP would be to use less conspirancy theory/clickbaity titles for the posts so your message is received in a different way.

1 Like
#32

Yeah, the DN is more of a FM-groovebox with a simplified FM-engine than a full fledged FM-workstation and I think they also marketed that way (something along the lines of “The Digitone is Elektron’s simplified approach for FM synthesis making it more accessible for everyone” and i think they nailed it 100%)

6 Likes
#33

@PaxLibertas Taking the time to understand, writing a guide and also sharing it is awesome. From this I now know I can use the detune on A in a way that I had completely missed out on so far (and will probably spend my evening exploring). There are very few people that actually add any value to the community in terms of sound design and deep knowledge so I value this very high.

4 Likes
#34

yes, most of the posts are just triggered people hating hard on “DN needs more fine tuning” thing and don’t appreciate the info given like the notes-ratio list, guide, video… so thanks for sharing @PaxLibertas

I’m happy with current DN ratios (I’m totally an FM noob, don’t need more) but also don’t get all that hate to this thread.

3 Likes
#35

@PaxLibertas Great overview, thank you for this!

3 Likes
#36

And @PaxLibertas - welcome to Elektronauts!!! Ignore the grumpy grumpsters.

5 Likes
#37

I just love my DN, tonight I made my own woody FM patch, ran it through my Big Sky reverb and listened on my new Genelec 8040Bs. Wow what a blast, such a great sounding little synth.

1 Like
#38

Great outfit! There is a time to enjoy. :yum:

#39

Has anyone made patches with chords “baked in” with operator tuning?
I’d love to hear some examples.

1 Like
#40

@PaxLibertas This is gold ! thank you :nerd_face:

#41

If you didn’t already, you might want to have a look here: Fun with Ratio Offsets

This reflects the way more flexible ratio options the the DN has now.

Also if you are looking to dive really deep into FM, check this as a starting point: FM Tutorial

3 Likes
#42

I was just about to post Fun with Ratio Offsets, you win!

1 Like
#43

:grin:

To me still the most valuable thread to be found about DN in here. But I admit I’m having a very nerdy phase about all that ratio stuff atm.

1 Like