Digitone why's and whatnots

Elektron Gear Digitone/Digitone Keys
#21

Please don’t take this too hard, but from your list I got the impression, you missed an important point …

WHY Digitone at all? :thinking: :wink:

IMO since the beginning of it’s marketing it was made clear that the engineers tried to get some kind of squaring the circle by providing a FM-synthesizer, which could be operated by many of us easily, without the need to dive into the more or less scientific realms and the endless possibilities of the FM-synthesis.

A full blown FM synthesizer is often so overwhelming to many, who are not familiar with FM-synthesis that they tend to see it as witchcraft to create sounds and stay away from it at all. That is, what the enginieers at Elektron wanted to overcome in the first place and IMO they did a great job.

If we see the Digitone as is, which is not intended to be the “one to rule them all” machine - even a Moog One is not such a thing - and which also shall be at a moderate price target to bring FM synthesis to much more musicians, then IMO it’s a very balanced little box with an unusual fun factor for FM synths :wink:

I can only recommend what has been said above from others, if all those issues on your list are important to make you happy, get rid of the Digitone.

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#22

Makes no sense… compared to the Digitakt they actually put a second Coldfire processor in it, to accomodate the cpu load.

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#24

And people seem to get awesome results from the Digitakt’s single processor. There will always be limitations on the gear we purchase, just gotta make the best of it. My Digitone is my most prized piece of gear next to my Machinedrum. It has a lengthy feature set and is great as a self contained unit. Also, the dual processors may leave room for possible future updates as it might not be completely maxed out at this point.

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#25

Elektron did something truly remarkable. They created an FM synth that is just as tweakable and hands-on as an analog one. And while it has its frustrations, they struck a nice balance between complexity and accessibility. And best of all, it’s just a sonic playground.

8 Likes
#26

My TX81Z FM synth just died:sleepy:, its 30 years old, I guess and has had a great run, its quite sad really. But Jesus it was a nightmare of menu diving, button pushing, and head scratching to program…(not always with great resaults)

But I just pulled the trigger today on a new DN and even though i havnt layed hands on it yet i can guarantee that the DN is 100 times easier to program, that resaults are going to be far easier to achieve, far quicker, and sounds will be exponentially more usable…

Its easy to loose sight over how far things have come with music technology, and just how lucky we are (not to be backing up to casette for starters).

And in an era where the expectation is “I want it all, and I want it now” it’s easy to loose sight of just how far things have come since the TX81 came on the scene.

Having been excited all those years ago when i finally got one, im equally excited now about the abundance of possibilities and potentials that are available from the new expanded devices such as the DN. I think there should be more gratitude for synth companies. Thst is all…

3 Likes
#27

Im loving the Digitone today. Feeling particularly pleased with the bass patch I made for a track Im working on. Didn’t use the filter at all! I’ve always used analogues, so making a bass patch with texture and movement with no filter is very satisfying.
I didnt mind some of the results I got with abletons Operator, but getting there was never fun. Digitone is fun. And sounds lush.

#28

This 100%. Sometimes I don’t think people realise that a more refined interface makes things more accessible, even if it can be misconstrued as being limited.

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