I’m going to part with my Roland Mc 101 and I want to move towards a machine with more percussive, futuristic sounds because I find the Mc101 sounds not to renew it sounds with sounds like old Roland sounds it’s very bland for the hardtek PCM sounds despite its bank of 3000 sounds, I prefer the quality to the quantity of the presets, and that’s not what I need so I would like to know your feedback on the Digitak or Digitone with its FM synthesis maybe more suitable with my configuration. In addition I find the construction very fragile, and I hear here and there that some of the Mc 101 have bricked and malfunction of the screen … you have to see the Mc 101 in the hands to notice it finish not really study to last over time. Thanks for your feedback.
I mean, that really depends if you want 8 tracks of sampled sounds or 4 tracks and 8 voices of synthesis
In the 4 tracks I can add 4 Drums tracks? and the rest 8 tracks in FM synthesis? how many sample tracks can be added?
The Digitakt is a sampler only, with 8 tracks. It can sound like whatever you sample or load into it.
The Digitone is a synthesiser only with no sampling. It has 4 tracks and can play a total of 8 notes at a time, shared between the four tracks. Each track can change the synth sound on a per step basis, so you can arrange it so that you have all your drum sounds playing on one track, use another track for chords, and the other two tracks for melodies or whatever.
In terms of sound the Digitakt sounds like a Digitone finally I mean if they use the same type of sound synthesis? with the Digitone you can sculpt kick, snare, hi-hat?
I have both and I think you’d be happier with Digitakt. Its original design is as a drum based sampler, but can obviously do so much more. Digitone is great and can do really good percussion but I find you have to spend a lot more time thinking about how to use the sounds and if you want to get more expansive you have to start finding workarounds.
Digitakt you can bring in any sound, modulate it in crazy ways and there are many good sound packs on Elektron’s site to get you started.
No.
The Digitakt is a sampler.
The Digitone is a synthesizer.
The Digitakt will sound like whatever samples you put into it.
The Digitone uses FM synthesis to make sounds.
Yes, you can do this. It sounds good, but it sounds like FM synthesized drums.
I advise doing some research on them via YouTube or something.
Here’s thread that is similar to your question, but not exactly the same. It does however touch on both.
If you want a specific drum sound like a 606 or 626 or Linn or something, then definitely the digitakt. If you want to focus more on melody and synth sounds, then get the Digitone. The correct answer is “get both” because the MC series from Roland is able to do the job of both Digitakt and Digitone.
I have only a D-50 in my Roland stable and my main rig is a OT and DN (and a Wavestate). But I feel that the MC707 could reasonably cover about 75% of what I do with my E-boxes for less $$. That said, the 25% it misses is important to me and revolves around slicing and all the amazing locks of the OT and DN.
Don’t want to sound condescending, but like @ViolentMeals has pointed out, you should maybe inform yourself on what a sampler is and what FM synthesis is and how it sounds for drums. It’s fundamentally different and dictates your whole sound and workflow. If you like what you hear from FM drums, you could also look into Model Cycles (cheap and compact) or Syntakt (bigger and more functions, but same FM engine as Model Cycles). If you like Roland‘s drum sounds in principle and also FM drums, you could look into TR8:S as well. It has all the classic Roland drum machines plus FM drums in a more hands-on interface.
yea and unless you understand FM synthesis you may struggle to sound design decent drums on digitone, unless you’re just using presets & modifying em. which isn’t a hUge amount of fun. it’s ok like.
as mentioned above, model cycles is easier to sound design FM drums on than digitone, due to its limited parameter structure. As is syntakt.
I agree, although I would say there’s pretty good drum patches for Digitone out there (@darenager for example even made two packs and Oscillator Sink has a free pack you can find on Youtube). Not everyone is into designing drums and these are great, could be enough. And you can always tweak envelopes to change the sound without understanding or touching the more complex parameters.
Imo the Digitone sounds great as a drum machine but is not ideal to use as such. You only have four tracks. And selecting them can be a pain in the ass because the LEDs on these four track buttons are really confusing at times. You also can’t really finger drum and use that for live recording while this is easy on Digitakt and Syntakt (and Model Cycles?).
no you give your opinion let’s see 
A LoL sampler I still know what it is 
Fm synthesis I had a Model Cycles not convinced by the charley, no effects! for the Mc 101 the bass sound bank, drums is great 
some appreciable synthesizer sounds, the rest not convinced, that’s why I added a small Microfreak really the Mc 101 for the organization clips are great nothing to say we can have 16 drum kits on a track and play them alternately, the Looper track is also appreciable now what the Mc101 lacks is sounds as I said above, despite its monstrous sound bank is missing this little thing that will add spice despite its effect box, when you say that the Mc101 can do like the Digitakt or Digitone for samples yes maybe but for sounds I really don’t think so! it’s not the same universe now those who have had a Mc101 in their hands and had a Digitakt affirm that we can obtain the same things or almost I invite the detractors to give their opinion, otherwise what is good for me with the Mc 101 it’s the drums and basses, and some Lead synths… Otherwise maybe I’ll go for something else, the Sp 404 Mk2 to sample the Microfreak, maybe it’s a good alternative too. I would have liked to keep my little Mc 101 to make him swallow the sounds of the Microfreak but the “Tone” track does not allow you to move the samples on the 16 clip parts of the “Tone” track, the “Looper” track can to do in not exceeding 60 seconds as the processors of Mc 101 will be able to notice it. The interest of Clips that I find really interesting on the Mc 101.
digitakt is like a spoon where you have to supply the ice cream,
digitone is ice cream where you have to learn to use the spoon.
I don’t really understand what you’re trying to do and what you’re lacking, sorry. If you expect DT and DN to replace all of MC 101‘s functions, they won’t.
101 has a very deep synth engine under the hood and can also sample. Even if you had DT and DN, they couldn’t do everything 101 can. What they offer is more hands on control, better UI and the powerful Elektron sequencer. You will however lose all of the classic Roland sound patches.
If you want to sample bits from Microfreak, DT could easily do that. Samples can be up to 33 seconds I think, but will be mono. If that’s enough for you and your Microfreak is enough for you to make melodies, basses, leads, adding DT for drums could be a good idea.
I don’t know how clips work on 101. Maybe someone who knows can jump in. If you’re looking for tools that help you build tracks, DT and DN have a imo powerful song mode. You can compose up to 16 patterns in 8 banks per project. They’re containing notes, sounds and even automation for all tracks. You can then program how to play these patterns after each other with song mode.
live sampling is 33 seconds, imported samples can be however long you have memory to accommodate. As noted, mono upon import, mixed internally and spread across a stereo field, they will output as stereo.
Also of note is that anything you live sample into digitakt will go through a limiter and be normalized.
What no syntakt in the mix lol
Mpc One. Thats what you’re gonna want
I have to wonder if this is the right approach.
While one of the main draws of the MC-101 is its bank of classic Roland sounds, that’s clearly not going to be for everyone or every genre.
But it seems to have a pretty capable sample playback engine.
It’s not going to be as hands-on or as easy to manipulate samples as the Digitakt, but your main issue here seems to be the stock sounds.
Maybe the stock Digitakt sounds are exactly what you are looking for, but probably not?
The DT has the advantage of being able to sample directly into the device, while the MC-101 can only do sample playback, but I’m not sure that would solve your problem.
I wonder if what you should really be doing is looking for some sample packs to load onto the MC-101, rather than replacing it.
Or looking into synthesis - which could be a Digitone or a Syntakt.
But depending on how you are using the device, I’m not sure that any one of them replaces the MC-101 directly, rather than complimenting it.
- DT is an 8-track monophonic sampler.
- DN is a 4-track polyphonic (8 voice) 4-op FM synth.
- ST is a 12-track monophonic 2-op FM drum synth.
While you can obviously make full tracks with any of these devices, the MC-101 has four tracks of polyphonic subtractive synth and sample engines (and I think it can maybe do 2-op FM?).
I’m not very familiar with the device or its limitations though.
None of the Elektron boxes combine the two like that.
But obviously, they are very powerful boxes in their own right, and are doing their own thing.
There’s no one box that does it all, or “best” device that is right for everyone.
It really is the flavor of the month right now.
Obviously it’s a very powerful device, but is also 3-4× the cost of the Digi boxes (unless you already have an Ableton Suite license) and is very different from any of them.
I think they are still good value, considering that prices for almost all of the other synths/drum machines/groove boxes have gone up as well. Thinking of the internal sequencer, MIDI sequencer, high quality effects plus in- and outputs and the massive multi-timbrality, the digis are still worth their money. Comparing it to a DAW is a bit besides the point I’d say. And probably not sell MC 101 to fund the digis, if they can afford. If the digis don’t work, you’re left with nothing
All of that being said, I agree that OP should probably just buy an Elektron used and see if it works for them or not. Used prices are quite stable and you can just try out stuff and sell if you don’t gel with it. While with current pricing for new Elektrons, you lose a lot of money if you want to sell them.