DN2 companions?

With the amazing DN sequencer and chord mode. Is anybody pairing the Digitone 2 with a good synth that offers a more varied sound palette?

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I usually pair it with my iPad, or iPhone. Cause that’s all I have now besides the DT2, and I am so happy with that setup. Apple stuff, mostly iPads are really reliable and extremely diverse. I can use it as a sound module, midi controller and recorder at the same time.

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Depends what you’re using it for, is it your main drum source and you want some analogue synth sounds?

I’ve been using it alongside Tonverk since I got it and having a really good time.

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The sound palette is already pretty wide, on the DNII… Are you sure you have really exhausted all the possibilities already?
It does any drums I can think of.
For ā€œwarmerā€ sounds you might need more time but it’s definitely capable.

Maybe an FX pedal such as OTO Boum would help you get a sound closer to what you have in mind.
But otherwise the Vermona Perfourmer gives me the analog sound I had been looking for without knowing, it’s an incredible synth, very fun to play with.

Stil, I do believe DNII is a very deep synth, dig deeper and enhance your skills instead scattering your efforts!!

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digitakt 2 is DN2 best friend, or tonverk.
Why ? because a synthesizer and a sampler is all you need to make any electronic music possible.
with a sampler you can have your brother playing trumpet , your school music teacher singing false notes. Field recordings. all the drum machine sounds you will never be able to afford. acoustics drumkits. Amen Breaks. turn your butt slap into the perfect snare …

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Beetlecrap Tempera could be a good sampler companion…

cough playlist cough

My vote for Tonverk though :wink: If I had to sell everything and keep two, it’d be DNII + TV.

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Access Virus Ti2. 16 part multitimbral & works ridiculously well controlled by DN2 when in sequencer mode. Got all the FX and modulation possibilities that DN2 lacks and you need, and then some.

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Cobalt8, Pro-800, Blofeld, TD-3-MO, Neutron here. Sequenced from DN2. Often I use it just for drums if I wish to escape the FM sound.
I suggest getting something that can eat midi CC so you can p-lock and utilize 2 midi lfo’s. Arpeggiator is also cool to have.

Maschine Plus and digitone 2 combo is massive ,have it in my setup at the Moment
look Maschine plus is fire works well with elektrons

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(This is a bit like my thread ā€œTo accompany a Syntaktā€ over on the other side(

Honestly, The DN2 has just about everything ā€œsynthā€ covered, especially if you layer more than one sound. There’s a lot of things it could do more easily but not many sounds it can’t make.

The obvious next step for ā€œmore varied sound paletteā€ is a sampler but you have to enjoy finding/creating/editing sound files for that which usually means sitting at a PC with mouse/keyboard. I think most people who spend money on hardware are trying to get away from that, so… :man_shrugging:

One synth that really impressed me with its sonic abilities in the last couple of weeks is the Behringer Pro VS Mini. It’s a bit fiddly to program but gives huge results. It’s only $90 so it’s a bit of a no-brainer.

I’ve been pairing the Digitone2 with a torso S-4 for about a year now. I think it’s an excellent combo with no overlap.

the s-4 adds just the right amount of organics to the digitone without being overbearing in it’s features or handling.
As of now, the firmware has come a long way in stability and completeness and the feature set is logical and immediate, deep enough to get lost in. ā€œsculpting samplerā€ like they brand it, is actually true here i find.
slight lack in midi sync tightness though.

i reserve track 13-16 for the 4 torso tracks and at least use one of them to sequence polyphonic granular sounds via Digitone.

i am pondering to replace it with a tonverk now…

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I agree with the rest that DN2 probably has the most varied sound palette of any groovebox.

If what you’re looking for is something more knobby or something that does sound ā€žanalogā€œ without any effort, Iā€˜d recommend any of the SH 101 clones or if it should sound more ā€žluxuriousā€œ a Take 5 or Fourm.

Would love to hear more about how you set these two up together - signal chain and your thoughts behind it and any tips and insights:)

I think FM offers the broades soundpalette, the dig deeper aspect comes down, to also using detune /page 2 of the synth setting , to get even more overtones , and use this on carrier /modulator wave. Also starting from a low octave sound, and then creating the overtones makes sound designing with FM a bit mor tangible.

I pair my DN1 with Syntakt - but mostly because DN1 dosent have that drum engines, or wave Engine the DN2 already has. Syntakt has the advantage, that its a bit more limited in scope. (but after hearing some of the percussion sound demos, that is debatable - its a very good drum synth.)

The other obvious choice would be a sampler, the argument that you sit on the computer and edit depends on how granular you want to be. The most post processing possibility is there with the MPC. (Slice, Trim, Pitch, FX.)
The workflow is a little bit convoluted - not exactly as streamlined as Elektron.
I personally go with Octatrack, its also well a bit convoluted, but in a way, that is more fun to me than the MPC. (I tried both, and while Octatrack was a bit more challenging, and the FX dosent sound as good as the MPC, i still prefer it over the MPC. ) So both have their strength- you will only find out what works for you if you try it yourself.

i run the S4 into the DN2, so i can utilize the compressor.
into the S4 audiowise i only run a guitar or a mic but other than that, i use samples in the box.

I hardly ever sample from the DN2.

Midi: The DN2 has channels 13-16 ā€œreservedā€ as midi channels into the S4.

Most of the time i use one or two of these for polyphonic step sequencing from the DN2 into poly machines on the S4.
The other Channels on the S4 only get clock and start/stop.

Soundwise on the S4, i use mostly dusty organic textures and melodies from old records, or melodic loops and some percussion loops or single sampled notes for the poly machine that i make in ableton live.
The main drums come from the DN2, the percussion on the S4 is more a supporting rhythm.

drumswise, the most fun i have with rhythmic loops is to have only a few spread out hits but heavy modulation and fx in the S4.
to name the samples e.g. _123bpm at the end is a huge timesaver because the S4 will fit the sample correctly in length.

The sync feels pretty stable now compared to early 2025, at least on my unit.

Still, all loops are off sync a tad by default, which is noticeable with rhythmic stuff.
but off-setting a drumloop +16ms (offset is a setting in the sample settings of the machines) fixes it mostly. looses some punch on the first hit of the sample though obviously.

Can you elaborate on what you prefer about the TV vs the digitakt 2 or octatrack or whatever? I don’t like my current sampler very much and I’ve been waffling really hard on what to get.

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What’s your ā€œcurrent samplerā€?

I don’t own one, but… from looking at the manual the Tonverk isn’t just a fancy sampler, it’s big on effects processing and routing, too. Each track has separate FX and there’s multiple master effects units with sends/returns on the external connectors.

I’m using the isla s2400 and it sounds great, I just don’t get along with the sequencer or the way you have to do sound design before recording a sequence. The elektron sequencer paradigm really clicks with me.

I don’t have DN but I have DT2 and Tonverk for now. All I could say is the DT2 workflow is way faster. Immediate. However, Tonverk is still needs improvement and you could basically auto sample everything (when it works). Since you have DN2 you could just get DT2 for drum sounds or sample DN2 into DT2 and edit there. DT2 also has grid and slicing feature which Tonverk doesn’t. If you just create a loop and sample that into DT2 you could just slice it and randomize

Only advantage of Tonverk right now is the FX part and storage. DT2 has 20 GB of storage and very slow transfer app. Tonverk has SD Card which means you can just throw whole sample library. However, you could just plugin DT2 to pc or Ipad and use the tablet as FX box or SP 404 or H90, you name it

Actually, I want to test DN2 but for now my money on Tonverk :frowning: