I’m relatively new to the Digitone II and had a moment of clarity around its button and workflow architecture that I wanted to both share and seek clarification on.
After some hands-on time and external discussion, I now understand that:
TRK (Track) selects which of the 4 synth tracks (T1–T4) I’m working on.
PATTERN accesses and manages musical ideas.
SONG arranges those patterns into a full timeline.
However, one thing I’m still unsure about:
When I press the TRK button, all 16 buttons light up, not just 4.
Why is that?
I would have expected only buttons 1–4 (for the 4 synth tracks) to be relevant in this context.
I’d really appreciate an explanation from more experienced users — is this visual layout functional, aesthetic, or tied to a deeper feature I haven’t grasped yet?
Thanks for the clarification — that makes total sense now about the 16 tracks lighting up on the DN2.
Quick question: Do you happen to know the best beginner-friendly video tutorial for the Digitone II (not the original DN1)? I’m just getting started and would love to see the lowest-level, most foundational walkthrough to build up from.
Quick follow-up: in the image below, you’ll see “-1” in the top-left corner of the Digitone II display, just above the number “9” (which I understand refers to the active pattern or song slot).
What does the “-1” represent? I couldn’t find anything in the manual about this.
Re: Syncing Digitone II as Secondary Slave to MC-707 Master (via TR-8S or USB/DAW Routing)
I’m currently building a synced hardware setup with the following configuration:
MC-707 (Master Clock – 5-pin MIDI OUT)
TR-8S (First Slave – MIDI IN from MC-707)
Digitone II (Goal: Second Slave, synced to same clock)
The MC-707 is handling tempo and transport, and it’s working well with the TR-8S. I now want to integrate my Digitone II into the same timing chain.
I’m considering two options:
MIDI Daisy Chain: TR-8S MIDI OUT → Digitone II MIDI IN • TR-8S set to forward MIDI Clock/Transport • Digitone II set to receive external clock + transport
USB Routing via DAW (Ableton Live) All devices connected via USB Ableton Live passing clock from MC-707 to TR-8S and Digitone • Digitone set to receive clock via USB (MIDI In: Sync = Yes)
My Question:
Is option 1 (TR-8S → Digitone via MIDI DIN) stable and recommended for tight sync in a live hardware workflow? Or would you advise using a MIDI Thru box from the MC-707 to split clock directly to both devices?
Any thoughts from those who’ve synced Elektron gear behind a Roland master would be appreciated.
Hi, I’m not hands-on with Roland gear (and also a bit of a rookie in synth-land), but with this (low) amount of chained devices the good ol’ 5-pin MIDI should work fine I think. Personally it’s how I connect my stuff, haven’t used Overbridge yet, and I’ve used USB MIDI only to connect to a MiniFuse which controls the synths via a 5-pin MIDI chain.
Lil surprised to see there’s no mono output on the Digitone II — just separate left and right outs. I would’ve expected a modern device like this to at least have a mono option or a summed output. Not a huge deal since I’ve got two inputs free on my interface, but still caught me off guard!
You actually have two mono outputs ^^
If you don’t use panning and don’t really care loosing the reverb dimensions, you’re good with choosing either R or L.
Ah, thanks — that’s helpful. I hadn’t considered treating the L or R output as its own mono signal like that.
Out of curiosity, if I were to go that route:
• Is there a “correct” or better choice between L and R?
• Would I need to adjust anything in the settings to make sure I’m not missing any important parts of the signal (like reverb tails or certain voices)?
• And for someone still getting their head around the Digitone workflow, is there a quick way to preview what I’d be losing by going mono?
Appreciate the insight — still wrapping my head around this box but loving the ride so far.
AMP menu: PAN is set to 0 (this way, you don’t have any trouble whatever the output you choose.
No LFO DEST set to AMP/PAN
DELAY: WID set to 0 (although it could be neat to choose some different values, e.g. 25, and have an alternance of louder and softer echoes)
no CHORUS I guess
no UNISSON
I think that’s it.
Of course, playing with these parameters is still recommended, as they will have an impact and it’s best to measure it, so that you recognize why there is a problem if you encounter one.
Thank you so much — really appreciate how clearly you broke that down. It’s those little things (like PAN or DELAY WID) that make all the difference, and you’ve just saved me hours of head-scratching.
On a related note: I’m trying to get into “scale lock” mode — you know, like playing it in piano cheat mode where you can’t hit a wrong note. In your opinion, is there a go-to video, manual section, or hidden gem of a guide that covers that best?
Thanks again — this kind of info is pure gold for those of us just getting our heads around these boxes!
Totally understand that there’s some confusion as we all go through it and everybody starts out with some questions, but you have to at least try to read the manual, many of the answers are easy to find if you search by keyword.
