Introducing Digitone II

Congrats and have fun with it!

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I’ve seen a few people ask for this, and I think it would be a really nice feature to have.
You could submit it as a feature request I guess

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Review for digitone II on wired: Elektron Digitone II Review: Worthy Successor to a Classic | WIRED

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Very good and measured review. After 1 month I’d score it a 8.5-9/10. It’s clear that with a few tweaks and OB it’ll be as close to perfect as any HW.

However, like the reviewer, I feel Elektrons insistence on sticking with USB-B is tired. It is really really annoying.

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I think it mainly has to do with using the same case for all the digi’s, and the same main board for DT2 and DN2. They save a lot of money by limiting the number of unique parts, especially custom enclosure stuff. It also allows them to be more flexible, if they order 10000 cases and the DT2 ends up wildly more successful than the DN2, they can use the case on either of them.

If the Tonverk leaks are real, which they seem to be, that uses USB C.

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I LOVE USB B. It’s strong, stands up to tons of plugs/unplugs, and is not easily bent. I very much appreciate this with something like the Digis where I take them out of the studio a lot. I do a TON of music composition on my DN2 (and other Digits/Syns/etc. before) on the couch, in bed, while traveling, and not worrying about the USB connector is so nice!

I just ordered a handful of USB-C to USB-B cables, and it just simplifies everything. I can connect it in the studio to the M4-Mini, or to my MBP if I’m not in the studio. Fast, strong, reliable.

I love USB-C. I think it’s the best small connector ever, but honestly, for a piece of professional gear, B is better.

I would give the DN2 a 10 of 10 personally. It added in exactly what I needed in a perfect DN. More voices, Wave Tone and Wave Drum. That rounded out what was already pretty much perfect. Just the addition of the transient knob in the drum machine is so incredible. I can make sounds that sound JUST like early ROM based machines. (DMX, Drumtraks, LMs, etc.) It’s got everything. I’ve created 99% of my sounds for my tracks because it just begs one to dig into it.

Even the small menu layout updates make it that much more inviting, and everything just flows. I don’t have to think about anything except being creative.

I was thinking about getting a Syntakt or DTII to go with it for a bit, but I just decided that using those new machines does everything I require in an Elektron. Samples would be nice of course, and a state variable analog filter would also be nice, but really, I miss them a lot less than I thought I would when I started using the DNII. For my purposes it’s the perfect Elektron. Feature updates are of course welcome as with any Elektron, but I’m SO happy with it. In the short time I’ve had it, I’ve written maybe ten tracks for it. It just calls to me when I’m not even doing something musical, and then I end up sitting down with it for a few hours and ending up with a completed track. :smiley:

IMO aside from the DN Keys, this is their finest work. Of course Ess gave them an absolutely amazing baseline to iterate from! :wink:

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That makes a lot of sense, thanks.

I definitely prefer usb c. Especially the jointed connectors which offer a significantly stronger connection and more flexible cable routing options.

I also travel quite a bit and now that I have both DN2 and DT2 I wish I didn’t have to always mind keeping two specialized cables just for these devices when all of my other new gear is on the standard. However, in the grand scheme of things, it’s easy to overlook once you get cooking.

I’m quite wavy with a soldering iron so eventually I’ll likely make the upgrade to the board/case myself.

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pfffft, every time I power up the DNII, it’s at least an 11/10

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Agreed!

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I view USB-C vs USB-B a little like 3.5mm vs 6.3mm (or 1/8" vs 1/4" for the only country on Earth where this happens). In theory, there is no difference, and one is more convenient. In practice…

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True. They both work, and do their job reasonably well. However, when you use a 1/4" :smiley: plug, you can feel the difference.

I’m measurement fluid. I still lay out my PCBs in THs of inches, but design part footprints with MMs. :smiley: I use both metric and imperial threaded screws as well. But then, I also mix through-hole with surface mount parts. :smiley: I’ve got tools for all of it, so I use all of it. :smiley:

I also use all three major temperature scales.

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As a Canadian (who lived through partial metrification in my teen and college years), I pretty much have to be. But as someone STEM-inclined from a very young age, metric just makes so much more sense.

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It does indeed! I can get my brain into both modes easily enough, and even mix and match them within the same project sometimes. I would definitely prefer going all metric at some point, but some of the parts, standoffs, screws, etc. that I use are still easier to get in standard/imperial. Occasionally the imperial have very minor advantages. Like the 4/40 screws I use have just a tiny bit more bite than the M3/M2.5 semi-equivalents, so I still use the 4/40. If everything shifted to metric though, I’d be totally happy to work completely in it. The funny thing though is that since I’m working with small things, I’m still using base-ten numbers within the imperial system (thousands). :smiley:

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Wholeheartedly agree! They have the space on the digis, might as well use that. If they would offer me something like an additional audio output or less height if they went USB-C, I would consider it, since C is fine. But as long as it stays in this case, going C makes absolutely no sense to me. Itā€˜s already the second review where this gets DN II a minus point, which I find absolutely baffling, since it’s quite subjective at best and just so unimportant considering everything DN II does.

On another note: Iā€˜ve been off DN II for a few weeks and primarily worked with DT II and Nina. Going back to it, I have to confess that I felt a bit ā€žboxed inā€œ, having everything inside that small box sharing all of the controls. I wish it had an extra pair of audio outputs. And in a jam context, I quickly felt that I shouldn’t sell my ST. I think it’s still the king for me in this department, it just gets everything out of the way so I can just keep on making patterns fast. Wavetone though, I really like the sounds Iā€˜m getting out of this with not much effort and just a few LFOs on tuning/oscillator settings.

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An extra pair of outputs would be incredible! I’d definitely welcome that! DNKII? :smiley:

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ive looked at the architecture diagram in the manual, but im still unclear, if the overdrive is routed post filter AND the bw filter is routed post filter, the overdrive is before the b/w filter in the chain right?

im not sure if the hierarchy within the diagram boxes here indicates the actual signal path (od>srr>bw filter) but thats how i imagine it goes

I agree with you, and much more importantly, so does Roger Linn…

https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=581938

If The Man And The Legend that is Roger Linn is sticking with USB-B then good on Elektron for following suit.

USB-C is great for many things. But if I can get what I need to get from a synth with USB-B then I’ll take the big clunky port every time and use adaptors/splitters at the other end for a USB-C connection.

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Excellent points.

I give it a 10. Nothing is perfect, and there is always room for improvement (like OB compatibility :slight_smile: ). But as our expectations change over the next few years, I think updates could keep the DN2 at a 10 for me. It’s the box that continues to surprise me, and I have had multiple experiences where I disappear from time and reality when I’m fully in the moment on the DN2. It doesn’t always happen, but I live for the times when it does.

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I made this diagram recently to show all the possible routings

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