Is Tonverk magical or a hybrid approach with makeup?

I’m listening to Synclavier Regen demos again because the Tonverk makes it seem much more appealing. It has way more interesting sample manipulation capabilities with additive and fm synthesis. Also, it already contains an amazing/vast multisampled library, has great FX, and has really nice sounding DACs.

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Sure, you can use velocity as another timbral dimension, and then that is available on playback of the multisamples. But it is one dimension. Many electronic patches are relatively insensitive to velocity beyond just using it for volume, or use it in obvious ways (like for filter cutoff, leading to a low-pass gate sort of sound). On the better ones, velocity is a sort of macro for a bunch of underlying parameter changes. Where velocity tracking is available as a modulator (e.g. M8) this can be useful. And I know FM (e.g. DN1 and 2) can respond well to it.

I know little about this, but I do know there are a lot of serious multisample libraries out there, and I think Elektron is using a standard format which allows importing them. That is probably a resource offering more timbral complexity for TV use than might be easily accessible to the hobbyist (like me) with a bunch of modest devices.

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Yeah, all of that is why I’m keen to investigate and make my own. Like using custom Reaktor Racks where I’ll point velocity at a range of different parameters and seeing what I can come up with. It might not work that well, or it might be more hassle than it’s worth but I always enjoying digging into these things.

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yeah, exactly. isn´t that funny.

I see there alots of fun coming.

exactly.

I want to auto sample my ITB-based realtime-play patches. Fun stuff, odd sounds.

Sample loops, grooves, several bars, with iterations. load as iterations on subtrack machine.

load single shots for wild percussive beats a la DT

work with quite small trackcount and FX the shit out of these few tracks.
resample.

Combine ! Combine all of that and more. I see there the magic lying.

and the hybrid aspect in: autosample my ITB generated sounds

No Elektron box of the past could do “that”.
I definitly have a picture down.

i was honestly quite shocked that i ordered one.
But ever since, the more i think about how this box is setup, and what the possibilitys will be, the more excited i become.

saying that, by all the shitty crippling Elektron is doing

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I like to pair DNII and TV, although what they share is the fact that they both feel like really good standalone devices.
They have both large polyphony, can do drums, equally capable of sweet and brutal.
TV FX and (re)sampling make up for the lack of synthesis.

As a synthesis lover, I prefer DNII, plus it feels way more immediate to me, I have connected with it instantly.
But the TV offers a lot in a small factor, and it knows how to scream.
With these two boxes, I have my favorite instrument ever and potentially all the flavors my studio can give me.

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Tonverk seems neat, but a lot of work. It’s appealing to be able to organize a bunch of sounds and put them into one box, but sampling all the synths/VSTs I have access in order to have static versions of them in one place actually seems like a bunch of extra, unnecessary effort. I could just use the various synth/VSTs I have access to when I need them and have total control over the authentic/original sounds.

It seems like the Tonverk will be much more appealing years from now after it has a large library of sample packs to choose from like NI.

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I was surprised to see that it’s just a matter of plugging cables and pressing play. It’s very easy!
I have sampled the raw oscillators of my OB-6, and I had sufficient tools onboard the TV to fake a decent synth.
It’s lacking some looping to get indefinite notes but I found I rarely make static pads that are longer than 5 sec.

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Huh, I find it really interesting that you had such a negative reaction to the launch, because it’s so different from my own. I was really excited by the possibilities of the TK, but I came to it from sort of a different place than you, I guess. The only thing that disappointed me is that it actually ended up being something I’d like to try out . . . I was hoping it’d be some kind of synthesis engine that I could happily ignore, and instead I saw the sampler I’ve been looking for since my ESX started getting elderly.

The Tonverk to me is actually a lot closer—in fact extremely close—to what I thought I was buying when I first got the Digitakt I. It also seems to be closer to how I imagined the OT would work before I realized it’s more of a live-sound manipulator than a straightup sampler.

As much as I love the DT now, I was annoyed by the monosampling, the relative lack of effects, the fact that the keyboard mode is so unlike a keyboard, the limited number of tracks (compared to say an ESX), lack of choke groups, etc. I wanted sampling workstation and I got a very, very smart drum machine that can be turned into one of the best samplers out there, if you’re willing to think creatively (or spend a ton of time online).

The Tonverk seems to cover a lot of those bases, though at a price point that takes it fully out of my budget.

I guess, but can’t you just do this with single-cycle waveforms and filtering?

So yeah, I agree that it is far too expensive, at least for a hobbyist like me. But then, that’s true about literally everything right now. I feel like we’re on the way to Snow Crash levels of hyperinflation soon.

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How does the new reverb compare to the Supervoid? In what ways does it differ? Do you prefer it?

Why can’t a hybrid approach be magical?

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so for reference i ordered Tonverk already

I was thinking about how i would play it first? beta setup, and i kind of had an epiphany

leaving all preconceived notions of how I should use it I landed on that I want to treat it like a large multi effect with fun assignable output options
using different effects and buses to create really interesting and new sounds, both in parallel and series
similar to how one would with a pedalboard and loop switcher

I am going to likely use one of the outs and the inputs as an fx loop for an actual pedal, maybe a stereo looper (maybe the OT)

i have no idea if this makes Tonverk magical or indispensable or not, but its not black and white like that either.
I realize that this setup or idea is only one small way you could use this thing and it’s architecture is done in a way that is unique (you will not find a poly sampler with this many outputs, effects and lack of menus), which will always produce creative results

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This is exactly what I want to do. I’m used to sample on DT and I had fun. I tried sampling with OT but I didn’t like, the pitch range is shitty and I didn’t like the workflow.
Tonverk looks like exactly what I want, sampling a record, make a texture and start to build up. + It carry a dt in subtracks to make drums. As long as I can PLock start point, I don’t need slice mode.

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I wonder why we can plock the start point but it’s not possible to use start point as lfo dest.

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I need to look into the details a bit more, but I do like the idea of creating unique instruments from samples and being able to synthesize those sounds and shape them through all kinds of effects routings.

I’m imagining the kind of pads that Sigur Ros did with the Yamaha VSS-30. I’ve explored a bit of this with Roland P-6, but the TV seems like it would be like a supercharged version of that with all the modulation possibilities and Elektron sequencer.

For samplers I’m usually not into pristine digital, but I’d be interested to see what polyphonic instruments created from SP-202 samples would sound like.

The lack of onboard slicing/time stretching is a bit of a bummer, but I’ve got an SP404MKII that could handle all of that and I’m actually not someone that minds pairing a couple of different machines.

I need to look into the external FX send more. Wondering if it could be used for dub applications.

The price in yen is unfortunately too high for me to jump on it, but I’ll definitely keep an eye on it. Sounds like a lot of people are not liking what they see, but I’m kind of intrigued by the possibilities.

For people that have already looked into this deeply, is there anything the original DT can do that the TV can’t?

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In my opinion TV is exactly for “core users” of DT and DN. Elektron trying to provide something simpler than OT but distant from DT and DN

Imagine you are Elektron CEO:

  1. You cant sell Digitakt Mark N+1 (or AR features repacks) each year to limited audience

  2. You cant make something completely different, as It required huge investments and lose core users, like you can’t start making touch screen instruments or eurorack

  3. You cant make and sell new OT-complexity machines:
    -it’s pricy to develop such thing right now from scratch, competition for brilliant skilled developers is high, as a lot of investment in AI/GPU/fintech
    -not all OT users are happy, most first bought OT come to resale

So Tonverk is totally a set of compromised design choices to sell into most loyal customers

And its good decision from business perspective

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It’s a valid opinion, you make good points, and I think that everyone can make their own decision.

I’m also free to have an opinion, which I do.

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I think it’s a lot simpler than that. Elektron never had a proper polyphonic sequencer or a polyphonic sampler. Pretty much every other company that makes samplers has been making them polyphonic since the Fairlight came out in 1979. So it was a glaring gap that needed fixing and it’s probably not something that can easily be added as a firmware update to the DT.

Then it got leaked last year and it feels like they rushed a minimum working version to market. I would bet the ultimate vision is an mpc style studio in a box, hence all the fx and busses.

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not sure I follow your logic of “TV is exactly for “core users” of DT and DN” - its only got one stereo input and even if they eventually implement Overbridge there is only one viable usb input on the unit. There’s no way anyone can say it’s ‘good business’ - it’s only been out for a few hours. I really hope it is a success but many here are scratching their heads wondering what the plan is with the TV.

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Well, the way I see it is one more flavor that will find its set of uses and users. There was an A4 and we have Syntakt. There is Rytm and we have all the Digis and Syntakt. There was a MonoMachine…. They can all do various Elektron things to varying degrees and still some people arrive at their favorites or collect them all.

I would have liked a pure MIDI+Audio thing like a Bluebox+Blackbox with tons of IO, but maybe some day :slight_smile:

This will resonate with a certain set.

Unless they go all out and make an Elektron Everytakt that does everything they’ve ever done in a double-full-width box, they will continue to pick and choose feature sets. Nothing says you can’t use this with a DT2 as an expander running through an Octatrack. :wink:

I view Elektron as “desktop modular” more or less.

Hmm, they SHOULD make the Analog Keys into a 61 key super-deep (think Matrix 12) device that does ALL Elektron things. :wink:

(But then people wouldn’t like the $5000 price point.)

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Whats the issue with 2 inputs? I personally don’t have many samplers with more than 2 inputs. I just connect a mixer into my samplers.

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