Preset complaints are always annoying but no big deal. However, complaining about the panic button is pretty shortsided. MORE hardware synths should have a midi panic button. Especially digital devices with complicated voice structures. The hydrasynth has one and plenty of midi controllers are set up with one. Itās a feature, not some admission of a buggy product as that video seemed to imply.
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Also, all synths with a panic button should have a menu option to switch its behavior from ALL NOTES OFF to Rave/Dub siren. 
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I find the presets complaint totally valid - and the majority of the presets Iāve heard are pretty damn weak.
Good presets can often speed up sound design for me. If Iām in the mood for a blank canvas, then Iāll call up an init patch. But I appreciate having the option: tweak an inspiring preset or go from scratch.
While Iāve been impressed with the number of updates Kodomoās been putting out and their responsiveness to user suggestions, they did themselves and their customer a disservice, I think, by not hiring better sound designers.
Presets aside, the synth looks like a ton of fun. Iāve been waiting on mine for weeks now (bought remotely from an acquaintance whoās sloooow in shipping) and Iām really looking forward to digging into it.
Also looking forward to hearing their upcoming drum machine!
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Iād love to hear them do a drum machine. The drum sounds in the EFM are really good. Best presets on the synth
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Canāt wait for the release of the VFM keyboards to hear people whining because ābut thereās only 3 LFOs, 8 operators is an unbearable limitation to my creativity, why no more filter type ? 5 is not enough !ā Stop complaining and go make some sounds with what you haveā¦
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You mean their Bitmasker or are you just hoping?
The Bitmasker is not a drum synth but a 4 track sequenced synth - hopefully (and probably) great for beats 
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Hereās a noisy, sinister āPlaydeadā synth sound made on the EssenceFM responding to mousewheel and aftertouch. No distortion or effects were used. Just one voice duplicated for stereo width.
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Great patch!
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Yes, I meant the Bitmasker. Not sure why I thought it was a drum machine.
So Iām looking forward to the Bitmasker AND hoping they make a drum machine - haha.
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As time passes and people spend time with this machine itās really starting to shine. I just sold a FS1R (which I thought I lost, and was in a cabinet at my momās house, for like 22 years).
Awesome sound but I donāt have the time to dive in that programming hell, even with editors.
I ordered a MegaFM and Iām really close to buying a Kodamo Essence. The question for me has been all 2021: Daw or Dawless?
an M1 Mac mini with 16gigs of ram costs the same but Ableton and VSTs are so boring sometimesā¦
Guess at 44 of age, fun is my main motivation in playing.
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awesome! so snappy! Did you use any compression or just recording straight from the Kodamo?
I think Kodamo needs to include some user preset library like Reaktor did
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I am with you, if you prefer DAW less like me you need synths with minimal menu diving in my opinion
Yeah, there is tiny bit of compressor, but nothing special, it was a free plugin in Reaper.
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A friend of mine who was/is something of a mentor to help me learn more about modular tried to talk me out of getting an EssenceFM. He has rooms full of analog gear, but for digital FM, he sees no advantage of hardware over VSTās like FM8. Iām not saying heās wrong, but Iām personally still very happy that I got the EFM and feel my music is more interesting (to me) than anything Iāve done with VSTās. Interestingly, that same friend loves a lot of the stuff Iāve done on my Model:Cycles. To him the M:C is a wise purchase. Real good (albeit limited) sounds, world class sequencer and itās dirt cheap for what it is. I agree and love the M:C, but am still very glad I purchased the EFM. Itās such a joy to work with and I love the sound
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FM8 doesnāt sound even close to EssenceFM, although I also have a friend whoās a professional music producer who tells me Iām wasting money, only needed hardware is analog stuff, and VSTs are good enough.
I tried to replicate MegaFM with Plogue Chipsynth MD, but when I get it Iām sure different sounds will come out of it, plus the controls the MegaFM has will take me somewhere else.
Same for any FM vst vs EssenceFM.
Also, Iām not sure a M1 Mac can consistently deliver this power with no latency on any given day.
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Right. I also tried comparing it with Operator the other day - forget it!
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I donāt think FM8 sounds close to EFM either. Just what my modular mentor thinks. He feels the same way with analog. I just disagree 
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Hello lovely people!
I have been looking for sometimes to buy a FM synthesis hardware, i was pretty close to buy the Digitone until i saw the Kodamo.
I work mainly with sound art and drone music using sine waves and long sustained sounds.
after watching a lot of videos on youtube about kodamo, i donāt seem to find anything that interests me with what iām looking for due to the type of music that iām intersted in
that video made me fomo to buy digitone since itās exactly the type of sounds that Iām interested in, the videos about EFM on youtube are really bad
as you can see in the video, the person take his time and create an amazing track with only 8 voices
so i also wonder if itās achievable to reach this type of music such as warm sound with same character
would be happy to hear back from all of you who have both gears!
PS: I own a octatrack since 8 years 
Get yourself a Volca FM. It is a small DX-7 voice, but even a single note of six-op FM is great for complex drone textures. You will want an iPad editor to learn your way around, but once youāve internalized the DX7 architecture itās pretty easy to use just the Volcaās UI.
If you end up with five or six FM Volcas, then it might be time to add a Kodamo. I donāt have one myself, but from what Iāve seen and read it should be more sonically flexible than a DX7, with vastly more polyphony.
The Yamaha TG-77 would be an excellent choice for you. You would particularly like the looping multi-stage envelopes. But start out with a VolcaFM to see if the DX7 Way works for you. If it doesnāt, but you like the sound of FM, then consider the Essence. If you love the Volca, then consider a TG-77 or TX802.
thanks for the tip, i already work with fm, i used to use FM8 but later i bought a preenfm2 and used it for 2 years then i sold itā¦
i love FM and creating complex drone sounds, but i heard the essence fm doesnāt have a warm sound like the digitone unless i add some external effects to itā¦
so i wonder people who have owned both the digitone and essence fm if they want to compare these 2, especially when performing live since this is my main thingā¦
i just asked the kodamo team if they will consider doing some youtube video similar to the one that i shared above with the digitone
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