Sticking with the OG Digitone

[SLiC]

I posted somewhere at the start of this post that I was t going to bother upgrading.

Chord function came

Just bought the II

[shigginpit]

If I’m being 200% honest, the only reason I’m not going to upgrade right now is the digitone 1 market. I can’t justify spending that much on DNII when I can only get $300 net on my DN1. Ridiculous.

Seems like a great piece of gear that keeps getting better, but at this point the value proposition isn’t there. I assume there will be a window where the price goes down after Tonverk or whatever the next new thing comes out. I do think that DN1 prices have started to stabilize, but it’s just at an all-time low.

When the time comes to choose between something new, or nothing, I’ll probably either look to capitalize or just hold my money. Right now I couldn’t afford to drop that much anyways.

I agree with a lot of jemmons reasoning, but I think that I might be willing to figure out the shortcuts if the value proposition were at closer to equilibrium rather than putting me in the position of rebuying a brand new digitone (as opposed to a nice trade-up kind of opportunity).

My DN1 is still great and would probably make a better paperweight than a sub $300 profit but I don’t know, let’s see what falls into my lap when I have a bit more flexibility in luxury buys.

I’ll also say that I’ve been using my DN1 a lot more since the DN2 blitz started, therefore I feel like the value is still there. Compose on the DN1 and then bounce it over to lofi sampling (as I like to do) turns it into a whole other type of gear which is not constrained by “can I groovebox it” (which you can) but for me, I’m still getting a lot of value out of owning a DN1.

Plus, yellow OLED is still the queen of my heart

[percussionboy]

@Hashslug

I’m very tempted by an OG DN for €400, but do I need one if I already have an Opsix?

I know people say that the Opsix is sound design monster so would a DN be somewhat redundant or does anyone else use one alongside another FM synth?

More feedback if you still want it:

• I’ve owned both and I think they sound different. The DN1 tends to have that warm thick Elektron sound, slightly fuzzy and less quick in the transients, whereas the Opsix on its own is maybe thinner (but not thin!!), and clearer, with very sharp attacks if you want them. I think both could live together happily.

• To me, the biggest argument for your getting a Digitone 1, while they’re cheap now, is that you already have a Digitakt. People have made a lot of good music on that combination. The main limit of the Digitone, if you like the basic sound, is the polyphony shortage when it’s used alone as a groovebox; having the Digitakt alongside it solves that.

• FWIW, I think the Digitone is the hardest synth to truly learn FM on—not impossible, but more difficult to get your head around if you’re not just flailing randomly. The Opsix’s FM is actually very straightforward, 6 op FM with a separate knob, slider, and envelope per operator. If someone wants to read up and try to do FM mindfully, the Opsix lets you do that.

Hope this helps. IMO FWIW YMMV etc

[plragde]

@jemmons

But everything on it seems like it takes just one more step.

I think I could probably find key combos that take care of most of your concerns, but that is not the main issue. Some old stuff is spread over four pages instead of two. Some new stuff is buried a bit too deep. DN1 is a great machine and it remains great. DN2 has a whack of new stuff that is quite nice. I think if anyone sticks with DN1, they need not feel they are missing out. If someone jumps to DN2, there is probably going to be a period of learning how to rapidly get at everything, but nothing I’ve seen seems insurmountable or destined to be a chronic annoyance. DN1 is probably not going to evolve further; DN2 almost certainly will (but is great right now even if it doesn’t). It’s win-win. Everyone should be happy.

[sealcove]

@jemmons

I’d love to hear how people moving from DN → DN2 are doing a few months later.

Once I learned and got comfortable with the differences, I have had zero issues and I go back and forth between old and new DN pretty seamlessly. DN2 is great and so is OG, and I am an average user at best.

[Hashslug]

Thanks for the useful feedback, I think I’ve talked myself down from the ledge of buying a Digitone - or rather my accountant has.

I think if I am a bit more fiscally responsible I might pick one up on the cheap in the near future - the price is too good to pass on it if you have the funds.

[percussionboy]

@Hashslug

Thanks for the useful feedback, I think I’ve talked myself down from the ledge of buying a Digitone - or rather my accountant has.

Great, glad you sorted it out.

I bet the DN1s will still be out there in the future at a reasonable price if you find you are in a good fiscal place to get one. It’s nice to see that used DN1s and DT1s are now the sweet spot of the Elektron line—small cost and footprint with good sound and features.

[Sternenlicht]

The DN1 really helped me to understand FM a lot better, and i used it more since DN2 got announced. Actually i am considering an upgrade, since i can do the sounds now i like on the DN1. With the macro system and external midi controller its a real powerhouse of a synth.

The limit is the fx block now, why is there no phaser, and compression per voice. A multiband compressor can certainly help with Fm, Sidechain EQ etc. From that perspective the high voice count is debatable. The layerd sounds the DN2 offers is surly tempting, but i dont know if the layer control is controlable via external CC.

[B_LD]

I have to confess, I recently sold my OG DN. Not because I didn’t like it, but to print some cash for another thingy. One in, one out. Simple as that.

But… I still consider the DN as highly versatile, accessible and immediate FM sound design tool. It also works well as bread and butter pad machine. And I have generated the best drones I ever did on it. The amount of money it can be had for now really doesn’t do it justice.

[thermionic]

Had a nice jam session today, but totally blanked out on how to remove the p-locked note on a trig to set back to root note.

I thought it was hold trig and press in encoder for removing a p-locked note, but that didn’t seem to do it.

[marccc]

digitone OG throughout the whole mix

[aMunchkinElfGraduate]

I love your compound triple meter. One of the things I love about FM sounds (yours included) is that they leave some breathing room in the mix. Sort of analogous to empty white space on a page of text. FM sounds can be very focused, allowing for the mixing together of many musical elements without things getting muddy. Nice job!

[Azzarole]

@thermionic

I thought it was hold trig and press in encoder for removing a p-locked note, but that didn’t seem to do it.

Not sure if I get you right, but I think you have to go into recording mode, hold the trig and press the encoder mapped to note (or whatever lock you want to remove).

On the discussion about DN2 being abit convoluted prompted by @jemmons: I can relate to a lot of what has been said. I think it’s really impressive what Elektron has managed to put into the small digi form factor and I appreciate their compactness. But on DN2, it feels a bit like they’ve finally hit the ceiling of how complex a machine can get before it becomes a bit too cumbersome to navigate it with the limited amount of buttons and encoders that a digi box provides. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not too bad and you can get used to it. But it’s the first time I feel like people complaining about menu diving and steep learning curves on Elektrons have at least a bit of a point there.

I think the best reason to get a DN2 is to use it as your “does everything” box. If you use it that way, you’d probably have a bit more space on your desk that they could use for a “pro” version that has a few more elements. Like something that decouples mutes, track select, keys and trigs. When working with it standalone last week, I was also surprised that I hit the voice limit at some point. I rarely do so on my ST, even when using it solo. But with chord mode, it’s tempting to use more voices. Not a big deal, but it might be worth considering for “big chords people” who are thinking about only using DN2. To those who don’t want to use DN2 standalone and have an OG, I think it’s not worth upgrading.

I think it’s important that people here have pointed out that FM tone is now accessible via only one syn button that is four pages deep. That’s a clear advantage of OG. But when discussing workflow between OG and II like jemmons has, we have to take one thing into consideration: II fixed the convoluted track select and mute system of OG. Yes, they improved it with the E25 OS update. But it still makes OG a bit clunky to navigate imo and was much improved on II.

[Hashslug]

This is brilliant!

[Hosanna]

@shigginpit

yellow OLED is still the queen of my heart

Yellow Mellow !

[Sternenlicht]

I wonder why they didnt implement any macro control on KIT level as seen on Analog4. Or some global LFO to control the project - that would also help on the DN2. For now i am still a bit sceptical.

[sezare56]

@Tchu

I’m not talking about the whole Elektron device but the thing Elektron call Machine (like BD, SY Raw, SY Chip

Ah ok, first post was confusing, I also thought about Analog Four.
Hydrasynth is a beast I was missing, I received my 2nd Explorer (wanted Desktop but good exchange opportunity).

DNII has overdub now, I wouldn’t go back.
Still missing Multi Map, genious feature.

[Hashslug]

So I finally got my finances above water-level and snapped up a VG+ DN1 incl. decksaver, cables and box for €380. It will take me about 20 years to outgrow it and the DT1 if I continue on my current trajectory.