Would you mind sharing the settings for this bass? It‘s really pleasant.
same here it is fantastic and can do entire sets solo and with Analog Heat even better for crunchy techno. I like the small footprint and yellow OLED screen.
This is a stellar usage of Digitone MK1 - it just shows how capable this unit is.
I just got my OG Digitone out of the box for the first time in a few months (haven’t managed to sell it) and I very quickly remembered why the Elektron workflow is so fun.
Managed to knock up a bit of classic Digitone Dub Techno with a few presets from the factory and from a @DaveMech pack I bought a while back. Just by muting and unmuting various steps (by using FUNC+STEP to mute them) and using fill conditions and some filter tweaking on the fly, I’m having loads of fun. Turn the delay up to 100% feedback, play the delay filter a bit and disappear into a dub delay vortex.
I have to say, it’s making me seriously consider pickup a used OG Digitakt or maybe a Syntakt if I can get a good price. Something to dedicate towards some drums and possibly atmospheric samples and I think I’d be very happy.
More fun here in half an hour than I’ve had in months using software.
Hi I love my dgtn , made these sounds in bed with a bad back then recorded it on my phone
https://youtu.be/lEJbT51UtL0?si=AJIEGDcSdQYKjwFJ
It’s also worth thinking about getting a second DN that dedicated to drums or an atmospheric texture. But yeah, DTs are also crazy cheap and ST is a fantastic simplified counterpart to DN that also gives you analog. You can’t go wrong either way, two digis with one handling drums and one melodies is the sweetspot for me personally.
Thanks for the fct+step tip btw, that sounds like a standard Elektron technique I didn’t know about.
@tallrobphilp @Azzarole FUNC+STEP meaning change red TRIG to yellow(trigless) one?
I think technically what that’s doing is turning the step into a trig-less trig, so it won’t trigger the note. If there are parameter locks, I think they will still take place. The thing is, that trig-less step turns yellow and then you can just hit it again (without func) and it turns back to a regular trig so it plays again.
That way, you can do something like sound lock a hi-hat on the same track as your kick, and just drop the hats in and out by switching those trigs back and forth. It’s sort of a necessity to do this kind of trickery with the 4-track limitation if you’re trying to use it as a self-contained groovebox.
To be honest I’m still not enjoying the FM sound design and that was always the issue I had from the start. I’m always ending up with noisy/metallic sounds and it’s so sensitive that one tiny tweak can ruin it and you forget how to get back to where you were! I’m much better with “straight” subtractive with basic oscillator shapes and a filter etc. I’m eyeing up a Digitakt 2 again because I adore the sequencer and workflow but I can’t design the sounds I want. I need to study the sound packs I have a bit more closely.
That’s the one, much more succinct than my lengthy explanation!
Anyone know if it is possible auto reload the current project on boot?
As you know DN saves the state it was in when powering down and resumes from that state when powered on again.
In some situations this is kind of unwanted. Say for example that I want to know for sure what state everything will be ones I boot it up. Say if you have prepared a liveset and you want it to start with the same setting each time (for example volume 0 on a track). But the last saved state could be at volume 127 after a set.
The only ways I have found is the Func + No to reload from temp, or to actually manually reload the project.
It would be great to not have to remember to load the project after each boot. So is there a way, or is manually reloading the only option?
So, I was an early DN2 adopter, but I just sold it
. And I might go back to a DN1 at some point. There are several reasons, but the main one for me is that I thought DN1 was a perfect experience. DN2 added a lot of extra stuff while keeping the same form factor and for me this means it becomes much less immediate and less fun. Instead of being limited by 4 track, 8 voices, and some sequencing quirks, DN2 is limited by its workflow and for me this kind of kills the joy.
First of all, I think having four complex synth machines three complex synth machines plus the Swarmer was a mistake. Having separate machines makes it more difficult to build an intuition on how to edit sounds. It’s no longer a single instrument, but four. I’d rather have one single, powerful synth engine.
Second, everything is more crammed. All screens have more pages, all buttons have more functions. The mixer pages are near unusable: it’s faster to edit levels by navigating the tracks, and dividing the track mix in two pages makes it very difficult to use the screen as a performance mixer. Same goes with the send effects: there’s no direct access to those screens anymore. If expanding the form factor was not an option, I think it’s a mistake to not have another shift-like key to allow direct access to more screens.
Good news is DN1 is so cheap in the second hand market, I’ll probably grab one and go back to my happy place ![]()
After a few more months, I am still certain that I simply love the Digitone. I bought the Digitone shortly before its successor was released. My first synths back then when I started with electronic music, were a Casio CZ-3000, a DX-11, and a TX81Z. It wasn’t until later that I was able to afford a DX-7, tried out some other TXs and SYs, and in the late nineties I added the FS-1r, which I still use a lot today and admire for its sonic possibilities.
So, in a way, I’m an FM fetishist, I would say. What I still like about the Digitone and what I wouldn’t want to do without is the directness of its programming combined with its unique architecture. The reduction to the essentials is a blessing for the mind, and the possible nuances can be worked out in a much more focused way. Everything else comes after that, but usually it doesn’t take much more to create something special with this device every single time.
I will never sell it. For me, it is a modern classic of its genre. And the Digitone 2… I still think it will eventually join the family when I can and want to afford it. Both versions are simply great devices and are very special to me… ![]()
I feel the exact sam Hardle. There are a lot of extras crammed into the digitone 2 but I don’t have any need or desire for those additions. Perfectly happy with the original and I can speedily put something together on it. Feel the same about the digitakt for that matter. I’ve never wanted more from it to consider upgrading. I hardly use the machines from the last update. I truly enjoy how focused these devices are.
Who‘s Sam Hardle
?
I agree that the several pages deep navigation of DN2 isn’t ideal. Having two syn buttons was definitely nicer. The improved track count, fixed mute mode, retrigs and better sound are still worth the upgrade for me, but if you don’t use your DN standalone, OG is probably better because it’s more focused.
Hey !
A little feedback after using DNII for nearly a year (bought it in January 2025). Before that I only used one or two OG DN to produce and play live my music.
Positive : more tracks, more voices, more polyphony, more machines. DNII really acts like a standalone groovebox. Since I got it, I never thinked a single time to buy an other synth. FM Drum is great ! 3 OP FM but mixed with wavetables and a wavefolder. The way the ratios are managed are different from the FM Tone (OG DN engine) and allow different stuff. Wavetone is very nice, a lot of great sounds, very different from the FM ones to get there. And Swarmer, while being very simple and limited, sounds so good.
Negative : DNII made me lazy ! OG DN is a very powerful synth, but not straightforward. You have to be clever to program sounds that don’t sound like classic FM. But it’s very rewarding and you have to think outside of the box to get the best of it. On DNII, I spend less time on sound design, because the 4 machines are straightforward paths to specific sounds. I think my sounds are now more efficients (from a production perspective) but also more classics, less crazy. And to be honest, I use FM drums 70% of the time for all type of sounds. I also use a lot Swarmer (because I just love the way it sounds, so characteristic) and Wavetone. But I barely touch to FM Tone anymore, the workflow of DNII doesn’t allow to quick and soft programming of this engine. Sometimes I check all the preset sounds I made on OG DN and I’m very surprised by the sounds I achieved with it (very complex, sometimes glitchy, sometimes organic, sometimes both, futuristic, dreamy, etc…). My sounds on DNII are not worst than the OG DN ones but they are different. If I had the room for it, picking an OG DN just to sound design the FMtone patchs on it wouldn’t be a mad decision. Sometimes I imagine an alternate version of the DNII with only one engine but far more open (something like an Hydrasynth) but I’m not sure it would have been better.
So, to be clear. I LOVE DNII but it doesn’t lead to the same paths than OG DN, while DTII is “just” a super DT with a very similar workflow and conception.
Great feedback, thanks!
I own neither DN (OG or II) but I’ve been eyeing at them for a long time. What you describe really resonates with what I have been thinking.
Should I go for the DN now, I think I would rather get 2 OG’s than a DN II.
(So far my FM needs have been covered by and large by the BlastBeats - which just received a great FW update)
Long discussion here
Here is an album I (Fuc Lerrari) made with my friend Somaticae. All my tracks are produced with two OG DN and an Analog Heat +FX.
From my opinion DN1 is useful if you use the 4 midi part. They come to complete the only 4 original tracks to compose a pattern with Enough sound elements. It’s true that many people use only 4 tracks with the OG but maybe it’s depends from what kind of music do you play…
That’s a very valid point.
But I’m a big fan of dual setups (I currently use 2 BlastBeats) because I find it better to focus on one workflow, and double the possibilities by using 2 machines you feel equally comfortable with.
So I think I would just use 2 OG DN’s. You can find them for really cheap right now. And also, this would give me the option to treat each independently with external effects.