Aaah shit! I just read I wrote Digitone instead of Digitakt lol
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āWhen it comes to sound design, the syntactic is also a better choice.ā
I doubt that. I had the Syntakt and sold it straight away because the RYTM sounded much more expressive to my ears when designing it and also from the result of the designed sound. It just takes more time to find your sounds. Not that sytnakt is bad, but rytm is simply the conductor of the entire eleketron drumbox.
Rytm also has CV ins, so if you have something modular, or an MS20 or something, there is your 2nd LFO. and through overbridge you can have 10000 lfos if you want.
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And then Midi Out to CV to control the āsomething modularā dangling on the CVs to recall whatever together with oneās project/pattern yada yada
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You forget, individual outputs, analog compressor and distortion, CV inputs
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Oh yeahā¦ 
Ext Ins suck on the Rytm though compared to how theyāre handled on the Syntakt.
It doesnāt feel like you can integrate Ext synths as well on the Rytm.
What makes you say the Ext In sucks on the AR? Genuinely curious.
Havenāt used it yet, and Iām not sure if I would since I use Ableton/OB to record and drop samples using Transfer
ST gives way more control of Ext Insā¦ dedicated levels, access to the Rev and Delay, letās you use 2 mono ins (and have pan control of them with separate Rev/Del sends), probably more Iām forgetting.
Rytm is just a basic through with no real controls (and the input level is quite low too). It does let you hit the Compressor, but not the Drive (curiously, just the āsymmetryā control of the Drive circuit).
There are other options to use the Audio In too, but, generally as a device for bringing in Extās, itās got the worse implementation of any Elektron device (if you think of the A4, Digiās and OT).
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I agree with all you wrote.
But I also wonder if the design comes from underlaying philosophy behind the Rytm. If you think of the Rytmās main outs as a drum subgroup, the limitations make more sense. The compressor isnāt a 2bus compressor for a whole track, itās a drum buss compressor. Itās for gluing your rhythm track together, or fucking up the tone. If it were a master buss compressor, it wouldnāt be controlled by Kits. You might want to squish your bass through the drum buss, but you often donāt.
This is not to say I think itās the best design. The Syntakt Ext.Ins are more useful for a whole track mix.
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Another ST/DT owner, Iāve asked myself seriously, several times, whether to swap both for a Rytm instead.
Limiting to the ST here, I too find a second LFO, the digital machines, and the 12-count of tracks would all be hard to give up.
For performance features Iāve found some workarounds that, with a bit of effort, accomplish what Iād have wanted out of a rytm (multi-track sound macros, fx scenes) by hooking up the DT or a loopback midi cable and prepping an fx track template.
The new features change the value proposition for the Rytm. Before Iād thought thereād be too much to give up swapping DT/ST for Rytm, and now there are more unique elements on Rytm. Not quite enough to change my mind about DT+ST, though. I wouldnāt be surprised if the ST future machines diverge a bit from the Rytm machinesā¦
Also my expectation.
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Yeah, fully agree with youā¦ as a standalone drum computer and sampler, which is what it is, where you can take the Rytm sonically on itās own with the master drive/symmetry and compressor, etc, is a big part of itās own sound and it is fantasticā¦ just itās implementation of external gear isnāt the best.
For example, a 2 device set up of the Rytm and a bass synth (303, BS2, etcā¦) would be way better if you could run the bass synth through the Rytmās FXā¦ but you canāt, so it needs another device really (like an OT or a mixer).
I actually hope for that, since the new unique-to-AR machines are not what Iām missing on the ST. The AR since being analog, wonāt likely get physical modeling hihats (well any hihats from the Machinedrum would be great! Those are bright and crisp!), but the ST could ā¦
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Yeah, it would.
I spent some time running my Four into my Rytm and hit all the common frustrations. But then I tried playing pads from the Four, and realised I donāt actually want the drums to always duck them; and if I played live with just thhose two, I wouldnāt be able to have track-specific compressor settings as itād make the overall mix leap about at the FOH each track. So I came to see the Rytm differently.
And then I bought a nice mixer. 
For a very minimal (but not exactly cheap) setup, I think it makes more sense now to feed the Rytm into the Four, and to maybe have one individual track from the Four (bass, usually) go to the Rytm.
Why not?
Use proper gain stageing
I used to think that. It sometimes works. But often you have to drop all the Rytm tracks so low that they get noticeably closer to the noise floor, especially when you slam the compressor.
Boosting the signal before it goes to the Rytm helps. Maybe thatās covered by your comment.
Itās a tough one. Iāve had 2 mk2 Rytms and had such a love hate relationship with them for years. These are just my opinions YMMV, but maybe this helps.
Iāll echo what some others have said in that the Syntakt is quicker for getting ideas started. I donāt play live. I do more soundtracky type stuff with my hardware / DAW.
I can only really maintain the headspace for one elektron at a time and typically I just want to get started fast. Drop some random trigs, plock until I start to grin. Record the outcome, sometimes through some destructive effects. Rinse, repeat.
The Rytm always felt like it had a whole suite of neat tools I just didnāt care about.
- External outs. Too much fuss for my tastes. Especially since Iām mostly ITB for effects.
- Perf / Scenes. Super cool, but again quite a chore for me to set up.
- Master comp - very difficult to use IMO and I have better stuff ITB. It was swell for making slammed noisy shit though. I miss that.
- The pads. Soooo much promise as I like to live drum sometimes. But they are just ok. They were nice for mute mode though.
The two real kickers that had me selling my last Rytm were:
- I finally realized that I donāt like loading and maintaining samples. Iād always accidentally delete them at some point in the process and lose projects. I also despise browsing through sample folders. The option paralysis is real. (Iāve tried methods to avoid this but having the option to wander just always slows me down.)
The ST being totally synth based with minimal engines is such a gift for my sanity and productivity. Iāve had the A4 and DN as well, which can do all manor of sounds but given that I like to work largely from scratch and not preset sounds (nothing against them) - the ST is just much quicker for me to build a mood / vibe with.
- Something about the Rytm Gain-staging just never worked right for me. Probably user error. Iām sure I could have learned it but thatās now where I want to spend my time. I canāt explain it but it never sounded right, and changing one or two things shifted the overall balance too drastically for my taste. I tried many different methods of lowering the sample / engine sounds to maintain more headroom back when I was giving it a proper shot and just never felt happy.
The ST, even when talking about the shared engines alone, just sounds better most of the time to me. Tighter somehow, less mush. There is still headroom you can abuse to great effect for some burn but it just handles better and quicker.
Closing
I think if you want a machine to really grow into and learn to wield, the Rytm is a beast that will keep you happy for a while. There is SOO much you can do with samples / synthesis and the onboard perf / scenes / kit setup, but youāre going to have to put this work in. (Thatās not to say it canāt be immediate, but itās not like the ST. AR will reward dedication and careful planning for someone willing to make the most out of it.
If you just want to get up and go, and arenāt worried about samples / have other means to get them, I think the ST slays. In my day to day, I need speed and large sweet-spots to get ideas flowing and recorded fast. ST still gets hella weird if you want it to. Trust.
I approach my hardware more from the mindset of making my own sample content to then process and flesh out later. Something to quickly get me the bones of an idea with some live manipulation / experimentation. Iām not trying to build a complete song onboard the box.
The elektron sequencer is where the magic really is for me. The ST just seems to have the fastest toolkit for me to get things moving. End Rant.
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Correct
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Each machine has its pro and cons
The AR require a bit of work on the gain staging but once you nail it, it sounds sweet and lovely.
Syntakt is more immediate but can also sound muddy if you donā t eq the sounds and put them in the right frequency range
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Totally agree. Iāve had a few of those moments w my Rytm and nothing else will do that sound.
ST has been easy to avoid mush with its Base Width filters for me. I use them on all of the digital tracks where I can.
Rytm would be reeeeeeally swell with some Base Width filters, even if just on the sample layer.
I know resampling exists (mk2) but its still cumbersome.
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