What polysynth would pair well with a Digitone?

The Lounge Other Gear
#44

I have to agree about the Peak. Seems like a nice synth but the demos always sounded a bit flat and boring to me. The OB-6, on the other hand, stood out as something special in demos and it puts a smile on my face every time I play it.

Digitone is the same. I knew I wanted that sound from the first demo I heard and it does not disappoint in person.

My point is, trust your gut when you have a strong response to a sound. There’s a better chance you’ll end up with an instrument you love when it “talks to you” through the sounds it makes than when you get caught up in features and theoretical capabilities.

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#45

The Pro 2 is my other DSI synth. Also fantastic and obviously very different from the OB-6, both in features and sound. It overlaps tonally a bit more with the Digitone due to the digital oscillators but I think they work together really well.

The Pro 2 can definitely sound more like a “traditional” synth than the Digitone and it tends to be “bigger” and more aggressive. The deep sound design features are cool, and yield very different results from the Digitone, but that depth makes it far less immediate than something like an OB-6.

My main advice for anyone looking at a Pro 2 is to think about buying used. You can find one in mint condition for as little as $1300 if you look around.

#46

Peak and OB-6 is very different synths. The filter of the OB with the sweepable low/highpass mode is very cool, and cant be replicated on the Peak. But when i had my Peak over at my friend who has a OB-6 we kind of concluded that both synths sound great. There is not that one synth sounds better than the other. They have different sound, and different features.

I have some stuff made with my Peak on my soundcloud. I can share it if you want.

#47

checks manual
some of the Mod Matrix parameters are available via MIDI CC, but most aren’t. The rest are on NRPN channels, so you might be able to address them with some midi wizardry in between the Elektron box and the Peak.

that being said, my usual work around is to use Breathe Controller, Mod Wheel, and Aftertouch as modulation sources, and P-Lock those from the Digitakt / Digitone

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#48

Three channels of p-locks sounds pretty comprehensive. Can you do super fast program changes? I guess if you can quickly p-lock the program you can effectively p-lock every parameter by planning ahead.

#49

The Peak doesn’t seem to demo very well. People seem to either run through the (poor) presets, or overdo it with the distortion (there are numerous ways of adding very nice distortion on the Peak).

It’s definitely not a “flavour” synth like the OB-6. I really want an OB-6 to go with my Peak, but that would be a massive luxury. I wanted a very flexible good-sounding poly and the Peak certainly is that.

I liked this patch on the Peak a lot:

Also, Mylar Melodies’ review of it is great. And there’s some interesting stuff in here:

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#50

I just can’t get around to it for some reason.

Here is the best “demo” I’ve found of the Peak and while yes the patches themselves are fantastic and the ideas of the sounds are, I just can’t seem to find the character within the sound.

#51

Here is a kind of pointless blindtest of Peak and OB-6. Follow the link to a place you can note down your guess’es. Its not an A-B kind of comparison, but i was impressed with the different sounds both the OB-6 and Peak can do. Peak is more versatile because of the digital osc’s, FM and wavetables though.

#52

I did that test, I only got a 20/30. However the single most important value of the OB-6 over the Peak to me is what gave it away every time: the filter, which is what I would program it around. Of course, as I said in the previous post the Peak sounds amazing and can get great patches, but sometimes I just can’t find its character.

The Peak has 8 voices so it can sound massive and doesn’t lose any low end for resonance. But when that sweet sweet OB-6 filter comes in, mmm.

#53

I got 20/30 as well. hehe

Yeah, the filter on the OB-6 is really something! It has character. So if thats what you want, it is the way to go. I went for the Peak as i wanted something to do a bit of everything. The Mod matrix really opens the synth up, and after the last firmware upgrade its much easier to use as well. I can make some big “analog style” pads, and i can do a combination of digital fm + wavetable. The 12db/24db filter on the peak sounds different enough to add to that versatility.

Another thing i like about the Peak is the two main LFO’s. (They added two more in a menu, but they are “monophonic”) With those two lfo’s i can get some cross modulation going. So if you use an S/H lfo to modulate the speed of the other LFO set as sine. You will get a different LFO speed for each voice. Very cool for variations in sound design. And also works well for “analog” drift of the digital oscillators. Even better than the onboard “drift and diverge” settings.

Here is a song made with just the Peak. Not properly mastered or anything, but all sounds comes from the peak.

And here is a improvised “digital” pad.

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#54

Rev2 forevah

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#55

Until Rev3.

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#56

you can P-lock program changes, but i usually stick to one program per pattern. There are truckload of other parameters on the synth you can address directly over midi-CC (pretty much anything there’s a knob for), you just can’t p-lock mod-matrix assignments via CC.

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#57

Thinking the Micromonsta or Ambika (w SMR4s) would round out the DT-DN pairing, but that insidious bit of me that craves more FM is whispering “Peak…”

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#58

Peak FM can get properly bonkers, it’s really fun

#60

I have the P12 Module, and i am very happy with it. I like its sound, and possibilities. It won 100% over Virus TI. Peak has the better interface, if i had to choose again, would be hard to decide. P12 has two stereo out, and the voice splitting is cool, so one can do bass + melody on one synth. Or pad /lead etc…)

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#61

I second that. I have both since last week and they work well together.

#62

or Pro 3

#63

I went with the Prophet 6 Desktop last year, but also kept an eye on the Pro 2. The guy from the synth shop said … best is to buy both … and I said: okay, now I have to learn notes and how to play keybard :smiley:

that said, I find the sequencer in the Digitone - nore in the Octatrack - very usefull without an external keyboard, especially when you want to play with chords / pads with more then 4 notes. But Soundwise the Prophet is absolute amazing. You can use an OSC for Filter FM and FM of the osc shape, which can give you excellent dub Techno chord sounds.

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#64

I’m wondering what small poly module (no keys needed) would go well with DN.

I’m thinking a synth equivalent to the MFB 301 Pro, where there are no real controls, everything is CC controlled (maybe Program Change too) so that everything is inside the Digitone project.