Well, I went and did it. Just pulled the trigger on an Elektron Digitone

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cognitive
Posts: 177
Joined: 25 Apr 2018
Location: Los Angeles

11 Jun 2019

I already have an MPC Live, a Circuit and a Circuit Mono Station (plus an Arturia Keystep and a Novation Launchkey 49 as controllers).

I thought I was done for a while and hadn't even considered the Digitone at all. When I got the MPC, I had originally been looking at a Digitakt.

But recently, I have really been enjoying the way the Circuit Mono sounds generating synthesized drums and mixed-in melodic content using patch-flipping. For some reason, I'm really just connecting with the lively sound of synthesis as the generative source for grooves.

And then I saw this:



and this:



and this:



The more I learn about the Elektron workflow, the more musically inspiring it seems ... ideally, this might play as a good middle ground between the Circuit/Circuit Mono and the MPC Live, minus the sampling but plus some other amazing stuff. But the FM drums on this sound so GOOOOOOOD! :shock:

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jayhosking
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11 Jun 2019

NIce work! There's lots to like about the Digitone (I actually love it most for its ambient qualities, and for its small footprint while travelling). But honestly, I don't have a lot of love for the Elektron sequencer or for trying to lay drums down on a single Digitone track; editing parameters and volumes can be a pain, as you have to go through every step individually if you want a global change on a sound (e.g. to make the snare a little louder). Let me know how you make out with it, though!

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Pinkbox
Posts: 200
Joined: 13 Mar 2015

11 Jun 2019

And now we have overbridge :cool:

VariableX
Posts: 564
Joined: 02 Apr 2018

11 Jun 2019

congrats on the purchase!
Im looking at buying one too 👍🏼

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O1B
Posts: 2037
Joined: 26 Jan 2015

11 Jun 2019

Congrats! And, thanks for the Reminder. Excellent Sound. Nice all in one.

imo.... Elek's Heat MK2 is a Proper Heater for all Your Sound Mods. imo.

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cognitive
Posts: 177
Joined: 25 Apr 2018
Location: Los Angeles

12 Jun 2019

Oh crap, this thing is brilliant. Just took delivery earlier today and ... wow. I haven't started designing my own sounds yet, but just going through the presets and making some tracks and patterns ... again, wow.

The overall sound is so rich. Setting aside the amazing melodic sounds, there's something so alive and sonicaly pleasing about the drum sounds coming directly from the synth that I can tell I'm going to be very, very spoiled.

The variations you can get on just ONE pattern ... I can tell this is going to be a live monster!

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

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cognitive
Posts: 177
Joined: 25 Apr 2018
Location: Los Angeles

27 Jun 2019

Did a live show last week as the "house DJ" (not a DJ, but there you go) for a regular event. I managed get enough material together to do the entire night (or at least my 2+ hours of it) with just the Digitone and my Circuit Mono Station. It turned out better than I could have hoped, and I ended up overhearing a LOT of positive things.

Even trying to be my most objective, I still think that the "live synthesizer" sound came across as richer than the other sample-based performers' material that night. One of the performers wondered how I got my "samples" to sound so fat. He didn't believe that I wasn't using samples until I gave him a little tour of the Digitone and some of the sounds it can produce. That versatile FM synth coupled with the live stuff coming the the all-analog Mono Station was a punchy combo.

Now I'm trying some new fun things like using Reason REs to generate procedural MIDI sequences and record the sequence data in patterns on the Digitone. So far, it works quite well and works as wonder shortcut to getting new surprising ideas into the Digitone for later tweaking. It's especially interesting for ambient stuff. Also, Digitone now supports time scaling per track, so one can more easily overlay these incredibly long ambient progressions over other more rhythmic material, all in one pattern.

Some of the REs I'm using include 'Lectric Panda players including, of course, the PSQ-1684. I have it set up where I can simply press the record button on the DIgitone with the right track active, then hit play in Reason to generate properly synced generative parts right into the Digitone sequencer.

Being able to "export" Reason generative stuff to a HW sequencer/synth is extremely cool.

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jayhosking
Posts: 613
Joined: 28 Nov 2016
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10 Jul 2019

cognitive wrote:
27 Jun 2019
Did a live show last week as the "house DJ" (not a DJ, but there you go) for a regular event. I managed get enough material together to do the entire night (or at least my 2+ hours of it) with just the Digitone and my Circuit Mono Station. It turned out better than I could have hoped, and I ended up overhearing a LOT of positive things.

Even trying to be my most objective, I still think that the "live synthesizer" sound came across as richer than the other sample-based performers' material that night. One of the performers wondered how I got my "samples" to sound so fat. He didn't believe that I wasn't using samples until I gave him a little tour of the Digitone and some of the sounds it can produce. That versatile FM synth coupled with the live stuff coming the the all-analog Mono Station was a punchy combo.

Now I'm trying some new fun things like using Reason REs to generate procedural MIDI sequences and record the sequence data in patterns on the Digitone. So far, it works quite well and works as wonder shortcut to getting new surprising ideas into the Digitone for later tweaking. It's especially interesting for ambient stuff. Also, Digitone now supports time scaling per track, so one can more easily overlay these incredibly long ambient progressions over other more rhythmic material, all in one pattern.

Some of the REs I'm using include 'Lectric Panda players including, of course, the PSQ-1684. I have it set up where I can simply press the record button on the DIgitone with the right track active, then hit play in Reason to generate properly synced generative parts right into the Digitone sequencer.

Being able to "export" Reason generative stuff to a HW sequencer/synth is extremely cool.
Man alive, this sounds fantastic. Be sure to get some live recordings soon! I'd love to hear it.

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EnochLight
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11 Jul 2019

cognitive wrote:
11 Jun 2019
I already have an MPC Live, a Circuit and a Circuit Mono Station (plus an Arturia Keystep and a Novation Launchkey 49 as controllers).

I thought I was done for a while and hadn't even considered the Digitone at all. When I got the MPC, I had originally been looking at a Digitakt.

But recently, I have really been enjoying the way the Circuit Mono sounds generating synthesized drums and mixed-in melodic content using patch-flipping. For some reason, I'm really just connecting with the lively sound of synthesis as the generative source for grooves.
As a fellow MPC Live owner, I appreciate this thread. It's definitely given me something to think about. I recently added a Roland TR-8 and a System 8 to my setup, and with the System 8's traditional CV-gate outs, I've been mulling back and forth adding some more fun stuff. That said, I'll have to give the Elektron Digitone a good hard listen.
Win 10 | Ableton Live 11 Suite |  Reason 12 | i7 3770k @ 3.5 Ghz | 16 GB RAM | RME Babyface Pro | Akai MPC Live 2 & Akai Force | Roland System 8, MX1, TB3 | Dreadbox Typhon | Korg Minilogue XD

User avatar
cognitive
Posts: 177
Joined: 25 Apr 2018
Location: Los Angeles

20 Jul 2019

EnochLight wrote:
11 Jul 2019
cognitive wrote:
11 Jun 2019
I already have an MPC Live, a Circuit and a Circuit Mono Station (plus an Arturia Keystep and a Novation Launchkey 49 as controllers).

I thought I was done for a while and hadn't even considered the Digitone at all. When I got the MPC, I had originally been looking at a Digitakt.

But recently, I have really been enjoying the way the Circuit Mono sounds generating synthesized drums and mixed-in melodic content using patch-flipping. For some reason, I'm really just connecting with the lively sound of synthesis as the generative source for grooves.
As a fellow MPC Live owner, I appreciate this thread. It's definitely given me something to think about. I recently added a Roland TR-8 and a System 8 to my setup, and with the System 8's traditional CV-gate outs, I've been mulling back and forth adding some more fun stuff. That said, I'll have to give the Elektron Digitone a good hard listen.
I just sold and shipped off the MPC Live to its new owner today. As powerful a box as it is, it didn't jive as much with my personal style as the Elektron boxes.

To round out things, I just picked up a Digitakt yesterday to pair with the Digitone (and Circuit Mono Station) and wow am I having fun! Almost zero learning curve because I already know the Digitone, and the Digitakt differences make sense.

None of this "replaces" the MPC, but between the Digitakt, Digitone and Circuit Mono, I have so many voices and sound options to play with, plus EXCELLENT sequencing for live performance. Samples, FM and analog, oh my!

sot
Posts: 88
Joined: 03 May 2015

21 Jul 2019

"Some of the REs I'm using include 'Lectric Panda players including, of course, the PSQ-1684. I have it set up where I can simply press the record button on the DIgitone with the right track active, then hit play in Reason to generate properly synced generative parts right into the Digitone sequencer.

Being able to "export" Reason generative stuff to a HW sequencer/synth is extremely cool."

^^^ this sounds so interesting , Digitone seems a lot of fun from videos i've seen!
:reason: 10

User avatar
cognitive
Posts: 177
Joined: 25 Apr 2018
Location: Los Angeles

29 Jul 2019

sot wrote:
21 Jul 2019
"Some of the REs I'm using include 'Lectric Panda players including, of course, the PSQ-1684. I have it set up where I can simply press the record button on the DIgitone with the right track active, then hit play in Reason to generate properly synced generative parts right into the Digitone sequencer.

Being able to "export" Reason generative stuff to a HW sequencer/synth is extremely cool."

^^^ this sounds so interesting , Digitone seems a lot of fun from videos i've seen!
There’s nothing quite like it on the market. The Digitone and Digitakt are the most fun I’ve have with physical gear in years.

And now that I have Reason generative devices feeding the Digitakt and Digitone some MIDI drum and melodic patterns, I can crank out the foundations for entirely new sets of live electronic music in almost no time.

VariableX
Posts: 564
Joined: 02 Apr 2018

11 Nov 2019

fretshot7 wrote:
11 Jun 2019
congrats on the purchase!
Im looking at buying one too 👍🏼
1/2 a year laters and i just clicked the buy button.
I took a while to decide, basically using the money I sold a guitar for. Just waiting on delivery now, very excited.
Seems with overbridge it can be used as a 2/2 audio interface too, which may or may not alleviate my need for a new one.

EdGrip
Posts: 2343
Joined: 03 Jun 2016

11 Nov 2019

jayhosking wrote:
10 Jul 2019
Man alive, this sounds fantastic. Be sure to get some live recordings soon! I'd love to hear it.
Seconded!

PhillipOrdonez
Posts: 3732
Joined: 20 Oct 2017
Location: Norway
Contact:

16 Jan 2020

cognitive wrote:
29 Jul 2019
sot wrote:
21 Jul 2019
"Some of the REs I'm using include 'Lectric Panda players including, of course, the PSQ-1684. I have it set up where I can simply press the record button on the DIgitone with the right track active, then hit play in Reason to generate properly synced generative parts right into the Digitone sequencer.

Being able to "export" Reason generative stuff to a HW sequencer/synth is extremely cool."

^^^ this sounds so interesting , Digitone seems a lot of fun from videos i've seen!
There’s nothing quite like it on the market. The Digitone and Digitakt are the most fun I’ve have with physical gear in years.

And now that I have Reason generative devices feeding the Digitakt and Digitone some MIDI drum and melodic patterns, I can crank out the foundations for entirely new sets of live electronic music in almost no time.
We are still waiting to hear some of that, cognitive!

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