I am an academic. A lot of new knowledge is an add-on to the mainstream. Some is far enough afield that it forms a nucleus around which other advances coalesce. These can at their worst be just weird and even cultish, but at their best, they can be very interesting and illuminating in their contrast to the mainstream, and in my career I have tended to look for these. So metaphorically, many!
To bring this back to synths: Digitone has this feel to me (FM synthesis in general, especially past 2-op), and Syntakt does not. But that is a characterization, not a reason to prefer one over another (unless, as with my intellectual history, this in itself is an attraction).
@tha_man Of course, there are a couple of sound demos that I like. When it comes to percussion, Syntakt is a beast. I know about the limitations of both boxes because I studied them for a long time. Whichever one I choose, I think I’ll have to buy another one someday. Digitone is about 5 years old? while Syntakt is not even a year old, I think they will expand Syntakt with more machines over time (that’s a bit of an advantage because it’s still a new Elektron box).
I am relatively new to the elektron boxes but I see this thought bounce around, why exactly is this the case? What is it about the DN that makes it not as good as a standalone unit? Would you say the same for the ST if compared to the DT as well?
You really shouldn’t buy gear for what features it might get in the future, could be frustrating, especially if it doesn’t do what you want right now. But yeah, Syntakt certainly is newer…
@porphyry probably because Syntakt has 8 more tracks than Digitone, I don’t have one yet but it seems like a big advantage (as a standalone). Everything is explained in this topic (Digitone and Syntakt users have compared and described all advantages and limitations). Everything is clear to me about Digitone and Syntakt, I just have to decide on one of them.
@tha_man of course not, I just noted that, I can’t look into the future.
Yeah as above. It makes a big difference for me anyway. With the extra tracks of the ST you can just focus on the music you want to make, just DN on its own you have to be problem solving at the same time thinking about how to get yer drums squeezed on to single tracks. Some folk are great at it but for me it would kill my motivation as would just see the as “hassle”. DT is better cos it has extra 4 tracks, to me 8 is just about right, but if it’s got more? I’ll take it!
As I wrote earlier, it’s in large part a matter of choosing where to make a compromise. On the Digitone, you get polyphony, but you have to get tedious about programming drums. On the Syntakt, you get hands on drum design, but you need to get a bit more tedious about polyphony.
I have several songs, in fact nearly all of my songs use fake polyphony on the Syntakt in the form of two tracks playing the same sequence only with different notes. Sometimes I use three tracks. This means I use it for pads. There is so much range in the voices of the Syntakt, people seem to forget that it’s not all FM synthesis. You have three fully analog oscillators, and then you have SY Bits that can do pulse width modulation. Then you can run three SY Bits PWM oscillators into the Analog FX bus to add some drive and a comb filter and you approach some truly analog “warmth” territory that the Digitone will struggle to match.
Most Syntakt demos don’t do it justice. I have five song embryos on mine that I need to record and publish because they all push it in slightly different directions. It’s so versatile.
Just do a arp melody, then copy it to a neighbor track and remove every other note from the sequencer of each track and you suddenly have a polyphonic arp with the envelope release tails ringing out just like on a Digitone.
You may still prefer the Digitone and again, there is no wrong choice here. I just want to try to remove the illusion that the Syntakt couldn’t sound lush and warm just like the Digitone.
Track 1 : it’s a really great patch, does not sound too much FM it’s a great filter work here. And I would not believe you can achieve it on syntakt, or not easily.
Track 2 & track 3 : similar result could be achieve.
This is really helpful. I still have a lot of experimenting to do with the DN still but I have been so curious about the ST seeing a lot around about it.
I was just looking at how you can make a full drum pattern in one track on Digitone, a very interesting technique, but for a beginner this can be a nightmare. Very complex.
I guess you used a similar technique on Syntakt to make an arp (since there are more tracks) for fake polyphony? If I understand correctly, I can see that Syntakt can do a very good job on melody (with fake polyphony).
I know this doesn’t necessarily help with the OP’s choice, but I have an alternate way to make drums on the Digitone. I just use all the tracks in one pattern, then record the loop to audio. Then just move to another DN pattern while playing back that looped drum track.
That could be a sampler, but increasingly I use an iPad running Loopy Pro, which hooks up to the Digitone with a single USB cable for audio and sync. An iPhone could do it too, with the right cable and adapters.
A lot has been said already about this so I’ll just add another opinion
The Digitone is absolutely wonderful for quickly generating melodic sequences with polyphony, arps etc. I can sound lush, harsh and everything in between. It can definitely do drums very well (I’ve sampled a bunch of kicks which I use all the time) and be an all in one groovebox but imo using sound locks to program drums is an absolute chore. You can get going quickly with presets or by using Syn1 + Yes to create some random starting points for sound design or go very deep and meticulously craft a sound.
Now the Syntakt on the other hand I don’t own, but is on the list to buy somewhere this year because it seems to be complimentary if not the opposite. Very quick to get rhythms/grooves/drums (plus maybe a bassline) going with plenty of tracks for all kinds of little plinks and ploinks to spice up your grooves. I know it can definitely do more than that, but that would be my usecase.
Trying to get any polyphony or arps going involves using workarounds which again will slow you down but maybe not as much as soundlocking your beats on a Digitone.
tldr: Get both, but depending on your immediate needs and gear you’re pairing it with start with either
To me, it’s the Digitone without question. It can be a melody box and a beat box at the same time. I can bang out an entire song (not a glitchy YouTube demo track, but a real “pop song”) on the Digitone in a short period.
The video about drums on a single track seems difficult but once you master the Sound Pool, it’s easy (I always though that the presets should be able to go right to Sound Manager so I can feed the pool right away).
And there are lots of Digitones out there for little money (under 600 usd if you follow closely).
