With Elektrons, I just start jamming and try to churn out patterns quickly. Just let the machine lead me and show me what‘s especially fun and good about it. These first patterns I make during the honeymoon phase are often some of the strongest because I‘m still excited and have not yet established a routine of how I use the machine and what sounds I make with it. Over time, I revisit and polish these patterns. Tweak presets or replace them with my own sounds, re-arrange stuff etc.
I only have mine since about a week so it’s a bit early to say. But I really like it and am quite productive with it. I always loved my Digitone but missed having more tracks, DN II just fixes that. I definitely feel it’s not as straightforward as ST when it comes to sound design, so I mostly rely on presets so far. Ironically, I‘m making patterns and tracks quickly because of that as well. The overall sound feels better than OG to me and I really love having BR and SRR on it. Hopefully it will get Overbridge support soon, so I can produce some tracks.
I am in a busy time but in two weeks I want to do like a "manual challenge " and work through each thing and really get to understand it. I like that sort of thing.
That is what ultimately led me to the DNII. (well, almost a deluge)
I was enjoying the DNI and the tones were really hitting the spot with me.
I had never really worked with FM before this. (minus what is in the syntakt)
Then I learned how to program drums on DNI/a single track
Sound design was fun and sounded great but keeping track of the triggers was really
I just can’t handle that type of programming/memorization currently.
Reading and hearing some of the things you all do with Elektrons is inspiring.
I can only hope to gain that level of understanding over time.
DNII tips/tricks thread is almost latin to me.
I will probably put the Syntakt away for a month and focus on the DNII to ensure I learn it properly.
Still in love here! And I think I will be for a long time. I’ve been using it almost exclusively since it came out just to really get to know it well and because it’s awesome. It won’t replace my other gear like the Machinedrum which is still an entirely different beast but it has gotten closer and I can easily say it’s my desert island instrument. I’ve made a lot of presets in the 6 years of using the DN 1 so it’s easy to get started making new music by scrolling through my preset lists and playing. I also really enjoy making new sounds with the new machines - FM Drum being the favourite.
I’m only one day deep into the Digitone, but man does it get gritty and dirty fast. The added effects really adds a lot of flavour. The combination of SRR, bit reduction and overdrive really takes the original FM Tone machine into new territory.
The Wavetone engine reminds my quite a lot of the sounds I got out of the A4. Does anyone else thinks this too?
Didn’t know. I improvised on black keys.
The new microtiming per note in Note Edit allows fast playing recording with Unquantized rec.
Have to explore that more, I was quantising al the time before with Elektrons…
I just got mine a week ago✌🏽! I was initially interested in Hydrasynth D as a sound design tool but the self contained nature of DNII won.
Unfortunately due travel duties i barely touched this crazy dark berry, which made me realize than i must get some accessories to make it wireless, easy&fast to pack and portable (power Bank, transport box, stand and headphones…).
Btw first FM synth! There is a lack of tutorials about the II…so am checking OG videos even tho there’re too “homemade” quality (long, bad recording, screen too small… Hopefully the manual and with adventurous curiosity gonna get along. Any advice?
Also hope your dog is ok. Just had to sit in an ER for mine last week. Won’t go into the details, but he’s doing better now. We’ll just say my daughter ordered him some stylish eye patches. Poor little fellow. I hate animal emergencies. I’m also conflicted on vets. On one hand their fees are exoribtant, on the other, my daughter is going to school to be a vet, and I want her to make a nice living because she’s definitely earning it with hard work, excellent grades, etc.
I don’t have too much to add for info/tips but I got to spend two 2hr sessions with my new DNII…
“Wowza” is all I can say.
I have a lot to learn.
It sounds so amazing. So much depth.
It currently feels like too much…now that I see what it can potentially do.
It is so much more machine than I was expecting.
Need to use the manual and watch a couple videos going forward.
So I actually played a bit with the comb filter the other day, “like the grand piano” with 100% key tracking and maximum feedback. Except that instead of just making the synth part play a transient to trigger the filter resonance, I kept the FM machine providing a “body” other than just the filter’s. Much easier than I thought, and having fun times!
On one hand their fees are exoribtant, on the other, my daughter is going to school to be a vet, and I want her to make a nice living because she’s definitely earning it with hard work, excellent grades, etc. 
