Polyphonic friend for a Digitakt 2

[Bignill]

Fred labs Töörö, or newer Manatee?
Both multitimbral, small(ish) hybrids with presets.

A rompler from the past?
Or
Microkorg 1
Novation Nova (laptop) or Mininova

[aether]

Oh god not the microkorg 1.

It’s a fine device for its time and it’s engine is still valid, but it’s the stone age for making patches or live manipulating sounds.

Maybe better than Roland menus, but the 2 is so worth the additional money for the display.

[Lizard-of-Oz]

@Fuseball

The SH-4D I can, at least, try out in a store.

I love my Sh4d because it sounds good and has lots of effects, however I still hate the fact that you can only dump and load everything in memory (sounds and patterns) as one big file.

That’s why nobody sells sound packs, because installing a sound pack means that you need to replace everything you in memory. For some people that is a dealbreaker.

@Fuseball

I’m probably a bit over that Roland / Juno sound. The single oscillator polys (Nymphes, Bree6, Roland S-1) are probably a bit too clean for my liking, although I heard some surprisingly good sounds out of the S-1.

Check out the Polyend Synth, it has an amazing range of sounds, VA, wavetables, granular, physical modeling etc. Some engines only give you a few voices (notably the granular and physical modeling), but most give you 6.

[Azzarole]

@aether

OP has a Digitakt.
The midi tracks should be able to map 8 (or 16 if he uses 2) cc controls to the front, making it more manageable. (Assuming it supports midi controls for the parameters? If not, that would be a huge miss)

I think Nymphes has CCs, but this approach imo introduces another layer of disconnect and complexity. Which also brings issues with it, like the MIDI values no longer corresponding to the patch for example as soon as you change a pattern (unless you’re only using performance kit mode). Since @Fuseball didn’t like Typhon’s controls and wants more oscillators, I wouldn’t recommend a Nymphes.

[moredat]

Maybe something with a keyboard seeing DT sequencer can only do 4 voice polyphony

[Eldeedubya]

Same here, my Nymphes is going up for sale this week. Have tried and tried but can not gel with its UI.

[normanion]

If you are looking for portability, I have two recommendations. I base it also from the comment that you didn’t gel with DN’s sound. Both from Twisted Electrons.

For more dirty sounds, I would go MegaFM with one chip switched to alternative, having six stereo voices, with a bit different flavour per side.

Here’s a demo, although I am not sure, if Limbic Bits treated his MegaFM same way that I did, described above.

Twisted Electrons MEGAfm PARSEC Sound Pack (no talking): Presets for Ambient, Dub Techno, IDM

Second recommendation is TWISTfm. I don’t have it yet, but from my experience with Mega and from what LB wrote here and there - it is different flavour of another great box.

Twisted Electrons TWISTfm Demo (no talking)

Nothing else compact comes to my mind, but if that is of any interest to you, I pair my DT2 with Prophet X as fantastic sample fodder (I know, I know - sampler feeding sampler - what can I say?). ;]

Cordially,
Norman

[Boboulus]

I can vouch for both TWISTfm and MEGAfm since I have both

I use Tfm the most but maybe because it’s new but it’s really an amazing synth with 8 voices and filter.

I have some videos recorded using it here if it can help

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEqqfoJCOrqAhg9FEvsY0_TZf6A-evrvR&si=As5kpJ7qs5Aj-EE7

[aortan]

@Lizard-of-Oz

I love my Sh4d because it sounds good and has lots of effects, however I still hate the fact that you can only dump and load everything in memory (sounds and patterns) as one big file.

That’s so weird. I just realized the latest Roland Boutiques JX08 and JD08 are still lacking this basic function… I guess they’re also built on Zen core?

[Fuseball]

@bibenu

Honestly, I was stunned at how easy it was to use. The UI is very well thought out.

Yeah, the more I look into the Micromosta 2, the better it looks. Great form factor too. Might be time to join the waiting list…

[Lizard-of-Oz]

@aortan

I just realized the latest Roland Boutiques JX08 and JD08 are still lacking this basic function…

Somebody built a Windows Librarian for each of those, for the measly sum of €20 you can sort and mix your presets.

[odd_sundays]

i’ve personally got my eyeballs on the erica synths steampipe. pretty sure i’ll pull the trigger before prices start to go up. i’m sort of obsessed with organ/flute/wind type intruments at the moment and for me, this looks like a really great additon to my arsenal. it looks like you can do a lot more with it besides wind sounds, however. may be something to look into as it would look very nice next to a digitakt.

[Fuseball]

Turns out the immediate solution was under my nose (in a cupboard to be more precise) all along! I dug out my old Ti Snow and it works a treat. A bit cumbersome to program from the cut down interface but still quite tweakable. I have loads of patches saved on it from when it was an integral part of a hybrid setup, around 10 years ago.

It plays nicely with both the DT2 and ST. I’d forgotten how limiting the Elektron sequencer is for polyphonic sequencing, but at least the new overdub option seems to help.

I’ll be keeping my eyes on the Move’s development. I can see that being a fun sketchpad and I might get one anyway. It ticks a lot of boxes, although not the one I was initially thinking of.

Thanks for all the suggestions. If I get tired of the Ti Snow, I have plenty of other options to explore.