#467

I’m looking for a specific thing. A poly and multi timbral synth with USB midi. Yes I want to use it with Arcologies and ORCA. So far the only options I find are Digitone and Blofeld. The pro of Digitone is the stand alone aspect. I really don’t want / need keys more than for triggering sounds so a desktop form factor would be great. Also built in FX are nice but not a deal breaker. Hit me with your community knowledge before I take the plunge.

#468

Dsi prophet rev2 desktop?

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#469

Blofeld gets super buggy when you push it hard with multitimbral or comb filter patches. Also a nightmare to program and prone to hardware faults.

Digitone is really really nice. Virus might do the job too.

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#470

I am saving up for one, or plan to, ha. I already have an XT, though. I think likely not. The XT also has a kind of veiled sound which makes harsh patches not so harsh, and the digital filter resonance is rather controlled.

I see the Quantum/Iridium more as high fi, high resolution, new synthesis platform. Not really too similar in the end.

@hankyates

The rev2 cannot do cross-mod, unlike the OB6.

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#471

I’ve owned both Digitone and Blofeld previously. Blofeld would be a good option due to really attractive price. I would probably not push it hard or do much programming. But Digitone was a joy to work with / play so I’m leaning towards that. Just want to make sure I’m not missing an option.

#472

I think op-z would technically meet your criteria? Though I’m guessing it is not what you are looking for.

#473

Also, the tasty chips granular synth GR1 is 4 part multitimbral.

#474

You’re right. I own the OP-1 and love it but Z never tickled my interest. GR1 is actually something I’ll look into again. Thanks. Good tip!

#475

i didn’t investigate the cause but i have crash my blofeld a few times sending it midi from orca on my laptop. nothing crazy in orca and not in multitimbral mode just a sound with two sample and a waveform if i remember correctly. other than that fun combo.

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#476

A few times but it works mostly? My friend has a Blofeld and I’ll try that out before deciding.

#477

sorry i wasn’t very precise. i would say 2 times during a 1 hour session. tell me if you don’t have access to your friend’s blofeld i could test it again.

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#478

digitone is beautiful. it rewards careful patient sound design, but also has a lot of really good preset banks available which you can reverse engineer and learn the synth better from. having 4 tracks simultaneously is a game changer. the newest update gave it step and step jump recording and per-track conditions. its extremely expressive, and i dont even use a keyboard with it. the velocity and other expressive mod controls are saved with the preset.

there are many ways to program or record complex patterns and chords. the effects are beautiful, especially the chorus. i find it makes all of the sounds i try to make with all my synths but have failed up until this point. snappy 0-coast style plucks, cold lush evolving pads, stabby-chords, brass, piano keys, vibraphone, tongue drum. you can make very nice percussive sounds with it, and create full tracks with just this one device. which is nice because i find it very portable as far as polysynths go.

oscillator sink has a really cool “how i drone” video using it where he highlights the conditional trig feature and makes gorgeous generative organic drones with just a few steps. there is per-track length for asynchronous loops. I have an octatrack, so i can sample the digitone, but honestly, 95% of the time, i sequence and play straight from the digitone itself. it’s just extremely flexible. simple and deep at the same time. get that

he has also has a pretty good free preset bank available on his gumroad. i dont like using presets and am very against things like sample packs, but i do like starting from a preset i like sometimes and working from there, or backwards from there (randomize all, per page, is also very nice for this type of experimentation). that being said, limbic bits have some really nice sounding preset collections as well

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#479

love for digitone also here ,great synth ! can do vast palette of sound.

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#480

Yeah, the digitone is amazingly versatile. I’ve had it for over a year now and have barely scratched the surface of its potential. I only recently started exploring the arp (which is fully programmable) and accidentally came upon this mandolin-type sound that had a really organic timbre. It’s like the synth was telling me “you barely understand what you’re doing and you managed to make THIS sound. Imagine what you can make if you studied me for the next twenty years” I intend to do just that.

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#481

Another option I came across. Rackmounted FM with a touchscreen, 16 parts multitimbral. Looks wild.

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#482

I don’t own a Digitone but want to call attention to this cool trick

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#483

How well does the Digitone work as a 4 part sound module, i.e. without using the internal sequencer? Is it easy to assign the sounds to different midi channels, do the parameters respond to midi cc without stepping, are all parts accessible from the panel while in multi mode and things like that? It sounds really good from what I’ve heard but I won’t use the sequencer and since that’s such a major part of Elektron gear I’d like to know if it’s worth getting for the sound engines alone.

#484

Wow. This is so cool!

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#485

Landed a used Digitone yesterday. It’s made for ORCA! I can even use it to pass through midi via USB to my 0-coast.

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#486

awesome! you’ll be very happy with it. it may seem limited at times, but trust me, there are plenty of possibilities. you just have to learn the quirks. i love running orca to my elektron boxes. really awesome for digitone and euclidean rhythms with the elektron model:cycles, but i suppose you can do per track sequencing with percussive sounds on the digi in the same way. All of the elektron boxes are great for using with other gear. I use the digitone to sequence other gear and i use it a lot as an effects send for my modular and my 4 track because you can use it’s great effects on external audio in as well.

So glad you went with that. have fun man

1 Like