#608

Manual for the opsix.

Not multitimbral (expected, but seems like a waste of 32 note capability).
Worse (for me): no microtonal features at all :frowning:

#609

korg does have a pretty distinct fm sound. i almost missed the glassy plucks from the volca fm once i got the digitone before i realized how expansive that one was. i’d definitely consider the opsix

*maybe not. this channel has some of the best demos for any type of gear and i’m not feeling this one so much. the workflow is appealing though, and i like to have many options for sound shaping. it’s just not great sounding. almost sounds exactly like the volca fm, which is cool for a $149 piece of gear:

#610

I recently acquired a Yamaha TG77, and I must say that it is quite amazing, it sounds very good and with the editor from patchbase its very easy to program. I’ve worked a bit with fm8 before, but its been a different, and so far, much more rewarding experience using the TG77. Its my first time giving fm some real attention and I’m stoked about the results. it sounds so detailed and defined. Very different from some of the other hardware synths Ive used.

Also, its cheap, multitimbral, has lots of outputs and can sound crunchy if you push the gain a bit. Lovely :slight_smile:

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#611

I had your same exact reaction at the opsix demos. I don’t know if it’s because of the fm synthesis that is prone to this kind of sounds but all demos seems to do the same kind of 80s-vibey sounds.

Still, with 6 ops and filters and this kind of workflow I think I would give it a try personally, sooner or later. It’s probably the most accessible/hands-on FM synth around.

#612

at least this one demonstates the workflow nicely. It’s kind of neat :slight_smile:

#613

I’m considering buying the Digitone. I don’t actually love a lot of what I have heard come from it, though I have heard some really beautiful sounds too. I haven’t had a great experience with FM in general and I don’t love the plastic-y 80s timbres I associate it with, but I assume this is mostly down to my lack of skills with FM sound design.

The main reason i am interested in buying it is to use with Norns sequencers… Kria and Awake in particular. It would play nicely with those, right?

Also, I can’t find any examples online, but how do the Mark Fell presets sound?

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#614

I bought a digitone recently, and though I’m still learning it I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the range of sounds it can create and how well thought out the sound design is. It’s great at traditional FM sounds of course, but because of the filters, wave shape controls, and oscillator ratios it can move seamlessly into more additive or subtractive synthesis approaches as well. I’ve really been enjoying combining or moving between those techniques and it feels really flexible.
On the sequencing side, I’ve found it best to think of it as a computer to be programmed rather than something to play because of the limited keyboard. In an interview Ess said something about it being a tracker in the shape of a sequencer (probably misquoting there but it helped me).

Great idea to sequence with norns! I haven’t tried that but I would assume it works. I’m very much a beginner with digitone so hopefully someone more experiences can offer some insight.

Edit: just plugged in awake and it works well. I was just sending notes to one track.

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#615

I’m currently exploring the Digitone too and am a little unexperienced besides the usual West Coast style FM. It’s been really clicking and I’m loving the patches that I create.

As someone who’s not huge into sequencers though, I agree with the Tracker like quote. I think I’m gonna try pairing it with a keyboard and using it with a looper instead. I don’t see me composing with the elektron sequencer much (even though I’m experienced there) but I love the sound so much it would be hard to sell :black_heart:

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#616

My digitone arrived a couple of days ago. And while I’m still exploring bundled presets, the Norns into Digitone into Octatrack combo is just magical. Finally I have a way to explore less concepts script.

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#617

i actually find it to be the easiest piece of gear to sequence with. i play my launchpad pro like a keyboard in scale mode with like 6 octaves per grid page and whether you’re using step record, step-jump, just pressing record and playing into each track, or holding down a trig and playing a chord on the midi controller to manually program chords per step, it’s super intuitive and fast. it really feels like cheating. i like doing a combination of all of those methods. i will typically hold the first trig on each trig page, play a chord so i have 4 chords in 64 steps, press record and start playing notes around those live unquantized, then manually quantize until it sounds good. then add sound locks or manually insert extra notes/take out certain trigs or use the probability to switch it up. but even if you dont have a midi controller, the chord page with scale modes is extremely helpful. even building chords by holding a trig and using the arrows to stack notes one by one is very easy.

i can’t think of a better way to sequence melodic patterns. i find it much better than a daw, drawing in midi or whatever. sometimes ill use norns sequencers too and just hit record when i hear a pattern i like and it will capture whatever midi is coming into each track. it’s genius. i have an octatrack and i never use that to sequence anymore. i go straight to the digitone.

it’s cool to see so many people finally coming around to this synth. it really is brilliant. i’m not a huge fan of presets, but i recommend checking out the oscillator sink pack and the jogging house pack for digitone. jogging house especially really found a way to make organic soft warm sounding almost analog patches for this thing. it’s really handy to load one you like and then explore what they did to build them so you can try to make your own by using some of the same techniques

on an unrelated note, does anyone have experience with the Korg Radias? it seems like it has almost everything you would want in a digital synth. i can’t imagine why most new synths don’t include half of the features this thing has. pcm, pitch shifting, bitcrushing. i found one for like $700 on fb marketplace and am strongly considering grabbing one after seeing this

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#618

I had one for about a year. I did not enjoy using the synth. I found the lay-out unhelpful and the menus unintuitive. Normally, I like menus and menu-diving but something stuck in my craw about the Radias. I don’t recall too many specifics as I owned it long ago but the Radias is not so simple to program or sequence as it seems from looking at the panel.

However, I will say I think the Radias has a good sound. I was able to make one very interesting patch on it before someone finally purchased the thing and I was able to move on to greener synthesizers.

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#619

I had one ages ago. I think it’s one of the better sounding VA synths of its era. The step sequencer was really neat (and seemed really innovative to me at the time) and I liked the general layout. However, I’m not sure if I’d buy one today, esp. at $700… I’d think a used ASM Hydrasynth Desktop should be somewhere around that price and I’d say that’s just the better synth all around. Better interface (even though less knobs), more modulation options, way better sound…

1 Like
#620

well that’s good to hear, i really don’t need another synth. thanks for the insight

that is one thing that holds me back when considering any synth, if it doesn’t have the elektron sequencer and multiple synth tracks, it just seems like it’s not living up to the potential that exists now. i think unless i found one that had extremely deep flexible sound design tools and parameters or routing, where i can sculpt any sound imaginable, i wouldn’t be able to justify most purchases

@x2mirko thank you. something about the hydrasynth i can’t put my finger on, but it never appealed to me. it should in theory because it’s almost everything i want in a synth but i think the overall sound i hear in every demo holds me back maybe. do you think it’s pretty fun for creative patch design? does it sound pretty musical in a similar way that the digitone does?

#621

Norns works well with Digitone. Sequencing all four tracks using Arcologies or Kria MIDI to create evolving melodies is particularly satisfying.

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#622

I will say that the Radius has one of my favorite vocoders (same with the MS2000). I don’t use it much these days but I keep it around just for that.

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#623

I don’t have much experience with the Digitone (only tried one once in a musicstore), so I don’t know how they relate in sound.

I think of the Hydrasynth sort of like Serum or Zebra in a Hardwarebox. It doesn’t seem to have a very strong character to me, it just has a lot of features and is extremely easy to use. Especially with polysynths, I tend to prefer synths that are somewhat “bland” and just let you do whatever you want with them. To me, the interface is much more important than character in that category.

I also didn’t like the demos I heard of it online very much, but that’s usually the case for me - I need to use it to find out if I like it.

@Deru that’s right! I forgot about the vocoder. That was a really nice feature!

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#624

Thanks! This is super helpful and inspiring to hear your workflow! Tagging @Xylr as well who was interested in sequencing from norns

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#625

I don’t know serum, but I definitely agree that it’s more a set of building blocks than a “sounds” with that said, I found it much more usable to make string, and Wavestation type evolving sounds rather than Organ sounds, for example. For those sorts of sounds, something like the prophet 12 is a bit better.

The thing about the hydrsynth is that you can run audio rate signals into the CV inputs, so there’s a lot more flexibility than might initially appear.

Also, I found the CC implementation to be quite good, unlike the digitone which will choke if you start modulating a bunch of parameters in real time.

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#626

that actually makes me want this thing even more. i also would really like to just have very basic building blocks to make my own things. one thing i dislike about the digitone sometimes is that it does have a distinct sound and can be hard at times to get a pure sine sound. it’s impossible in my experience to make piano sounds though, which according to mangrove’s comment may be the same with the hydrasynth. i might have to try one out. if it has enough flexibility to really morph those fundamental building block sounds, it seems like potentially what i’ve been looking for. i will say, now that I understand the Analog Four better, i don’t think I will be in the market for another synth anytime soon. It has really surprised me in the best way. Thank you for the breakdown. Sounds awesome and not really what i thought it was

#627

Sequential Prophet 6 and OB-6 just got an OS beta update with MPE support and Prophet 5 like “vintage knob”.

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