Elektron Digitone

voices as you wish between the
tracks. With this feature, you can
ensure any sound that needs to retain
its full polyphony, or long sustain/
release, will always play as intended
and have its voices reserved. You can
control
where any tracks will steal
additional polyphony from too. You
can also set layering so that multiple
sounds can trigger simultaneously
from one key. I love that Elektron
have also included up to eight-note
unison with unison-spread for huge
multi-dimensional stereo sounds. A
whole bag of great sounds and
patterns are featured onboard too. In
fact, on startup, I spent a while just
exploring the brilliant, wide-ranging
presets and seeing how they were
built on screen. This revealed much
about the genius of this machine,
how versatile it is sonically and how
hands-on Elektron have made their
implementation of FM. FM has a bad
rep for being complex, but the
Digitone feels just as accessible as
any other hands-on synth. To quote
and this is where you set the length of
your trigs (events) along with trig
conditions (probability-controlled
events). The secondary ‘function’
menu lets you set key scaling, fi lter
tracking and allocate which four
parameters are mapped to an external
controller’s mod and pitch wheels.
Next there are three pages of
synth engine controls where you really
get stuck into the most important
sound shaping. The SYN1 button
takes you to the main synth page.
Here you have level control for the
selected synth track along with an
algorithm selector which allows you to
connect the operators (oscillators) in
FM Synthesis inventor, John
Chowning, ‘It lets the user intuitively
explore this re-formable, shapeable
ball of stuff, then put that through the
normal processes of synthesis’.
As with the Digitakt, Elektron have
split the sound engine up into easily
digestible menus that use clear,
responsive graphics. The six buttons
under the encoders navigate to the
main sound design areas. Using the
turquoise function button gives these
buttons secondary access to the
effects and setup menus too. It’s easy
enough to navigate despite the many
parameters on offer. The fi rst button,
TRIG, deals with sequencer functions
ONBOARD EFFECTS
Let’s talk more about the effects! Firstly, the Digitone has a handy stereo input so you can
route any external audio through the delay, reverb, chorus and overdrive effects (although
it’s worth noting that the inputs are summed to mono before the effects). This makes the
Digitone a very handy processor for older synths and drum machines that don’t normally
have their own built-in effect. Importantly, like the Digitakt and other Elektron boxes, the
quality of these effects is high throughout. The chorus is wide and lush, the reverb deep
and atmospheric – perfect for moody soundscapes – and the same goes for the delay too.
There are plenty of tweakable parameters to help tailor the effects for any musical style.
You can adjust the
frequency response, pre
delay, decay and gain on
the reverb. The chorus,
meanwhile, has speed,
width and HPF controls.
The delay, has controls for
the HPF/LPF, feedback,
width and ping-pong mode.
Also, there’s a master
overdrive that, despite
being digital, sounds
superb and is great for
adding grit to either the
native FM engine or
incoming audio. You can
P-lock and sequence the
effects parameters too.
THE ALTERNATIVES
Yamaha Reface
DX £241
Yamaha’s re-entry
into the FM market
in 2015. It features
a three-octave
keyboard and
four-op, eight-note
polyphonic FM
engine with four
touch sliders to alter
key parameters in
real time.
uk.yamaha.com
Yamaha DX200
£200+ used
A head of its time,
coupling a six-op FM
engine to AWM2
sampled sounds/
fi lters/FX and a
four-track, 16-step
sequencer with
motion-type
sequencing. Sounds
great; editing
limited.
Ebay, Gumtree
Korg Volca FM
£209
Perhaps Digitone’s
closest relation, this
is super-portable,
has a 16-step
sequencer with
motion sequencing,
an arpeggiator, six
operators/32
algorithms and a
chorus effect.
www.korg.com
Good old familiar four-
operator FM… with some
very welcome new twists
Reviews | Elektron Digitone
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FMU330.rev_elektron.indd 82 19/03/2018 16:52