Elektron Digitone

FM VERDICT
9.5
A fun and very well thought-
out box that can cover a
wide sonic palette; takes the
pain out of FM and replaces
it with joy!
FM ENGINE: A four-operator,
eight-algorithm affair with plenty of
tweakable parameters
MIDI ENGINE: Along with four FM
engine tracks, the sequencer has four
for sequencing other MIDI gear too
SEQUENCER: Extremely versatile
and powerful, with all the killer
Elektron features
SOUND CONTENT: +Drive also
includes 512 sounds
and sequences
different ways, with sonic results
ranging from subtle to radically
different. There are clear visual
representations of the operator
arrangements, which make
experimenting with algorithms
surprisingly easy to grasp. You’ll also
fi nd options here to tweak the ratio
(ie, frequency) of each operator, along
with the harmonic content, detuning
and feedback. Thre’s also an
indispensable XY control which allows
you to blend between the X and Y
carrier outputs which follow the
operators. This great feature enables
mixing between two separate timbres
(this can be modulated and
parameter-locked in the sequencer
too). All considered, this is a very
versatile and surprisingly powerful
setup. You can easily get lost in FM
heaven here, even before you’ve
moved to the next SYN2 button. This
next menu allows tweaking of the two
available modulation envelopes for
operators A and B. You can also set
up how the envelopes are triggered,
including envelope delay and trigger
reset. Again, you can experiment here
without getting lost in technicalities;
simply move to a page, turn the
encoders and listen – it’s easy!
Moving on, the next menu deals
with a basic fi lter (a global 1-pole 6db
fi lter) plus a more involved three-
mode fi lter (two different low-pass
modes, plus a high pass) and a
four-stage ADSR fi lter envelope.
Again, there’s plenty of scope for
sound-shaping and the resonant fi lter
sounds excellent – very analogue-like,
liquidy and warm, with a lovely sheen
on the high-end and plenty of low-end
grunt. The next menu accesses the
amp envelope (ADSR again) along
with settings for the digital drive,
panning and volume. The envelopes
throughout are nicely punchy and
detailed, demonstrated particularly
well by the shorter preset sounds
onboard, along with the surprisingly
good FM drum sound presets, which
provide great starting points for
further FM drum exploration. Also, if
you double tap this button you can
access chorus, delay, reverb and amp
envelope reset parameters.
The fi nal button accesses the
LFOs (two per-voice) which go super
fast and each have numerous easily
assignable destinations along with
various wave shapes, plus speed and
depth controls. The second page here
also gives you control over LFO start
phase, fade, clock divisions (MIDI
syncable) and trigger modes. Plenty
to work with then!
Once the Digitone’s FM sound
engine is coupled to the Elektron’s
fantastic sequencer design, the whole
thing just comes alive. You’ll soon be
wondering why anyone thought FM
was diffi cult to use or old-fashioned
sounding! Of course, you can use the
Digitone as a simple sound module
triggered from a MIDI controller, DAW
or the onboard 16-step buttons to
play simple old-skool FM
impersonations, but it’s once the
sequencer, modulators and fi lters are
employed (and the excellent effects
overlayed or ‘P-locked') that the
Digitone shows its colours. You can
make whole songs once you employ
pattern chaining, and using the trig
conditions to evolve initially simple
one-bar beats into continually
morphing loops is hugely fun. There’s
an arp for each synth track too,
further enhancing the creative
possibilities. Once you realise you can
parameter-locking different sounds to
each sequencer step the possibilities
can seem endless.
The Digitone is the most exciting
FM machine I’ve laid hands on for a
long time. It’s a bonus too that it’s
super portable. Saying that, I’d love a
fi ve-octave keyboard version, DX-style
with loads of knobs! Still, what you’re
getting here is a super-deep FM
engine plus the full Elektron
sequencer. Between trig conditions,
fi ll mode, easy muting of the four
internal tracks, the Control All mode
(for making broad global sound edits),
quality effects, multi-track external
MIDI sequencing and a powerful
per-track arp, the Digitone really does
offer a hell of lot of performance
capabilities. In short, I’m super-
impressed by the Digitone!
FM
ENGINE:
A four-operator,
eight-algorithm affair with plenty of
tweakable parameters
MIDI
ENGINE:
Along with four FM
engine tracks, the sequencer has four
for sequencing other MIDI gear too
SEQUENCER:
Extremely versatile
and powerful, with all the killer
Elektron features
S
OUND CONTENT:
+Drive also
includes 512 sounds
and sequences
setup. You can easily get lost in FM
heaven here, even before you’ve
moved to the next SYN2 button. This
next menu allows tweaking of the two
available modulation envelopes for
operators A and B. You can also set
up how the envelopes are triggered,
including envelope delay and trigger
reset. Again, you can experiment here
without getting lost in technicalities;
simply move to a page, turn the
encoders and listen – it’s easy!
Moving on, the next menu deals
with a basic fi lter (a global 1-pole 6db
fi lter) plus a more involved three-
mode fi lter (two different low-pass
modes, plus a high pass) and a
four-stage ADSR fi lter envelope.
Again, there’s plenty of scope for
sound-shaping and the resonant fi lter
sounds excellent – very analogue-like,
liquidy and warm, with a lovely sheen
on the high-end and plenty of low-end
FM
ENGINE:
A four-operator,
MIDI
ENGINE:
Along with four FM
SEQUENCER:
Extremely versatile
S
OUND CONTENT:
+Drive also
different ways, with sonic results
ranging from subtle to radically
different. There are clear visual
representations of the operator
arrangements, which make
experimenting with algorithms
surprisingly easy to grasp. You’ll also
fi nd options here to tweak the ratio
(ie, frequency) of each operator, along
with the harmonic content, detuning
and feedback. Thre’s also an
indispensable XY control which allows
you to blend between the X and Y
carrier outputs which follow the
operators. This great feature enables
mixing between two separate timbres
(this can be modulated and
parameter-locked in the sequencer
too). All considered, this is a very
versatile and surprisingly powerful
arrangements, which make
experimenting with algorithms
surprisingly easy to grasp. You’ll also
fi nd options here to tweak the ratio
(ie, frequency) of each operator, along
with the harmonic content, detuning
and feedback. Thre’s also an
indispensable XY control which allows
you to blend between the X and Y
carrier outputs which follow the
operators. This great feature enables
mixing between two separate timbres
(this can be modulated and
parameter-locked in the sequencer
too). All considered, this is a very
versatile and surprisingly powerful
Elektron Digitone | Reviews
83
FMU330.rev_elektron.indd 83 19/03/2018 16:52