Cheap solution for polyphony on DT :
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I lay back on my bed and hold the digitone in both hands like a gameboy to sketch ideas and then bring it over to the music desk when I wanna add rytm and OT to the mix.
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I am one week in with a brand new DN…they are amazing and easy compared to other FM synths. Much more immediate. I was happy with what was comming out of it the first day. DEXED is a head scrambler. I have it to load programs into a volca FM. (Which I will be selling) DN is not as crazy complex, with far less algorithms and less operators. But FAR better resaults.
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Digitone can make a great portable sketchpad and be the brains of your setup. I use mine as my main sequencer for all my other gear in conjunction with a midi solutions Quadra thru. It can teach you the basics of FM as well as subtractive synthesis. It has a traditional adsr and filter / resonance control so subtractive synthesis is easily doable on it. Scale per track and conditional trigs can give you extra mileage for longer sequences. Plus it’s all rounded out with some solid on board fx and an exceptional sequencer. Also you can plug other instruments into it for use as an fx box.
Get it and if you don’t like it, sell it for a small loss. Elektron gear holds it’s value very well. It’s my one piece of gear that has helped me write my best music and be extremely productive writing it.
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This depends how deep this sketchpad should be, or in other words, how complex your sketches might become and whether a “groove box” running a “step sequencer” provides the right workflow. There are many options today from MPC, to Deluge, some more, and Elektron instruments of course.
One of my sketchbooks is a Tascam multitrack recorder.
Be aware that a FM synthesizer generates special FM sounds, which are quite different compared to sounds of classical or modern analogue synths. IMO it’s a particular and fascinating sound universe. But it would never be my “desert island synth”, because it’s FM only and there are many other great sounds from other machines as well 
I would recommend to think about which sounds are needed as bass, pad, or lead, etc and go from there … and it could be that the best solution is a combination of sequencer and multi-timbral synth as separate boxes
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DN is definitely more accessible than most FM synths that you can mess with nowadays. No lie, I have always loved FM synthesis and own several hardware FM synths and a bunch of VST ones, but the DN is still probably my absolute favorite to work with. You can really tell what you are doing to your sound with every knob turn and fine tune things, though you can still squeeze out some crazy noises by just randomly mucking about haha. Plus the ability to sequence external hardware ended up making this little box the brain of my whole setup
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I am also first a guitarist. Last year, I got a Digitakt after playing with a friend’s MachineDrum, so I had a good idea about the Elektron sequencer. I also got a Behringer D and a Volca FM to begin to explore synthesis, and have been sequencing those from the DT. It’s been great fun.
Regarding the FM…while I liked playing with its presets (or others I downloaded), I had little success in making interesting sounds from scratch…the best results came from modifying existing sounds via the attack/decay settings. The interface and setup there and in things like Dexed just weren’t intuitive enough for me to want to spend time messing about, when the DT and Model D were so easy to work with.
But I do like the FM sound, and having seen so many great examples of the DN on youtube, along with my love for my DT, I just a few days ago got a Digitone. In just a few hours of using it, I have gotten so many more interesting sounds out of it that I ever did from the Volca FM. While I’m not entirely sure what I’m doing, the directness of the interface makes exploring and “sweet spot” finding super easy and fun. That along with a huge assortment of factory sounds to start from makes it completely worth it. I am so stoked to have it…I feel a bit bad for my Volca FM, I see it likely collecting a bit of dust.
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Wow, I uh… Thanks?
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Ha - intended as major compliment Ess!
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Thanks for your help, everybody – it was great to read your takes!
I’m ordering my DN later this week. Hopefully you’ll be hearing from me soonish 
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FM has a unique sound that can go from warmth to metallic in an instant. If you love the sound, you will love the relatively simple structure of the DN along with its more subtractive style signal path for taming the sound with two flexible filters per voice. Also, you mention being a guitarist, so may I make a suggestion of trying a midi pickup (the tech is amazing compared to 10 years ago) and DN’s up to 8 voices simultaneously covers guitar playing perfectly. It’s opened up my world. All of my musical knowledge just translates so well playing synths this way. Anyway, something to consider 
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This sounds like a great idea. Can you recommend a good midi pickup?
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I got the Fishman Triple Play. It’s amazing! Right now, I’m using Overbridge to play through my DN, but I’m definitely going to get the FC-1 floor controller to bypass the need for a computer in the chain. Plus it has a sustain foot switch and input for an expression pedal and filter sweeps 
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I remember checking out the triple play some time ago but was turned off by the need of a computer. I didn’t know that there was a foot controller to fix that, thanks for the recommendation! 
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Dude. Just buy this great piece of synth. You wont regret.
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Thanks for the recommendation, I don’t have any IOS devices 
I might just stick to a keyboard for synth sounds and keep my guitar for guitar sounds. There will probably lots of new things coming out once midi 2.0 us ready.
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Was not sure where to post this and don’t want to clutter the place up so hopefully a DT wizard will see this!
Can anyone confirm if LFO to pitch still plays notes from the selected scale or not?
Thanks…
The scale only disables certain keys from being played live on the device or keyboard, you can still trigger notes outside of the scale by manually adding them in the step sequencer. The LFOs ignore the scale too
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Thanks.
And balls 
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