Anyone disliked FM at first but changed their opinion after getting the Digitone?

The combination of the synth and the sequencer on the Digitone is what makes it such a powerful little box.

I used to hate FM.
When I was a kid, I actually hated 80’s music because of synths sounds in general, and FM in particular. It sounded too unnatural I guess, too “synthetic”.

After 5 years of learning synthesis, I discovered that FM could do very interesting percussion sounds, especially with MM and MD. I built a PreenFM2, but the amount of parameters and the lack of controls made me sell it.
Still, I was looking for a straightforward FM synth, with smart UI and wide sound palette…

This was 2 months before the DN came out.
I was so thrilled I asked Ess to sign it :smiley:

I am still learning.

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I didn’t have a lot of experience with FM synthesis before buying the Digitakt, aside from watching countless of reviews of it and the M:C, so I can’t say it changed my overall feelings about FM.

That said, in my reviews, it was clear just how much better it sounded on the Digitone (compared to M:C), and when connecting it to my Genelec monitors in my studio, I was just impressed with the overall sound quality. The Digitone sounds high end in my ears. The presets are very pleasing and good sounding, so just browsing and playing with them is a joy.

There’s no doubt that FM is a bit of an acquired taste though, and I tend to reach for the more traditional subtractive methods when my attempts to make my own sounds end up sounding too harsh. I definitely need to spend more time to learn how to master the synth engine.

I love its percussion sounds and look forward to creating a drum and effects sample pack for my Digitakt! That’s one of the key strengths of the Digitone for me, a sound generation machine.

I still hate most of it actually :see_no_evil:
Now that I use synths exclusively on many tracks, my brothers or some friends would say, that sounds like 80s. And I say - almost insulted - no that’s the 90s. I try to sound like early 90s warp stuff :upside_down_face:
Guess 90s warp etc artists where also just influenced by stuff that came before them.
But still, I think you can use synths in a tasteful and not so tasteful manner - and most of the 80s I heard is the latter to me.

So for being off topic.
Digitone is wonderful

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tbh I love FM synths to play with and use them a lot but they don’t even generally fit in with the sort of music I want to make. They’re just cool. I fuck around with fm8 a lot and just got FM4 on ipad which is pretty cool even if abandonware. I think I got into it around the time digitone was announced as a cope actually lol. I did eventually get a DN but flipped it cause I don’t really need a whole box for it when I’ve got other more powerful options. But yeah, I guess the answer is yes

The FM also seems to be the most analog sounding digital synthesis type out there. When compared to synths like Hydrasynth or Wavestate, FM sounds fuller, more natural, and more present, even more so than Minilogue XD or Deepmind 12, which are pure analog synths in the same price point. Of course my thoughts are purely based on demos, but this seems to be the case for me.

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Does the DN get closer to bass deepness than the Opsix?

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Not really, the Minilogue XD has one digital oscillator with some FM capabilities as well. Makes it a very interesting synth.

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…but sounds kind of good here…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-SWFL1XF7Y&t=749s&ab_channel=Korg

Could anyone post what he considers the best sounds of Digitone? Thnks!

I caved in and just bought a Novation SL MK3, so only FM synthesis I will be making will be on Operator for a while. In the meantime, I will save for Novation Peak, which is the only synth that I don’t have any doubts based on my workflow, and hopefully not buy anything else down the line :slight_smile:

check @Eaves and @ylva channels if you haven’t.
Or the basek liveset.
Full of outstanding digitone sounds :+1:

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In this one Opsix is killing it…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH2XiQ2Qq7o&ab_channel=Noisegate

I listened to a lot of demos of Opsix, including the very recent demo by Jexus and that video of direct comparison of Digitone and Opsix and simply cannot like the sound of Korg.
Digitone just sounds nicier (although it’s somewhat colder than oldschool Yamaha FM).
All three new Korgs have similar “sharp” sound and in cases of Opsix it is a bit sad considering how deep and innovative the engine is…

upd: missed the post, this demo:

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warm… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-SWFL1XF7Y&t=749s&ab_channel=Korg :slight_smile:

Caved in and just received the Digitone. First impressions are perfect!

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Grainy and hard is precisely what I want from an FM synth, not lush and versatile.

God forbid a synth should be versatile

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I like instruments with character. I think the market could bear more niche and focused synths. There’'ll be a limit, I guess, because the more niche the synth gets, the fewer people will buy it, the higher the cost will have to rise to make it worthwhile for the manufacturer, the fewer-still can afford it. I guess that’s why modular works…

I’ll stop doing my thinking out loud now… :wink:

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Off-topic: this thread is giving me serious GAS for a DK. And there’s one for cheap in the Marketplace threads. And it’s my birthday soon. And I have savings. DANGER!!

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