You win. OP asks for synths, you suggest I am wrong for not suggesting a VST that emulates a synth. I suggest a synth as per reading comprehension, therefore I am wrong. Also, while we’re at it, there are Jupiter 8, TB-303 and Minimoog emulations that sound great and also fail to meet the basic requirements of the OP.
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Since when do the Ion and Blofeld have 6 operators with independent envelopes?
Jeez pretty salty and defensive about your Dx7 huh? Yikes!
isn’t the purpose of these forums to discuss and contrast facts and opinions?
It’s kind of odd you’d compare an analog emulator to a digital FM emulator. The difference is much more profound isn’t it?
The only reason the DX7 has 6 operators is because it was limited to sine waves. When you can use waveforms that are saturated in harmonics like squares and saw, and triangles, anything over four operators is redundant. Not to mention if you have feedback available on all 4 operators that gives you a LOT more to work with.
If there’s some use for the extra operators besides constructing harmonic overtones I’d love to be enlightened.
Parallel stacks of modulators and separate carriers are used to create a multitimbral patch - more operators, more algorithms, more sounds. But modern digital synths can handle more multitimbral patches so this is less important, but still useful overall. Once again, FM in contemporary synths is still limited and usually a “I suppose we could throw in FM” response to having digital controls. It’s hardly fleshed out or the focus of the unit.
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Let’s try to stay out of the weeds on the merits of FM operator count and get back on topic folks;
Partner synths for Digitakt.
Thank you!
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Waldorf Blofeld module and Korg Monologue. Both cheap and very versatile. Blofeld is also multitimbral. Used it with the Digitakt, before I returned it, and it worked great. Mininova also cheap, sounds great and good way to get into synthesis.
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I bought a moog mother 32 today, Or… o swapped it for my Heat.
The sound is nice and warm
The filters are better … Or Lets say… I prefer the filters over elektron filters
The touch of the machine is lovely
Also not to menu dive is really Nice
For me, 2 Ni machines is too much
So i think a Digitakt, combined with one (Or 2) Mother 32’s
Will bengelt nice
Now I wait for a Rytm mk2
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Novation Peak, because why not?
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Yeah the Peak is pretty impressive paired with the DT.
I have both and am thinking about just selling everything else I own.
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If i had to pick it would be either Prophet 12 or Novation Peak, as the Peak has the better interface i would choose the Peak. I would choose it because the range of sounds is very wide one can make out the synth. Analog 4 is also high on my list.
Has anyone said DSI Evolver? If I were starting over, I would hit that first (or an SH01a)
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Currently have a T2 reverb and an Empress Echosystem. They are pretty advanced but I really don’t need all their capabilities and would prefer the ease of a good onboard effects processor. The A1’s sound pretty good to me but I can’t find a lot of demos out there.
I imagine you’d want to you it together a lot with the sampling capabilities on the digitakt. I’ve worked briefly with a Virus Snow, and the software and hardware are seamless. It would definitely be a great synth just on it’s own and yeah it’s definitely powerful enough to scratch that itch. A lot of other people are saying the MN 0-coast. A buddy loaned me his for a month and constantly found new fun sounds, and way to work it in with other gear. My vote would be for the 0-coast; you don’t need to have a modular set up (but if you do that’s a plus), and it’s a great sound design tool. completely different from other stand alone synths, yet a very familiar work flow.
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FM (operator count aside) paired with samplers & effects can be very tasty. It often feels less redundant than an analog subtractive synth, since most samplers have the ability to do subtractive synthesis anyway.
I echo the thoughts above that FM can be done just as well in software, but if you really want a hardware box, you could do a lot worse than a volca FM. It’s nice because it runs on batteries so if you want to just play with it on the couch (or bus) and make patches or loops, you can do that, and then you can bring it back to your sampler. Which can be really nice if you don’t find your studio to be the most inspiring place all the time. The Reface DX seems to tick all these boxes as well, plus it gives you a keyboard, minus it’s not as portable and doesn’t load DX7 patches. I haven’t actually played with one, though.
I used to like making lots of one-shots and dropping them into my sampler. These days I almost always start with a loop or phrase - there’s more to play with, it gives the sound more context, and you can usually extract one-shots from it anyway.
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My DT is showing up in a week or so and I’m curious how Peak owners deal with it not being multi timbral? I would be in a similar situation where it would be my only hardware synth (along side a number of iPad apps).
Also, is the Peak pretty good at driving bass lines? The video demos didn’t give me a great feel for the bass side of Peak.
My backup plan is a Moog Minitaur accompanied by a Blofeld desktop. I know I can get some solid bass out of the Minitaur, and the Blofeld seems like a good choice for lead plus it is multi timbral which should work well with the DT. The type of music I want to make is Ambient, Trip Hop, and maybe some Trance.
tl;dr Peak vs Minitaur + Blofeld
I prefer pairing the DT with a sampler. I use the MPC live. The sonic possibilities with a few basic samples are large enough to create various riffs to build up nice loops.
This control ALL basically makes it a sound shaper by itself. Different control all settings over various patterns makes nice variations.
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I would really recommend modular…like a small Birdkids Bateleur 42HP system.
Sound bloody amazing and it has Midi to cv convertion…good partner for the Digitakt 
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You can always sample back into the DT.
For Ambient, trip hop etc, the Peak excels with the stunning digital effects and the arp is so very good, it is so easy to get gorgeous sounds from it in seconds.
It is great for pretty much everything including strings + bass and you can emulate basically any sound with aplomb. Watch the sound/patch creating videos Novation did, they are a great introduction.
In the end it was the overall sound and interface on the peak that won me over. Try one if you can and see what you think.
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I’m interested in hearing more about this… I was under the impression that the A4 does not sequence external gear through MIDI. Would you have to convert from CV to do this?