Does Osix sound better–anyone have both?
If I were choosing between them I would consider how important the sequencer/multitimbrality is. For me it is why I use the digitone, so I can get music started standalone.
If you are choosing purely for fm polysynth duties and don’t plan on using the sequencer I would probably choose the opsix.
4 Likes
I was going to open a new thread minus the keys. Looks like there hasn’t been much of a feedback regarding this versus. Would love to hear more from those who have had the chance to audition or use them both. Opsix sounds much better than Digitone based on what I hear online. Six hands on faders seem to leave more room for experimentation while you are performing, which is a plus especially with drones or pads. The only downside happens to be its price (currently more expensive in my country) and the cheap keys/build quality. Any input?
2 Likes
Me too!
I think the consensus is actually that the digitone sounds better… At least the opsix is not as full and the bass is lacking… Digitone had a specific sound different to most other fm that is smoother and less harsh… Opsix has way more variety and better effects… Like way more powerful for sound design, not even close… It is crazy how deep and much stuff is going on in that box… Digitone is more simple and easy to get great sounds… But it is splitting hairs, they both sound incredible, like truly incredible and jaw dropping… They both have decent sequencers… Do you want a more sequence focused digitone that is good at controlling other stuff or a really deep opsix that is ok at sequencing and being controlled? You wanna play real time and sound design or make beats and cool grooves? Each are better at certain things… Elektron had a boutique feel and is built like a tank, korg is plastic and cheap but charming because of it… Really feels like a modern dx7 that shrunk down.
I hope they do a opsix se edition with 61 keys with their Japanese good keys like the wavstate se.
I chose the digitone keys and love it though!! So I’m good on fm, not selling it for anything else even if they do.
2 Likes
I just demoed the Korg OPSIX native specifically vs the digitone and …
Digitone sounds so much better it’s almost ridiculous. Yes the opsix is more tweakable but it sounds like they completely dismissed oversampling or any other kind of antialiasing measures and the “pure FM” aspects of the opsix synth, quite frankly, sound like dog shit to my ears. Just horrible. Anything involving a lot of FM turns to crazy shrill very quickly whereas the digitone has a much wider sweet spot. It’s almost 100% sweet spot actually.
The quickest way to test is just comparing a sweep of feedback from 0% to 100% on both synths on just one operator feeding back on itself. Do this and you won’t touch the opsix after that.
1 Like
You sound so sure, like there’s no room for doubt whatsoever.
I wish I had that quality. But then again, maybe not. 
4 Likes
Do this and you will not have doubt either. The KORG OPsix native is free to demo on their website.
1 Like
I have the hardware Opsix and enjoy it. It’s not easy to program but I specifically got it because it’s so deep. I don’t know the DN though.
1 Like
I have both. I think the opsix sounds better and the digitone keys is more fun to play/jam on.
That said, I think the digitone keys sounds amazing and the opsix is also super fun to play on! Not sure if that’s helpful!
love both but +1 for keys.
one thing i hate about opsix- it freezes a lot.
This ‘test’ doesn’t make sense as it assumes the level of feedback is the same on both. For instance, I used PSPSeq’s FM synthesis quite a lot and it’s feedback has a range of 0.000000 to 100.000000. From 0.000000 to 10.000000 is ‘normal’ feedback range on most FM synths, but the dev is crazy and so 100.000000 is 10 times the amount of feedback on literally any other FM synth. Was it necessary to do this? Nope, but you know what you can get doing that? White AND pink noise depending on waves.
So…don’t judge an FM synth on it’s feedback. They’re all implemented a little differently and I feel like you’re trying to make a case that ‘Yo, bro, the REAL 303 is SOOOOO much better and more pure than your stupid plugin’.
I think it’s a foolish attitude to take, honestly. Everytime I see someone talk mess about a piece of kit, I can usually find within 5 minutes of searching someone who’s been able to exploit that piece of kit to sound far beyond what the average audiophile credits it’s capabilities or sound qualities for. 
1 Like
Does freezing happen before or after the latest update? This is sad to hear as I do hope to get one at some point, but if editing/playing on it is going to cause issues like that, I’d rather not deal with it. It’s just like the recent digitone update in which 75% of my personal sounds broke until they did the hot fix weeks later. 
I’ve got an opsix bit it’s still fairly new to me. I’m maybe 45 hours of use I’ve not had it freeze once.
You make a good point and you’re completely right that of course the actual range of the feedback depth is not identical in every FM synth - but you clearly haven’t made the test I mentioned. The digitone sounds better at all levels of feedback, even when comparing, say, 70% feedback on digitone to 40% on OPSIX or vice versa. The reason for that is very clearly that OPSIX does antialiasing completely differently, or maybe doesn’t do any kind of antialiasing or oversampling. So perhaps it’s better and more accurate to say that the feedback itself, or rather the actual FM of the synth sounds shrill, atonal, and in my opinion just bad compared to digitone.
No-one here seems to have done the actual comparison but me - go do it and then tell me I’m wrong.
Best not to think of Digitone as an FM synth really, it’s more a multitimbral digital subtractive synth with a really complex FM based oscillator.
I haven’t used an opsix, but from what I’ve read/heard, it aims for that same sort of 80’s grit that most of the classic FM machines are famous for and is a much more open sound design tool than the Digitone, which has immediacy and playability at the core of its design.
With all the tools inside the opsix, a decent FM programmer should be able to make it sound just about any way they like, whereas the Digitone, though incredibly versatile, always seems to have this slight smoothness about it.
8 Likes
I was in the market for an FM synth last year and trying to decide between DN and Op6. When I demoed the Op6 in the store, I was disappointed by the sound. Even with headphones on, the presets sounded flat. The build quality was also subpar IMO. Despite it’s technical superiority, I just didn’t think it sounded that good. I don’t know if it was the engine, FX, or something under the hood, but I decided to trust my ears and go with the DN. Maybe if you need all that sound design capability, the Op6 is the way to go.
I much prefer the sound of the DN. The performance aspects are a winner too. The ability to play a pattern, tweak the sound, then reload it without missing a beat shouldn’t be underestimated. The narrower parameter range on the DN also gives me more confidence to tweak without ending up in the FM atonal wasteland. And if you do make a mistep, there’s always reload.
im on 2.0 now and it is stil happening- but only with motion recording ON and heavy modulation ,it goes brick a lot. but dont get me wrong- it is a nuts synth and i love it. otherwise keys never bricks me out so…
I don’t think this has anything to do with (the lack of) antialiasing on the op6. The Korg team specifically added the option of 12 bit sine waves if you want to make it sound alias-y like the dx7mk1. If anything I think the aliasing on the mk1 adds grit and warmth.
My antialiasing knowledge is a bit hazy since I keep forgetting what I’ve read, so apologies if I’m wrong. But I find that a lot of synth folks attribute a variety of problems to aliasing when it usually just presents itself as a faint low rumble.
Aliasing is when new unexpected frequencies piggy back off the intended frequency due to differences in wave length of the desired pitch and the digital frequencies not mathematically lining up, thus, the truncation of the waveform to fit the digital frequency of playing back the waveform creates ‘noise’ often times, but it is maybe best described as atonal resonance.
You can hear it in a lot of early digital ‘analog modelling synths’ when playing very high notes. It creates this weird noisy thing going on.
It’s one of the reasons for the modern ‘analog is better’ crowd and that whole trend going on because some synths aliased very noticeably no matter what note was played.
Maybe another way to think about it is when you have a 16 bit 44khz waveform ‘bit crushed’ to 11khz playback. New tonal issues appear. Aliasing is like that but for synthesizers in a nutshell. Some people are okay with it/like to exploit it as a texture, other folks absolutely hate it. These days, it’s all about preference, but before modern super powered PC’s and over engineered digital analog modelling, it was hated. Now it’s just seen as the ‘character’ of that particular synth, the same way filters are seen as the ‘character’ of analog synths, etc.
I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Just buy/play what you like.
1 Like