As there are a few of us making more Hip-Hop orientated beats on our Digitakts I was wondering what your views would be on it? Would it be useful for you? I have been sampling my Minilogue and MIcrokorg into my Digitakt and was thinking wow wouldnt it be great to get a synth with a decent sequencer like the Digitakt and booom here it is…was really considering the Minibrute s2 till this came along.
Well I’ve already heard a good synth flute sound from it sooo… I think yes.
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The Digitone seems to be great for sequencing, but with the digitakt i can already sequence synths either by sampling them, or midi controlling them. Another sequencer is a bit useless to me, so when looking for a synth im more concerned with sound and UI.
One announcement at nam made me really excited though: the PO-33 KO… Basicly a tiny lofi sampler/sequencer with 40 sec sample time, sample slices, mute groups, melodic playing, sample editing etc… Seems like the perfect portable hiphop thingy. And it makes me wonder why some of these things (like slicing and mute groups) seem to be impossible to add to the digitakt hahah.
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You’re a wise man…time will tell, will hold back as I learned my lesson with jumping immediately on new gear…I have the volca fm already and really like the sounds possible from it and combined with elektron sequencing got me all excited…lol the hype is real!
Dunno, I’m very unfamiliar with FM synthesis but judging by the demos I could see myself using it. Got no GAS for it at the moment though, that might change once there are a few more videos showcasing its features.
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A lot of old school hip hop used FM synths, Lately Bass/Solid Bass a well known preset in TX81z/DX-100 was used by lots of artists from Mark the 45 king to Will Smith (Fresh Prince of Belair bass sound) and many other classic FM sounds like the electric pianos, horns, strings and so on. Also don’t forget the Digitone can be used for drum sounds and much weirder sounds than a lot of the older FM synths.
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I’m not GASing for it because I’ve never been a huge FM fan, but I could see myself picking one up eventually if I see a bunch of cool videos of stuff people have done on it. Some of the demos sound quite nice.
With all the time I’ve put into learning the Digitakt, there is something to be said about having a really similar workflow.
That said, I am GAS’ing for that new PO 33. I really like the effects from what I’ve heard. I’m traveling a lot the next few months, so it would be nice to be able to literally stick it in my pocket for flights and hotels.
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Digitone looks cool, depends on the sort of hip hop you want to make though really.
The sound of steel monoliths and flickering neons signs. Icy, metallic perfection. Magnificent desolation.
That doesn’t sound very ‘hip hop’ to me. But obviously you can make a hip hop beat drumming a desk or sampling prog rock. Whatever you make will maintain the character of the source though (dependant on the depth of your sample mangling). If you wanna add some cold to your beats or a dash of 80s sounds or some modern experimental elements then it’s a good bet, but if you make boom bap then there’s better options out there.
Best to listen to the demos and see if it has a place in your music
I’m curious, which synths would you propose for boom bap? I’m guessing maybe the moog sound would be suitable?
I haven’t experimented much but so far I wasn’t able to incorporate any kind of synth sound into sample based boom bap, only bass.
I picked up a Roland SE-02. Still learning to use it but it’s in that classic Mini Moog vein. For me it’s one of the coolest synths on the market at the moment in terms of bang for the buck, but I prefer old 70s style analog synths AND I actually prefer small music gear since I live in a relatively small place in Tokyo.
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Pretty much moog sound, and I did mean bass generally, or basically any subtractive monosynth doing sub bass. Studio electronics stuff too. Think G-funk whistle type sounds aswell if you’re into that. You can incorporate more synth sounds and dirty them up a bit to fit them into the mix but really synths didn’t have a huge role in 90’s hip hop so the more you use them the more you deviate away from that. I think that’s great though cause otherwise everyone would just be emulating a sound forever. It’s a shame cause I want to make hip hop but I also want to play with all the fun toys coming out like everyone else. The hip hop producers struggle
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2 Digitones actually seems somewhat more appealing than pairing with Digitakt…
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Lol exactly. Since I can’t use synths for hip hop I just got into other genres so I could enjoy other boxes and synths besides mpc’s and turntables. It’s like I’m rocking 2 different set ups right now for totally different projects.
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Yeah. I’m a huge Board or Canada fan, and they drive my synth GAS pretty hard.
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I’m running a double set up too. I wasn’t really interested in electronic genres before I started producing, except for a bit of drum and bass and anything when I was out on the session. Now I appreciate it all a lot more.
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Anyway, I like what I’m hearing so far and I like the form factor. It’s a bit pricey but I’ll be definitely keeping an eye on this. Currently I have many toys to play with so I should focus on these 
@darenager Haha, my first (slightly tongue in cheek) thought on seeing the Digitone was, “can it do solid bass?”
I’ve been doing similar, but I’m sampling my Tempest, SH-01a, and LXR. My beats definitely have a more hip-hop or rock oriented vibe than EDM and I excitedly grabbed a first batch Digitone straightaway. However I think a good chunk of that is just I’ma sucker for new Elektron gear.
But probably a good guy to ask would be @hotscience.
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For some reason when I contemplate using the Digitakt & Digitone to create hip-hop, my mind goes to the sounds of Whodini, who often collaborated with Krautrock guru Conny Plank:
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You forgot the allmighty producer Teddy Riley
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