Digitone is a nobrainer. OT Mk1 … well … wouldn‘t buy / learn both at the same time. The OT alone needs so much time - the mk1 even more.
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Octatrack please! 
I didn’t find Digitone difficult to understand, 1 day sufficed, after OT, A4, MD, AR !
After A4 I think you’d be ok. A4 is deeper, more parameters, envelopes, lfos, Perf mod…
DN fm sound subtleties can take a lot a of time to handle! Algorithm choices for instance, not obvious. Anyway you can start to use it in a substractive way, using saw / square patches, or analyse any other patch…
Already good drum sounds in soundpool, easy to plock…
OT is another story, I’m also a guitarist coming from loopers, and I love my OT, but it can take time to master it if you want to test all possibilities. Not that difficult if you use it as a Digitakt. Midi tracks part is not difficult.
As a looper, it’s particular. Easy to record 4 bar max loops.
Just because of a few shortcuts for MKII? n
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Digitone for me is love and hate, right now a lot more love than hate. But sometimes if you are making music with the flow and you need a sound can be difficult to achieve (Always you want to make it from scratch, because the presets doesn’t really appeal to me but can be a start point)
During the quarantine I sat with DN and started to look the presets to realize how the FM works, and was very nice. Right now i have a ton more knowledge about how it works. The machine itself is not hard, it’s more about to sit down and try to understand how it works, but if you are very impatient can be very frustrating
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I found the A4 even more of a pain in the ass than DN for creating sounds from scratch. If OP already loves A4, I think DN will be easy enough to learn. Plus having both options available at any point will surely cover most scenarios in terms of sound design/potential. It’s all personal taste anyways 
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If you’re not thrilled about making your own patches, why bother getting another synth?
What instruments excite you? Which do you enjoy playing the most?
What is a digitone going to do for you that you cant do already with the gear you have now?
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Thank you for your reply! they do seem to be the same indeed.
yeah I wouldn’t buy both at the same time so I was wondering which one first and I thought the Digitone would be a good bet as it seems very A4-like and has Overbridge!
As a looper, it’s particular. Easy to record 4 bar max loops.
Is that so? I was wondering how long I could record (I’ve seen 16sec in one of the video but it seems they’ve updated it so that it can be changed?)
4 bar max is ok though. half the speed and that would be 8^^
live looping would not be my primary use of it but it’s quite important though but not to the point to have a dedicated live looper only machine so the Octatrack, as I know a bit the Elektron workflow, sounds like a good middle ground for what I want to do but with huge potential to go beyond if I needed to.
A4 is not a do-it-all synth sound wise but I do like what you can get out of it!
I like to play the guitar. I’ll choose the Telecaster for a song, the acoustic for an other and a Gibson (if I had one that is haha) when I want a fat sound but I do not build the guitars my self^^
Same goes for synth (to me obviously).
They bring new colors, new workflows and I don’t feel the urge to only use my own sounds all the time as I see them as sound layers for my songs or new tools to get inspired (Floppy sound banks are just great to get new inspiration! I would never get such ideas with just my guitar 
) and if I consider myself more of a guitarist/singer/songwriter than a sound designer, I do like to edit the presets and try to come up with my own sound from time to time.
I guess you can see me as a Ross (minus the talent).
I know how it works on the A4 as it is subtractive synthesis. Was worried the DN would not allow me to even edit the presets at all as its FM nature is totally alien to me, hence this thread^^
so why bother getting another synth? because I like Apples(Elektron), Oranges(DSI), Bananas(Moog),etc. All these wonderful ingredients to spice up a song in different manners.
I like the idea of staying away from the usual DAW creation process and keep some kind of semi-controlled live performance.
For example, I like to put trig conditions and sound locks on my A4 and get all weird with the drums. I don’t do that in a DAW. And I like the idea of sequencing a song outside, record it live in the DAW while modifying the sound live to create some unexpected stuffs.
The A4 has 4 tracks and I use the FX & CV tracks to sequence my Tetra/Mopho SE so 6 tracks.
I like sequencing with sound locks/trig conditions but the 4 tracks can be limiting (& obviously Tetra and Mopho SE sequencing via the A4 has more limitations than what the internal A4 engine allows).
So a Digitone would bring this to me (from the info I’ve been gathering):
- 4 new tracks to sequence
- really huge deep bass
- new drum sound colors (I really like what I hear)
- FM synthesis and a whole new world of sounds
The YouTube link I’ve put in this thread(https://youtu.be/XwyLf_QcCko) made me realized that I needed 1 or 2 more tracks for the drums and at least one more for the bass (The A4 bass are good but the Digitone bass are just crazy deep but perhaps it’s because I don’t know how to create them on the A4 haha)
But as I said, getting an other A4 is also something I have in mind but I would loose the new sound palette options that the Digitone would bring and I like the compact form factor of the DN.
Your questions are totally valid ones because sometimes I just want a new toy (GAS) and it’s not always the best investment haha (hope it’s not just me!!!)
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DT took me a while to get quick at, but after that the AR and DN just fit right into the workflow. Page copy/paste, Track Sound copy/paste, etc.
The DN is super nice and fits into the normal workflow of Elektron devices.
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If you are up to create very particular sounds, there is a need to understand some basics of FM synthesis first. Just to be honest, subtractive and FM synthesis don’t really compare, it’s quite a different approach to create sounds.
But after getting ones head around the basics of two operators working in tandem, there is no need to worry about the algorithms and sounds can easy be “constructed” without trial and error
Maybe some information about FM in general …
Maybe this can shade some light to “algorithms” …
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Thank you for the reply and the links to the basics of FM. I guess yeah, a little bit of study on this subject will be necessary. At the same time, this could be fun (or I could hate it haha)
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If you have kept some “curiosity of a child” alive … pure fun … I would say 
Just don’t expect a typical FM synth to replace the voices of traditional Moogs, Oberheims, Sequentials etc. It’s a new world of sounds in its own right.
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I was not so that’s fine haha!
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Didn’t answer the question in the headline of the thread …
Yes, a DN is easy to handle, if we are comfortable with the “Elektron Way” to operate their gear. If we get our heads around how those “projects”, “tracks”, “patterns” etc. are organised and know our way around the user interface, which I find quite good, considering the complexity under the hood, then we can concentrate on making music and have much fun.
I have the DN for a while now, and even if its FM capabilities are limited compared to other FM synths in my studio, I love the approach of Elektron to make FM more accessible, less theoretical, and most important, most fun
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yes 
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you want a Digitone.
you do.
dont fuss…
dive in.
life is better than
without
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you’re in my mind 
Anything is easy if you take the time to learn and practice.
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and i mean it.
i got one not knowing one bit about fm synthesis. i just fucked around on one in a shop and i knew it was a thing i needed.
dont question it.
do it.
get one and take your time. its vast.
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I didn‘t read all comments so my points might been already stated.
Regarding project, pattern, menu structure the DN is easier to grasp than the A4 imo.
It does less. So if you fairly know the structure and sequencer of the A4 the DN will be no problem.
For sound design the DN has many more sweet spots imo than the A4. If are not after nailing some specific sound like designing a realistic sounding flute or something, you really can‘t go wrong. It always sounds great no matter what you do 
You just have to know some very basic things about fm. The algorithm + frequency, fm amount and envelope of the modulators have big influence on the sound. So if you turn any of these knobs it will have an effect on your sound. But you don‘t have to know which effect exactly to expect. You‘ll get a feeling for it after a while but for me, that‘s all what fm is about. Not to know what will happen if I flick through the algorithms. Finding surprises, accidents, having an adventure. Hitting the randomize combo etc etc. For this fm is much cooler than subtractive synths.
And you still have a beautiful digital filter so, you can do all the typical stuff.
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