Hi! I’m seriously considering a Digitone as the brain of a DAWless setup. I’m very attracted to the sequencer hub, with 4 midi channels along with the 4 internal channels. So I’d like to beef up the drum section with an external piece of drum synth gear. Any recommends for anything that works well with the Digitone?
I’d like the Digitone to control changing patterns on the drum machine, so it would need to be able to receive program changes (am I right that this is possible?)
I’ve researched possibilities like the Deton8, Brute or the Blackbox.
Welcome! Digitone has excellent drums, so I would pair it with Digitakt, sample the hell out of the DN drums and use them both interchangeably for whatever you need on each track. Drums, synths and samples. They work really well together.
It’s a good call. Sampling, analogue drums and now MIDI out too. I’m torn tho… I’ve got an AR 2 and an OT 2 but I love my DN that much that I keep getting drawn to the DT. Even tho I’ve got those bases covered! I just love the form factor and interface of the DN but I could say the same about the AR 2 too.
From what I’ve seen theres a lot of cross over between AR2 and DT. From what I can tell, the only extra thing DT provides is the 8 extra midi and ctrl all?
Its part of the reason I’ve not gone AR2 is cus I already have DT and don’t wanna have too much redundancy
If you don’t want to spend a lot, maybe consider a Drumbrute Impact, the sounds are not very tweakable, but you get a lot of performance control and that cool analog sound that can contrast well the Digitone’s digital one.
I would consider it if they did because elektron midi sequencers do amazing things with program changes etc. Otherwise it just doesn’t sound very interesting.
Some great suggestions here but to be honest my budget won’t stretch for most of these. I just need a simple box that can give me a few good sounds. I’d also like to avoid sampling, and go for more of a drum synth.
How does Digitone work with patterns on an external box?
Pick up a Nord Drum 1? They’re probably about £100 - 4 sounds, lots of tweaking.
There’s no sequencer, but I’d advise using the Digitone as the sequencer for any drum machine.
You could get a RYTM Mk1. They are quite cheap and still sound great!
I have a RYTM Mk1 and a DN. They go quite well together. I’ve got the RYTM as the brain though because of the chain/song mode and because I prefer the RYTM form factor and actually also prefer the MK1’s use of LED’s.
I use the Electribe sampler with my DN. I think the E2S makes a great drum machine, every instrument (kick, snare, hi-hat etc.) has 14 dedicated controls to further shape the sound. Plus it can record and play back stereo samples as well as mono samples.
I use the DN to sequence some E2S tracks, with full CC control of the 14 parameters, and I also let the E2S sequence some of its own tracks making use of track groove, which goes beyond the DN’s swing capabilities.
Second hand E2Ss can be had for reasonable money which makes them excellent value.
The E2S has scales and root notes so it is great to play the DN using the E2S’s pads.
If you want to control CCs I would reccomend Roland TR8. Sequecing the stutter over midi is fun. But its another digital machine, if you want analog the Drumbrute Impact or even Analog4mk1
I can vouch for the MFB 522. It sounds great with the Digitone, but it’s limited. I also use a Machinedrum with it which is dope as well, but most def. very digital if you don’t warm it up with some saturation or an analog filter.
Model Samples could be a good route to go. They’re not too pricey and you can load them up with some nice one shots. Very hands on interface. Should be easy to trigger pattern change with another piece of Elektron gear.
