Not too interested in the DAW + VST(FM) thing, but heard the elektron digitone is a hardware sequencer with a FM synthesizer built in, with full Midi and USB integration.  Here is a SOS article on it.

https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/elektron-digitone

This sounds very interesting.  Does anybody on this forum have experience with the elektron-digitone?  For $750 it sounds to good to be true.

It looks like my QY100 but instead of an AWM synth, it has a FM synth engine.

I can imagine adding this to my gear if it turns out to be what it looks like…

I have both of the little Digi brothers and can recommend them.
The Digitone is very different to the DX type of FM though, which for me is a good thing.
Apart from the excellent job they’ve done with regards to simplifying FM, the addition of two filters to the FM engine, the sequencer with its conditional trigs and parameter locks (can even switch the whole sound per step), the very nice sounding FX and other goodies I won’t remember typing on my phone at work will make it a bargain!

Since I bought the little Elektrons to sit next to my MoXF, I’ve completely run out of GAS! ;-)

well, I’ve never had or even played a DX.  I’ve messed around a little with the dexed VST and Cubases, but I realize more every day, that I just prefer dedicated devices.

So the FM has been made easier to deal with.  How would you rate the FM synthesizer module as a whole?  Is it fully functional?  The operators? 

I’m looking at using it in conjunction with my Motif’s integrated sampler.  I want to create a couple of hybrid voices between AWM2 and FM, would the Elektron let me do that?

What do you think about the sequencer’s interfacing to external sequencers thru midi?

I have very limited experience of FM, so probably not the right person to make a comparison. I really like the sound engine and find it easy to get the sounds I want from it. Probably because it’s not as daunting as the DX as similar!
It only has 4 operators and 8 algorithms, but with the envelopes, feedback, and waveforms etc. it’s not as limiting as one would expect.
Since it also has filters, it’s a bit of a hybrid, I guess.

The sequencer has 64 steps, but with the conditional triggers, you can get a lot of variations to make it sound longer. There’s no real song mode, so you have to chain your patterns at the beginning of your session.
I absolutely love it and can’t see myself ever get rid of it.

Missed your question about layering with Motif voice. Yes it receives MIDI, both to internal sequencer and to play live.
You can also set a global MIDI channel and switch between 4 different sounds to be layered if you so wish.

Thanx zpink!  This sounds perfect!  The price is right too.

I just downloaded the manual so I’m going to look just a little closer, but I think this is going to make a perfect edition to my Midi Recording Studio.

I currently midi chain my Motif/Mox up to give me 32 tracks, I use my QY100 for 16 percussion tracks for a total of 48 tracks. I get it all mixed and when I need to take the 48 tracks to audio, I use the Tascam Dp 24 to get all that midi to wav. But there have been several times when I’ve done 48 tracks of midi live in my shows.

Anyway I’ve got a feeling this Elektron is gonna fit right in

Thanx zpink

Yeah, reading the manual before buying is something I always do too! :-)
And YouTube, lots of YouTube hahaha

My setup is (excluding Cubase integration) MIDI: MoXF -> Digitakt through t -> Digitone out -> Mininova. Track/channel 14 is the Digitakt main channel and 15 for the Digitone so selecting those on the MoXF I can play whichever track is active on the Elektron device. It even works if I select one of the 4 MIDI tracks on the Digitone since it then passes that through to the Mininova.
That also answers one more question that I missed, it is rather good at sequencing external gear. 4 note polyphony, LFOs for cc, I think you can even use the chord function for MIDI (but don’t quote me on that since I haven’t used that myself) and of course, the glorious conditional trigs and their randomness! :-)

Oh, and you’re more than welcome. :-)

Yea, been checking out the Youtube stuff, and the manual.,

This thing is amazing.

It sounds like the Trig on a Parameter Lock, allows you to create a 16 step motion sequence than can control most of the parameters on the digitone.  Am I understanding that right?

If so can you store more than one motion sequence?

Not at home so can’t check anything atm.
It’s 64, not 16, steps since there are 4 pages. On a side note, you can have different lengths per track if you want polyrhythms and such and you can set any number of steps so not limited to 4/4.

If you want to have variations in your parameters it will depend on if you’re using every step or not. If there are enough gaps in the steps then conditional trigs may be enough. If there’s not enough room, then just copy the whole pattern and make your variations in the copy. :-)

Forget the above, conditions of course only works if there is a trig. Won’t work on trigless steps.