réactions à la news [NAMM] Elektron dévoile le synthé Digitone

Un peu d'info de Simon (le concepteur du moteur audio) sur Elektronauts :

 Regarding the dual CPU setup in the Digitone - this was out of necessity. The internal audio engine runs at 32 bit 96khz - to have those 4 operator (essentially four oscillator) 8 voices running smoothly and with good quality (which is very important to us) takes some beef under the hood.

So, the ‘classic’ (e.g DX7) implementation of FM synthesis was designed as very all-round synth, with a big ambition for re-creating acoustic sounds, something that synthesizers pretty much couldn’t do well at all before that era of synthesis. Recreating complex sounds like acoustic ones requires very complex control - and is hard to program. Back then it was still unclear where electronic music was heading.

The Digitone is designed for where electronic music is today. We have our own voice at this point, and recreating acoustic sounds is not what most electronic musicians are lusting for. Besides, there is lots of software and some hardware that is much better suited for that than FM synthesizers.

That said, you can of course make the classic acoustic-ish bass, organ, brass, keys sounds that you would expect from an FM synth. I had a lot of fun recreating some of these types of patches I have to admit - and they’re quite charming too! It’s nice when they sound typically ‘synthy’ but still reflects an acoustic ideal. (the patch ‘Jerry Bass’, ‘Soft Keys’ and ‘Right Organ’ etc is a great example of this)