Superbooth 2019: What do you get if you take Elektron’s Digitone synth and strap a 37-note on the side of it? The Digitone Keys, of course, which is set to make its debut in Berlin this week.
This is designed to put you in complete control of the Digitone’s eight-voice polyphonic FM sound engine. The keyboard is pressure-sensitive and supports aftertouch, and you get assignable pitch and modulation wheels.
“We designed Digitone Keys to grant instant access to its stellar FM sound engine,” said Elektron CPO Jon Mårtensson Elmrud. “Whether it’s about creating sounds or playing them, the creative tactility offered by Digitone Keys makes the workflow very fluent and flexible. More performance oriented. We are very proud of this black monolith, and would like to regard it as a true link between our world and the equally surreal and recognizable world of FM synthesis.”
While the Digitone Keys is being pitched as a ready-to-go performance machine, it remains to be seen how well its ‘side-to-side’ form factor works in a live context. Long-time Elektron fans will recall that the company released a limited edition version of the Monomachine with a similar design, but it’s not one that’s been taken up by other manufacturers since.
The Digitone Keys is available to order now from the Elektron website priced at $1299/£1180/€1320.
Elektron Digitone Keys specs
Synth voice features
- 8 voice polyphony (4-part multitimbral)
- Multiple FM algorithms
- Multiple operator harmonics
- 1 × multimode filter per voice
- 1 × base-width filter per voice
- 1 × overdrive per voice
- 2 × assignable LFO per voice
- Unison
- Portamento
- 2048 patch storage capacity on the +Drive
Sequencer
- 4 × synth tracks
- 4 × MIDI tracks
- Arpeggiator per synth track
- Polyphonic sequencing
- Individual track lengths
- Parameter locks
- Micro timing
- Trig conditions
- Sound per step change
- 128 × projects on the +Drive
- 8 × Banks 16 × patterns per project
Send & master effects
- Panoramic Chorus send effect
- Saturator Delay send effect
- Supervoid Reverb send effect
- Overdrive master effect
Hardware
- 37-key semi-weighted, velocity sensitive keyboard with aftertouch
- Assignable pitch and modulation wheels
- 8 × user assignable rotary encoders
- 2 × 1/4" impedance balanced main out jacks
- 8 × 1/4" impedance balanced track out jacks
- 1 × 1/4" stereo headphone jack
- 2 × 1/4" audio in jacks
- 2 × 1/4" CV/Expression/Sustain jacks
- 128 × 64 pixel OLED screen
- 48 kHz, 24-bit D/A and A/D converters
- Hi-Speed USB 2.0 port
- MIDI In/Out/Thru with DIN Sync out
