Elektron Digitone Tutorial: FM Synthesis

Elektron's stable of hardware instruments keeps on growing and one of its most interesting products is Digitone - a powerful hybrid FM / subtractive synthesizer. In this short video from the course Elektron 107 - Digitone Demystified, Thavius Beck shows you exactly how Digitone uses FM synthesis, what this kind of synthesis involves and how to use the controls to get the kinds of sounds you want. 

You'll learn about the synth's four "Operators", which generate sound waves, and the difference between carrier and modulator signals. Thavius demonstrates how to chain, mix and modify the different operators to create frequency modulation - which is what FM synthesis is! He even shows you how to create self-modulation within the synth. Be sure to check out the rest of the videos in this course for a full guide to Elektron's powerful, unique synth. 

Elektron 107 - Digitone Demystified

Frequency Modulation (FM) synths are often described as being unintuitive and complex to program. Elektron’s Digitone was designed from the ground up to make FM synthesis more accessible but still amazingly powerful. In this course, synth expert Thavius Beck takes an in-depth look at this unique FM/subtractive hybrid to help you get the most out of it.

First, Thavius covers the basic of how FM synthesis works. You learn all about algorithms, frequency, operators, the relationship between carriers and modulators… all that fun stuff! After explaining how to start a new project from scratch, Thavius dives into sound design. You learn to create all kinds of sounds using envelopes, LFOs, filters and the on-board effects. Of course, Elektron’s legendary step sequencer is also covered in detail…

So watch this course, and discover the unlimited creative possibilities of Elektron’s Digitone with the awesome Thavius Beck!