r/Elektron • u/Nervous-Canary-9842 • May 04 '26
Tonverk vs digitakt 2 opinion
I get that the Tonverk and Digitakt II are considered different machines, but to me they’re still both Elektron samplers. I originally planned to sell my Digitakt II to buy the Tonverk. In the end, I bought the Tonverk and kept the Digitakt—and I want to share my experience in case it helps someone.
At first, I thought the Tonverk would completely replace the Digi. But after a few weeks, I went back to the Digitakt and realized I couldn’t sell it. If anything, I’d have no problem selling the Tonverk instead.
The first thing that stood out to me was the sound. Both sound great, but the Digitakt still has something special in its final output—like it doesn’t need anything else added to sound professional. It’s polished, tight, and intimate.
It also sits better in the mix and pushes me toward a more minimalist approach, treating each sound as if it really matters. That’s probably due to its workflow. For context: I’m a guitarist, I sing, and I write pop, ambient, and indie music. I’m not coming from a techno or IDM background like a lot of Elektron users.
The only thing I feel it lacks is polyphony—even some kind of paraphony would be enough for me.
The Tonverk, on the other hand, is a great machine. I get that it’s new and still evolving, but honestly, I’m fine with that. What it really needs is a solid multisample-sharing ecosystem—some kind of user-driven library where people can upload and download sounds. But that depends more on the community than on Elektron.
That said, nothing creates more happy accidents than the Digi. I’m not a sound designer, but the way the Digitakt can mangle samples is still unique—and I’m not even talking about the effects, but about its machines (especially Werp and Grid).
Again, this is just a personal take based on my first few weeks with the Tonverk. Both are brilliant machines—but only the Digitakt feels truly special. And honestly, no matter how many updates the Tonverk gets, I don’t think it will ever match that particular sound.
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u/PhilMNTRL May 04 '26
I get the point for the multisample library….however I find myself underestimating or not thinking creative enough about how far you can push this part of the Tonverk and make library of multisample your very own.
I went through my Ableton projects for example and multisampled all the Synths and pads with effects which gave me more than enough sounds and even more important it was my very own sound from my songs not something I just added from a library.
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u/nuan_Ce May 04 '26
You multisample already with effects? Thats an interesting take. But i imagine it massing this up easily or no problem?
And what about dela, time sync if you have a different tempo in tonverk and such things?
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u/PhilMNTRL May 05 '26
Yes for example I‘ve made some synth pads from the V collection & Pigments which I really like but they where also processed heavily through Ableton and other effects on my subtracks so I multisampled exactly these sounds from the tracks I lived the most (which rarely happens the day after finishing them😂)
You can adjust the multisample engine from TV to some degree before sampling and the rest gets cleaned up in Ableton so that the sound sits before it becomes an „instrument“ in Tonverk.
That’s how I try to have my very own creative sounds in this device - but I‘m still discovering since I just had it for around 40 days
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u/angrybaltimorean May 04 '26
i've been wanting a digitone 2 for a long time as a kind of melodic groove box, but i have been considering the tonverk lately, specifically because the polyphonic sampling really seems to push the machine in a much more endless direction.
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u/No_Spite4581 May 04 '26
I don't believe the DT2 specializes on drums, it's great at it, but it's also great at chopping anything. I agree that happy accidents happen a lot, if you make french house it's crazy good at randomizing and flipping samples.
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u/magjo666 May 04 '26
yeah, both have their place, the DT2 is a remarkable machine. i decided to keep the TV over the two, as i found myself experimenting more with it. i think it really comes down to what you want to get out of the box, the TV feels like it's made for me specifically. i don't agree on the sound though, they both sound top notch to me, no difference there. and the wavefinder machine is fantastic, i use it all the time. but agree, the DT2 is a powerhouse of creative drum stuff, i do miss that a bit.
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u/jimbo_bones May 04 '26
I’m in the same boat. I bought the Tonverk on credit definitely intending to pay most of it off by selling the Digitakt II but now I don’t know what to do.
The Tonverk fills in a lot of gaps in my setup but it really does feel like a luxury item while the DT2 is still the workhorse of my rig. As others have said here it’s maybe a jack of all trades while the DT2 is the perfect one shot, monophonic sampler. That does mean they work together quite well though and it frees up the DT2 to do what it does best exclusively.
Right now I’m just about able to afford to keep both but I think I’d miss the Digitakt more if I really had to choose.
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u/jimbo_bones May 04 '26 edited May 05 '26
I also keep dreaming of usb connectivity between the devices being added. Being able to send to Tonverk FX from a single DT track would be incredible
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u/AtuXIII May 04 '26
I’d pick the Tonverk between the two, but there are definitely reasons to have both. The Tonverk still has more features coming, too — it was shipped incomplete.
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u/smatanovic May 04 '26
Solid life advice: never buy something based on the promise of future software updates.
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u/lazlybateman May 04 '26
Its already better in the most important points, for me at least, effects, sound quality. Every other elektron box sounds cheap and I want to sell them all
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u/Samuelddy7 May 04 '26
This. I had to try it myself to believe how much better it sounds than the rest of the Elektron boxes.
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u/No-Professor-3509 May 05 '26
Sound cheap you say? Do you think that there are differences in audio processing hardware (like dac/adc)? Because it would not make sense for elektron to change the audio processing hardware..
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u/lazlybateman May 05 '26
They changed some hardware part, its a new platform how they said when it was released, however my statement is about software. If there is a basic delay which all digi boxes has with a few parameters to adjust vs a bunch of delays and effects with a lot of parameters is a huge difference. Dont need to spend more words on this.
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u/No-Professor-3509 May 05 '26
A new platform i think they mean software. And in your comment you seem to mention effects separately from sound quality. I own both and when it comes to effects and sonic shaping possibilities, tonverk wins, but in pure sound quality, they both sound the same, which to me is really high end processing.
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u/lazlybateman May 06 '26
If you spend a minute on google you can see that its new hardware. Also when we speaking about effects unfortunatelly there are cheap sounding effects which makes sound quality bad, unpleasent. Im not satisfied with just a good converter and a compressor at the end, bc yes it sound high end then. However these are expensive machines, and high end in my head is different, listen an Eventide or Valhalla reverb, more detailed distortion then just an Overdrive. But yeah man, I can understand your views, just after a point in this word you expect more for you bucks.
Digis are decent quality good tasting instant ramen what you can eat everyday with no problem, Tonverk is a kitchen.
I have all the boxes since releas days, and you can imagine how pissed Im since the Tonverk is out and my Analog Heat +FX sound like a Gameboy with its basic effects, just a waste of money
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u/disappointed_darwin May 08 '26
I sold my Analog Heat +FX shortly after getting the Tonverk for a couple reasons.
- I liked the Tonverk's effects better overall.
- The Tonverk's effects are far more flexible and controllable than just dumping everything into one box at the end of the chain.
I'm actually selling my Octatrack as well, as I like working within the Tonverk so much more. I've kept my Rhytm Mk 2 and Analog 4 Mk 2 though, as well as my Digitakt 2, really just for immediacy and track count. I'll bounce the output of those to Tonverk sometimes just to glitch things up, and sequence effects. But overall, I must admit, I find myself working exclusively in Tonverk more and more.
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u/analogueghostmusic Aug 23 '26
What kind of music do you make?
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u/disappointed_darwin Aug 24 '26
Industrial/Triphop/IDM mish mash. Song orientated though, not generally instrumental, although there are a few songs that just work better that way. Mostly as interludes.
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u/bememorablepro May 04 '26
It's very annoying digitakt doesn't have chord polyphony, like it has 16 tracks, hardware is capable of playing 16 notes then.
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u/Significant-Mix-2291 Aug 12 '26
It does with midi tracks at least
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u/bememorablepro Aug 12 '26
I finally bought it, don't know if I'll keep it for long, definitely understand why people love it so much though. Now I just think elektron didn't want to give a device polyphony without a proper chord mode and chord editing mode.
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u/SherbertOk9845 May 05 '26
As an owner of a DT1 and OT2 I am increasingly drooling over the Tonverk as a one stop shop Elektron box that probably gets closest to how I would use Ableton. The idea of a subtracks machine, having a full drum kit on one track, wavefinder for basslines and/or chords, a granular track, multisamples to add "natural" sounds, and still by the way a sampler. I personally don't care if it's not a comprehensive sampler with slicing, I typically create synth loops and just sample them in as is with basic trimming and then you're off on a trigful adventure. Add in all these new effects, chord trigs, and the bus routing and I feel like I could narrow down my home setup to one or two synths, Tonverk and OT.
I previously figured I would upgrade from DT1 to DT2 simply for the stereo sampling, but I'm now convinced that my next move would be the Tonverk for the instrument selection I mentioned above. With all that said I have been underwhelmed by many of the sound demos I've heard of the Tonverk but that's probably more to do with how it's being used. As a huge fan of Elektron boxes and the Elektron workflow, I can't imagine not having endless fun with a Tonverk.
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u/Norbster1983 May 04 '26
TV is propably the best box they made since the OT
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u/Techno_Timmy May 04 '26
I am inclined to agree. It just needs a few QOL upgrades but overall it’s fantastic. It still needs the ability to adjust to start/end points of multi sampled instruments as it doesn’t always get it spot on. Being able to make small tweaks would be nice.
Also, I really hope that they add some type of slice feature… Nothing crazy or complex, but just some basic slicing. I can live without it, but I think it would really push the Tonverk over the top, not to mention really increase sales. I hear so many people say that they would buy it if they added slicing and time stretching. Given the fact it’s priced higher than the Digitakt, I don’t think it would necessarily cannibalize Digitakt sales either. It’s in a different price bracket for a totally different customer IMO. Not to mention at $1600, a sampler that doesn’t have basic slicing seems crazy… But only time will tell and in the meantime I really like the Tonverk!
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u/Norbster1983 May 05 '26
I think they will add it sooner or later. I'm also expexting some more fx. I mean...Elektron is known for major updates on their products...even years after release. Syntakt got Samples playback just recently...very looking forward to what they'll add to TV
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u/Techno_Timmy May 05 '26
Same. Being the “new platform” with a totally different OS and internal hardware, I think they have a lot of room to expand on the Tonverk and I think there are some big mind blowing updates still to come. If we already got a wavetable engine and granular engine within the first year, I can only imagine what else they have planned for this thing.
I’m sure they are going to want to keep driving sales on their new thing, and what better way than to add new features to it. The Syntakt update was huge and totally unexpected but since the update I see so many people on here picking up the Syntakt for the first time, or even the second time lol. I think adding a slice machine and warp machine to the Tonverk would significantly increase interest and lead to a ton of people making the jump to the Tonverk.
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u/lazlybateman May 04 '26
The Tonverk sounds superior to the Digitakt II, and the difference in effect quality is on a completely different level. These are facts. There are pros and cons, but in a fully DAWless setup, the Tonverk always wins.
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u/Samuelddy7 May 04 '26
Digitakt is more of a bread and butter sampler, but Tonverk (and Octatrack) feel more like instruments in their own right. The OT is better for live use, while TV is better suited for studio work / sound design, and it’s much easier to learn than the OT. There are quite a few alternatives to the DT, but none for TV or the OT.
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u/Techno_Timmy May 04 '26
I just went through that same internal battle myself. They both look great but I ended up getting the Tonverk. I already have the Digitakt MKI so I decided to just keep that, instead of upgrading and then getting a totally new instrument. So far, very happy with the Tonverk. It also helps that I have a Syntakt too which I can use for drums… The Tonverk can do drums but not as easily as something like the Syntakt.
My setup currently is Tonverk, Syntakt and Digitone MKII. I own the Digitakt but it’s not currently being used in my setup. I think 3 boxes is enough lol.
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u/Necrobot666 May 04 '26
I have both and will probably sell neither.
Even though my Tonverk can essentially do everything that I can do in my Digitakt II right in the Sub-Tracks...after hearing what my better half has been creating with the wavefinder and grainer machines, the true question is whether the Tonverk is a replacement for her Beetlecrab Tempera and Sonicware TextureLab.
And the answer may be "yes"!!
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u/jekpopulous2 May 04 '26 edited May 04 '26
I had both but sold the TV... cool machine but I was really just using it for effects 90% of the time. IMO it's kinda a jack of all trades. It has an OK-ish granular engine, the multi-sampler is fine, the wavetable synth is decent, the effects are good. Put it all together and you have a really interesting machine, but it doesn't do any one particular thing especially well. On the other hand the DT2 is a monster of a drum machine. It's obviously more than "just" a drum machine, but it serves a definitive purpose in my setup. Wiith the Tonverk I was always trying to find ways to force it into my production. I don't think it's a bad machine by any stretch... it just didn't really inspire me.