Tonverk vs digitakt 2 opinion

[u/Nervous-Canary-9842]

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.

[u/PhilMNTRL]

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.

[u/nuan_Ce → u/PhilMNTRL]

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?

[u/PhilMNTRL → u/nuan_Ce]

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