Digitone - Dealing with Clicks and Voice Stealing (Understanding Voice Management)

The Digitone is an instrument that provides the player with a great deal of freedom and control to bend the synthesis engine into all sorts of wonderful shapes. But that freedom includes opportunities to make decisions that can lead to undesirable results.
One such "undesirable result" comes in the form of nasty clicks and harshly cut off sounds; so in this video I take a look at some of the causes of these artefacts and, through exploring voice management and some key areas of the synthesis engine, discuss how to avoid them.
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[@RockLobster223]

One of the most credible channels related to synth stuff - I really respect the way you do things.

[@ZetaReticulian]

Thank you for this, you should be payed for this. The clarity and conciseness of your explanations is next to none.

[@OscillatorSink]

That's very kind of you to say. I'm glad that you enjoyed it!

[@23jackleeder]

Very neatly explained. Awesomely useful. Thanks!

[@user1756]

I regularly get clicks in my bass patches, this is super useful. More Digitone knowledge videos please!

[@JUSTO33344]

Always wanted to know some of this stuff but I'm to lazy to go check the manual, great vid

[@jaredforney2372]

As a new digitone owner, I’ll probably need to rewatch this several times, but this was such a clear walkthrough and explanation. I’ll be sure to go back and watch all your other videos on this magic box as well; this had a real “missing manual” feel to it that was SO useful. Thank you!

[@OscillatorSink]

Really pleased that I could help out - and enjoy your new Digitone, it's an amazing instrument!

[@RobG1729]

At one software company, their manuals were all "what" with training and support filling in the "how" and "why" that programmers needed. A good solution with broad application was added to the database of technical notes. KZbin videos and generous, knowledgeable musicians like OscSink here provide this for us synth players. Thanks from all of us!

[@FuZZbaLLbee]

I also had issues with voice stealing when using portamento, with just a baseline and a drum track. It just stoped gliding until I locked voices.

[@fully_privatized_mass_medium]

super important / very overlooked / easy to understand. thanks so much

[@OscillatorSink]

I'm really glad that it resonated with you. Happy to help!

[@bryceheffinger8895]

Perfect timing I was running into clicks the other day didn’t know about a couple of these solutions, cool thanks !

[@visisydandthevoid]

Here I am learning more about this awesome machine. After playing with it some I realize it's going to take a little time to master it before I can get serious about making songs with it. Thank you for the tutorials 🙏

[@brownsugarbar]

You always put the things into particle usable situations. Much more rich to watch your video than what just reading the manuel will give us. Thank you very much for this tutorial. It enlightened a lot.

[@OscillatorSink]

That's very kind of you to say, I'm glad I could help you with some of these concepts.

[@stuartbradley3151]

This is so useful! I was driving myself mad with clicks and was convinced it wasn’t voice stealing because the boxes only ever showed 5 voices being held max. Thanks!

[@OscillatorSink]

Yeah, that display is super misleading until you realise the very specific thing it is showing.

[@MilesKvndra]

Another great video mate and an important topic! Thanks for sharing the knowledge. 🙏🏻

[@janpienkowski]

Thank you for this super useful and well explained video ! I try to push the Digitone to its limits and as a result I sometimes end up with these voice stealing clicks. This was exactly what I needed to understand what is happening and within minutes all my clicks were gone!

[@OscillatorSink]

Yessss! Enjoy those clickless jams!

[@filipzawadzki9424]

Its Doing this way because the code that drives the OSC ind it's ADSR doesn't manage to get in into 0 before the next note is played. Some good programmer/coder could be able to manage that... They've been able to manage hat in Roland System-8.

[@TheBadal35]

Amazing course !

[@alxs2k]

Thank you so much! I had just finished a score composition and noticed in the mix process I was having these nasty clicks because of the phase reset. Easy fix, didn't changed the sound at all apart from removing the nasty click. Just subscribed to your channel, great content!

[@OscillatorSink]

Thanks for watching, welcome to the channel!

[@guille242es]

After buying a DT months ago, I just get a DN and this is super useful. Cheers!

[@OscillatorSink]

Cheers! Enjoy your new Digitone!

[@holydiver4728]

Taking notes, Thanks !

[@cohaagenup]

This was extremely helpful. Thanks a bunch for taking the time to explain this as deeply and as clearly as you did!!

[@OscillatorSink]

I'm very happy to help!

[@damooro8606]

Thank you so much for your teaching. I like the way you do that.

[@samuelfrey3853]

Super helpful video! 7:45 is actually what helped me the most. Pretty sure this will deter that clicking for me from here on out. Thank you!

[@OscillatorSink]

You're welcome! Always happy to help people get the most out of this fantastic synth!

[@BillThompsonSoundArtist]

This is an excellent video. Should be pinned to Electronauts at the very top of the Digitone category.

[@OscillatorSink]

Haha, thanks!

[@BrunoWiebelt]

that was informative ... up till now I have just "regulated" by ear thank you so much

[@nonnewaug]

とてもわかりやすく、素晴らしい解説です。 Voice StealingやPlay Modeなどは今まで理解が曖昧なまま放置していた部分だったので 大いに勉強になりました。ありがとうございます。

[@OscillatorSink]

どういたしまして。 見てくれてありがとう

[@danfozmusic3046]

Great video! I was getting some clicks. This for sure clears stuff up.

[@aevai]

Such a helpful video! Thanks you.

[@artemskliarov5987]

amazing work!

[@GregYeutter]

Great one! I picked up a few other tricks I didn't know (like setting chords) from this video.

[@OscillatorSink]

Glad to help out!

[@vinnytube5]

Same

[@tmaddoxl]

Thank you for this! Very helpful.

[@MrMarcLaflamme]

Ah I think I've finally planned out my initial Eurorack purchases...I believe I have everything covered that's not going to be insanely expensive and complex right off the bat. Oh what's this new video from Oscillator Sink? Damnit you've gone and reminded me that I wanted a DN again!

[@OscillatorSink]

Haha, sorry! Even worse, my next proper video will probably be about my "completed" eurorack case.

[@MrMarcLaflamme]

@@OscillatorSink Sounds about right on my luck! :-D Looking forward to it, maybe it'll help me refine mine.

[@MrMarcLaflamme]

​@@OscillatorSink So I just got back from the store...with a Digitone... :-)

[@OscillatorSink]

"whoops!" Well enjoy your new synth! It's amazing!

[@MrMarcLaflamme]

@@OscillatorSink Very excited to dig in! Eurorack will just have to wait I guess :-p

[@maarzt]

very illuminating

[@e-conrecords4665]

This is such a valuable video.

[@OscillatorSink]

Thank you

[@williammindreaders1029]

very great video

[@christdolphin69]

i fell asleep 5 times watching this. very good video though, thanks. love your take on the digitone

[@leNotstrom]

Absolutely brilliant! A must see for any DN beginner.

[@OscillatorSink]

Cheers!

[@vinnytube5]

Very helpful, grazie

[@rgrant]

Great video, thanks

[@dr.eville]

I don't own any elektron gear but this video was still very helpful

[@davidsanfeliumarco9664]

This tutorials are awesome, are you planing one for the syntakt pleeeeease!!!! 🖤

[@Limbic1000]

Yess thats soo helpful!! Thanks Man🙏🙏

[@paul_rowley]

Really super helpful thanks so much for doing this.

[@OscillatorSink]

Glad to help out!

[@pfmmodule5144]

Thanks. Very helpful.

[@PM-yz8fx]

Thank you so much for this!

[@OscillatorSink]

You're very welcome!

[@ryanholmberg]

I have to subscribe now because I was suuuuuper annoyed with the clicking on my mono bass synth and the phase reset off setting is something I definitely would have left alone for at least another couple of months

[@OscillatorSink]

With great phase power comes great phase responsibility - welcome to the channel!

[@tomtoms862]

Wonderful tutorial thank you very much

[@OscillatorSink]

Thanks for watching!

[@brianreilly6545]

Super helpful, thx!

[@waysiiide]

Thanks for these vids, really helpful! Has anyone ever told you that you sound like Tim Key aka Sidekick Simon? I had to rewatch this vid as spent the first half of it trying to work out who you sound like.

[@OscillatorSink]

I searched through the comments on the channel as I had a feeling that someone had said it before and you are the third person to suggest it - I can't hear it myself though (but then I'm obviously more attuned to the sound of my own voice!). I'm also not as good of a poet as him.

[@waysiiide]

@@OscillatorSink haha glad it's been mentioned before and I'm not imagining it! Not a bad thing, it's a lovely voice, well done 👍 Seriously amazing videos though, really helping me get my head round the DN, and when delivered with a Tim Key-esque hushed cadence what more could you want. Yeh maybe leave the poetry to Tim though

[@AbeldeBeerMusic]

I don't own a Digitone, but I thought it was very interesting to see the different ways the synth allows you to tweak settings in terms of voices.

[@OscillatorSink]

Cheers buddy! And you don't own one *yet*.

[@AbeldeBeerMusic]

@@OscillatorSink Ssssssshhhhhhhhh

[@Heavens_Dome]

this one i so important for Dzeezeeetonee users ! thx you Sir !

[@yvesbajulaz]

Great stuff, many of those issues i had problems with :-)

[@OscillatorSink]

I'm glad I could help you get the smoothest performance out of those 8 voices 🙂

[@yannbzh100]

Thanks :)

[@kenb7540]

Really useful. Thanks..

[@OscillatorSink]

Cheers, glad you liked it!

[@davidsanfeliumarco9664]

This is gold!!! U r a star!

[@OscillatorSink]

Glad to help!

[@24hardkor]

This has helped alot. Looking forward to cleaning up some some of my patterns. Just one question, if have a track that has arp enabled and I only have 1 trigger set, would the locked voices for this track be set to one voice or to a number that correlates with the amount of notes in the arp sequence? Thanks for the video, looking forward to cleaning up some projects!

[@OscillatorSink]

I'm glad that I could help out! If you are happy to have monophonic behaviour on that track you can lock it to 1 voice - you can still place a trig with multiple notes on it and the arp will work as normal.

[@24hardkor]

@@OscillatorSink thank you for the quick response, I'll be going through all this today!

[@BrunoWiebelt]

learned more on my favorit box thx

[@robertobarbarotto16]

more video like this plssssss

[@OscillatorSink]

Make sure you check out this playlist: kzbin.info/aero/PLzK7ubWUDl-LnEGqkNM6xFOWfN57Srgjr

[@cray56]

8 tracks and 4 lfos would have been amazing

[@jordantheuser]

💆‍♂️

[@user1756]

29:45 is there any way to get rid of that initial click that is produced by the attack? I've tried every trick from this video but it's still there. It's driving me mad, I just want a clean bass sound

[@OscillatorSink]

Is there still a click with the attack set at about 6? Do you have any sharp envelope moves in either the amp or filter (a short decay and a low sustain?)

[@user1756]

@@OscillatorSink Yes, it's still happening at 6, I can even hear it when I set the attack to 30. My amp decay is at 40, sustain off, release at 20 with one voice (mono legato). I tried chaning the amp env reset and the phase reset but it's still there. My filter is currently blank and I'm not doing any modulation. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong here. The clicking appears mostly when I play a couple of notes in quick succession

[@OscillatorSink]

@@user1756 phase reset off, amp reset off?

[@user1756]

@@OscillatorSink It gets worse when I switch both off. Currently the amp env reset is on and the phase reset is set to "all"

[@Koettnylle]

25:10 Could someone explain why disabling PHRT and AENR smooths the chords?

[@OscillatorSink]

Disabling AENR removes the sudden jump in amplitude of the amp envelope from where ever it was back to zero (which would cause a click) Disabling the phase reset stops the operator jumping back from wherever it was in its cycle back to the start of the wave (which would cause a click).

[@Koettnylle]

@@OscillatorSink Thanks for your quick clarification, i didn't realize this applied to voice locking as well. Good job on covering all the aspects of this complex topic by the way!

[@rustikinc63]

How da fuk do I record chords via midi in from Ableton or a Keystep? I have had this for years and never realized I don't know how. If I factory reset will that reset any of the voicing things I messed with? Will it clear my own presets(patches)?

[@OscillatorSink]

You just need to make sure midi is going to the right channel for each track (or use the auto channel) and hit record. There are different kinds of resets you can do - they are listed in the manual. But the voicing stuff is only saved per pattern anyway, so nothing you'll have done will have any affect on anything going forwards.

[@radioblogtirana]

667 likes now :p

[@TheDjFac]

Unclick them all!!!!!

[@davidsanfeliumarco9664]

Ohhhh, u already have one 😅 sorry!

[@r.e.d.62]

First

[@TheDjFac]

Steal them all :)

[@foreverseethe]

I hate when people keep talking about *what* they are going to talk about instead of talking about what they want to talk about.. Don't freestyle these things people. The beauty of modern technology allows us to *edit* our videos, Write shit down, prepare , organize our thoughts and execute efficiently. Summarize your points underneath the video, annotate your timeline and use text and/or lists in your video.

[@OscillatorSink]

Thanks for the feedback. I look forward to watching your videos, it sounds like they're going to be awesome!

[@foreverseethe]

@@OscillatorSink sorry for the heavy criticism but does one have to be a director to know a good movie from a bad one?

[@OscillatorSink]

@@foreverseethe no, but also one is not required to be a critic in order to make videos for fun late at night in the limited free time they have between family a full time day job, and still somehow build an audience off the back of it. All in spite of (or maybe because of?) the conversational style of the videos. You are, of course, welcome to learn the concepts in this video elsewhere (indeed, they can all be derived from the manual with a little hands on experimentation to clarify some of the points) if you find the video so infuriating to watch. But yes, sorry you didn't find the video useful. Probably skip on my other videos because they're all in this style.

[@foreverseethe]

@@OscillatorSink The video was recommended by YT. Perhaps I'm at fault since I don't own this gadget and this video is made for folks familiar with it's functionality whereas I approached it hoping to glean or deduct it's functionality and features through learning about it's limitations; being a hobbyist musician myself who uses similar instruments. My apparently negative energy is nonetheless constructive in that even if one doesn't have time to tend to all the presentation aspects of a video, keeping my criticisms in mind while shooting should inform one's off- the-cuff speaking style, leading to a better video. I salute you however for holding down a job, taking care of your family, and keeping your hobbies alive, none of which I apparently do as well as you, given i make time to click on random videos and complain about their quality.