Overtone
You make the build yourself: the patcher here turns Elektron's own OS 1.12 file into Overtone on your computer, and you send the result to the Digitone with Elektron Transfer.
- Custom firmware
- Stable
- Medium brick risk
- Reversible
This project hasn't been claimed by its maintainer yet, so its details come from the community. Is it yours? Claim it
Overtone 1.0.1 fixes installing with Transfer: on 1.0, an OS sent with Transfer while Overtone ran stopped on Receiving or PREPARING... Now it installs, so you can go back to Elektron's OS and update Overtone with Transfer. Nothing else changed. Overtone is custom firmware for the Elektron Digitone II, built on OS 1.12. Not made or supported by Elektron.
You make the build yourself from Elektron's own OS 1.12 file with the patcher in this zip. No Elektron firmware file is included.
What's in it
- Insert effects on every track: FLNG, PHSR, CHOR, REVB, before or after the filter, with p-locks
- New machines:
- THRU: another track's sound through this track's chain
- SOPHIE: Schwung Sophie's percussion synth
- LOOP: an always-recording looper with time-stretch and slices
- MACHINEDRUM: the TRX, EFM and P-I families
- Modulation: two envelope followers, two LFOs and two arpeggiators per sound, each a modulation destination for the others
- ARP 1 can lock to the keyboard scale
- ARP 2 is a step modulator
- Playing: parameter slides (SLD / SLEN), knobs that show the playing value, and GROOVE (step weights in place of swing)
Every control: README.
Install
- Back up your projects and the +Drive with Elektron Transfer.
- Download
overtone-1.0.1.zipbelow and unzip it. You need Python 3.11 or later. - Download Digitone II OS 1.12 from Elektron (
Digitone_II_OS1.12_dist.zip) and keep it. - Run
python3 overtone-1.0.1/patcher/patch.py Digitone_II_OS1.12_dist.zip. It savesOvertone-1.0.1.syxnext to the .zip after 1 to 3 minutes. - Send
Overtone-1.0.1.syxto the Digitone with Transfer.
| file | sha256 |
|---|---|
Elektron's Digitone_II_OS1.12.syx (the input) | 7e5b8a733d4ab1fdf7e5d22757f7d8eddaa3cbf71d0858874a791844c02ceb35 |
Overtone-1.0.1.syx (what the patcher makes) | 8789fd8af7bab319f097a071d7d6e0ccdff2b32964e3548c9f6075689c888ea8 |
overtone-1.0.1.zip | 54bce316b6f11508c64d85ce6652a38531e7143db7743642831f50f0c2c14ef7 |
Going back: send Elektron's Digitone_II_OS1.12.syx with Transfer; it installs without asking for YES. If the unit doesn't start, hold [FUNC] at power-on, press [TRIG 4] and send it over DIN MIDI with Transfer's LEGACY OS UPGRADE mode.
From 1.0: Transfer can't install onto 1.0. Go back to Elektron's OS with the STARTUP menu ([FUNC] at power-on, [TRIG 4], DIN MIDI), then send 1.0.1 with Transfer.
Known limitations and compatibility: README.
Before you start
- How hard is it?
- HardUses the command line or developer tools.
- What you need
- A USB or MIDI cable
- Comfort with the command line
- A computer
- Can it break my device?
- Small chance of trouble, with a way to recover.
- Can I undo it?
- Yes. You can go back to the official software.
Did it work for you?
Did Overtone v1.0.1 work on your Elektron Digitone II?
No reports yet for v1.0.1.
One-tap reports from owners. Bricked reports are checked before they count.
Compatibility
Devices: Elektron Digitone II.
No compatibility information yet.
Getting started
From the project's README ("Install"):
You need a Digitone II, a computer with Python 3.11 or later (macOS, Windows or Linux), a USB cable and Elektron Transfer.
Back up your projects and the +Drive with Elektron Transfer.
Get Python if you don't have it: python.org/downloads. On a Mac, check with python3 --version in Terminal.
Get Elektron's OS 1.12. On Elektron's download page, download Digitone II OS 1.12 (DigitoneIIOS1.12dist.zip). Keep this file: Elektron's page lists only the current OS, and you need it to go back or to make another build.
Download Overtone from Releases (overtone-1.0.1.zip) and unzip it.
Make the build. In a terminal, in the unzipped folder:
python3 patcher/patch.py ~/Downloads/DigitoneIIOS1.12dist.zip
It checks that the file is Elektron's original OS 1.12, rebuilds Overtone from it in 1 to 3 minutes, and saves Overtone-1.0.1.syx next to the .zip, but only if the result is byte for byte the tested build. The .zip, its unzipped folder and the .syx all work as input.
Send it to the Digitone. Connect it over USB, open Transfer, drag Overtone-1.0.1.syx onto it, answer YES on the Digitone and wait for it to restart.
Risk and recovery
- Brick risk
- Medium
- Reversible
- Yes
- Requires opening the device
- No
From the project's README ("Going back, and recovery"):
- Back to Elektron's OS: send Elektron's DigitoneIIOS1.12.syx (inside the .zip) with Transfer, the same way. Overtone installs it by itself, without asking for YES.
- Updating Overtone: send the new build with Transfer the same way.
- On Overtone 1.0: an OS sent with Transfer stops on Receiving or PREPARING... and nothing is written: switch the Digitone off and on. To get to 1.0.1, go back to Elektron's OS with the STARTUP menu below, then send 1.0.1 with Transfer.
- If the Digitone doesn't start:
Overtone never changes the bootstrap that holds this menu.
- Hold [FUNC] while you switch it on. The STARTUP menu appears.
- Press [TRIG 4] (OS UPGRADE).
- In Transfer, use LEGACY OS UPGRADE mode and send Elektron's DigitoneIIOS1.12.syx over a DIN MIDI cable. USB doesn't work in the STARTUP menu. It takes about 15 minutes.
Releases
| Version | Name | Released |
|---|---|---|
| v1.0.1 | Overtone 1.0.1Latest | 29 October 2026 |
| v1.0 | Overtone 1.0 | 29 October 2026 |
Credits, license and support
- License
- AGPL-3.0