A mod for the Digitone (mk1) and Digitone Keys, OS 1.43, that turns one step's parameter locks into a sound you can save:

1. Hold one step TRIG plus that step's TRK key, tap RECORD, release.
2. Open the SOUND MANAGER, pick a free slot, press FUNC+STOP.

The saved sound is the track sound with that step's parameter locks baked into it. Name, tags and arp data are kept. In one gesture, a p-locked step becomes a preset you can load anywhere.

It is an elekloader mod. elekloader builds a custom OS file on your own machine, from your stock OS file and the mods you pick; nothing from Elektron is distributed.

The stock Digitone can copy a track's sound (TRK + RECORD) and copy a trig (TRIG + RECORD), but there is no way to lift one step's locks into a sound. The mod hooks the sound-copy call:

• Exactly one step TRIG held (with the one synth TRK the stock handler already requires): the copy it pushes is a private one with the step's 79 lock values baked over the track sound. The toast is the stock COPY TRK n SOUND; paste with FUNC+STOP as usual.
• Everything else stays stock. No TRIG held, several steps, a TRK combination the stock gate rejects, a MIDI track: the ordinary copy runs. Plain TRIG+RECORD trig copy is untouched.
• A sound-locked (pool-sound) step is left to stock too: baking onto the base sound would quietly edit the wrong sound.

Locks hold all four synth tracks, steps 1–64 and the 79 stock lock ids; an unlock (0xffff) leaves the track sound's value, and zero is a valid lock. Baking is a copy: the pattern and the track sound are never written.

You need three things:

• elekloader:
  • Windows: download elekloader-<version>-windows.exe from elekloader's releases and run it. The core mod, which every linkable mod needs, is built in (the Digitone's from elekloader 0.4.0).
  • Other systems: run elekloader from source with Python 3.9 or newer (see its README). There you also need the Digitone's core (core-dn1-2.0a.elemod), attached to this repository's releases too.
• This mod: plock2sound-1.0.elemod from this repository's releases.
• The stock OS file: Digitone_and_Digitone_Keys_OS1.43.syx, from Elektron's Digitone downloads (the .zip works as it is). elekloader recognises the file by its hash.

Then build your OS in elekloader's window:

1. Your stock OS file: elekloader asks for it the first time; Change stock firmware... (top right) picks another.
2. + Install from file...: choose plock2sound-1.0.elemod. From source, install the core the same way.
3. Tick P-lock to sound. core is ticked with it. The check below the list should say "No conflicts ... Ready to build". To add other mods, such as digihealth, install and tick them as well.
4. OS version shown: the 4 characters the unit will show, for example P2S1.
5. BUILD FIRMWARE, and save the .syx. elekloader verifies it before writing it.

Flash it with Elektron Transfer, as for any OS update (Elektron's instructions):

1. Connect the unit over USB.
2. In Transfer, select the unit and Connect.
3. Drag the .syx onto Drop files here.
4. Press YES on the unit.

Don't turn it off until the upgrade is done.

Or on the command line (elekloader from source):

python -m elekloader.patch --stock Digitone_and_Digitone_Keys_OS1.43.syx \
    --mod core-dn1-2.0a.elemod --mod plock2sound-1.0.elemod \
    --out Digitone_OS1.43-plock2sound.syx --version P2S1

Recovery: elekloader never changes the bootloader, so the stock OS file always restores the unit. Hold FUNC while powering on for the startup menu, and press TRIG 4 for OS UPGRADE. Then send the stock .syx with Transfer's legacy OS upgrade mode.

The Digitone cross toolchain (m68k binutils and gcc; on Debian or Ubuntu, apt install binutils-m68k-linux-gnu gcc-m68k-linux-gnu; on Windows, inside WSL) and elekloader, importable (installed, or on PYTHONPATH):

python -m elekloader.sdk.build . --stock Digitone_and_Digitone_Keys_OS1.43.syx --out out
python -m elekloader.lint out/plock2sound-1.0.elemod --stock Digitone_and_Digitone_Keys_OS1.43.syx --with core-dn1-2.0a.elemod

The same build and lint run on every push and pull request in the build workflow, which uploads the .elemod as an artifact, and attaches it to a GitHub release on v* tags. The workflow fetches the stock OS file from Elektron's Digitone downloads itself (its sha256 is pinned), so nothing needs setting up. If Elektron ever replaces the file, the workflow fails on the hash check: update the URL and the pinned hash in the download step then.

The mod is one 6-byte hook on the sound-copy call plus the handler above. Its addresses were measured on the stock OS 1.43 image and it was checked:

• Hook matrix: 265 executed cases on an emulator of the CPU: every step on every synth track; no, one and several steps held in each mask half; sound-locked steps; the ABI (every register the stock call may rely on); the exact baked overlay, including zero and 0xffff locks. All pass, and every non-feature path replays the stock call unmodified.
• The real panel and OS: in digiemu, which runs the stock OS through the real bootloader: T1 + TRIG 1 + RECORD reaches the hook, and the pushed copy carries the step's locks; a full boot and run against stock passes, with all screens identical.
• On a unit: the same hook design, placed inline instead of by elekloader, passed a full device test matrix on a Digitone mk1: bake and save on steps 1 and 33 and track 4, exact locked values, unlocked steps, and the regression cases (no TRK, several TRKs, several steps, MIDI track, sound-locked step, plain TRK+RECORD) all behaving as stock.

GPL-2.0: see LICENSE. Not affiliated with Elektron. Digitone is a trademark of Elektron. Custom firmware is at your own risk.