Elektron Analog Keys : Is discontinued

No no, he’s spot on - just five years early :wink:

2 Likes

Whether or not the AK is discontinued, I think it’s safe to assume that OS updates to the A4 MKII will be available to the A4 MKI and the AK. I cite the pending AR MKII Dual VCO OS update, which will also be available to the AR MKI.

Edit: D’oh, double-ish post.

This is almost half true as well :wink: I dont exactly know what people were craving for at that time. its just too long ago. but i can remember lots of threads about improvements - and feature updates - over at Elektron Users back at that time. Till date the Monomachine and Machinedrum were the most versatile of their Boxes - except for the Sequencer which had yet to improve. So … they were not exactly “feature complete”; they probably could never be. People had great ideas all over the place. And they were used to regular software updates as well. It was a little bit of a shock to realize that there will be nothing new anymore …

But, lets be frank: No company can survive with free Software Updates alone. So it was just a matter of time anyway - it had to stop one day. And this may be true for the AK now :wink:

i wouldnt bet on that. Judging by how Elektron behaves these days. But i would assume the same in the first place :wink:

I totally want to take that bet! How about a SidStation as ante? J/k, but it would be kind of fun, eh?

I bet the AK will get an update when the new OB comes out for sure…

3 Likes

Ahh, then it is just like the a4, albeit a mich better controller end.

I think that the omission of this while in line with their product line is one of the reasons it didn’t sell so well.

With all the space under the AK hood they could have easily put 2 a4s in there. That would have been really compelling!

2d

ah c’mon … mate :smiley: if we flip every word and take everything for granted we could also say - in respect to the section you mentioned:

have a look. for Analog Heat and Analog Keys, Elektron doesnt write that OB “will be free of charge, and become available at a later date.”. so this means: no new Overbridge for the Heat and the Keys then? And where are the MK1’s?

:wink:

come on guys. we all realized which way Elektron is going now. Lets just enjoy the annual appearance of new machines and dont care about what we have anymore! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

1 Like

I honestly believe what we keep telling ourselves is more likely to come true…

1 Like

at least true for us

1 Like

Maybe but it would have put it way out of my price range. There is no point in making the perfect machine that everybody wants if nobody can afford to buy it.

You guys are talking as though this is coming in the next version but all that stuff is working in Overbridge now. I got my AK two weeks ago and I’ve tried it all out - it works perfectly once you get your head around it.

It’s interesting that most of you seem to use hardware for everything but if AK couldn’t work with my PC, it wouldn’t be half as useful as it is, and certainly not worth what it costs.

If that is the personal limit you have set, I totally respect that. However, if you are just saying you can’t afford it, because you can’t afford it right now, that is bogus.

People act like they can’t save up for anything these days. The AK I described would probably be around $3k. I assure you that isn’t something I would normally immediately pounce on, but I would have saved, as I’ve done with most of my purchases, and I would have made it happen.

There is a fine line between features and costs. Quality and features cost money. Plain and simple. The only real question is to determine whether that quality and those features are worth the price.

2d

I like the way DSI (Rev2), and more recently Korg (Prologue) handle this. For the Rev2 you can buy an extra voice module to upgrade your 8 voice to 16 voices. Not sure there’ll be such an option for the Prologue, but they also have two very similar models with different voice counts (and fewer keys and FX options IIRC on the 8 voice model).

It’s the former for me. I can easily afford to spend that kind of money on a new synth, I just could never justify doing so when I can get any one of a dozen softsynths for under $200 that will almost certainly suit my needs much better. For me it’s a bit of a case of “I know I don’t need this at all and my software set-up will still blow it out of the water but I don’t care, I just want to have it”. That only works because i was able to get one used for under a grand. When it comes to things like Access Virus or any Moog stuff, as soon as I see the price I completely lose interest.

I was the same way with Elektron until very recently, when I found out exactly what AK does. When I thought it was just a 4 voice analog synth with a sequencer, because that’s just what I’d assumed from its name, it didn’t interest me at all, just on price. I’m not even sure what made me look closer at it but I’m glad I did.

At the end of the day, though, I think you’ll find the market for expensive analog synths is way too small for a company like Elektron to contemplate. You just have to look at how short-lived things like Alesis Andromeda and other high-priced analogues were to figure that out. If it were otherwise, don’t you think Korg might have at least one high priced analogue in their range?

Juno have a couple of AK left at 829.47 GBP. I reckon if there ever was a AK MK2 it would be much more expensive that 829 for sure --maybe double that.

Well … maybe not discontinued.

I see the Keys is back and for sale direct from Elektron!

6 Likes

Yea!!!
Long live the Analog Keys!

3 Likes

Updated title—The AK is my favourite --i now own a pair picked up during the firesale of this model. Madness just Madness how heavily discounted AK is —check out Reverb for some bargains there

1 Like

Wasn’t really much of a firesale of the AK in the UK at least. Price of new/open boxed units has been reasonably static for years now and the second hand market has been weak for sellers for at least 3 years - quite normal to see AK’s going for a shade below £750.

I do miss having one about at times but 4 voice poly just doesn’t suit a keyboard in my opinion. Having said that, if I did jump back on the A4 band wagon I’d probably plump for an AK again.

1 Like