The MD (the UW in particular) is truly a special machine, one that really is a true classic. I’ve bought one as soon as they were first released (my first one died a week after I received it funny enough lol! , but Elektron replaced it quickly) within a year and a half my best friend got his, we’d spend months sharing patches and ideas, and tricks…then we were doing shows, 35 to 45 minute sets with just one MD each. I’ve own 4 over the years (my current one I’ve had for 6 years, black faceplate UW), I own a digitone, digitone keys, digitakt, analog heat, two octatrack mkii, and two sidstations (one ninja, one standard) and I can honestly say I still after 16 years still find new inspiration in my MD. I hit a massive writing block about 8 months ago, I just couldn’t seem to get it together, even with all the great kit I have, so I stopped writing for about 4 months, then out of no where inspiration struck me…I didnt feel like a multi machine deep dive, so I busted out my MD UW, for the next two weeks I started developing MD break beat kits, patterns and techniques (midi slicing in song mode to create complex breaks) Of which I’ve never done with the MD before, this led to translating those techniques to the rest of my Elektron kit…I’ve owned many synth/drum machines etc, and I couldn’t be more happy with my more recent generation of Elektron kit that I rely on…but I couldn’t imagine not having my MD UW. Yes you can use the current dark trinity to do similar things, sampling, a more advanced fm synth engine work etc etc, but the MD have a unique sound indicative of its time, and now that time has pasted, that sound to my ears at least, gives the MD a small advantage, it really doesn’t sound like anything made currently or even like anything before it. Like all Elektron kit, it’s about how you approach it (the Octatrack especially)…and believe me you can push the MD into some places that you never would of imagined, its all in about how you imagine it. If anyone is thinking about purchasing one, I highly recommend pulling the trigger on that purchase. it may not have all the bells and whistles of the current iteration of the elektron sequencers, or the most pristine synthesis engine, but the MD is a true classic, it has proved itself well beyond It’s years, not many machines have been able to accomplish such a feat, especially in the last 20 years. If you have one, it’ll give what you put into it, if you sell it, you’ll miss it and buy another one, real talk lol!.