An oral history of Elektronauts

The Lounge General Discussion
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So, the title is a bit tongue in cheek, but I would love to hear from some “veterans” how the Elektronauts community and your contribution to it has changed and evolved over time. And if you want to, share some thoughts on how you feel about these changes. Likewise, I’d love if newer members share why they came here and how their interaction with the community has evolved.

I hope this doesn’t come off as weird. I’m just really interested in this community since it’s the first time I’m investing in an online community again since I was 16. I’ve learned a lot of things here over time, about using Elektron machines and making music of course, but also about how to think about the creative process, society and life in general. I feel like I could connect with a lot of you if we met personally and I feel really comfortable here. I’m extremely thankful for this and wanted to express this! Came here to learn about how the fuck an OT works, stayed for the threads about how we struggle as artists. At the same time, I also have a nagging feeling that I’m frequenting gear related topics here too much and should probably focus more on the music making and sharing threads. Like making “current sounds” my favorite topic here instead of “your setups” ;).

I’ve noticed that when reading older posts, I barely recognize any of the users commenting. Some users are still fairly active in a variety of threads, while others seem to only be present in certain threads. At the same time, I feel like I have a good grasp of the regulars and memes of the forum nowadays, and it seems like a lot of users (like myself) who have only joined rather recently have become quite active and more involved.

Some things I’ve been asking myself could probably help steer the conversation. Feel free to answer or ignore these ;). Maybe this thread could also be a place for us to think about how the community should develop from here on. Like what we want to stay exactly as it is and what should probably change.

  • Was there a huge number of new members that came with certain events? Like the release of OG DT (which was more affordable, simple, “casual” and as a result, more popular than previous Elektron machines). Or the pandemic (when a lot of people probably started making music with hardware or were looking for online exchange they couldn’t have irl)? Are there more frequent posters and posts nowadays than say ten or five years ago?
  • Is there an event related to these that led to a certain type of user leaving over time? Or is there a trend of people leaving mostly for personal reasons (like e.g. having kids) and probably returning?
  • Did the range of topics and tone change over time? If so, how did users, mods and Elektron contribute to these changes? I’m specifically interested in how the friendly, helpful and respectful character of the forum came to be. But I’m also interested whether discussions these days are more/less about gear, requests instead of sharing tips for music making and the results of it.
  • Has the community become more diverse over time (my impression is there’s lots of dudes here, many in IT/tech, but I can’t tell how representative this is of the community).
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Well it all starts here then doesn’t it, but someone who was there will have to give you the juicy bits.

http://www.elektron-users.com/

Per the thoughts on why new members come and go, I think people are so different that you can have all range of reasons be true, and some people just get burnt out over time. I also think that there’s more ethnic diversity on this forum then how you paint it.

Just editing to clarify that I mean ethnicity is not the focus of most people’s engagement with the forum, not that there aren’t demographics as with everywhere online to some degree. But overall this is a pretty diverse community.

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I would love to hear from someone who’s been here since these early days what it was like back then and how that compares to today!

Fair point, I will edit my sentence, might be wrong and comes off wrong.

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I haven’t been on Elektronauts long but I have been an avid forum user since the early 2000s. Forum culture is different because internet culture is different because society is different. Not to sound like an old man, but I think a lot of it comes down to accessibility. You just have more “variety” in people nowadays. At the core I think many things remain the same, but the audience size & scale are so much larger that the old rules and principles have a hard time keeping up. It’s much the same as access to hobbies nowadays versus 100 years ago. We have opportunities to touch many more things so in turn it’s rarer to discuss fewer things.

I think social media has had a far more negative impact on how people uphold themselves and behave and this just reflects everywhere else people go on the internet. There is often very little thought before posting something, because as humans we are now plastered with fast paced content everywhere awaiting near-instant consumption. Everything has to be fast. Quick weight loss, swipe dating, character limits, short videos, turn one knob for magical sounds… you get the picture. I think that often leaves very little time for people to have thoughts and conversations with themselves.

Older forum communities were a lot more focused and tight knit in the sense that everyone kind of knew everyone like a village. Those villages could also kind of police themselves from a sense of moderation and general vibe. Now every village is a tourist destination with hundreds of people coming and going every day, and anyone can make their own tourist destination with minimal effort. It should also be noted that as any business opens its doors wider and wider in search of more audience, it is going to inevitably attract individuals or groups that may not have been present before.

Something for something.

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Thanks for sharing! Would you say these general observations about (online) culture are pretty much reflected on Elektronauts? Because part of the reason I like this place is that imo many people here are talking about music, gear and culture in a quite nuanced way. There are many posts where it’s clear that a lot of thought has gone into them. And people are willing to correct and question themselves if someone points out flaws in an argument or problematic behavior. Yes, that’s not always the case, especially in “hot” topics like speculation or update threads. Or if discussions turn towards politics or Youtubers. But overall, Elektronauts seems like a refuge from the evils of online culture brought onto us by social media. I still feel genuine surprise and disappointment if topics go in a wrong direction here. Because imo they rarely do, or the right people steer them back to good.

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I joined in February 2022. I purchased a Model Cycles, read the manual, and still had so many questions about my first Elektron device. Then more devices followed, and questions.

I keep coming back because:

  • I get accurate answers, quickly.
  • I’m inspired by the myriad of ways users make Elektrons their own.
  • I appreciate the diversity of users across the globe.

And as a woman, I feel more comfortable here than any other music/gear forums I’ve visited. It’s the internet, it’s not perfect, but I appreciate the mods responsiveness to keeping things civil and respectful.

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I can relate. I also came here in August 2021 to ask some specific questions about certain ways of using DN/DT, got quick help without any condescending bullshit, asked a lot more of these questions when I got an OT in early 2022 and got even better help. The patient and kind answers reflected in the help I received encouraged me to read more. Over time, I started to post more myself, as I had now learned more and could help with some questions myself.

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elektronaut user base increases exponentially with device design convention simplification :sweat_smile:

and ableton live was just a virtual live DJ mixer/looper solution

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I agree that’s a peaceful place to participate, and to read comment drinking coffee or beer. I have no real idea why it work so well but it’s been a long time this way !

Maybe it’s really simple just like in some pub/bar the more the same people goes again and again and it begin to bring some vibes and people begin to react to this vibes the same way. Nothing more :slight_smile:

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Ekektron-users remains my favourite space on the webs - what an insanely helpful and talented bunch we had there for a spell.

It’s some time ago now but from memory at the end we had huge issues with spam and, after the main man’s passing (RIP Ryan), no real way of sorting it other than to manually delete posts as the main admin rights went with Ryan.

I forget whether Elektron HQ picked up those main admin rights - I feel like they did as there’s something of a bitter taste about the sites demise… sketchy memory feels it could have been saved but a new format/approach was chosen. There were a couple of other things that went on too that blurred the lines between it as an Elektron users (fan) forum and marketing/support tool too, though I like to remember the good times of that site and the sharing/creative nature of it… Some great things were made: music, guides but mostly relationships.

Ultimately with this place, some of the above is why I never really clicked - I still drop in occasionally and see some old names, but the magic from the old forum never really found it’s way to this one (for me), since the involvement of Elektron made it more of a free support network and marketing tool*. I’ve never really felt the urge to get fully involved here and flit in about every now and then, though I still drop by and read bits.

  • *I should add I feel the forums come beyond that now, but that the company itself/products aren’t something that I have much interest in - the glory days of Daniel Hanson’s silver machines were never really beaten for me, though its fair to say i had a (well, several) difficult time with the OT, which ultimately put me off buying a digitone (and possibly a heat), that remains the one thing they’ve put out since the OT I’ve had any real interest in.
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Also, I’ll just leave this here as a marker for the old crowd/site - there will be some recognisable names from here I think. Actual Memories | Various Artists | Actual Memories

Twelve years ago since Ryan’s passing - feels like both yesterday and a lifetime ago. Hope his family are doing well and his son has become a man of similar spirit. Tragic.

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The Elektronauts forum as we know it, powered by the remarkable Discourse engine, was setup around the end of May 2016.

It was the second version of the early v1 of Elektronauts forum which was launched on July 5th 2013, taking the relay of the old Elektron-users forum that was frozen on September 23rd 2013.

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No clue when Elektron-Users started exactly…

Edit: early January 2005

At the beginning of 2014 I had just started playing Korg Volcas, then OP-1, and in September 2014 I was active on operator-1.com forum, mainly for the battles that were much fun.

I arrived on Elektronauts (v1) on October 2014, right after I bought a second-hand Octatrack for it to be the master of all my little boxes. In 2014, you HAD to get access to user information, tips and tricks to reach a sufficient understanding of instruments like Machinedrum, Monomachine and OT. :sweat_smile:
I mean, the differences between MD mk1, MD mk2, MD mk2 UW, MD mk2 UW+Drive for instance were so cryptic I couldn’t make sense of if by reading documentation only.

On Elektronauts v1, there used to be a lot of spam for kitchen, at least once a week, but I remember a time when I found an ad every morning.
I offered Elektron to grant me moderation powers to get rid of ads every morning, as it was really a disgrace. Which they trusted me with.
I was also regularly pacifying heated conversations between users…

And as I told earlier, at the end of May 2016, Elektron decided to launch this second version of Elektronauts forum powered by Discourse, certainly because it was offering a better shielding against spam.
That’s when @avantronica, @AdamJay, @PeterHanes and I received a mail from @Olle asking us to be the moderators for the new forum.

Since then I’ve tried to contribute the most positively/constructively to this community I really love.
Giving back as much as I took from here.
Even participating to tests and suggest workflows for the new boxes, now. So happy to be a part of this!

Being a mod is not always easy, some people can be a piece of work, and of course there are times when I am real tired and don’t have much patience… But all in all there are many/mainly nice and helpful people here, plenty of beautiful music and impressive knowledge, even if the new boxes require less the help of advanced users, I feel… Yet tips and tricks are still fun to learn and share.

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which?! :grimacing::angel:

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Iirc Syntakt B02 factory pattern was mine :wink:
And I participated to the testing of DTII…

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That wasn’t the answer I was hoping for. :wink:
But never mind. Just teasing… I’m glad you’re here and do what you do! :pray:

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It all started for me in 1999, even before the EU forum there was the unofficial Sidstation BBS, I’m pretty sure there are some others here who were there also, (certainly @J3RK ?) my memory is not the best after 25 years, but suffice to say a lot has changed in that time, but one thing that hasn’t is the sense of community, and infectious enthusiasm.

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I joined the EU forum on day 1 and I think I joined here on day 1 too, I think I was the first one here :laughing:

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Ekektron-users.com was officially put to bed in September 2013, shortly (I think) after this official one was started.

Hadn’t remembered the early days that are mentioned early, though I do remember the early days being rough enough here that I had several years off.

I remember the kitchenbots were there (EU.com) at the end too, and the Lazerpointer bots… It got so bad without a main admin I had to rename my original (mod) account to groupadmin so others could get in with mod privileges to delete the endless bot spam!

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Some ancient members (like me), ditch old accounts/usernames and start a fresh occasionally! :grimacing:

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Also I think I’m right in saying Glaive was the founder of Elektron-Users.com and posted here as @edgewise. Respect to that guy! Not sure when EU.com got started - it was a while before I got involved around '05.

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Oh yeah that kitchen spam, IIRC there was even a TV expose about them :laughing:

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