I think the moment USB interfaces became a part of todayâs hardware it became more common to get regular updates on machines. Look at Arturiaâs BS Pro which has some nice updates since launched and not only bug fixes. Also Minibrute which can be a user modified to act as a SE type and vice versa. Mutable instrument clouds has even alternative firmwareâs and not to mention modular brands like expert sleepers as the king of aftersales. The Deluge OS isnât quite done either. These are just some examples without the need for subscription.
On some vintage hardware I owned like Electribes or Roland machines or the Yamaha RS7000 I never even thought âmmm, when will they roll out new firmware with additional featuresâ . Just might be spoiled here. Technology goes exponentially and so my craving i guess.
The resale value remains high for a Digitakt. Sell it and buy something else.
Money isnât the only bottle neck in a software project - resourcing is often THE only issue.
Projects and feature take time to explore, plan/design, build & implement, test and release.
The same people who work on this project may already be assigned to other projects/devices. Short of cloning them, theres no quick way to get things done.
Due to the level of technical overhead - itâs not really a case of hiring another peep and setting them to work. With an established system there are innumerable gotchas, bugs, work-arounds and decisions made that require training and a lot of time to ramp up on.
I do think an update to the Digitakt is overdue - its last update was a Beta, after all! A well-done update could cement it as one of the BEST sequencer/sampler units out there. I donât think we should pay additional money for this though.
In the current age of digital products - companies have to expect and cost for additional firmware updates as part of their overall overhead and product costings. This, along with the actual metal and proprietary software development is what factors into the pricing of the Digitakt and equivalent boxes. The Digitakt, while more affordable than other units, is not cheap.
I think crowdfunding, paying/donating for extra/final features is a terrible idea. All it does is create a 2-tier userbase, where those who cant afford or against donating are left in the dust. It also promotes piracy, hacking, warranty voiding and high % of bricking - something everybody wants to avoid.
We all know Elektron are busy creating new products, and throwing money at them wonât change their velocity on that. It would be great if they did come back and update the firmware - like Novation, Arturia, Behringer, Akai, etc⌠already do. Its something pretty much expected by companies these days!
Subscription model is a terrible idea. It only encourages piracy. Adobe is probably the key example of this.
The whole point of paying for a physical device is that it will perpetually function (provided proper maintenance, etcâŚ).
I really hate the idea of losing/reduced access to my projects/music on a machine I physically own because its not connected to the internet or I need to decide between paying my phone bill or my monthly subscription on a tight month.
Thanks for all replies. I know the term âmajor updateâ could be easily interpreted as if someone doesnât like the current firmware at all. Thatâs not the case. Different 
perspectives are gold imo, and some of you took the time to share yours. 
I donât think the idea of the option to pay for features or an upgraded OS is a bad idea, if it would make possible for Elektron to add features we couldnât otherwise get. I mean if that was the scenario (and as stated above itâs of course more complicated than that) I donât see how itâd be a bad thing for those that wanted it.
Your device wouldnât have to be connected to the internet in order to work.
Perhaps your device would need to be connected to the internet in order to update its os. Each OS could have a unique hash code associated with it to combat piracy, since people typically only put 1 OS on their device unless theyâre upgrading
Itâd a bad idea to develop for a small subset of users versus the whole. While Iâd love to be able to subsidize fun new features, this just isnât best practice for a hardware company.
For SAAS products, Iâm more for it (and my company does acknowledge these requests), but theyâre dropping tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time.
As individuals we canât justify all this scope creep from a smaller company.
I think some of you should have a go with a laptop with Ableton on it. Youâd be well happy.
Ableton is pretty banging, to be fair! 
However I already spent 8-12 hours a day on a computer - the reason for purchasing a separate piece of hardware is that I can get away from the laptop, and not have to worry about pc performance, drivers, updates, etcâŚ!
We could then also have a first class OS with extra legroom and a frequent buyer card where you can collect loyalty points towards your next sample packâŚand maybe the new Elektron Studios in Berlin could have a lounge for all those deluxe and first class OS ownersâŚ
Ah the good old class systemâŚor: the airport applied to music hardware⌠
Leaked !!!
Elektron Model::Airport
There is almost no difference in hardware and software when 90% of the functionality or âmagicâ lies in the code of the firmware and not in fixed hardware circuitry, so why not support your hardware device like a DAW with frequent updates? Last week, I got a juicy Ableton Live 10.1 update that gave me some great new features. I gladly pay 200⏠every 4-5 years to get the new version and a couple of big updates.
I dont think that a subscription model or an extra fee is the way to go tho. The costs for some form of firmware support should be calculated as a part of the retail price and companies already do that (see Novation, which is getting a lot of love for their software-update-politics).
This old âyou buy a machine and you get is what you get until eternityâ-attitude of the 90s/00s is just backwards in 2019 where a firmware upgrade is just a few clicks and an usb-connection away, so please people STOP. Just because you were fine with that for years, it doesnt mean that it cant be better!
Itâs not like you can add RAM or swap CPU in your Octatrack, is it? As opposed to computers⌠The DSP power will only get you so far and you canât optimize until eternity. Thereâs a HUGE difference in hardware and software.
See whatâs going on w/ Novation Circuit? These guys are already running out of power, clearly. Made some (great) updates, but canât go on forever. And the Elektron stuff is so much more advanced, I believe (and have seen in many posts over this forum) that for several products, Elektron are already running out of spare CPU timeâŚ
Yes, you are right. The hardware itself is a limiting factor and it depends on the feature. But if you look at feature request threads you dont see people asking for another 8 voices for my DN or a new FX for the DT. They are asking for quality of life improvements that are not very DSP-heavy like a song mode, naming midi-cc assignments and so on.
Not missing anything in the os. However, after my 10-13 year break Iâm missing individual outputs for external effects! 
i guess it has alredy been answered but the issue is processing power. First in the Elektron Dev team (they still have their hands full with overbridge) and in the Digitakt´s DSPs and CPUs. I have more LFOs, single outs, FX for audio input and more filter models on my wishlist but the Digitakt is still a very powerful machine that you couldn´t replace with anything else on the market.
So what we can summise from this thread is that a bunch of people started using Elektron products because they donât like computers and software but then decided that Elektron products would be much better if they were more like computers and software.
I don´t find this so funny because I see this more like dualism than a contradiction. Electronic music and music production in general is computer-music. It would not work without it so it´s only natural that at some point the production has to move from the hardware into the computer to be prepared for a release. Overbridge is an interesting approch to close that gap and for me it works quite well. I âcomposeâ and play live with the hardware and use Overbridge only for minor tweaks, renaming channels or moving samples. Then when I later decide to produce a track from my liveset I work with the computer a lot with Overbridge.