Not sure how it is supply and demand since Elektron haven’t shipped a unit from their site in a long time (they’ve been Out of Stock for more than two months), during which time they raised their price $50.
More Excruciating and Useless Detail
Elektron were clearly behind on demand for a while during their vacation months, hence the Digitakt was hard to find, but that seems to be abating. They also seem to have decided (at least for the time being) to sell exclusively through their retail distributors. There is a balance a medium sized company needs to maintain, between selling direct, and through their retailers, they don’t want to compete with their largest individual customers, their retailers to whom they sell at a discount. Hence there is usually a slightly higher price (like $20-$30 for the Digitakt) for buying direct from Elektron.
Perhaps jefones is correct that the price rise on their web-site, is clearing the way to raise prices as they clear units through the supply channel, i notice a number of online retailers here in the U.S. have raised their prices $30 in the past few days. Perhaps this is just due to changes in the exchange rates – if prices are falling in Europe or elsewhere.
It’s also possible that parts costs have changed, for instance the Hitachi part for the plus drive which potentially faces supply problems.
Who knows, time will tell. It looks to me like maybe the small price bump will stick.
I follow this because a second Digitakt is on my buy list – and i prefer to buy direct from Elektron.
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