The VST interface is already mostly done (it’s the Overbridge frontend). The DSP code might need some emulation to run on x86 and what else but "It should be simple to code" .
Not sure that would cannibalize a lot of sales of the box in itself as you wouldn’t have the sequencer and the immediacy, only the synth part, so the VST wouldn’t really box in the same category.
I remember Elektron asking in an ancient poll if having digital versions of the boxes would be of any interest. At that time I only had an A4 and I remember thinking: “that would mean recreating all analog voices digitally” and dismissing the idea.
IMO this will never happen. What makes Digitone the thing that it is, is the sequencer and workflow. There is a plethora of FM synth plugins that could give you comparable, if not identical sounds like Digitone’s.
No thanks, not for me; not because it’s of no interest to me whatsoever as the device decoupled from its sequencer is imho essentially nothing … but, the thought of all that development time being sunk into an endless process is a bit sobering … if you reflect on what overbridge might have already done to the development rate of hardware … for sure it’s clear they should do what they have begun and stick with that, but a VST is one step further removed and a bit soulless for a boutique hardware company for my tastes
maybe they will leverage some of their software talents if it’s a way to tap new customers, but a version of a device which is really about being hands-on seems to me like a cop out on their identity
i don’t see it happening, but wanted to point out why it might be a case of careful what you wish for !
I really hope they never go down this path…
What makes the Elektron Polysyths special to me is the control over every single voice through p-locking, this cannot be replaced with regular DAW-automation. Of course they could implement a sequencer into the VST, but who really wants to use that with a mouse? I certainly don’t.
The hardware is not only about the tactility, but also gives Elektron much more freedom to implement the unique features we expect from them.
I see the argument and it’s not a terrible idea, but I’m not feeling and I don’t think it supports the Elektron brand - people who invest no time in programming/experimentation would deride the sound and then complain that the DN sales must be bad, ‘VST in an overpriced box’ and that sort of nonsense.
If you are just desiring a tasty 4-operator FM synth consider OPx4 from Air. It’s designed for the MPC but (like all their plugins) you also get a VST. I think it’s usually $150 but sale prices go as low as $30 around November. TBH it’s the only reason I don’t own a DN already, I just sequence the MPC with the OT when I crave FM.
For me it would be another way of using the presets I love (not a sound designer) and be able to use them in DAW projects
But admittedly there are other FM VSTs on the market. Just not with the same sounds! I was never able to make Dexed or FM-8 sound like the Digitone sounds. There’s a market for preset users…
Not to be mean, but as a VST a Digitone is not a terrible special machine. There a VSTs out there that a way more interessting. Shure it has a few specialties but not all that much. That fors fm M4L is a small Digitone already.
Like it´s said before it´s just special because it´s coupled with the sequencer hardware and that one begins to become a little bit old as well. If Elektron wants to keep up they rather should stay up to date sequencer and hardware wise and maybe make the Hardware more open to Software. But Hardware it is…with software.
I wouldn’t want to open this door because I don’t like where it leads, especially with digitone because I think that you’re correct, it’s right there. Success with this would set a dangerous precedent, especially for a company that is under new management, such as it were.
Seems like the kind of idea someone from this background would embrace.
You’re afraid it would steer Elektron away of making boxes. But it could also just increase the user base at a discount, while proposing a gateway-drug product to this rich universe!
Not for me. I like the…physicalness…of physical synths. It doesn’t give the same satisfaction when mousing over a laptop screen, even if the sound would be the same. And as it’s not like my income depends on it, I don’t mind if it’s less efficient or quick than using computers.
Not sure I’d like elektron to get distracted in this direction, but I believe there’s room in the market there for something that has per voice automation sequencer abilities like Elektron devices have
No, but I would hate to have to make monthly subscription payments to my hardware boxes, or log onto a wireless network and authenticate just to use them. Or get forced into a Microsoft-like update schedule or anything of the sort really.
You are addressing one small concern but there are bigger issues to worry about and it’s not always the first thing that appears which is most dangerous, but it’s where that could lead.
Plus, regardless, I would not want to see Elektron heading into the realm of like an Arturia type company or something. Arturia is fine as they are but that is them, it is not Elektron.
Less physical grooveboxes produced is somewhere on the list below the larger concerns and undesirable potential futures.
That’s quite the jump! I’m also opposed to subscriptions, for the record.
For me it’s not really different than when Strymon, a boutique pedal company produces a nice tape delay with a digital algorithm, and then follows up with the plugin. Same with Eventide and the Blackhole. Sure those are just fxs, but there’s a market for that.
I bought both in both cases
On my lunch break I love tweaking stuff in FL Studio (so no Fors… sorry), I’d love to have the Digitone sounds always with me. Sure I could buy another FM Synth (and I’ve already got a few, but the ability to tweak a preset on the box and then use it in the daw DAW and conversely… it would be cool!)
To approach this from the perspective of a company like say, Akai, they were very far from this model up until the early to mid 2010’s right? In fact, the MPC was the king of hardware sequencing at one time. During the 10’s their focus moved towards hardware controllers for software and then in like 2015 the MPC touch came out, which was leading directly into what we think of as the modern MPC which is more “daw in a box”.
So in 2017 MPC became a DAW, basically, in that the MPC Live platform was released followed by the MPC one, and you start to see things like paying for plugins and a potential for subscription type models (ie roland cloud) coming to the forefront on “hardware” devices, but 2008 to 2012 you’re still seeing MPC as strictly hardware and Akai making “hardware controllers”. This is just to say that while Akai and Elektron are very different companies, both are (or were) focused on hardware and both went through a management shuffle. Akai, during their management shuffle started releasing half finished products like the mpx8sd and ended up moving in the direction of “other shaped laptops” or however you want to call a machine that is built to run a daw in it’s own native environment.
So the leap from hardware specialist to daw in a box took Akai less than 10 years to achieve. I understand why it sounds useful to have a digitone vst, and personally, I can see the product as a vst being interesting or useful to people, but when I say it sets a dangerous precedent, it’s like a person who steals for the first time and then gets away with it. After that, the person is more likely to steal again, or any comparable analogy where success prompts further experimentation.
If possible, I’d like to see elektron stick to software which is a companion to hardware, not an alternative to hardware. I’m not sure they’d go straight to subscription model or daw in a box, but I’m saying that there is more potential to head in that direction if they focus in that direction even once.
Maybe it’s best to just let them grow in whichever direction they feel most innovative towards, but for me, I don’t use apps, I only use the daw to record (and only when I have to), I don’t use VST’s or plug ins, and I have not given AKAI a single penny beyond what I paid for my MPC except that I did purchase MPC stems but have regrettably not used it since I don’t use their daw, and I tend to try and avoid wifi connections on my MPC and I also dislike setting up their little user accounts and making all my information available to them so it was pretty much a waste of $10 since I haven’t used it.
So today, it’s a digitone VST, but in 10 years who knows? Maybe for an effects pedal company it doesn’t have the same impact on customers as it does for a synth company, or maybe it does, I really don’t know too much about Strymon or Eventides digital products, but from my perspective where I don’t care about daws or plugins, it all seems like a shift towards something I don’t care about and a direction that I would not follow them in.
