I think Elektron has chosen to ‘safe’ the company, this may sound serious, but it’s a quite logical.
I think if they want to take Elektron to the next level they have to be sure the company is/stay’s healthy. New products cost a lot of money, development, etc.
It’s the life cycle of a product which as a company you do need to be aware of. In that case I think they do a incredible job, as with their regular updates, you make your products last longer. Of course there’s an end to it at some stage, but if you look at the Octatrack, you can see that’s still a product which is commercially viable. Small technical changes to the housing/hardware + some very good and interesting firmware update have made it still wanted by a lot of people. This won’t be forever, but their slogan ; from 2010 to eternity say’s it all. I do not think there will be a successor soon. But if they come up with a successor I guess It it will be an update similar which they have done with the Rytm and A4. New hardware, new firmware, implementing Overbridge, more outputs, updated fx something like that.
That’s the same I think for the Syntakt ; They do not have to develop completely new hardware.
It’s the firmware which need to developed, I think therefore a digital drum synthesizer in the Digitakt format would be the most logical choice for them, less development, less risk (which new hardware brings with it) But if you design a great GUI based on the Digitakt I think they would have also a good selling product in their hands. It’s affordable, lot’s of fun and sounds awesome. Look at the MD’s, hard to find and therefore prices have gone through the roof. So if they are wise they make something which is cheaper than what the MD currently costs 2nd hand, an 8 voice drum synth in the Digitakt format.
With these kind of products I think they are able to create some kind of cash flow, so in the end they will be able to come up with something completely new and bonkers in the spirit of the Octatrack. I surely do hope so, but I am not expecting this soon.