We wanted to contribute to the discussion around hacking that has developed here on Elektronauts and other forums in recent weeks.
Firstly, we very much understand the excitement around exploring firmware and hardware and modding instruments. That spirit of curiosity and experimentation is, after all, a pretty important part of our own early story here at Elektron.
But importantly, as many of you have already mentioned, Elektronauts isn’t the place to be sharing hacks, or facilitating or promoting the modification of firmware on currently supported machines or those from preceding generations. That includes sharing, requesting, or directing people to the files, tools, repositories, or instructions needed to do so. We would always warn against modifications to our firmware and/or machines that could brick them (potentially rendering them unusable), prevent future updates, affect warranty coverage, and in some cases raise concerns around Elektron’s intellectual property. Something that looks like a simple change in isolation can lead to major problems elsewhere, particularly when a later official OS arrives, and can confuse users about which features are officially available on our machines.
For this reason, we’ll be removing topics or comments that we consider to cross that line, including in relation to gear from other manufacturers. The same applies to our official social platforms.
This policy also covers all legacy machines. We also need to protect Elektron’s intellectual property, and therefore do not permit the development or distribution of firmware or hardware that makes unauthorized use of it, for profit or otherwise.
General discussion around the topic is one thing, and not something we seek to inhibit, but we draw the line at distributing actionable material or actively encouraging people to install modifications that could damage their machines.
Curiosity is understandable. Bricked boxes - as we are sure people will understand - less so.
If anything here requires further clarification, please contact our Support team directly.