Hi everyone,
MusicTech reached out with a few questions around the recent acquisition news, and we wanted to share that info here as well.
We see the concerns, and that this is something you have a lot of strong feelings about, but we also understand that it comes from a good place. That you care deeply about Elektron.
We - the Elektron Team - do too. And are excited about the future.
Thanks for the extra information, I for one trust you guys to keep on rocking the development of your awesome machines!
I still don’t understand very well if you are in a strong economic position because you don’t prefer independence to having an investment group buy you that has little or nothing to do with music.
I don’t know if I’m missing something, but I don’t see any advantage, maybe someone can explain it to me better. (
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However, these interviews are mere marketing, anyone who works in a large company knows that when there is such an important change, press releases come out to calm the situation that may not correspond to reality (or if). I am not saying that the acquisition is going to be good or bad, but that it is best to wait a couple of years and look of how it was.
Good luck Elektron/Bonnier team. I wish you the best and a new Octatrack❤️.
I can already see the new social content 
Only taking the piss, don’t ban me and good luck
Not watched/read the linked interview, but isn’t it similar to getting money to improve things for the future? For example, borrowing money from a bank for house improvements that will ultimately make your property more valuable in the long run?
Edit: Okay, read it now. Much ado about nothing?
It’s been 100% acquired by you then, so there’ll be no more of it … thanks in advance on behalf of Moderation Group (AB) 
The linked interview is simple and easy to read. Give it a try.
That’s the end of it
Reading that interview, it seems very positive in hindsight.
[Bonnier] is investing from its own balance sheet using its own internal funds for acquisitions, without using loans or debt.”
This is key. It’s reassuring to confirm that this in a different category from the leveraged buyouts that PE acquisitions have become infamous for.
Great news @elektron. Can you tell us a bit more of how you intent to achieve what you want to do faster? more employees? more investments into agentic coding? will it result in more frequent updates, more products or both?
Yea exactly this.
I mean I borrowed an ungodly sum of money from a bank so I could own a home (that technically they own… for now) but I am also in a very good financial position. In fact I needed to be to get the loan.
Sorry, but if you need money to “expand” or “be more ambitious with your ideas,” you seek financing; you don’t let a group buy you out.
What they’ve done is like asking for money for a house, and the price to pay is that the bank dictates your life: “what you’re going to work on,” “what friends you’re going to hang out with,” “how you’re going to spend your money.”
I think that’s a cynical view of things.
My current employer is partly owned by an investment firm - they don’t dictate what we do, they simply advise and consult, create opportunities and enable us to make more money (you have to spend money to make money). They will make the most money by letting a business do what they’re good at.
At the corporate level financing rarely if ever does not involve the exchange of shares in the business.
And actually until I complete my mortgage the bank does own my home. I have to insure it (them telling me what to do) and I’m not able to rent it out (them dictating how I use it). Eventually I will have bought them out. Many investment firms also have an exit plan, they want to realise their investment and often that means selling their shares.
Good to get this follow up information. There was something a bit shocking about reading the headline “Elektron acquired by Bonnier Capital” out of the blue yesterday, and a lot of people have let fly with the worst catastrophizing and cynicism. I can’t claim to know anything much about business, but this new investment seems in line with what Elektron have done in the past.
Interesting to read this thread from 2017 about Arctos Equity investing in Elektron:
I guess the forum was a bit different back then, as the overall tone of replies was cautiously optimistic. And everyone forgot about the private equity thing as Elektron proceeded to release some brilliant instruments in the subsequent years.
I’m hopeful that Elektron will keep being amazing. Personally I have no interest in an “Octatrack 3”, let alone a Monomachine or Machinedrum reissue. I think the current line is great, and they should continue to innovate. Which sounds like the plan.
Hmm, not to be destructive but two words. Native Instruments.
I feel we have a Problem. Elektron always tried to be some kind of Premium and acted a little bit like Apple. We will tell you what you need. Not that their Stuff isn‘t great and for Firmware Stuff they seem to listen but overall there is no what the Customer wants policy. Some like it, some don‘t.
There is so much People screaming for but Elektron brings Tonverk in pretty bad shape. No MD or MNM Mk4, no Octatrack mk3, no new Machines for Syntakt( consider samples as different), no Plattform to sell machines for. And those Silver Boxes with no Legacy Machines. They didn‘t sell.
Good machines but strange direction I think.
You’re effectively asking for Apple without Jobs or Ive to innovate away the criticism of their new products.
It can’t happen, it’s a different company now.
I appreciate that in the Model and Digi lines Elektron offered machines that were cheaper and more accessible to a much wider user base. Not everyone can afford or want to deal with the complexity of something like OT. Tonverk to me feels like a return to offering a new, deeper machine. It has seemed like Elektron can only do so much simultaneously and perhaps in time this new chapter will let them develop all of these lines more in parallel.
I can’t think of another hardware manufacturer that has given us such amazing offerings, and I am 100% willing to give them the benefit of the doubt moving forward.
This is very good information @Elektron, and thank you for sharing. But my biggest question is, what is your favorite local beer?
I think armchair business advisors on this forum tend to overestimate the demand for a new Machinedrum and Monomachine. They’re loved by old school Elektron fans and desired by those who can’t afford one with the crazy prices. But rereleasing these seems like a recipe for failure: if you change anything, purists will most likely be pissed. And if you don’t change much, people who have built this crazy idea of what these machines can do over years of dreaming might be disappointed to find out that something like a DN2 or TV can actually do a lot more and is more fun / easier to use.
Take something like the 16 freely assignable LFOs on MD for example. That might be interesting to a very small number of people who like to push things to the extreme. But most others will prefer having 3 LFOs per track like on DN/DT2 which is more than enough and a lot less hassle. I‘m saying this without having ever used an MD or MM, but I have a feeling I might be right with my armchair guess here. Remember Monomachine sold very poorly even when there weren’t that many other hardware synths and grooveboxes with good sequencers around.
An OT MK3 faces some of the same challenges but light be worth it because it keeps selling since almost 20 years now. And still doesn’t have a real competitor.
Once more for the people in the back (relating to MD/MNM rereleases)