They haven’t replaced mnm MD or sid station so once they discountinue a product I think thats it.
Its likely the current MK2s are “the end of an era”.
What remains to be seen is if the new era will be exclusively the smaller, easier to manufacture, cheaper to build, better selling digis/models or if we will see any more “big boxes”.
Getting OB into OT seems like itd be a big hit, but the mystique around the box and its assumed complexities (OT=hard is essentially a meme at this point) may be enough to put people off ever buying one, and this may push elektron to simply do something new instead.
“It’s not complex because more complex devices exist” is silly.
Elektron’s streamed down response in the M:S and Digitakt show that they do take our feedback into account with usability and obviously some persons perfectly gel with all workflows it offers.
But not all of us do, or Elektron would continue down that path.
Sigh, this again.
Another take is that they made more streamlined devices with more refined workflows, and that turned out to be popular.
There no need to look down on the people who like the new devices.
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It looks more like they targeted people who were interested in Elektron, but couldn’t afford to spend the money to find out if they liked it or not. As well as people who prefer immediacy.
Why on EARTH would you want to hamstring yourself. I think if I owned a business I’d like to attract as many customers as I could rather than a select few. I dunno, maybe I’m stupid.
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Exactly this! I’ve been interested in Elektron for nearly 20 years, but much younger me could never afford anything like an MD, MnM, OT, A4, or AR. It was just a little dream in my head for some day in the future. But then the Digitakt dropped at a price point I could afford! Since then, I’ve not looked back. Now, in my late 30s, I can finally afford to buy more of them 
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This sounds extremely elitist… It’s only worth it if it’s hard to use? I got an OT, A4, DT and DN, all of them can be deep into its own way, and I haven’t found machines similar to any of them, care to share how made Elektron lost its soul?
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This is actually an interesting point. You could argue the MnM and MD have been replaced by the Analogs and Digis. ie Their line still has drum machines and synths.
But if they were to discontinue the OT outright - well then their line would be without a performance mixer / sampler.
Even tho the mkii facelift should see the OT in production for years to come, it’s hard to see Elektron removing the performance sampler from their equation without introducing a new one.
‘It’s a complex machine’ was something I heard quite often back in the day when my unit wasn’t behaving as it should. Eventually it was acknowledged that my machine was faulty, though the machines apparent complexity was so complex it could even fool ‘power users’ into thinking broken machines were fully functional and anyone who couldn’t make the broken machine function was somehow doing it wrong.
Not a fun time, especially when I eventually discovered there was a known bad batch of buttons that caused the issues I was encountering, and less fun still when some of the power users turned out to be employees.
The irony is I never found it to be particularly complex - once my broken unit was eventually replaced (I was sorted out in fairness to Elektron, though not without some posturing/footstamping) I found it pretty straightforward, in a more convoluted way than I would like.
The MD and MNM for me were all about interface - the depth of functionality behind what was a simplistic and logical (for me) interface were something to behold. I still consider the late Daniel Hansson a genius for what he did with those boxes, and the OT’s interface felt in stark contrast to those machines; whereas the MD and MNM felt natural the OT felt forced and lacking enough buttons/knobs in bending it to fit the elektron fforma- I remember a friend likening the interface to Tekken 2 - it could be mastered but it was all fussy combinations and an obtuse memory game. Knockout.
Anyhow, I got pretty fluid with it and could use it well without ever enjoying using it, which was stark contrast for me to the earlier machines. Eventually I stopped using it, as despite it’s power the interface annoyed me too much. I sold my first (second due to replacement) after trying way too hard to get along with it. In the years I had it (three or four? I forget) I managed one thing on it I was truly proud of, which isn’t the machines fault but shows how much I tried to love it.
After some time away (couple of years? I forget) I went back in, manly because I had an idea of how I wanted to incorporate it alongside Gotharman’s Deformer. Second time round I enjoyed the interface even less and the unit quickly became a doorstop. Probably my least favorite doorstop of all time - I shouldn’t have gone back, regretted my decision to try again and wouldn’t buy another elektron box for various reasons (there were some other highly questionable customer service things that aren’t my story to tell I didn’t like).
I’ve been tempted - the heat had my attention for live work (though from demos I’m pretty sure the filter sound isn’t for me) and I feel I’m probably missing out on the digitone, which looks right up my street… not happening though, and it’s the octatracks fault; Satan’s sampler*.
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*I had it sounding that way too…
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A big fukn headache for them for sure!..
well worth it though.
It’s a fantastic instrument…
‘a headbutt that keeps on butting’
I never said the OT was not complex, I merely said that I think it is overstated (and probably too often repeated).
Most of the major workstation synths are probably more complex than the OT but you don’t hear continuous remarks about their complexity.
Personally I did not find the OT to be particularly hard to master and, for me, the manual completely describes how to access all its functions. But maybe that is because I had previously owned far more complex instruments.
Certainly it appears to me that, across the board, a lot of the current crop of synths/samplers are a lot less complex than many of the older ones.
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I never owned an OT but my idea is that it is not complex to learn using it
It is complex understanding how it can fit in your workflow because it excels in a lot of areas, it can be a drum machine, it can be a looper, a mixer, a grain sampler, a synth, an effect processor or a sample mangler.
I think I still want to get one to pair with my other elektron gear and experiment with it.
I wouldn’t really be qualified to say as I’ve only been an Elektron user for a little over 2yrs. I started with the Digitakt for the obvious reason of affordability. I was intimidated by the idea of just the level of it’s depth alone, but what I also found once I got it was just how much I really appreciated the thought and organization of all of it’s functionality.
I’d agree they’ve probably profited more from their more affordable gear
but I’d say like any great instrument that can be electronic and keep people talking about it and coming back to it is a testament when the newest piece of electronic musical equipment can process more and do more.
I think they really peaked in developing their modular style of workflow approach with the MD and then have brought so much more with the OT that it is like just over that edge of comfortable and borders excess.
It of course could have better features and other additions as anything of it’s nature can always be improved upon but I think for what the MD did for them then the OT has done for elektron in keeping them in a place where people in our crowd of sonic explorers will always appreciate what it’s done to help shape and influence where others have gone with new samplers. So for all the bad it’s brought a lot of good and that will likely always keep elektron in the minds of those who enjoy using sampling as their main approach to music creation. And that isn’t something that it’s sales numbers may ever really reflect.
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