Won’t Overbridge fix all that for you? I know it works great for programming my AK. It’s better even than one-knob-per-function because I get so much more visual feedback about what the settings are doing to the sound (as well as the audio feedback of the sound itself, of course).
That definitely seems to be a stupid aspect of “the Elektron way”. For example, I can’t believe I can’t sequence my AK from my PC without using Overbridge. It’s ridiculous and unworkable (9 mixer channels for OB doubles the size of my mixer).
It was incredibly liberating when I bought a Korg M1 back in the day and I could finally organise everything in one place. It made life so much easier. I couldn’t imagine going back to a drum machine, unless I could sequence it from my PC, it would absolutely kill me.
100%!!! The modern obsession with brands does my head in. When I’m discussing it with anyone, my AK is “the Elektron”. It’s the only product of theirs I’d even consider owning (because I hate desktop boxes without keyboards). I have no intention of using it to even a fraction of it’s capacity, I just wanted a new synth and this thing offered me four for a reasonable price (used) in a handy size. I can’t imagine I’ll ever use the sequencer, because it is at least an order of magnitude more effort than using my PC, but the synth engine is awesome and I can see myself being happy with it for many years. I’ve bought half-a-dozen hardware synths in the last 18 months or so and the AK and Waldorf Rocket are the only two that I plan to keep for any length of time. I’ll probably be dead before I get sick of hearing the sounds the AK can make.
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This is what I do I play drums and own the DT and DN. What keeps me going is I create patterns and then transfer them to my spd-sx and jam on my drums. I will never get tired of this.
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Amen.
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Possibly 
but I doubt it, since I feel pretty great about the gear I do like, and as a consequence, know that Elektron’s not part of it right now.
It’s that gap between writing the piece and putting it together, that the Digitakt currently fills. But I just know this can be done better. Basically, I want a porta studio for the ages, and I can’t find anything out there that comes closer right now, except I haven’t given the OP-1 a serious try. So that’s my next call, I feel, for that reason. And I don’t mind the mono (in fact, I like it), and four tracks are just fine.
So I’m thinking - record stuff from my gear into the OP-1.
And take it from there, with all the things the OP-1 can do.
Then master with the Heat.
And boom, I’m done.
I’ve considered the Polar, for this exact reason you’re saying. But I feel pretty good about what I’ve got going right now, it’s just that gap to record it into an interesting environment, without any hassle, that I’m missing.
Basically, this one knob, straight-on approach, for a recording device where I can build the track with those pieces of tape I’ve got lying around. Other than that, I’m good with what I’ve got.
No … having enough old-school gear in the studio Elektron was a new way to approach things. It got me from playing live and recording to step-seqencing, which I never did in DAWs. Now I set some sequencers on fire and play live on other gear … having much fun 
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Everything after the Octatrack has used Send FX. Obviously it’s more economical, but it’s not always the most appropriate. I always wished my Analogs had send FX for all tracks, rather than just a master bus. Perhaps they could even be switchable from Insert to Send. It’s difficult to manage if u want something as simple as different delay times on 2 tracks at once, or some different styles of reverb on each track. I remember a couple years when there was talk of a multi-FX box, a kind’ve Overbridge or multi-input FX unit. I think I’d still love something like this from Elektron, and it’d hopefully solve basically my only gripe with their machines. Give the thing like, 8 inputs, sequencable and p-lockable, with the ability to through-mix the whole thing through OB, 4 FX inserts on each track, through a master bus if it had it, or maybe back through your other boxes Sends if you wanted to. It sounds like a modern day OT, but really it’s just an FX box with through to OB. DigiFX… that’s more of a box-request i suppose but the lack of inserts post OT has always bugged me…
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Yeah that would be awesome, but as a DT & DN owner I wouldn’t buy it. Simply because of the lack of dedicated outs on the Digiboxes.
Now if the made a breakout FX box that had 4 USB inputs that used overbridge audio protocol to pipe audio into an FX box that then had an FX seq and the FX cross fader from the OT. Assignable outputs on the back.
Of course it would need like 6-8 physical inputs too.
You could group and route the OB/audio feeds to the physical Outs you wanted, say group bass, snares, leads etc. each group has a bank of insert FX that can be parameter locked on the sequencer and you can cross fade between scenes with the fader like OT.
It would be an instant classic, would sell tons.
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I’m done w/ it also - but mostly because I need variety. one elektron box is all I need to get that flavor.
I held off buying anything from Elektron because I was turned off by their branding/aesthetic but the DT piqued my interest, looked like a deep machine…but it’s not quite as deep as I had thought. And now that I know more about Elektron, at first glance a lot of these boxes seem complicated, but really they are simple machines, the Digitone follows this pattern. Complicated only in that the underlying software is quite complex and has to do a lot to make the workflow so fast. Elektron’s are designed to get you to a certain place really quickly. But as x goes to infinity most Elektron jams I hear end up sounding the same. Limitless, they are not, in fact they are quite limited from a musical perspective, in my opinion.
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You just have to get comfortable with making tracks, live.
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I’m close to done with them.
They’re great machines in their own right but I chose them due to the promised ‘seamless integration’ with my DAW-centric setup.
Instead I’ve had 3+ years of frustration trying to get them into my workflow but the truth is that they just don’t work as advertised and OB causes more problems than standard MIDI hardware.
I would strongly disagree with this though; you can make just about anything you want on these boxes, what gets made is up to the enduser.
can´t say i´m done with elektron though i never was into elektron that much anyway. actually the OT mk1 is still my only elektron machine. it is the center of my setup for more than 6 years now, i still wait for a product to replace the OT in that position. you can´t imagine how much i hated that damn thing from time to time, especially in the early years (well some of you maybe CAN imagine). but i´ll propably never sell it. i love it´s flexibility and the fact that you can do so much different things. i just want to get it out of that center position and i always hoped elektron would come up with the right product for me. the philosophy to leave out certain functions on different machines to “force” people to get 2 or 3 of them i don´t like at all. without me ! but that topic was discussed endlessly here. i don´t expect anything of elektron. i don´t feel sorry for most of the folks here who blindly buy a elektron product and then complain about pretty much everything, but i feel sorry for the guys who get faulty products. there seem to be too much of them recently. thats not OK, especially because that stuff is not that cheap at all. that overbridge thing can be called a plain fiasco ? i´m not sure i want to pay for that stuff anyway. more outputs or just ordinary audio stream via USB would have made a lot of users very happy i think.
if i´d buy a elektron product today that would be a monomachine.
digitone and heat are interesting too, but i sweared i won´t buy the heat just because of that stupid endless teaser some time ago (sorry elektron)
i´m very suspicious with elektron today and i can wait forever without buying anything of them.
just my 2 cents
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Now that I have shifted fully to just making tunes with the OT looping and sampling my beatboxing and live instruments, and keeping my iPad and PO33 as portable food creators, I am stuck into this Octa reality for good.
The reality of it is at this point I couldn’t do what I’m envisioning and enjoying with any other system, other than Abes and a laptop, which I just can’t even.
I’m sure if I had other plans for my extremely limited musicking time (kid and full time job) involving more synths and stuff I could have the option of being more flexible.
I’m juuust about done. Maybe. I have, once again, placed the Rytm back into the gear locker. The TR-8 is the only drum machine still out on my table. I guess I just prefer something a bit more simple and hands-on, wysiwyg interfaces, etc. And now I see the TR-8S has been announced. That might be the last push I need to sell my Rytm. Want to try that DVCO before selling though.
I agree that elektron jams can sound the same but if they’re musically limited, name some gear that you think isn’t.
Not done, sticking to my trusty OT and AR. Maybe being limited to those two machines helps.
I wouldn’t mind having a MD UW+ mk2 though…
@andreasroman has your DFAM arrived yet? Mine still hasn’t…
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Ive been in this place a few times. Have sold off my Elektron’s twice, other gear a couple of times too. I’m now 90% ITB and playing with an OT on the side. Havent touched the OT in such a long time though but no urge to flog that at all. Quite like having the one piece of hardware.
I still GAS for things. DN looks great for example. But I’ve totally lost my creative juices right now so best thing for me to do is to focus on ITB for now, finish off some stuff, play around a bit and see what comes.
Elektron boxes can be the best and worst of times. When things click you can be banging away on a few patterns for hours. But far too often I get into a slump with their stuff - XOX kind of does that to me. I know that’s over simplifying the Elektron boxes and for hardware they are fantastic sequencers but compared to Live (for example) and it’s too limiting. While I love the OT’s limits in terms of creativity, I don’t quite feel the same about the sequencer restrictions.
So I’m not done just now but I can see it on the horizon. Not dreading it, just the natural cycle of things. I do hope Elektron turn things around with OB - so much potential there in my eyes.
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I have to say, I´m not done with Elektron. I haven´t got into all the features yet. Still waiting for an update so that I can work with AK & AH the way it´s suppose to be. The only device that is working perfectly is my AR mk I.
I had Digitone in my studio yesterday. Yes it sounds beautiful. It´s really a step forward, taking the FM syntesis to another level. If you ask me if I will buy it? Well probably not since I don´t know how long it will take to get an update .
So atm patiently waiting. Tomas