Is the Elektron sequencer starting to be “out-dated”?

look at the akai mpc’s…they been around for ages and people still live by the sequencer.

more doesnt always mean better.
refining what a sequencer does best is sometimes just as good.

-my simple 2cents

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I wish there were more great midi sequencers available. Many interesting ones are eurorack only.
Don’t know many midi sequencers that look more interesting than the elektron sequencers.
The cirklon is very expensive and hard to get your hands on.
There is the pyramid… What else?

I’m thinking about getting a five12 vector sequencer. Looks awesome and seems to be great for midi as well. Just a shame that you have to buy a case as well.

Personally I’ve always thought the Elektron sequencers were a bit overrated. People talk about them as if it’s some dark art. It’s nothing complicated and nothing that special.

Lack of song mode for many of the boxes is limiting, no matter how ‘live’ you can play them.

I use them for basic stuff but my Nerdseq is king for all sequencing for me now.

I would like to see the Elektron sequencers become a bit more comprehensive across the whole product range. And a wet dry for fx. WTF.

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Toraiz Squid does some interesting things.

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As nice this sounds. But in the meantime the boxes already differ in functionality and how they work. The kits on the Rytm / A4 against the per pattern version of the Digis. Then there is the OT which works with parts and scenes. Also sequencer wise it differs between them. Sure there are similarity’s but the workflow is different in bits already. So could also be for future boxes. It is impossible to update every box with new features. They can go a long way with this. But like the OT it doesn’t get easier with new stuf.

I’m currently in a lock down world of hair shirt sequencing…

Feature laden (and midi) it ain’t :joy:

I think that we have seen less innovation in Elektron sequencing in recent years, probably due to the changes in the way things are rolled out now, no beta test of hardware AFAIK on last few machines.

Still, I find Elektron sequencing to be superior to most others in most (but not every) ways, but I guess it depends what you want. I don’t really have a need for playback directions or chance based stuff personally, I do value easy and fast programming of step parameters though, so any improvements in this area would be handy.

I have lots of good ideas on how things could be implemented and improved on current and future machines but I don’t think that there is much hope of them being implemented nowadays, but I am ok with that, and I still enjoy them for what they do offer.

Also by far Elektron are, for me, the most enjoyable hardware sequencers to use, I did create a post some years back with similar criticisms as the OP and some things did get improved, and I do trust Elektron to keep on innovating and keep fresh, so in that sense I don’t think they are out dated, I sometimes wish I worked for them though.

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Me too, re working for them. Imagine being in the room with loads of amazing people when discussing ideas and when decisions get made! If only 2% of my ideas made it to a finished product, I would be a very happy camper :slightly_smiling_face:

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I’d like to see some OP-Z features in the Elektron sequencers. Step components, the ability to put conditionals on p-locks, and some of the neat button shortcuts.

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Yes these are great

Yeah feels outdated. I’m spoiled by Ableton/Max4Live. I feel like Elektron’s sequencers could benefit from playback direction options, randomization, stutter/repeat (like Volca Sample), and various slicing sequencer thingies like I find in Hy-Plugins and Isotonik’s products. I guess Octatrack has the slicing stuff but so much the Digi/Model lines.

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What i really like on some brambos ipad apps, as well as in numerology are automatic pattern generation and randomization features based on algorithms. Can be a great starting point or a source of inspiration when you feel writers block

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…oh, there’s so much more to come…no worries…

…once i was about to start a discussion heading this direction…

just imagine new overall conditions for conditional trigs…in trigless trig fashion…
forward backward from different trig positions…
just as an example to start with…
and woops…sweden is ahead of it’s time again…

imagine trig runners…

imagine modulation conditions in pre fixed tempo ratios…
beyond the actual measurements of individual track scaling…
which is still not copied by others yet, in the way elektron users can already do…

what if the sequencer suddenly works like fm synthesis ratios in itself…
carrier and modulator can go easily out of the box and anywhere from there…
what if lfo’s can robotize complete new targets…in complete new envelope shapes…

so much headroom left to go beyond next steps…

once ob is finally out of beta and reached it’s final stability, that chapter is finally over and we will see new options beyond our actual imaginations…

trust ur swedish coders, babee…
and it’s not about copycats but truu inventions…tracking trackers to track the future…
endless…

IMO there is CLOSE to no such thing as an outdated sequencer.

Ok, I’m not fond of the Korg SQ8 of some of the old Roland “workstation” style sequencers…

However, any other type from a CMOS 8-step sequencer to a Genoqs, to Cirklon, to Elektron to Spectralis to whatever, is just a matter of taste and need. You can sequence on anything, make sub-sequences to be triggered, make logic chains in modular, etc. etc.

There’s room for all of them. The more the better. Just pick the ones that let you do what you want to do in the easiest and most FUN manner, and you’re set. I think trying some of the archaic machines can result in some interesting music.

As far as Elektron specifically, I believe they are still a benchmark for the industry. There may be others that do this or that, but Elektron has its style polished to a shine, and there’s not really a way I can see it being obsolete ever. It can be further refined and added to, but it’s a solid beacon in the sequential seas if you ask me.

You can like or dislike a sequencer, work one into your flow or not, and some may be basic while others do everything, but I’d reserve the term “obsolete” for things that have interfaces that prevent you from making music… …like the SQ8. :stuck_out_tongue:

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As others said those are more just a different type of sequencer. However I do think that elektron will need to continue to expand the random aspects of their sequencers. Modular and the ease of diy development will continue to push what people expect. More organic approaches to sequencing are big trends I see. I try nearly all hardware sequencers I can get my hands on and Elektron still does things better than anyone else in my opinion.

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I don’t think so really, I think there are more new things in the same ballpark so in some ways I think people are looking at the elektron sequencer as old now. Something like the Pro3 sequencer is really cool but it also is not at all conducive to actually composing a full song on and instead is more a supplementary sequencer to something like an elektron sequencer. I think elektron really hit a sweet spot between tracker and physical controls… I would take the polyend tracker as something new people are excited about but is also in many ways still less powerful and less physical than the elektrons, people are excited about it because they haven’t used a tracker in ages if ever and it will spice things up for them.

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Good to see different opinions. Don’t get me wrong I am a big fan of Elektron and it’s sequencers. Still think they are in the elite with its sequencing. It’s just that I hope they keep innovating in the future and don’t give us the same sequencers all the time. In the last years I haven’t seen any spectacular new features on the sequencers of Elektron. Sure the Digis got independent timing signatures. But that was already on the OT.

I want to be WoWed again by Elektron. And that hasn’t happen since the Digitone anymore. But that was more soundwise, but positive.

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With development cycles getting shorter and shorter nowadays beta tests through out the complete industry are performed more locally to reduce communications overhead. Of course they do hardware beta tests. These machines won’t appear magically out of nowhere … :wink:

Beware what you wish for. Most people have no idea how streamlined and stressful modern product development has become. At least at established companies the race to market kills much of the innovation potential. In most cases there is not much time available to really become creative with functionalities. It’s more like manufacturing than development, you know? Cuts are taken at all corners …

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Deluge. Whatever it’s other quirks and limitations, the ‘limitless’ sequencing paradigm should be adopted by everything. It’s the most refreshing thing to come to desktop (non computer) sequencers for a long time. It lacks some of the trickery of the Pyramid, for example, but it’s such fun to use and has one of the shortest paths between idea and realisation, IMHO.

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In the last few years we got trig conditions on a lot of boxes. New things come up on Elektron boxes all the time and breathe new life into them. The recentish updates to the Analogs were amazing for example

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