I think all their digi form product releases make sense…
Digitakt is nuts. Digitone also. People rave about the analog heats. Not tried Syntakt but want one. They also make business sense - not everyone will buy a flagship, having something for that crowd means more customers.
Model cycles and samples, they’re ok. They don’t seem to pull too much attention away from the business/development side either so i don’t think they’re a bad choice for Elektron.
I enjoy my A4 mkii a lot, would probably have enjoyed the mk1 equally much.
They are building a new line/generation, that much has been apparent in their job ads. They can’t rely on existing products to keep them steaming through a 3-5 years research and development phase, so from that perspective these products ALSO make sense. Without them, not enough resources to build new things
OT MK3 with build in digitone. Not so much needed for imgaination. Maybe 6 Out, 6 In would be dope with Overbridge and xrossfaser. Even if i have it individually - i would buy it again for the integrated workflow. Resampling, Sample slots /slicing- its not much needed to be perfect imho. But for sure i want to have that Octatrack feeling, where i can set it up to my needs. I think that is a major selling point, to make it your own. Elektrons MPC, maybe even with app system included, so they can sell us their plugins to their hw. Similar as akai does, i dont see anything wrong with it, when we pay to own - everyone wins - the enviroment - as we dont have to buy more HW, we could prolong the live of the machine with software. Similar as they already do - build on your strength. Maybe with a plugin card system, where you insert a optional hw module, or exchange it with something else. (Semi modular) A analog filter card , a updated digital FX unit , a analog synth addon card.)
Maybe a way to record performances over a certain time. (i.e. slider movement, mutes etc.) and having a way to export that. Resample to SSD. In my opinion, they already have what it takes, they just have to put it together.
I think Deluge can also do this? I’m a bit surprised the other sequencers around like Hapax, Pyramid or Polyend’s stuff can’t do this? Totally agree that x out of y is way more usable than percentage.
On the general topic: if your biggest gripe with a company and suggestion what they should change is who presents their products, the company must be in a pretty good spot overall.
I can’t let you get out with this one…
A “modern” daw like bitwig offers natively all this, with much more options, and all the conditional sorceries including nei, 1st, not 1st etc, fills, and fancy probabilities you can imagine per clips, notes audio or whatever…All at once on dozens of tracks including vst, external hardwares etc…
Not to mention what MSP can achieve…
This doesn’t remove anything from elektron’s workflow but this tools are highly customizable, you can tailor them and modify how they react.
They are different, but infinitely more potentialy capable than any elektron box which has a good but set in stone workflow…
I can hold down a button and twist a knob and instantly transform a whole song embryo into something entirely different in a musical way in Bitwig? I certainly haven’t found a way to do so in Reason or Live, but maybe neither are “modern”.
I mean, of course, I can add a custom group of LFOs and use performance macros to control them with a midi keyboard and bind each LFO to several parameters even in Live. Actually maybe I should try that, some sort of pseudo ctrl+all feature. But it would still be very tied to that particular project/template and if you add a new instrument, you’d have to manually add the bindings for this to keep working. It’s really not the same as the Elektron workflow where you have all this at your fingertips, consistently, intuitively, automatically, every single time and across any project.
You just said “a daw can’t do that”, it’s just not true. And that’s the only thing I was reffering too.
Live and bitwig natively outclass the elektron sequencer in every possible aspect, The fact that you have to make a template for them to emulate “ctrl all” is not really a argument which makes what you said a reality.
If anything I want less complexity. I’m getting too old to spend hours tweaking a synth patch. I think I’m gonna go back to nanoloop2. I can’t view my Elektron screens on a TV and control them with a Bluetooth gamepad.
It’s the strongest argument I can think of. Hardware makes it accessible without you having to think, plan, program and configure. You’re right, I take back the part that it couldn’t be done in a DAW. But you wouldn’t discover the wonders of ctrl+all in a DAW, most likely you wouldn’t even have thought of the possibility. You, as in most people, not you in particular.
Besides, this thread is about hardware so the DAW reference was maybe a mistake. Please ignore it.
I can see how people would feel like there has been a shift between the OT/MD/MnM Elektron and the Models/Digiboxes Elektron. You can feel in the bones of their machines, they have fundamental differences in their design philosophy.
I think both can exist on the same page, but lately, it seems that the focus on Elektron was on easier, simpler machines rather than more complex/deeper ones.
Sometimes even taken to the extremes with the Models which are both overpriced and outpaced by current grooveboxes on similar price points, but often really offering a perfect balance between immediate playability and depth of sound design/sequencing.
I believe there is a point where oversimplifying things can hurt the overall feeling of an instrument. I don’t think it has been quite reached for the digiboxes, but I do think they could get a decent amount of depth added to them while still remaining accessible.
They had some years with quite important financial losses recently. I think closing the Berlin studio (which Cenk had set up) and making some relatively safe product decisions (black Analogs, Syntakt, Heat + fx) might have been part of their consolidation strategy.
Nope too late, can’t be goin back on them fightin words when it comes to Reason.
Speaking of Reason, for me it was always about assigning the the matrix to modulate various parameters. Not quite the same as p-locks but always felt it was its own special thing.
As for the OP, has Elektron lost its mythical status? Kinda get where they’re coming from and would love to see another big box but it is what it is.
You have to remember that even when the Machine Drum came out there weren’t stacks of drum machines out there, and nothing at all which offered what the MD did. Same with the Mono Machine and even the black boxes.
We’re now in an age where there are just so many offerings out there, it’s very hard to come up with something groundbreaking, so of course in general terms it will feel less exciting or whatever.
Conversely, age is perhaps a factor too. Those of us old enough to have lived through that will have seen first hand how things have changed, but if I were 20 years old today I am sure things would seem pretty damned amazing in terms of what’s out there!
The Polyend Play can do similar functionality. Select all tracks and then adjust all the available parameters together. You can even apply different play type parameters, chance, and randomization all at once. Then you can revert to the last saved instance.
I think Oxi One, has still its magic, or the Deluge is a good example. Or the Pyramid. They react on user request - and make it consistently better. (Yes elektron did that too.) But i am still seeing really good products been made, which are innovative, and they continue to innovate. We all know Elektron can do it. The Rytm update was fantastic.
Agreed. We are completely spoiled.
I feel confident in saying that I’m not the only one here wasting too much time by searching gear that will do what I want instead of finding ways to do it with the gear I already own.
