Is it possible to upgrade to UW a not UW mk2?
No, you can only upgrade a +drive. No UW upgrades as far as i know.
Has anyone just ordered the +drive and installed it themselves?
If you can get hands on a +drive it should quite doable to install it yourself. ‘Sadly’ Elektron does not sell the the +drive seperately. Your only chance is to either send it in or find someone that sells an MD for parts or something like that.
Keen to bump this - I have a support ticket open, but no reply yet… has anyone had the +Drive upgrade done recently?
I’m in the market for a Mk2 before the train truly leaves the affordability station (arguably already there!) and I have the option of a Mk2UW (no +) in Wellington - or a Mk2UW+ in Melbourne. (I’m in Auckland)
Feeling like at this stage I should just bite the big bullet - buy it once and buy it right. They’re rare down here!
“If you find yourself at an orgy, don’t stick to your partner the entire time.”
-Mary Magdalene
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a wise woman, that Mary Magdalene.
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You gotta know how to live.
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What I will say firstly is, I’m incredibly happy to see this upgrade finally being available! When Giorgi first told me of this project I doubted it was possible, but knew it anyone could manage it, he could. And here we are, with a fully-functioning +drive upgrade in 2024! The second thing I would say is, if you have reservations about the legitimacy of this, don’t worry - I’ve bought a couple of things off Giorgi and spoken to him a lot, he’s a committed and passionate designer, who always goes the extra mile to ensure quality without compromise.
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Has anyone tried the MKii non UW to UW+ upgrade?
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Impressive!!!
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Hi!
As the person who made these upgrades possible, let me answer a few of the most common questions about installing +drive and upgrading MKII non-UW to MKII UW(+) 
Regarding +drive:
- +drive does not make your non-UW MD into a UW version.
- +drive can be installed in any version of Machinedrum (MKI / MKI UW / MKII / MKII UW) and Monomachine (MKI / MKII)
- +drive can be easily installed by yourself. To do this, you will need to remove the front aluminium panel and the front panel board. Installing the +drive itself simply involves plugging it into the socket. The whole process will take you about 15 minutes if you have never done it before, and about 5 minutes if you have disassembled your Machinedrum before.
- +drive is a drive for 128 snapshots of MD internal memory. Also for UW models you have the option to store 128 sample banks in +drive. You can find more information in our Discord channel: Discord.
Regarding MKII upgrade to MKII UW(+).
- There is no option to upgrade MKI models. These models will require a complete motherboard replacement with the board from the UW version.
- Upgrading MKII models to MKII UW(+) will add the ability to sample and play samples from memory to your Machinedrum. More information can be found on our Discord channel: Discord.
- Upgrading MKII models to MKII UW is a deep modification of the motherboard and software, which makes your MKII board completely identical to the MKII UW board.
- Upgrading from MKII to MKII UW cannot be done on your own. It will not be released as a self-installation kit because it is not possible. The only way to do it is to send the motherboard to us for modification.
- Upgrading MKII models to MKII UW+ involves the same steps as upgrading MKII models to MKII UW, but with further installation of the +drive extension.
You can find more information and discuss our products in our Discord channel: https://discord.gg/yxg75JCsh3
For reserve enquiries you can always send message to me @syntheticjudah on this forum or Discord
Regards,
Alexander Zhutov aka SyntheticJudah
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Nice to see you on the forum Alexander! I’ve heard of you through Giorgi, I am very happy to see the work you have done come to fruition! This is something that MD users and Elektron enthusiasts have carved for many years.
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Thank you very much for your feedback! Giorgi and I are very pleased that the +drive extensions have generated such interest among the MD and MNM community
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sorry sps1mk1 non uw owner here - what does 128 snapshots mean?
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So on a Machinedrum with a +drive, you get Snapshots. These are 128 recallable states of your entire machine - the patterns, the machines on each track, their settings, the trigs etc.
On UW Machinedrums, Snapshots also include the active sample bank.
I’m lazy and tend to use Snapshots as projects. 
Perhaps there is more to a Snapshot and perhaps I’m not describing them correctly, please feel free to correct me.
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@Claid absolutely right! I can just add little more description from MD User’s manual:
A Machinedrum Snapshot can contain up to:
- 128 patterns,
- 64 kits
- 32 songs
- 8 globals
For UW models each snapshot linked to a sample bank:
- MKII UW sample bank consists of 48 ROM sample slots.
- MKI UW sample bank consists of 32 ROM sample slots.
** Sample banks can be dynamically
switched within a Snapshot.
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cant wait to have it installed 
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