Subscription model is a terrible idea. It only encourages piracy. Adobe is probably the key example of this.
The whole point of paying for a physical device is that it will perpetually function (provided proper maintenance, etc…).
I really hate the idea of losing/reduced access to my projects/music on a machine I physically own because its not connected to the internet or I need to decide between paying my phone bill or my monthly subscription on a tight month.
Thanks for all replies. I know the term “major update” could be easily interpreted as if someone doesn’t like the current firmware at all. That’s not the case. Different 
perspectives are gold imo, and some of you took the time to share yours. 
I don’t think the idea of the option to pay for features or an upgraded OS is a bad idea, if it would make possible for Elektron to add features we couldn’t otherwise get. I mean if that was the scenario (and as stated above it’s of course more complicated than that) I don’t see how it’d be a bad thing for those that wanted it.
Your device wouldn’t have to be connected to the internet in order to work.
Perhaps your device would need to be connected to the internet in order to update its os. Each OS could have a unique hash code associated with it to combat piracy, since people typically only put 1 OS on their device unless they’re upgrading
It’d a bad idea to develop for a small subset of users versus the whole. While I’d love to be able to subsidize fun new features, this just isn’t best practice for a hardware company.
For SAAS products, I’m more for it (and my company does acknowledge these requests), but they’re dropping tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time.
As individuals we can’t justify all this scope creep from a smaller company.
I think some of you should have a go with a laptop with Ableton on it. You’d be well happy.
Ableton is pretty banging, to be fair! 
However I already spent 8-12 hours a day on a computer - the reason for purchasing a separate piece of hardware is that I can get away from the laptop, and not have to worry about pc performance, drivers, updates, etc…!
We could then also have a first class OS with extra legroom and a frequent buyer card where you can collect loyalty points towards your next sample pack…and maybe the new Elektron Studios in Berlin could have a lounge for all those deluxe and first class OS owners…
Ah the good old class system…or: the airport applied to music hardware… 
Leaked !!!
Elektron Model::Airport
There is almost no difference in hardware and software when 90% of the functionality or “magic” lies in the code of the firmware and not in fixed hardware circuitry, so why not support your hardware device like a DAW with frequent updates? Last week, I got a juicy Ableton Live 10.1 update that gave me some great new features. I gladly pay 200€ every 4-5 years to get the new version and a couple of big updates.
I dont think that a subscription model or an extra fee is the way to go tho. The costs for some form of firmware support should be calculated as a part of the retail price and companies already do that (see Novation, which is getting a lot of love for their software-update-politics).
This old “you buy a machine and you get is what you get until eternity”-attitude of the 90s/00s is just backwards in 2019 where a firmware upgrade is just a few clicks and an usb-connection away, so please people STOP. Just because you were fine with that for years, it doesnt mean that it cant be better!
It’s not like you can add RAM or swap CPU in your Octatrack, is it? As opposed to computers… The DSP power will only get you so far and you can’t optimize until eternity. There’s a HUGE difference in hardware and software.
See what’s going on w/ Novation Circuit? These guys are already running out of power, clearly. Made some (great) updates, but can’t go on forever. And the Elektron stuff is so much more advanced, I believe (and have seen in many posts over this forum) that for several products, Elektron are already running out of spare CPU time…
Yes, you are right. The hardware itself is a limiting factor and it depends on the feature. But if you look at feature request threads you dont see people asking for another 8 voices for my DN or a new FX for the DT. They are asking for quality of life improvements that are not very DSP-heavy like a song mode, naming midi-cc assignments and so on.
Not missing anything in the os. However, after my 10-13 year break I’m missing individual outputs for external effects! 
i guess it has alredy been answered but the issue is processing power. First in the Elektron Dev team (they still have their hands full with overbridge) and in the Digitakt´s DSPs and CPUs. I have more LFOs, single outs, FX for audio input and more filter models on my wishlist but the Digitakt is still a very powerful machine that you couldn´t replace with anything else on the market.
So what we can summise from this thread is that a bunch of people started using Elektron products because they don’t like computers and software but then decided that Elektron products would be much better if they were more like computers and software.
I don´t find this so funny because I see this more like dualism than a contradiction. Electronic music and music production in general is computer-music. It would not work without it so it´s only natural that at some point the production has to move from the hardware into the computer to be prepared for a release. Overbridge is an interesting approch to close that gap and for me it works quite well. I “compose” and play live with the hardware and use Overbridge only for minor tweaks, renaming channels or moving samples. Then when I later decide to produce a track from my liveset I work with the computer a lot with Overbridge.
just chuck in scale per track and i’ll keep my satiable mouth shut
i know it wasnt marketed having scale per track, but for a midi sequencer and drum computer it should be a no brainer. thank you for the compressor but i’d trade it in any day for some scales
haha not a bad idea if apparently the digitakt DSP is stretched as it is:
trade off features by just uploading whatever OS you would like. i want scales, you want compressor, so we would download a different OS from the elektron website and boom - everyone is happy, the digitakt is still instant, the dsp survives
