Octatrack Black & other Elektrons - Made in Poland?

Hi,
can anybody with black OT confirm they are made in Poland now? I was really surprised.

:thinking: …maybe production has been outsourced there for just now? or they have better looking black paint in those facilities? :smiley: mind posting a picture where it says that?

Yup. I have mk2 black - bottom sticker says Made in Poland

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I can confirm that! And am shocked a bit! Wanted a Swedish product and feel betrayed a little bit… you shouldn’t have asked …

Bye bye illusion

:raised_hand_with_fingers_splayed:

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Yes! I have the same feelings, got nothing against Poland at all, however it supposed to be made in Sweden also according to product description on retailer shop.

Announced: Elektron and Polyend are releasing a new product together. Think an Elektron Medusa.

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well its rarely to see anything made outside of china these days, so I would be happy that it is at least made in the EU. Boards(and screen etc) are probably made in china.

At the end it does not matter where it is produced if it has a good quality control.

the assembly job in Poland is probably around 600eur/month, and 2000eur in Sweden

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The Anniversary Edition says made in Sweden, if anyone was wondering.

Makes sense for Elektron, honestly, I don’t know how much cachet the made in Sweden has and how much extra people are willing to pay for it. If the QC is there, all’s good.

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Have nothing against Poland either. Have lots of XAOC Stuff but doesn‘t Elektron specifically do Marketing with built in Sweden?

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the model boxes are made in estonia.

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My old Monomachine was assembled somewhere in Eastern Europe IIRC, but my digitakt says made in Sweden. :woman_factory_worker: :man_factory_worker:

Anyone got a new grey? I wonder if they’re both made in Poland now.

I used to work for an electronics company who outsource the manufacture of their PCBs to an external company (probably in a similar fashion to Elektron, but with FAR less interesting products).
At the time I worked for them they used a company in Scotland for the actual manufacturing, but this was a global company with facilities in the US, and Poland among many others.

The differences between the locations mainly boiled down to cost of manufacturing and wastage. Processes would be fine-tuned at sites in the UK, then once all processes and testing were fully defined and set up, the manufacturing could be moved.

Manufactuing PCBs can be a tough process to start off with as you have to balance component temperature tolerances with the temperatures needed for solder, making sure there is the right amount of solder on the PCBs before placing components etc. etc.
Simply moving a few components on the PCB can change the enitre reflow (cooking) profile for the PCB.

Once all of that is set up (along with testing to confirm the PCBs are working correctly) it really doesn’t matter that much where the PCBs are made. So I don’t think being made in Poland vs. Sweden should make much difference.

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my M:C says “Sweden.” same on my OT, Heat, RYTM and DN.

but IIRC the MnM and MD said Estonia.

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…all the MKI i’ve got here say made in sweden…

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The Made in Sweden was used as Argument for the Premium Prices of the Big Boxes if I Remember well…soo it does make a difference

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My Model:Cycles, Monomachine and Machinedrum all say made in Sweden.

My grey one from 4 months ago says Sweden.

Oh it may make a difference to people’s perceptions of what they deem to be “higher quality”, but given the stringent manufactuing and testing processes I expect Elektron need to have in place, it won’t make a difference to the end product we receive.

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Parts of things can come from many places, the label “Made in X”, has to do with where the most content cones from (i’m vague on the specific rules.). So it could be Poland has been source for components before, but now, that some other part is made in Poland, the whole thing get’s labeled “Made in Poland.”

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