As a courtesy to those who want to discuss the topic and those who don’t want to spend their time tidying up unhelpful noise keep it on-topic, constructive and civil.
Shit-posting is generally none of the above and particularly unhelpful in a volatile topic like this, so with respect, if you have nothing relevant to add, just allow others the opportunity have that dialogue without further timeouts.
Please review the site guidelines
This topic was automatically opened after 2 hours.
CDM published a very good summary of what’s actually changed, as well as clarifications directly from Elektron leadership: Elektron is halting sharing of mods and hacks on its forums; official comments - CDM Create Digital Music
[Edit: I think the CDM article provides really good context, but @bibenu is right — it’s not the ultimate source. The official post is here: Elektronauts: Topics and comments regarding modified firmware]
In short, you’re still allowed to modify your gear as long as you’re not breaching their intellectual property. And they’re still supportive of longstanding modding projects like Machinedrum X, whose developer has proven themselves able to provide and support a high-quality product.
There are separate arguments about whether someone SHOULD want to modify their firmware, the role that AI plays in modifications, and the social impacts of AI in general [Edit: which are off-topic]. But regardless of your stance on any of those issues, there are a few facts to keep in mind:
[Edit: deleted my opinions]
This is the definitive version of course
The best way to keep this topic open is to NOT diverge into wider arguments as you seem to be suggesting. This topic was created by mods (despite it looking like mine) because of something going off-topic and has since had 2 strongly worded moderator interventions (about going off-topic amongst other things).
Please help prevent another moderator intervention, as much as anything else so they are not overworked.
To be fair , Toneverk and Analog Rytm MK2 are devices with internal resampling capabilitys and signal generation… They did listen to our feedback here.
I wished they would interact with us a bit more frequent, and even better communication. But its more than i ever got from a differen brand.
There is a reason why we are here. I think they should capitalize on its user base. Fans are important.
I agree with @bibenu. I think it would be sensible for anyone contemplating posting here to look closely at the title of the thread and ask themselves if what they are saying really conforms to it.
[Edit: this despite my giving a like to @jrjulius above, whose post is arguably outside the lines. If every post were as carefully crafted, I might not worry. But drift is inevitably going to lead to another closure. Please try to keep that in mind.]
Very good points — edited my original post!
[pedantmode=on]
Sorry, this relates to the thread title “On Elektron’s policy on third party firmware” how exactly ?
Asking because this thread has a history of 3 mod interventions about going off-topic.
[pedantmode=off]
Might be just about time for Elektron’s firmware mod/ hack/ etc policy to get stickied to the top of the forum instead of the AI-posting rules. This thread is destined for a lock and the topic is clearly too inflammatory to be handled normally.
Apart from the risk of bricking, I wonder if people even consider the risk of losing their projects.
Let’s say you spill a beer on your device 3 years down the line when you have hundreds of hours worth of work and that magnum opus that you were just about to release… But then it turns out your backup became corrupt for whatever reason, because the hacked firmware you ran wasn’t built or tested properly for the endless scenarios that can happen with complex software like this.
Who are you going to ask for support?
ask claude how to recover it… duh
You load a hacked firmware and make some music. You can’t share the project with anyone else unless they’re running exactly the same thing. Elektron puts out an official firmware update. You want to use a new feature of theirs on a work in progress. You have to wait for the hacker to hack the new firmware also, in a way that allows upward compatibility… and they are a string of letters and numbers on some fast-moving forum, possibly long gone.
Let a thousand flowers bloom.
So far noone has really bricked their devices, the earliest days would be the worst case when everything is all up in the air due to unknowns. But it’s recoverable via midi thru sysex. I’m not going to try this out, rather just wait to see the dust settles and hope Elektron offer an update on the OT
Since some of these mods are promoted as things you swap in and out as you like, the chances of hitting that problem with your own old projects is high in some cases. (“Which mods did I have loaded when I created this project ?”)
Projects corrupted on offical releases too, or wasnt bsckwards compatible.
Backups is the answer. There is the fairphone with repairable parts available. They have a regular and a custom rom available for users intrested in a secure enviroment.
There could be a middle way between fullon on your own, and a support community.
Lets imagine terms where we and the company thrives.
Fairphone is android with google services and E OS custom rom, much more difficult to use, but more secure without constant surveilance tracking.
If we had these two channels, and its clear that version B is cutting Edge with risk, and there is Vanilla , with full support, it can work snd both have reasons to exist.
(Most trust their lives now on phones, using it with android auto/ carplay, 2 Factor, Payment solutions, society got really dependant on this thing, wouldnt be possible without trust.)
Everyone will weigh the risks and benefits based on their own situation. Some people may not care, others may keep two or three separate backups. In any case, I don’t think Elektron would be able to help with actual data recovery if both the project and the backups were lost or corrupted, so I’m not sure this particular support argument really changes much.
Why are people so concerned about what others choose to do with their own hardware?
If the genuine concern is that this trend could eventually make things worse for people who stick to official firmware, for example by flooding Elektron support with issues caused by mods or creating extra headaches for the developers, then I understand that, and I think it’s a fair point.
But the train has already left the station. So what practical solution do you actually see here to prevent that from happening, other than making fun of people who are modding their own hardware?
First of all, this is modding software, not hardware. A lot easier in many respects, and a lot easier to grab someone else’s work and flash it very quickly.
If someone chooses to poke at Elektron’s firmware, never shares their work with anyone else, takes full responsibility for any issues, I don’t care, and I don’t think Elektron does either.
The problem is with attractive nuisances: people sharing their hacks, making them look more attractive than the official versions. Then others who don’t understand the full ramifications try them out, and paint themselves into a corner, or otherwise get into trouble and blame Elektron (even subconsciously).
I think the sharing of a firmware hack alone is unethical, but there are a lot of things happening these days that I consider unethical and I know not everyone has the same views. But even if you condone that, there is a high risk of potential corrosion of the view of a product and the community around it.
The entire history of electronic music is built upon CV and then MIDI. The pros and cons of those 2 technologies is well documented. After that we moved to DSP and faster and faster CPUs that requited code to run. Whatever this moment is, all that is happening is using code to make an emulation of those 3 pillars of modern music production. Emulations only make sense if you want to save money? Or is it efficiency? It makes sense to save money and be efficient. It also makes sense to buy stuff and plug it all in to a mixer and push play
Not sure if you’re trolling but my point was about how you increase the risk of losing your work in the first place, and that you won’t even be able to ask support for the small chance of retrieval.
Not sure if everyone who might not be that technical understands what they’re getting themselves into.
No not concerned at all. You do you, have fun on the train!
We weren’t, until they started telling us about it on every bastard thread.