Elektron said that they love it when people write tools for their devices – and why wouldn’t they
The list of feature requests I alone can think of regarding e.g. pattern editing is quite long, I could not expect Elektron to implement all of these.
Now think of the feature requests that thousands of users may have…
IMHO, the best thing that Elektron could do would be to open up their devices to the outside world as much as possible.
That would mean a comprehensive sysex implementation and documentation, and full remote-controllability.
This should work in both directions, e.g. use the AR to control a 3rd party software, or use a 3rd party software to remote-control the AR.
If this is done properly, 3rd parties could develop editors that extend the feature set in all kinds of directions.
Imagine a tablet or notebook running a 3rd party software that let’s you see and edit all tracks of an entire pattern at once in realtime, i.e. when you edit something on the AR, the editor running on the device with the big screen is updated immediately, and vice cersa, if you make changes via the 3rd party editor, the AR is updated immediately.
3rd party software could also be used for all kinds of exotic/unusual things like creating delay triggers (a la MIDI delay), algorithmically generate patterns, polyrhythmically modulate p-locks, reverse, shift and transpose tracks/patterns, import other song/pattern formats, …
This would be absolutely amazing!
Sure, I bought the AR to get away from the “PC” but the reasons for that are not that I dislike big displays but rather that I enjoy pressing real buttons and using a hardware interface that is designed for a very specific purpose.
The AR firmware should (and does) support the most commonly used editing functions but why shouldn’t it be possible to use 3rd party software for unusual features, or to prepare patterns/kits, then use them in a live performance without a PC/tablet/notebook attached.
The AR has a very good interface (teething troubles aside), but Elektron cannot implement all possible non-live editing features themselves, so they should open the device for 3rd party devs!