OT delivery/production time?

Accent · 2014-02-11T00:25:09.000Z

Well, wtf??? So I contacted Elektron on Thursday about when they expected more OTs, and heard back early Friday that it would be “next week”.

Today, I get an email from JRR that it will be 5 weeks due to “an unforeseen delay in our stocking department”. So I’m not sure if that means Elektron is held up, or if they are sending fewer OTs to JRRShop. But waiting 9 weeks from purchase date makes me wish I’d just bought one used.

StinkyBeat · 2014-02-11T00:36:40.000Z

""Accent"":

Well, wtf??? So I contacted Elektron on Thursday about when they expected more OTs, and heard back early Friday that it would be “next week”.

Today, I get an email from JRR that it will be 5 weeks due to “an unforeseen delay in our stocking department”. So I’m not sure if that means Elektron is held up, or if they are sending fewer OTs to JRRShop. But waiting 9 weeks from purchase date makes me wish I’d just bought one used.

Ouch! 9 weeks is way too long.

KrisM · 2014-02-11T00:36:50.000Z

""Accent"":

Well, wtf??? So I contacted Elektron on Thursday about when they expected more OTs, and heard back early Friday that it would be “next week”.

Today, I get an email from JRR that it will be 5 weeks due to “an unforeseen delay in our stocking department”. So I’m not sure if that means Elektron is held up, or if they are sending fewer OTs to JRRShop. But waiting 9 weeks from purchase date makes me wish I’d just bought one used.

I know JRR is a smaller operation, but taking five weeks further than you’ve already waited for Elektron to get them some Octatracks to fulfill orders? Ouch

Still waiting for Jon to tell me what was up with my MnM and the 2013 week 30 build date, after sending over a pic of the bar code. He was all quick on the responses until I sent that pic lol, hopefully that means they’re furiously assembling OTs to get them to everyone

Accent · 2014-02-11T02:04:18.000Z

Yeah, I’m really bummed. I’ve been checking my email like a fiend, hoping I’d see notice that it had shipped. I sold a bunch of gear to buy it too, things I could have used in all that time, and I was really hoping to have gotten a good feel for it by summer.

Makes me wonder if Elektron have overshot things a bit by releasing the AK and AR so close together, or if they are just shipping fewer units to JRR. I’m not sure if I should try for a refund and go with a different retailer (this is my first dealing with them), but I got it at a good price and I’d like to save the money too.

theSkeve · 2014-02-11T03:30:27.000Z

just wanted to chime in and say i bought my OT from JRR shop. it took a while before I got it (i want to say 4-5 weeks) but it was 100% worth it and they were great to deal with. got an amazing price and it came with 16gb card. I would easily buy from them again (and plan on it)

i would imagine that Elektron is very busy with everything they’re doing…especially the Keys and the Rytm.

perhaps try and find another retailer that has one in stock…but I would make sure you 100% confirm that place has it in stock before you cancel your order with JRR shop.

it really really sucks to wait. I had my doubts about JRR as well as i was waiting. but they came through and my fears were unfounded.

goodluck

Accent · 2014-02-11T22:40:58.000Z

I called JRR today and spoke with TJ, who then called Elektron-twice. He called me back a few hours later, and said that he thinks Elektron are avoiding his calls. His theory is that Elektron holds back their machines for direct sale, and prioritizes bigger retailers-they have told him before that they can’t split up shipments. So Guitar Center gets a bunch of stock for potential sales, while a smaller company like JRR gets shafted, despite having customers who have already paid.

I also contacted Sweetwater to inquire about their stock, and they said about half their OT order is pre-orders and the rest are still available, which seems to confirm what JRR has said.

This is in poor form, Elektron. You are essentially punishing both the customer and the retailer here (JRR told me they have had a bunch of cancelled orders already today). I love your products, but this sours me against the business side of things. A nine or ten week wait is totally unacceptable here when you are shipping unsold units to other distributors. I hope they make this right. I’ve purchased my other Elektrons new in part because I’d like to support the company, but I may go used from now on as a result.

KrisM · 2014-02-11T23:26:51.000Z

That’s really fucked if it’s the case, Accent, though I can see Elektron’s side of things, too. Companies like GC and Sweetwater can afford to pay the the large payments a hefty order of Elektrons would cost.

however, that’s a bitter as hell pill for any customer when you’re the one waiting on something you paid for and a reseller can’t get stock because the bigger companies keep buying it all first

I think if people have already paid Elektron should make it a priority to ship to those retailers with outstanding orders.

Accent · 2014-02-11T23:51:25.000Z

Yeah, I can’t fault them entirely for giving preference to the larger retailers, but not allocating enough stock to supply pre-orders to the smaller sellers is upsetting. I’ve paid my money, and I’ve waited patiently. If they are doing this with this shipment, what’s to prevent them from delaying it further in order to send more batches to the big boys? 2.5 months is plenty long enough.

Area303 · 2014-02-12T10:50:23.000Z

Buy used.

pulsefrequenz · 2014-02-12T12:21:12.000Z

4-5 weeks? hell…

Have the same issue in Germany. Availability at Musicstore was updated from 31.01 to 15.02 to 21.02… They are - in fact - a big german dealer. So i think its not only an issue of retailer size, but also on elektron capacities. Hoepfully this does not affect the quality of building.

a friend shot a OT on ebay for 800, 10 days after me and is now playing it for a week .-(…

seems i will have some fun with my prophet 08 and modular system in the meantime and expect the OT to come someday in march.

Jon · 2014-02-12T14:34:03.000Z

Yes, the Octatrack will be out of stock for a limited period of time. We have sold more than anticipated and have thus needed to increase the Octatrack order from our factory. Problem is that lead times for parts/components are quite long. It might take up to 6 weeks before we can start delivering Octatracks again. Sorry about this.

What isn’t true though is that we sell units in our own shop while not serving retailers. AS you might have noticed, the Octatrack is listed as out of stock in the Elektron Online Shop. It is also not true that certain dealers are prioritized. Bigger retailers usually place really big orders, meaning they have a healthy stock. If they place that order in times of availability, they will most likely still have units in times such as these.

virtual_flannel · 2014-02-12T15:11:43.000Z

Cats be buyin’ up Octatracks!!!

Just bought a used one off the forum here. (it’s my second go around with the Octa, first one was new).

Not going to let this one go!!!

I hope that you all find Octa’s soon, and for my sake they don’t release an MK2 in 6 weeks with CF replace by 16 GB of internal memory!

brunatius · 2014-02-12T18:00:36.000Z

""KrisM"":

That’s really fucked if it’s the case, Accent, though I can see Elektron’s side of things, too. Companies like GC and Sweetwater can afford to pay the the large payments a hefty order of Elektrons would cost.

however, that’s a bitter as hell pill for any customer when you’re the one waiting on something you paid for and a reseller can’t get stock because the bigger companies keep buying it all first

I think if people have already paid Elektron should make it a priority to ship to those retailers with outstanding orders.

Jrrshop also reports false delivery times when you order. Just look at what they say now given what they know.
The business model of jrr vs GC/Sweetwater is different. The latter order big ammounts and have a real stock. smaller places like jrr tend to order very close to pre-orders or tight estimates.
I’ve ordered from jrr in the past since you can usually get a nice discount but that comes at a cost… now, I wonder if you can get GC / Sweetwater to price match jrr final price ?

dust_ward · 2014-02-12T19:40:01.000Z

I picked mine up from control voltage in Portland, it took a little over a month between when I paid for it and when it showed up which i kind of chalked up to ordering during the build up to NAMM.

FWIW I think they may still have one or two in stock so if you’re on the hunt it may be worth hitting them up. I don’t know what their shipping is like but they’re a real small store so I’m sure they’d love the business.

pulsefrequenz · 2014-02-12T20:34:24.000Z

Hi Jon,

ok. Good to know. So now we have at least an idea of when to expect the gear.

Can you still give us a hint, when you start delivering, so we can backcheck with our store?

Best
Markus

KrisM · 2014-02-12T21:30:26.000Z

Well there we go, thanks Jon.

quadrica · 2014-02-12T22:35:04.000Z

Helsinki: In stock!

Accent · 2014-02-13T04:00:09.000Z

Thanks for the update Jon. I’ll stop my bitching and either order elsewhere or suck it up. It’s disheartening, but I have some real life things to attend to anyhow, so maybe it’s better not to dive into the OT for a bit longer.

pulsefrequenz · 2014-02-13T12:50:07.000Z

Yes. Got a delivery message. Seems that music store germany has octatracks for anybody, who is interested.

UPS comes from france. maybe they bought a france stock somehow

KrisM · 2014-02-13T22:04:45.000Z

My MnM that I ordered on Dec 4th, that JRR told me they received from Elektron on Dec 24th, was assembled in October of 2013 according to the sticker on it and on the box. In late November and early December we received a newsletter talking about Monomachines being back in stock.

So, yeah. Where is Elektron’s factory? Does “made in Sweden” mean they just took in a bunch of preassembled boards and cases and put it together into a completed Monomachine? I thought I read that somewhere, so maybe my MnM’s guts were made in October and got to Sweden in December.