Update Analog Rytm MK2

[avantronica]

There will be an update imho, but it's anybody's guess when

This won’t satiate the discontented, but try to enjoy what you have in the faith that something will arrive. It always does. It’s patently clear that at the very least the analogs are due a few consistency upgrades in line with the family. That will be (pre)scheduled to happen at some point, around that time they will likely have some ideas in hand including the desire to satisfy the main requests. That doesn’t mean they can deliver everything that people think is easy, I just have the faith that in time there will be some qol updates and maybe some nice touches.

Comparing update cycles against other devices is a sure way to upset yourself and will in no way affect their broad brush scheduling imho. There’s far more to delivering these than most can imagine and look how quickly we have started to forget the impact of COVID and all the other global factors.

Some of the tone/language used in this topic dismays me (probably Elektron staff too) and it’s mostly wasted energy imho… look at the track record, they take care of their devices over a decent lifetime.

Not trying to sound patronising, but I learned a long time ago along this path to expect nothing and be patient. Don’t buy on release and buy for what you see at the time of purchase.

Of course there’s more to it now with support for OB and the likes, there is a degree of expectation of supporting fixes if reqd, but I don’t think people are doing themselves any favours by berating Elektron … it must be soul destroying to read their customers complaining that it’s a huge fuck you to product 3 owners because product 2 and 4 had updates recently.

Given the unreachable level of expectation it’s no surprise that they don’t promise anything in advance now. Have some faith and enjoy what you have or buy more wisely in the future. I only just bought myself a DT as I decided it was finally the right time. You can’t think of these purchases like they’re stocks and shares, you have to be able to write them off imho otherwise they’ll suck the creativity out if you through being consumed with their failings. Bugs are a different matter, I have been in a foul mood for about 10 years with one on the A4 and I know it pisses me off and affects my gravitation towards it at times, but I stil have hope and it gets me nowhere by being narked with it anyway. It’s meant to be a creative outlet after all, you have to reframe how you connect with it.

YMMV of course and venting may help but I doubt it sways a business that much especially with ever more products to support in a changing marketplace. I think an update is reasonable to hope for and probably to expect some time before 2024 … that would be how I would gauge things with genuinely zero insights except for looking backwards

The best thing you can probably do is support them along the way and hope they come good on the updates front, but YMMV … put another way, if their community forum is full of moaning do you think it’s gonna hold their attention as much as an engaged positive community

The buck stops with them so you ultimately have to let them make all the decisions, they’re obviouly not taking any of this lightly, it’s obviously in their interests to keep customers sweet and that implicitly necessitates being a successful business

[Bunte_Panther]

sooooon

[sir-vector]

To state the obvious: I’d really like to have the new sample modes from the Digitakt (somewhat realistic) as well as the digital machines from the Syntakt (rather unrealistic) on the Rytm!

[avantronica]

This topic seems more about prospects than specifics, but your specifics seem fair.

So in that regard, be sure to put your suggestions in the actual Feature Request topic or direct to Elektron via the email linked there too.

I’d imagine that something along those lines will be on the cards, but given tracks already have machines there might be other aspects to factor in which should temper any expectations.

I expect if there is a good way to do it elegantly it’s a strong possibility, but it’s an Analog machine first and foremost so it’s not a given by any stretch.

[aortan]

I can has werp plz

[Bunte_Panther]

in the meanwhile…

Still no cupholders? WTF ELEKTRON!

Another Wednesday goes by, another week with no cupholders update. WHAT THE FUCK!? Is it too much to ask that Elektron add a feature that so many customers want and need? What’s worse is Elektron haven’t even addressed the issue. How hard could it be to publish some sort of road map for when they plan to add cupholders? Not doing so is basically telling all their customers to eat shit. This is the worst kind of profiteering captialist bullshit, letting me buy a bunch of gear in the expectati…

[holofonze]

Now that its been 2 and a half years since the last analog mk2 firmware updates, seeing how they handled the new heat+fx got me thinking. Since Elektron has repurposed the same exact enclosures with button placements, knobs, ports etc on two products in a row (Syntakt, Heat+FX).
I wonder if they are just planning on doing brand new Rytm and A4 models next in their same cases, just with upgraded internals and features instead of anymore firmware updates for the existing versions due to lack of processing power to accommodate anymore major updates.
Since they didn’t add any extra buttons/encoders to the new heat, while giving it many more features, it’s possible they are doing the same for the analogs soon (and maybe new overbridge octa successor). Just a thought, even though of course I still hope for at least one more feature update to the analog mk2s before they are retired/replaced with something else.

[klang]

Pls update for mk2

[Riuozami]

Yeah they could easily release an AR+

[Perseus_Traxx]

a bug fix on the master out issues would be good, and maybe a way to modify the envelope of a tone being choked just to prevent clicking when something is cut short

[Dopplgngr]

AR+ with stereo sampling = instant buy

In grey again = immediate instant instant buy

[Monobear]

Whatever they are cooking in their kitchen. I don´t care if you call it lost focus or another funny line. since all those guys got fired or left or whatever you saw a shift in marketing. those product videos became more colorful and more boring and more play here and play there. In the same time price increase and a few products that are not really that kreativ because they simply recycle old stuff. But the really old stuff peaple are longing for they are not willing to add, maybe as legacy machines to the syntakt. Now they bring the Heat MK2 + FX. People seem to go crazy, it´s already sold out. They seem to try to push for Teenage Karma. Expensive Stuff, no Innovation at all. But somehow it feels this way.
If the rytm will be NO1 and the high Price should in any way reflect the capabilities of course there not only should be an Firmware Update that fixes all the Sample Stuff like the resolution.
The Pads should be Top Notch, It should have more Memory and a Card, It should have Analog and Digital Machines like Syntakt (why should the Flagship be lesser?)

And this all are in no way any dream wishes. Why should this thing be lesser capable than Syntakt given it´s mega high price. There was not that much of an Update from mk1 to mk2, so it´s dated.
But my concern is, that Elektron is not interessted in building THE NO1 Drum Machine anymore. They never really saw the need for real good pads. Sampling was a little Bonus.

[JohnnyEgo]

one of the developers (not kristian) worked on the Syntakt and now on the Heat +

he’s stating that the technology of the Heat is now a few years old and it was time to refresh the Unit, but that could‘ve been also just a firmware update because it’s all digital.

this mindset of yeah, our product is now old let’s put the same set of components and re label the box into a new sales offensive is really boring…

this leads to the conclusion that there will be a + line for the near future…

maybe a Rytm + with LFOs AND fx block
Analog Four + with more Voices

[Omar]

Analog Five…

[Riuozami]

Of course…

[Sleepyhead]

If they really made a + or mk3 version I’d be very enthousiastic and buy instantly if it sounds equally great and they add more than the things that are ‘missing’ from the mk2 IMHO. Like the things mentioned above, like a memory card, better pads, stereo sampling, audio tracks etc.

I dont feel like we as users deserve an update to the mk2, but I feel like this amazing machine deserves an update. I use it daily as the centerpiece to my beatmaking, and it is very close to the perfect machine to me: great sound, great workflow, very inspiring functions, and enough experimental stuff to make you find new ways to make music even after years of using it. The AR feel like a flagship in that it has parts of all the other machines (sequencing, sampling, analog synthesis, analog distortion) which, in combination, make it the ultimate elektron machine in my opinion. It just has these weird things which take away from its greatness without there being a logical explanation for it.

-The pads are sensitive as hell when in mute mode, but require an abnormal (and harmfull?) amount of force when playing them. This makes it feel like it’s handicapped.
-The compressor lost its gain reduction meter in an update somehow?
-There’s multiple workarounds for finetuning sample start/end and other parameters, but you can’t just set it with the parameter itself.
-You can retrigger the filter env and the lfo, but somehow not the amp env, which seems to me to be the one you’d want to retrigger the most, as it’s the logical way to get rid of clicks.
-There’s a chromatic mode, but not a 12 level velocity mode, even though velocity can be used to modify any other parameter (including tune), so this simple function would add an enormous ammount of posibilities.

These things feel to me like missed oportunities which would make the AR a god-tier machine, and I really hope they find time to make an update for this amazing machine before they start working on a mk3 version!

[Monobear]

Don‘t forget digital machines. The Flagship should at least compare to Syntakt capabilities in my opinion. The Rytm would really benefit.

[natehorn]

Whatever they do I hope they put it back into a rectangular box! I have nothing against the new form factor in isolation but it kind of bugs me that they’re different to all the other boxes. I like tesselation

[Monobear]

I am with you. Octatrack Formfactor!

It looks like a Star Trek Control Surface with those curves and the angle. Also its to bulky with the plus of real estate compared to the octatrack. And it‘s all for the Pads, which as we all know are not good. For what they are used they could be way smaller. Mk1 style.

[android]

I’d like larger pads closer together and obviously more sensitive so I don’t have to jack hammer them. Regardless a software update would be most excellent!