I would love love love love love an updated MD. Been gassing hard for one but would miss a lot of the sequencer updates we’ve been blessed with recently.
Yeah, i will never buy a synth, effects unit etc. With a touchscreen. I am writing this on an iPad and its basically a synth ecosystem with touchscreen controls. I never use it to make music because i hate using a touch screen for any more than i have to.
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Lol, made by the MIDAS team in Manchester, quality hardware and design for those who know.
No, they were being disruptive/innovative. With their long and convoluted release cycles Elektron will allow other more agile competition to steal a march on them. Customer loyalty did Nokia no good whatsoever, such is progress and a competitive market.
“books from a book store, forever”…enter Amazon!!!
Nothing special about an Elektron sequencer, it’s a basic tracker skinned as a step sequencer, clever but not special.
I belive a moog /elektron joint venture would be cool - both very innovative. I would love a mother with A4 capabilitys. Instant buy. They could call it father -.- or something, i dont mind.
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phones and synths have less in common than you imply. its honestly a silly comparison.
Hahaha, tell that to Thomas Dolby who made a millions making the GM synth installed on all Nokia and Motorola phones.
you’re really just proving my point. theres already laptops for DAW’s and VST’s and ipads and iphones for touch screen synths. why make a box that tries to be either but more limited and also more expensive?
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My comparison was Nokia missing a market shift which ultimately saw them become obsolete. Elektron are heading the same way unless they change their strategy IMHO. Elektron are looking for a new CEO. (Ad via LinkedIn) so they know some critical changes need to be made sooner rather than later.
If you don’t disrupt, then your competitors will disrupt you
to be fair their shift is already underway and started when they first dreamed of OB. build somewhat limited hardware boxes that are fully integrated with a DAW is their current direction.
Laptops and IPads etc = None made for any musical purposes, hence a Miriad of midi controllers
Theyre made to be a computer that can do anything you can think to code, including making music.
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Maybe, but not much use for anything but text editing, the mouse/GUI is designed mainly for that purpose. IOS has really taken touch control to innovative new GUI interfaces (I know you fanboys prefer clicky gameboy buttons) but just look at how good the Borderlands granular app is, stunning interface and use of XY motion control etc
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OB was a pretty disastrous commercial flop for Elektron, it was to be a paid for expansion, so late and embarrassing for customers (it stated on the boxes that they were overbridge ready, 2-3 yrs before it actually appeared) that they were forced to give it away for free.
Can you imagine Apple releasing the iPOD without any iTunes music store? Now that’s how to disrupt the market and sell hardware and software in tandem which creates a step shift and leaves your competition in your wake!
so, as musicians, we only have two options
-
Super powerful Laptop DAW and VST plugins with QWERTY KB’s (how musical is a QWERTY KB???) plus crappy controllers made to try and fit (never do)
-
Lowly spec’d (in comparison to laptops) but with bespoke firmware and controls (knob per function etc)
There’s no middle option, that’s my point…it’s not difficult now to design for the middle option, standalone dedicated hardware that can run DAW Plugins (cloud based via Subscription) Roland are almost there with Roland Cloud, they GET IT!!! (as did Amazon and Netflix)
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are you kidding me? everyone has a laptop and a lot of people are happy to work in the box exclusively. laptop is the ultimate electronic instrument, every physical synth box is a niche product in 2021. thats why elektron is doing OB and thats why the new boxes have been succesful, despite what you claim about OB being a flop. they botched the release, but if you get it working its brilliant.
you just cannot compete with a laptop, every physical box will always fall short in every way except feel and immediacy, which is where physical buttons come in. which is why the OT is such a brilliant piece of hardware, even tho its very limited specs for the year 2021.
Overbridge Cloud
a cloud based config and audio routing offering which brings all your connected Elektron devices under central management
- Sample management - push samples/packs across devices easily and from a centralised console
- Audio Management - set Audio routing between devices in one dashboard
- Midi Management - set Midi routing between devices in one dashboard
- Backups - configure and store device, pattern banks, kits and performances all in the cloud
Subscription based (pay if you want it)
If only Elektron had WiFi built in!!!
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a laptop with a QWERTY KB is a legacy device (Steve Jobs knew that when he designed the iPad)
I’m not saying its not powerful, it can be but the interface with the musician is woeful (large screen, tiny text, a non musical KB and a miniscule pointer) makes no sense whatsoever
There’s a reason Pro mixers have large throw faders and VU meters?
OT is a unique product, more likely by pure chance than by design. As a sampler there are better out there, as a mixer, there are better out there, as a sequencer, there are better out there. but there’s no other competitor out there, thats why it’s popular. It’s a gap filler product, not innovative in any way because all those devices already exist. It does them all, in a limited way in one box, thats whats unique about it. It works for minimal live setups on a table.
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I’ll believe that Elektron is doomed when they release a device with a touch screen. Their whole niche is musicians who want to avoid all that. It’s not like we’re ignorant of the power of iOS synths or anything, it’s a deliberate choice.
From a commercial POV, I can see a new CEO coming in from Starbucks or something and saying, ‘hey, why do we limit ourselves to this geeky niche when all the kids are making beats on their phones? Let’s become an app company!’ But then there’s no reason for the company to exist - the institutional knowledge, the passion and expertise are all directed at standalone, high-quality, reasonably complex hardware instruments. Yes, it’s not a huge market, so the potential for growth is limited, but that’s what the company is.
Inane ideas about ‘total addressable market’ are absolute poison to quality and imagination. This is why people worry when they see private equity companies have taken over manufacturers they like…
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Octatrack users will be displeased.