Will there be an update for the Digitakt MKI?

Mister_Wood · 2024-04-30T15:20:38.224Z

The thanks is several years of excellent, unexpected and totally free updates - your statement is true for any successful bit of gear, DT users aren’t special.

the_duckchild · 2024-04-30T15:25:59.174Z

Imagine if you bought DT1 within the past 12 months, while you are not OWED any updates, it would seem fair to me to be miffed if that was it for the machine.

So I bought easily seven hundred quids worth of drum machine, sampler and sequencer for seven hundred quid and… wait, what am I miffed about?

The logical follow through on this is that we’re all still using the first thing each synth company made, because bringing out new things would have upset their original users!

the_duckchild · 2024-04-30T15:28:53.956Z

erm, they made a really good drum machine. Because it was good, a lot of people bought it.
They didn’t buy it to make Elektron bigger, they bought it because they wanted a really good drum machine.

this whole discourse is literally BONKERS.

Unless by complaining we make it so they send all DT1 owners a new DT2, in which case, well done guys, carry on.

pandanaut · 2024-04-30T16:21:03.704Z

I feel like some of my point got lost in translation. I don’t think anyone is entitled to anything.
I’m just saying that the Elektron model up until literally right now has been that older mk1 machines are still being updated (see AR euclidean mode last year).
It just felt jarring to go from that to, “here’s a v2 of your machine but you’re no longer getting updates”. That’s all. No need to go tribal over this.

DaveMech · 2024-04-30T16:22:34.565Z

DT2 is not a mk2 though…

DT1 is simply more or less maxed out. And because they wanted to continue developing it, they released the 2. I think your point is quite clear , but it completely ignores the fact how much DT1 has already been developed. It has gotten the most attention by far in terms of updates in the last 6 years.

Lieder · 2024-04-30T16:30:47.495Z

I just recently learned of the proper routing options for the comp on DT2 that makes classic pumping side chain finally possible.
To DaveMech’s point, the DT1 may indeed be maxed out but if they could add the comp routing option to the DT1… well that would be a grand day.
The OT was long thought to be maxed too but we did get probability and a few other things so fingers officially crossed.

bwo · 2024-04-30T16:32:33.723Z

I do think there is a sort of weirdness in the price hikes on DT 1 so close to the release of a replacement product. Seems like they could have just let it ride out. Kinda feel for anyone who dropped 800 on one. I almost feel like they did it to not shock people with DT2 price jump.

avantronica · 2024-04-30T16:35:53.547Z

Seeing an update would be better than 50/50 imho, what that will be who knows … it may be optimisation or QOL stuff or a synergy across boxes where possible in terms of UX and menus

What is regrettable about the heat emanating from the post which has gained attention is that it was unrealistic to imagine that any improvements would or could be made to this fundamentally new hardware, possibly built on a new system under the hood.

There shouldn’t have been any expectation of updates or hints to DT1 as DT2 is not even finished yet… There’s still OB etc to get released.

I like this aphorism, it keeps my frustrations in check…

Expectation is a prison

I do hope that there is a qol update to the OG DT, I think there will be, but I wouldn’t expect it at least not soon. I think Og DT is something I appreciate more following getting into the DT2 … I can’t stand the way it looks, but I will use it more now, not less. So I’m hoping it gets synergized to some extent. They have a track record of doing so, but this may be a trickier transition if the units are built on different foundations , but I don’t know if that’s just rumour

DT1 is 80+% of a DT2 for my needs so it’s still useful to me. Updates can take ages, I have long abandoned watching for them, that’s a road to frustration. Let’s see a civil chat on this in any case, there were a few flags expressing concern it was getting fractious a bit, seems okay

Scyphozoa · 2024-04-30T16:51:00.427Z

pandanaut:

Imagine if you bought DT1 within the past 12 months, while you are not OWED any updates, it would seem fair to me to be miffed if that was it for the machine.

My Digitakt is 14 months old, which is probably close enough to count.

When I bought it, I knew the box was already six years old, had received some significant updates over its life up to that point, and that many features people requested were not likely to happen because the DSP was at its limit.

I did kind of rush into it, because they had announced the price was going up.

There were maybe some limitations I was not fully aware of when I bought it, and there are some features which do seem feasible for it that I’d like to see added, if possible (e.g. page jump/loop, euclidean sequencing).

But I’m not mad that they released a new device after seven years.
It doesn’t change anything about the box I already have, and I’d understand if that’s the end for DT updates.

.

Where I might be annoyed is if I had paid over-the-odds for an e25 edition six months ago.
I think it’s a cool limited edition, but I can’t help feeling it was a way to clear stock.

I’m not too happy about the way Elektron generally seems to handle messaging around products going EOL to be honest.
They just seem to go quiet about it, and let stock disappear from stores.

I would have bought a Digitone Keys instead of a Digitone, if I knew they were out of production at that point.
And I can’t help feeling that the Models are currently on the way out. They’ve not seen an update in a very long time, and I’ve heard rumors that everything in stores is just remaining stock.

I’m also left with some concerns about what this means for Syntakt.
It feels too new to be getting replaced any time soon; but it hasn’t really seen any updates - and as I understand it, it’s the last box on the old platform.
It’s still a great box, but feels like it’s in an odd place to have the new design language but the old layout/interface and sequencing capabilities.

bibenu · 2024-04-30T17:13:08.890Z

Scyphozoa:

I’m not too happy about the way Elektron generally seems to handle messaging around products going EOL to be honest.
They just seem to go quiet about it, and let stock disappear from stores.

If they did announce it while retailers still had stock, then the perceived value would drop, sales of those units would stop, and retailers would be stuck with stock they couldn’t sell, or would have to sell at a loss. It would mess up Elektron’s relationship with retailers.

lowph · 2024-04-30T17:18:11.356Z

In most (all?) places in the world, there were major supply chain challenges and high inflation in recent years. I wouldn’t be surprised if it cost Elektron more to produce the Digitakt – just a guess, because I know nothing of their finances. All I know is that everything got expensive in recent years: rent, potatoes, clothing, Digitakts, etc

Scyphozoa · 2024-04-30T18:28:31.989Z

bibenu:

If they did announce it while retailers still had stock, then the perceived value would drop, sales of those units would stop, and retailers would be stuck with stock they couldn’t sell, or would have to sell at a loss. It would mess up Elektron’s relationship with retailers.

Yeah, there’s no easy way to handle it - especially if the plan is to replace it with a successor.

When they discontinued the Machinedrum and Monomachine they announced one final batch for order, but that was also a very long time ago.
I was thinking more along the lines of announcing that the Digitakt was being discontinued, and that they would be releasing a limited edition to commemorate that.

I’m more annoyed that I passed on a Digitone Keys though, as I was really torn over which one to get - and decided I could buy the regular one and upgrade later, not knowing that they had already stopped production by that point.

QBass · 2024-05-01T06:34:10.590Z

I don’t know if there will be any and don’t know whether the CPU is maxed out - that was never stated officially as far as I know… But I think some sort of matching of the sequencer functionality is quite reasonable to expect. I mean the new conditions, page loop and maybe even the euclidean mode (it was already introduced to AR which share some DNA with DT OG…). Because I think if these kind of workflow improvements would be unified across the units it would not cannibalize the sales of DT2 but rather support sales of the other units. Even now, with the quite common combo of DT and DN, if one already have the new Digitakt, I can imagine it can be confusing - I can do this here, but I can’t there… (not sure if I express it comprehensibly).
Other than this If there will be any update for DT OG I would like to see the filter keytracking back ported. Don’t think this should be CPU heavy. Even better would be the keytracking as mod source generally.
And the loop crossfading for both - DT2 and DT OG. It is one of basic techniques since the beginnings of sampling. It is shame it wasn’t already implemented - I almost don’t use the sample looping functionality because of this…
And… OK, I will stay reasonable. (And I will buy DT2 later anyway, just can’t afford it right now, because I would like to keep the OG as well)

ZiekeFons · 2024-05-01T06:38:54.202Z

16 levels please

bibenu · 2024-05-01T06:58:54.293Z

QBass:

I think some sort of matching of the sequencer functionality is quite reasonable to expect

Okay, I totally understand that’s what you would like to happen to DT1

But honestly, I don’t think we have any idea what is reasonable. We have no idea how much effort Elektron would need to expend to make that happen, and what payback they might get from that effort and expenditure. If they really have decided never to manufacture DT1 again, that payback might be negligible.

QBass:

if these kind of workflow improvements would be unified across the units it would not cannibalize the sales of DT2 but rather support sales of the other units.

That’s reasonable to hope for (rather than expect) on everything else besides the DT1, yes. But going a bit OT for this thread.

rtme · 2024-05-01T07:13:45.043Z

bibenu:

We have no idea how much effort Elektron would need to expend to make that happen, and what payback they might get from that effort and expenditure. If they really have decided never to manufacture DT1 again, that payback might be negligible.

And as far as I can understand, the DT2 is built on a completely new platform, probably with a new SDK, even programming language maybe (rust)? It would explain the insane amount of features introduced with the DT2: A much more streamlined and modern development environment.

And if this is the case it would take an inmense effort to backport new functionality to the DTOG (Basically a rewrite for any feature).

bibenu · 2024-05-01T07:31:27.339Z

rtme:

it would take an inmense effort to backport new functionality to the DTOG

That was the kind of thing I was trying to express, yes. OTOH, firmware 1.50 for DT1 was a radical introduction of new features, so it’s not like that firmware is legacy code that can’t be touched … but all the same, we don’t know how much effort it took … that effort may well have been immense.

QBass · 2024-05-01T08:43:16.231Z

I don’t really expect anything. I have DT for maybe 4 years, so I was pleasantly suprised by all those updates on the way. I like it as is, though there is still a little hope for the mentioned filter keytracking and sample looping…
Maybe I put it too complicated for the first time. This is highly speculative thread - my previous post was meant with big “IF”. I understand the new machine works with different guts and probably coded in different way. I was trying to say that those sound processing upgrades (more filters, more LFOs, more tracks, more effects…) are surely reserved for DT2 while the sequencing tools could be possible.

krunchr · 2024-05-01T09:57:42.598Z

I still hope for these two things:

Fix for the bpm-related sampling bug
Sampling start with play button

That’s all.

Mister_Wood · 2024-05-01T10:58:43.163Z

Nobody said there wasn’t going to be more updates, though.