76 thoughts on “Elektron Announces Analog Four MKII, Analog Rytm MKII”

1. annnnnd no CV out on the RYTM…

   I hate to say, but I think we’ve reached a paragon as far as what can be done with analog hardware…

   1. It has CV out. So does the original. It was patched in 1.30. There is an impulse sound engine which basically turns any of the sound engines into CV out and can be inverted too.

      1. it is a sampler and has individual outs so u can send gate or tigers but I’m assuming you loose whatever sounds your using then. don’t have one. not being fimiliate with this I’m not sure what cv out would be other then for sequencing gates and triggers.

   2. The limitations of analogue synthesizers are inherently built in, and thus any advancements will be incremental at best. Someday this debate of analogue vs digital will end, and digital will lead the way as the sonic richness of analogue, real or perceived, will vanish as digital technology is already powerful enough to duplicate and exceed the analogue domain.

      1. I have yet to hear a digital synth that sounds as good as analog. Sorry, digital is still far behind the sound and feel of analog oscillators and filter. I wish it did. VSTs don’t have the hands on immediacy either. Sure, you can program knobs on a midi keyboard, but it’s still not quite there

         1. good is subjective. i would argue the 002 sounds a lot better than most analog synths, but at the end of the day, it comes down to taste and preferred genre.

         2. Your comments (‘digital is still far behind the sound and feel of analog oscillators and filter’) suggest that your concept of synthesis is limited to traditional subtractive synthesis.

            If that’s what floats your boat, ok.

            But you should really familiarize yourself with a few great digital synths – like the Waldorf Microwave, the Prophet VS, the Kawai K5000, the Korg Wavestation, the Haken Continuum, Moog Animoog, the Synclavier, the Yamaha SY85, the Nord Modular or Absynth. All of them sound fantastic and can do things that no analog synth can do.

            Why would you want to limit yourself to just analog subtractive synthesis? That’s like limiting yourself to cooking with salt and pepper, instead of using all the types of spices that you’ve got in your kitchen. It’s a recipe for boredom.

         3. This old tired debate again? There’s not even a clear distinction between “analog” and “digital”, by strict definition an ‘analog delay pedal’ is about as analog as a PS4….and a DX7 is a ‘digital’ keyboard with no D/A converters! Instruments are just tools, this technology or that it doesn’t matter.
            Great musicians and producers will make great music with terrible gear and bad musicians/producers will make terrible music with great gear. The tone is in the fingers!

      2. synet

      3. Quality, perfection, better, worse… Somebody just likes analog devices, thats all… Talented musician can use any kind of instrument to extract right sounds.

      4. Or not.

   3. No nothing out on the Rytm…. again

2. Overpriced upgrades for people who will buy anything. Elektron are exploiting their customers’ lack of restraint.

   1. successful business model since 1998…

   2. Dam right. Need a napkin for all this drool.

   3. Any company that puts out the same piece of electronics gear for more than a couple of years WITHOUT making updates is milking their customers.

      1. How dare they upgrade their gear? I have never bought anything Elektron, and the new Rytm was going to be my first, but after reading your comment I decided that these shrewd business tactics just cannot be tolerated. I remember when Apple did this with the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4S. I threw all my Apple products away and never looked back. Now I use a flip phone, borrow the phones of others and write letters longhand. Mannnnnn… quit complaining. If you don’t want it, it’s simple, don’t get it!

3. “Reworked analog circuitry, designed to deliver very deep and defined bass”

   lol

4. what kind of sample slicing facilities do you get for $1500 bucks?

   1. This is something I would love to know as well. And are we still limited to 127 individual slices for a sample that are not movable start/stop points?

      And Other than Song Mode and Individual outs how is this much better than the Digitakt?

      I never ever used the sound engines in my Rytm as they always sounded weak to me (only used samples) , so I and sold it and got the Digitakt instead.

   2. You get an MPC live for 1200. All the slicing you need but no analog synthesis. Thats the rub, some products do this, others do that. Like lawnmowers vs weed wackers. Maybe by 2017, they will make a lawn wacker but until then, you have to slice on other machines. The addition of sampling will make the transfer alot more reasonable. Slice here, transfer there or just slice here and stay here. Your choice.

      1. I have an MPC Live and Analog Rytm MKI, and much to your point, they are complementary rather than rivals. Nothing does everything, but these are nice enhancements to the A4 and AR overall. That said, I’m having a hard time with the new design, maybe it will grow on me, but right now they look like high end Electribe 2 modules, and that’s not a complement…

   3. It’s not a computer/DAW. There are limitations, it is up to you to exploit them to the best of your abilities. Get creative with your sampling, isn’t that part of the fun of hardware?

5. Overbridge Premium BS again. Not cool. They better not restrict MKI models with a firmware update so have to use Premium, essentially losing functionality they already had.

   1. They’d be breaking a fuck load of promises if they did. Do they have the balls? We’ll have to wait and see

      1. fans will dig it. like they used to dig Apple removing features.

   2. They won’t. MkI owner will have access to OB Premium for free until the hardware dies.

6. Lack of individual outs on the A4 is actually the thing that stopped me from buying the mk1 so this is good news to me.

   1. Ya, I sold mine and am waiting on a good price one the analog keys for that same reason. So maybe ill hold out longer to get the individual outs.

   2. Beware of the individual outs. It was a big reason I originally bought the Analog Keys but unfortunately the way the voice routing is set up it’s kind of rendered useless if you want to use all four voices. Overbridge is the best option for splitting up the voices properly. I’m hoping they changed it in this version but just do research beforehand.

      1. Could you expand a little on this? Individual outs is my primary interest in the MKII and they are advertised as each being stereo. What’s the limiting factor of the individual outs on the Analog Keys?

         1. He might be referring to the individual outs are not affected by the fx, just like on the machinedrum.

            1. I wonder if in this case the main outs could be used independently for material fed through the inputs and FX track while leaving the individual outs dry? Or perhaps the FX can be applied over all 4 individual stereo outs on the MKII? Now that I think about it, it seems somewhat excessive to have 4 stereo individual outputs on the MKII if the internal FX cannot be applied to them. Granted, it gives more flexibility once outside the machine but my thinking is that maybe Elektron went with stereo individual outs to take advantage of the FX track. I’m going to have to head on over to Elektronauts and do some digging.

         2. If you always use it as four monosynths, never any form of polyphony, the individual outs are straightforward. If you make kits that sometimes have polyphonic sounds, the voice routing gets real confusing real quick. They all are stereo outs, which means that if you use the internal EFX (and you will), that you’ll be using 10 inputs on your mixer or interface. Also, if you’re using it live, and have all the individual outs going to different mixer channels, what if on one sequence you use the first track for kick, the next sequence it’s a pad, the third it’s a hi-hat, and the fourth it’s a bass line. Are you going to mess with your EQ and AUX sends with each sequence? The separation of the EFX from the individual sounds is also a bit strange in practice.

            The individual outs on the Analog Keys was a big selling point for me…I’ve tried to integrate them many different times, but in the end just end up using the main outs, and Overbridge when I want to track separately.

      2. This. When you go from patch to patch that may have some 2 “channel” voices then to a patch that has all mono, etc you basically have to fucking retire your mixer because you can’t specify which outputs are tied to which voices! Should have gotten the A4.

         And overbridge sucks goat balls on widows. At least as far as the “sound card” part goes…

7. For someone interested in elektron gear but doesn’t own any, this all seems like pretty good news. I applaud UI improvements like this. It may seem to some like a bullshit move. If all they did was change the color I would see plenty of reason to complain. But to go back and make reasonable usablility improvements is cool.

8. I feel these upgrades are mostly cost related for Elektron. Must be much cheaper to make all boxes use the same buttons. But enough of “new” and shiny, when do we get the Sedectrack?

9. Wow, that came way quicker than I thought! Looks fresh, good features added, what not to love. Prices for second hand A4 MK1 dropped from 1200 to 800 Euro within minutes, so it’s great news for guys on a budget like me too.

10. Great time to snap up the better looking and just as good sounding MK 1

11. i dont understand it from a design standpoint, i thought they were kind of wanting all the boxes to have the same form factor, but as quickly as they introduced a new look / feel, they’ve already departed from it. this leaves the Digitakt and OT MkII already looking old. Elektron is really brilliant and also completely oblivious all at the same time. they’re products do really cool things but at the very same time are extremely limited. the OT MkII was purely cosmetic (5 more buttons doesn’t count, you still have to menu dive), i don’t see the point. i think they should be upgrading both hard / soft features, not just give face-lifts.

    1. As the machines age, they become grey. Kind of makes sense from a design point of view, doesn’t it?

12. Vikings turned capitalists

13. Oh man, I would love to get either of them, but it’s such a bummer, that neither of them could sequence external gear!

    And Elektron:
    I cannot buy into this “Gotta collect them all” -mentality, since only one of them could transpose the sequence on the fly, and the rest of them don’t.

    If they all listened, what A4 says, I would have bought them all already. Now I cannot buy any of them. And it makes me so sad 🙁 I love the sequencer! It is my favorite sequencer in the world, just not able to sequence other synths(while being able to transpose).

    Give me just 4 midi tracks to A4/Ak!!!

14. I heard rumors about Analog Rytm MKIII in about 1/2 year, so I would wait with buying this 🙂

    1. Yeah, they waited 3 years between AR MKI and AR MKII, but they’ll release an MKIII just 3 months after the MKII. Makes total sense, you must be an oracle 😉

15. These are MKIIs, this is what all companies do, car companies are notorious for this, and obviously music companies.. Apple is the king of MK releases, only they’re smarter and call it a full new model, and the masses line up to eat it up.

    99% of companies, release a product, then slowly build that out with new featured, MKII, MKIII until they need to do a complete rework and its a straight up new product in and out.

    If we don’t like that process, its not a Elektron process only, its a consumer/commercial oriented process. This gives the people who have been holding off, an incentive and allows the company to maintain profit increases within their current abilities, thus allowing them more $$ for development

    As far as the new look tho, reminds me of the new Korg Electribes. Looks cheaper and more plasticy

    1. so much hate on the electribe 2s here. e2 and elektron both have metal enclosures, too

16. ahahaah finally mk1’s prices will go down, this is the only thing that i excited about 🙂 thanks elektron.

    1. Agreed. I had the same thought.

17. Good to see a level of cynicism. Amusing that I considering no sequencer as good as cubase on the Atari. This looks good ,but as is pointed out it is expensive regards features….bang for your buck.

18. Nice updates in my opinion, great to see that the rytm is finally able to sample and analog four looks good too. wonder why they didn´t improve the OT a bit, hm …
    anyway, i´m going to buy an analog four mk1 then.

19. No analog 4 keyboard mk2? ?

20. Make cool music!

21. Looks like they´ve missed the CV train …

    1. The. Analog 4/Keys sends CV trains left and right though.

22. i can see prices for the original units holding their value quite well, they’re solid and IMO have a better aesthetic than these new ones. someone above mentioned they do look like the new electribes, cheaper, but the electribe are 1K cheaper.

23. Can I please order a machinedrum UW mk II hold the machinedrum.. uhm I mean digitatk…

    All joking aside, the new boxes look cheap.. like they were designed by those chinese rebrand knockoff midi controllers.

24. Adding external sequencing capability to the AR is a feature that the AR user community had requested consistently for the MK1. Surprised they left it out.

    1. They would rather sell you a digitakt. Elektron looks like a company making business moves while a lot of other just appear to be releasing gear. Behringer is doing the same but there is something fishy about clones even though it has my attention. If I’m not a total idiot and just making a wild guess, Elektron took on some investors hence the quarterly products, even upgrades, gotta hit the market with something. So it may be a good move to be patient, I’m pretty sure we will not see a totally unique product from the company for a while. What else is left? Modular gear? Guitar pedals? An effects box with elektron sequencing? Hm, that might actually be pretty good. If elektron made an MPC clone with p-locks, poly and the effects from the OT, it would crush a wide audience and piss off a bunch of people here that would complain about the lack of analog synthesis or the lack of birds on it. Anyways, Elektron has my attention, honestly they haven’t disappointed yet, even the analog heat is the shit!

       1. I agree, at this point they won’t release a major new product for two years. I’m surprised they didn’t stagger these releases more.

          1. I disagree.

             I think we’ll see a lot of new products.

       2. I agree with your comment, it seems that features are spread across their products to maximize market reach. By the way, I own the AR MK1 and it is an awesome product. I also give big credit to Elektron for their commitment to release OS updates. When I bought it in 2014 it had less sound engines, no overbridge and less flexible sequencer – the least to say. My only pain point is the lack of external sequencing, which would make my setup lean.

    2. It will never, ever, ever, ever happen.

       1. Just like Apple will never release an iPad with a stylus?

          We just need to wait for Elektron’s version of Steve Job to leave, then all the stuff they said would never happen will happen. 🙂

25. I don’t know about the A4 but I reckon the Rytm MkII got some pretty nice new features. Sampling is a huge upgrade! Bigger pads (though they look pretty small) and faster workflow. That’s all I wanted! The screen is a bonus.

26. Fun fact: If you invert the colors of Digitakt — or any of the MKII analogs — in image editor, they suddenly start MATCHING IN COLOR.

    Additionally, with tiny wooden planks padded underneath, it is possible to make MKII trinity to MATCH IN ANGLE.

    Unfortunately, no way to make the instruments to MATCH IN VERY DEEP AND DEFINED BASS, but I’ll let you know when I slap together a solution.

27. Ugly.

28. yay, cheap mk I’s for everybody!

    1. Not gonna happen. Maybe 10% cheaper.

29. I can live with it..

    they are refreshing their line…not really updating..

    given the choice would anybody not take the newer version??

    Im sure its “better”, but i sure dont see a reason to trade mine in for this..

30. All the complaining in the world means nothing unless they gave it to you for free and you still didn’t want it. Then and only then will it be Touché.

31. This is why Tempest is undisputed king of drum machines – it never going to be updated, never DSI and Roger Linn will produce MKII of this concept, from now on Tempest going to edge with all it’s perfect imperfections gloriously, until gaining cult status.

32. Too much panic inside Elektron fanboys squad!
    Elektronauts forums are overloaded.
    To me, the problem is not that they released new models, but potential problem may be is how they will support MKI generation (firmwares and further Overbridge support).
    Time will give the answer on that question.

33. – Bad move on the new colors/design. We were used to those lusty little boxes that looked like nothing else out there.

    – Upgrade color = upgrade price too?? How come an MKII upgrade raises the price too?

    – I still don’t get that currency game!!! Euro is stronger than USD and yet it is more expensive in euros…

    I am greatly disappointed on that new consumerism/capitalism game they play.

    1. I actually really like the color. I have heard of problems with the black versions fading, although don’t have one so can’t corroborate it.

    2. Currency game is all about taxes, not Elektron’s fault…
       US either has much smaller taxes, or these prices are before taxes which are different from state to state…

       They are a company. Not playing the capitalist game is just shooting oneself in the foot.