No, they couldn’t. They would sell maybe a few hundred, then the second hand prices for the originals would drop, and the market would then be flooded with cheap originals and then secondhand new ones (from people who bought it and realised they wanted a more modern workflow, or USB audio, or Overbridge etc).
And then Elektron would lose a ton of money, because they’d invested in new products, with all the hassle of finding the parts and creating the manufacturing process, and training the assembly line staff … and only sold a few hundred units. It would be a stupid financial move.
This thread has 302 replies, most of them from the same people again and again, and a lot of people saying either “not gonna happen” or “I had one, it was fun, but I wouldn’t buy it again” or “I have one”, so those people won’t buy a new one. So let’s be generous and say 50 people here saying they want a reissued MD. That level of interest might be OK for small boutique fx pedals, but a reissued MD would need a ton of reinvestment to source the parts and begin production, and it’s not worth it for 50, or 100, or 200 people.
We both have no idea on how popular it would be actually and this topic is not representative of what the entire music world wants. It is a gamble, but not necessarily more than launching any other new product imo.
Of course not, but it’s fairly representative of what MD fetishists want. The general music gear buying public don’t care about an MD, certainly not if it costs €1000.
(Not that there’s anything wron with having an MD fetish, I own a mk2 UW+, but I’m not fooled into thinking there are thousands of other people with the same fetish just because I spend too much time around others on this forum)
It is a gamble, but not necessarily more than launching any other new product imo.
But it wouldn’t be a new product, it would be a 20 year old one, trying to compete with TR-8s and SH-4d, or other old skool classics reissued at a fraction of the price (RD-9, TR-08 etc.)
If they made it €300 it would sell well, but I can’t see Elektron making a profit like that.
I think what is not been discussed in this thread is the fact that Elektron tried to play the MD card with the introduction of Syntakt but failed.
The appeal of the MD lies in its modulation capabilities, its form factor and live tweaks. Syntakt has only the live tweaks. Form factor is too small and modulation capabilities are limited. Also the fact the it seems unfocused as an instrument trying to do everything but all in a very narrow way.
Last but not least the AR could become a monster beating the MD if they updated it properly with more modulation and mixing capabilities.
I don’t think that’s what they wanted to do.
To me it seemd like they tried to do a mix of elements in the very popular Digi form. If they failed could be discussed in a few years maybe…
Without access to sales figures it will stay in the realm of speculation…
Did not mean that the syntakt failed as a product, but failed as a successor in spirit of the MD/MnM.
Elektron products are always high quality there is a reason why they sell so well even with fairly high prices.
Yes it also feels like all leftovers of digi designs in a single box … not a fan but I can see why ppl would like it
Like I already wrote, many MD features (that were unique to the MD at the time) were carried on to and developed further in subsequent models: parameter locks, Controll-All, the pattern+kit structure, song mode, etc.
In chapter 2, Elektron manuals include a short introduction to the device, its background, what were the thoughts behind its development, goals, suggested use cases.
I always find them interesting to read. “The background of the Octatrack” is particular interesting in relation to MDs RAM machines.
If anyone wants some background info to further elaborate what fails how and where.
