More like a “what if ?”
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I guess Elektron doesn’t bring physical modeling back, because only one person wants it (me).
But I agree about multi-trig groups for all Digis (on the Digitakt, it would be for easier making two mono tracks with L/R samples into stereo).
Nah, your not alone…It has its fans, but I don’t think they’ll bring it, though.
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A MDUW mk3 in the same enclusure as the ARmk2 and AFmk2… Yes, please! 
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Well I don’t want to brag but I’m a physmod fanatic. There are really tons of options out there but if you wanna dig deep : Modalys.
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I would love physmod. It’s still pretty impressive that the MD can run 16 voices of it at once, though they can be quite crude sounding.
Obviously not at Elektron anymore, but I remember @Ess saying that CPU was still a major bottleneck for getting hardware physmod machines with acceptable fidelity. The modal synthesis engine in Fors Opal is a good example of how to do a simple, versatile physmod machine with a minimal set of parameters so it’d be nice to get more of that in the hardware domain.
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It’s a great machine, possibly the most intuitive and easy to use Elektron ever imo. Incredibly quick and straightforward in practical use.
I sold mine 3 years ago and haven’t regretted it. After 18 years as one of my core instruments it was just time to move on to something else.
I didn’t use the P-I machines that much. They were cool for certain sounds, but didn’t offer much flexiblity, and I felt they were less punchy than the FM machines (which I used 90% of the time). The 808 “VA” engine in the MD is also kind of crap, but the 12bit E12 machines were cool and very useable.
Strangely, it feels like there is zero overlap between the FM machines in the Cycles and the MD.
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… same with the Nord Drum 3, everybody says it’s awesome but then ppl just use it as a poor 808 clone …
MD synthesis still rules imo and can get quite analog sounds just by rolling back the high end and playing with the lfos
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Lxr is different to MD in so many ways!! There is some crossover yes but MD sounds like MD and lxr like lxr 
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It can Klang:
(probably needs more compression - there is a lot of interesting detail present at high volumes)
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that’s the coolest sound i’ve ever heard from an LXR-02 …
Edit: It’s the MD!!!
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The Machinedrum was the first piece of hardware I owned and it was a revelation. I sold it for $700 because I needed rent money and figured I’d just buy it back a year later. It ended up being two years before I had the cash again, and by that point they were going for $1,400. Unbelievable.
However looking back I don’t think I would trade my Digitakt or Syntakt for it. Elektron really improved the sequencer, workflow and physical layout of their machines. Overbridge is a godsend for cable management. However the MD has a certain sound palette that nothing else really touches, and I’ll always wish I had one. Maybe one day.
That was the MD 
(I don’t have a LXR, and you are doing a great job of killing off any GAS I had for one)
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And you are doing a great job further igniting G.A.S. for the MD 
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Not sure how the synergy is with the CTR-ALL on the syntakt and model cycles as I haven’t used them, but there is something magical about the things that mysteriously happen with the MD and the way parameters line up and diverge between different sounds. Then being able to sequence and p-lock that ability in a descending spiral. Performing and jamming with it is always a pleasure after many years, and it still holds surprises.
Deserves a mk3 one day…. Or even a Moog style straight up reissue.
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In hindsight I think I would say that it’s totally feasible depending on what you want to achieve.
I think a lot of physical modeling synthesis implementations focus a little too much on sounding natural, which in most cases needs higher fidelity. With modal synthesis this means more “partials”, i.e parallel bandpass filters. Mass in Opal doesn’t have that many partials actually, but it’s much more focused on using the innate sound of the synthesis rather than trying to replicate some real-world sounds.
The PI engines on the Machinedrum are a great example of balancing performance and aesthetics (I guess you could say), IIRC they use waveguides which should be a bit on the cheaper side compared to modal.
Also there’s the Waldorf Quantum/Iridium, nice modal synthesis on that too. Very beefy processor though, that comes with a hefty price tag. That’s part of the equation too, why there’s not that much physmod hardware - hard to make that affordable perhaps.
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Maybe it also has to do with the fact that it´s still seen as a more exotic type of synthesis or “nerd stuff”? I sometimes get that impression…
I actually thought that with the release of the Aodyo Anyma Phi modal synthesis would really take off into the mainstream synth business, but doesn´t seem to be the case.
Complete the analog-fm-wavetables-analog-fm-wavetables cycle^^ 
I want it too. I use Plaits currently and have the parts to build a Rings sometime soon. The Plaits code is built into Microfreak and Minifreak so they have it too (and exponential decay on the envelopes, great for percussion)
Some of the Plaits modes:
- 8 layers of dust/particle noise processed by resonators or all-pass filters.
- Extended Karplus-Strong (aka Rings’ red mode), excited by bursts of white noise or dust noise.
- Modal resonator (aka Rings’ green mode), excited by a mallet or dust noise.
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I have two Rings 
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