Even if I understand what you’re saying and see people talking about them (so in a way, their marketing works indeed), I can see their image degrading, and not only here.
Personally I have been rather disappointed at their support and communication to their customer.
Still love my OP-1 for how special and incredibly durable it is, and the community behind (69th OP-1 battle!), but they lost me and this next piece might very be the nail in the coffin.
They have reached way beyond our musical instruments sphere as they are a highly regarded design company that is worth much more than we imagine
In terms of design, they might not be as well regarded as you might think, of course, if you ask them they are the hottest thing since sliced bread.
Don’t know any other company who can create so much tension and affection by simply designing a raincoat
I think many does he mistake of equating buzz around a brand or product with sales, that is of course not how it works. Especially in this day and age, where perception is everything.
So when TE toss out an overpriced raincoat and gets mocked because of it, it’s doesn’t mean by default they get more sales, to the contrary. If their brand is perceived less positive it will affect new customers.
TE already being a niché brand which puts design before everything else, already have a rather small audience who either accepts or even like their approach to both design and marketing.
Also TE got 4,198 likes (so far) on their Instagram teaser. Elektron got more than 11,000 for their first Model:Cycles teaser video. If anything, Elektron are way better at marketing!
With this drip feeding of info over the next month, I’m afraid the chances of being disappointed are going to be high. Naturally, as a music hobbyist, I’d love for it to be a synth, but that’s not guaranteed. The mention of 6 years of development is interesting, but still not sure what it means. I just sold some gear, and plan to move some more bits out, so I might as well wait to see what this hocus pocus device ends up being.
Ah more Swedish weirdo dreams.
I have fantasized about a “maxi” version since I first laid my hands on the original OP-1. All the power of the original, just a bit bigger with a more serious interface.
I sincerely doubt, given the market forces at play right now, that that’s what we’ll get. But if it’s anything other than a new pocket operator then I’ll be quite pleased.
Whatever it turns out to be, I’m pretty sure I’ll think it’s not very good.
did TE ever sort out the issues with their modular stuff? I remember many were stoked on it, despite some pretty big omissions in the design, and then there were lots of issues right out of the gate.
The OP-1 is and was a fantastic instrument. The OP-Z was the difficult second album. I’m rooting for a more mature comeback record.
Nicely put 
I have been pretty found of the Pocket Operators for some time, as well. There was some immediacy in those, the Tonic and the KO were especially good.
Would love a new big thing that would keep all the good things of their production.
But I have lost faith in them for some reason.
The Pocket Operators are an amazing value, and definitely immediate – but not at all my flavor of device. If they go “budget” I’d prefer something like a Model Cycles/Samples – a minor cut in functionality but a vastly increased in immediacy.
A beefed up bigger KO would be awesome! Banks, projects, more effects. SP404 size would be killer.
TE is an odd company to me but absolutely love my KO and will forever have a soft spot for them.
I would love for them to do something that integrates better with a larger setup. I like that everything they do is fun, but it’s also usually just on the other side of being enough of a pain in the ass to work with, that I often don’t. I don’t mean their stuff is hard to use, just tricky or annoying to integrate into a larger setup. like I often sequence my OP1 with a Cirklon, simply because it’s easier than using the tape.
I like the idea of outdoorsy things. Some kind of unique combo take on a sampler / speaker could be cool. Battery operated perhaps. 6 years is a long time, I like they didn’t say anything until this point. They did do the Carlson (sic) speaker which tbh I would buy if I had some spare cash. Interested to see what comes on the 30th!
How long have the PO have been around?
6 years maybe?
Maybe some new PO or super PO?
They did sort them out, only problem for people like me that bought first generation disaster, given the magnitude, the fair and decent thing to do, was to offer an exchange for the revised version, but no no. Come out with faulty product, you acknowledge it, but dnt offer early adopters anything. Classy!
Do I recall you having an OP-Z? I think that product with its multiple manufacturing issues damaged TE’s reputation. The same thing was happening with early adopters of the Rytm MKii, but thankfully Elektron have gone the extra mile to sort out these issues and now their more recent products have been amazing.
Yeah this is their weakness. OP-Z wasn’t bad, with the USB host, but the OP-1 is a pain to get working with other gear. I often just use it on its own, or use it as a live played element in a setup.
Yeah same. For me it was most likely the OP-Z that did it for me, knowing that I couldn’t contact support about the double triggering issue, which I’m still amazed they haven’t been able to fix in software—how hard is it to implement code that says “if button pressed, wait 50ms before allowing another button press”?
I think I’ll give TE some love and say that po-32 (with microtonic) is one of the best devices of the last decade and should become a cult classic.
Yeah it’s the only PO I have left, though I am considering selling it because it’s been sitting in a case for over a year. It does sound great though!
If I ever have kids I think it’ll be a cool retro gift to pass on to him or her. So I’m keeping mine.