Not wanting to derail, but there is plenty of life left in FM: http://nonlinearlabs.de/index.html
Regardless I can’t wait for Elektron’s big announcement.
Didn’t say there is not life left in it: I said a company with the size and increasing popularity of Elektron isn’t going to take big risks. No one can argue it isn’t WORTH continuing to work on and develop FM synth products, but we have PreenFM 2 coming out and now this intriguing company!
But you can’t argue that the first major Electronic Instrument company to: create a UI for FM synthesis (that isn’t reliant on a software editor) while also being the first to attempt a deep FM synth that is also geared towards live performance, and then launch the first FM synth in 15 years isn’t a big risk.
A cool hybrid synth with FM elements would be incredible and wouldn’t be as risky- and I would probably buy it =)
my guess is that it will be the same form factor as their other 4 machines, I don’t see a device with a keyboard fitting into Elektron’s design aesthetic. It will probably be an octratrack mk2, but I’m hoping for an analog drum machine with bass synth…
An OT 2? I would live my life in a state of mania checking for new information about it and refreshing the pre-order page for hours a day.
But why would they update the OT before the MD?
yeah I don’t see any sense in making it a full size keyboard thingie either… you can easily carry any instrument from the current lineup with you on a bicycle, take it to your friend’s place or a gig, plug&play, jam it out… really powerful packages which are also very compact. A4 works very well with an external MIDI keyboard too if you want that, best of both worlds imo.
I’m certainly not the only one who would pass on a chunky keyboard… srsly who wants a big keyboard?
I’ve been thinking about this “Mixer/Sequencer/Fx Hub” idea for a while and it’s a total home-run product. It’s 3 things every type of electronic musician needs when they a) perform live ; b) are just starting out in the studio and don’t have a pro quality mixer and/or a sequencer-two things you put off buying because they don’t make sound =) ; c) are a pro- no device has ever been capable of bringing together tons of FX modules or racks and offering full MIDI control and sequencing (sequencing the biscuit’s step filter from the mixer would be great). If there’s never been one of those, there’s certinalt never been anything that sit next to a wall of synths and be ready to go at a moment’s notice with 4-5 channels and FX sends to mix up and up to 8-10 outs of various synths.
With that feature set, imagine recording analog drum machines with P-locked Compressing/EQing and volumes (and probably more) per voice. That’s a dream.
It is a great buy for anyone interested in gear. Period. Doubt we’ll be getting one this time around, but someone will make something like that eventually.
ElekTrum 1 !
analog/digital fm-capable hybrid drum machine! tricky fader-based sequencer, analog effects (delay based like chorus, flanger etc) with inputs and small internal sampling capability. CV outs.
my DX-11 is living well. 
but i think elektron could implement something more interesting and user friendly than a KB w/a dainty computer in it running a reaktor ensemble. not to hate on it… it’ll probably be cool but seems a long way to go to run a plug in.
PS - my DX11 was $100 including shipping to my door
Totally agree, such an beast could fit within the Elektron context perfectly.
I’m guessing Analog one, a competitor to the Mircrobrute, perhaps with a TB303 styled keyboard. Maybe just one track of the A4.
We absolutely need an O.S. update for the A4. A “whole new machine” could in-fact be such an update to A4 that it MAKES it a “whole new machine”, without all this NONSENSE of “work-arounds” that even my circle of musician friends find so convoluted that they call it my “unfinished product of century”…I think Electron needs to look at some historically significant sequencers such as the polymorph and spectralis, to see how essential midi out is in such a machine in a synth-based studio.
Seems to not be a great marketing or business decision to release a new Elektron Machine while way over 6 months have gone by with ample input from A4 users that would make the A4 more utilitarian without plethora of unofficial, clandestine, workarounds.
This is also essential if Elektron wish to attract more new users of the A4 that are completely new to Elektron.
A friend of mine from another major synth company totally agrees with all above AND that the A4’s Filter #1 needs some serious help.
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I don’t think there’s a new version of the Machinedrum. But if they do… I wish to see a Machinedrum that is almost the same as we know it but with updated sequencer and only the analog filters / overdrive circuit of the A4! The master effects rewriten so it keeps the Machinedrum mind!
I am hoping they do something completely new.
We got our analog with the A4
We got our FM and PCM with the monomachine (although is would be nice to have a monomachine with real analog filters!)
We got our drum machine, we got our sampler.
How about a box with a whole new approach to synthesis. Granular maybe? or an FM/Analog highbred. Maybe an all analog effects system with analog delay, chorus, flange, but digitally controlled.
What ever it is you know it will compliment what they already have.
I am hoping they do something completely new.
We got our analog with the A4
We got our FM and PCM with the monomachine (although is would be nice to have a monomachine with real analog filters!)
We got our drum machine, we got our sampler.
How about a box with a whole new approach to synthesis. Granular maybe? or an FM/Analog highbred. Maybe an all analog effects system with analog delay, chorus, flange, but digitally controlled.
What ever it is you know it will compliment what they already have.
none of those things are “new”. though. 
anyway… granular would be cool if it was part of a larger palette of choices. FM implemented in an analog way is kind of limited. digital can be way more complex and interesting and manageable w/lot’s of envelopes etc. i do analog FM all the time in the modular and it’s great but there is a lot more that can be done w/digital and digital sounds amazing. the harvestman’s hertz donut for example is amazing.
as for analog FX… how many? per voice? per part? just in a master section? BBD delays can be tricky to do and the chips aren’t as available as used to be… and you need a lot of circuitry to make it sounds good and honestly a digital delay w/lot’s of control and some sound design abilities like super short delay times or audio rate modulation etc… allow for karplus stuff…
there are some really great analog delay based processors though… serge WAD, modcan Flanger (A or B series) that do some amazing stuff and track pitch so allow lot’s of flexibility.
after thinking about it more i tend to think they’ll just jump in the current market of small analog mono but it’s also a crap shoot. elektron can definitely surprise.
madrona labs has a new plug on the way… physical modeling thing but it’s fed by a granular engine and is only called “physical modeling” because he said it was the only way he could easily explain it w/o some long winded explanation. so ‘new’ synthesis is on the way… it’d be cool to see elektron do something like that and take a risk and slap a beast of an engine into something…
I can see why folks think it’s keys in the picture but I don’t buy it. it’s the background image for the black keys which makes me think folks are reading too much into it. All a bit if fun though. It’s more likely to be III so a Mk III maschinedrum?
The image looks like wood grain so maybe some fancy granular synth that would work well with the other boxes. Think Alchemy in a box where OT would provide the sampling portion, A4 the VA equivalent, MnM more extensive digital option etc… Could also work as FX extension for current Elektron gear. I don’t really think this will happen but who knows!
Instead of keys I see five machines standing on their sides at slightly different angles and depths (hence the uneven widths).
I’d really like to see, people from Elektron, reading this topic before going into release a new machine… so many good ideas 
Analogue Keys for the win then!! Expand the A4 into an 8 voice fully featured Polly, with the new module focusing on voices and connectivity with a keyboard.
it just popped into my head that the pic on the Night of Machines pic somewhat resembles the Monomachine logo.
Guess we’ll know for sure on the 23rd hehe.