Elektron Music Machines
Elektron is a Swedish developer and manufacturer of musical instruments founded in 1998, as well as having its headquarters, R&D and production in Gothenburg, Sweden. They produce mainly electronic musical instruments, but have also made effects units and software. Since 2012, there have been branch offices in Los Angeles and in Tokyo.
Musicians who use Elektron instruments include Timbaland, The Knife, Depeche Mode, and Autechre.
The first Elektron product was an analog/digital hybrid tabletop synthesizer called the SidStation. Its sound engine was a Commodore 64 SID chip. During the years 2001-2003, Elektron released the Machinedrum (a 16-voice digital drum machine) and the Monomachine (a programmable 6-voice synthesizer using single-cycle waveforms). These instruments were, like the SidStation, housed in a brushed aluminum casing.
Since then, the range of products has been extended to include the following hardware: The Octatrack (a sampler), Digitakt (a sampler), Analog Keys & Analog Four (keyboard/tabletop 4-voice analog synthesizer), Analog Rytm (an 8-voice hybrid analog/digital drum machine) and Analog Heat (an 8-effects programmable analog sound processing unit). In 2015 Elektron released Overbridge (a software package used to integrate Elektron Analog hardware into a DAW) as a complement to the Analog range of instruments. In late 2016, Elektron expanded its product range by launching the Analog Drive, an 8-in-one effects drive pedal for electric guitar and bass guitar.