Swedish gear manufacturer Elektron has banned members from distributing and promoting hacks and modified firmware on the Elektronauts community forums, CDM reports.
Elektronauts has long been a hub for discussion around not only the company’s instruments and gear, but also the craft of electronic music-making more broadly.
Recent months have seen a rise in firmware mods being shared on the site, prompting the company to put its foot down and prohibit the facilitation and promotion of mods and hacks across both Elektronauts and Elektron’s social media channels. The policy applies to currently supported instruments, legacy Elektron machines and even gear from other manufacturers.
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In a statement shared September 16 (which you can read in full here) Elektron states that “Elektronauts isn’t the place to be sharing hacks, or facilitating or promoting the modification of firmware… That includes sharing, requesting, or directing people to the files, tools, repositories, or instructions needed to do so.”
Elektron notes that “general discussion” around the topic remains permitted, but that “distributing actionable material or actively encouraging people to install modifications” is not. “Curiosity is understandable,” the statement concludes. “Bricked boxes – as we are sure people will understand – less so.”
In recent months, mods have been shared on Elektronauts for several Elektron machines, including the Monomachine and Octatrack MkII, in what the company is calling a “surge” in custom firmware fuelled by the increasing popularity of AI-assisted coding.
Elektron warns that “insufficiently tested” firmware has the potential to brick its customers’ products, interfere with future updates and affect warranty coverage, while placing the company’s intellectual property at risk.
Prior to this recent uptick, the most notable example of unofficial firmware developed for an Elektron instrument was Machinedrum X. Released in 2021, this alternative firmware for the Machinedrum SPS-1 brought new features and workflow enhancements to a 20-year-old drum machine that hadn’t received an update since 2016.
That project was shared on Elektronauts and ultimately authorized by Elektron; in a statement shared with CDM, the company confirmed that the MDX firmware remains authorized, but notes that other projects will be “considered separately on a case-by-case basis”.
Earlier this year, Elektron was acquired by investment firm Bonnier Capital. Bonnier Capital is the investment arm of Bonnier Group, a family-owned Swedish media group of around 175 companies founded in 1804.
