Elektron Unveils Syntakt OS 1.40 With New Twinshot Sample Machine at LSPXPO 2026

Elektron's Syntakt was never supposed to play samples. The Syntakt's architecture wasn't designed to accommodate samples, which makes what the Swedish company pulled off with OS 1.40 all the more remarkable. Shown at LSPXPO 2026 on March 23, the update centers on Twinshot, a new machine that fundamentally reshapes what the hybrid twelve-track drum computer can do.

OS 1.40 introduces Twinshot, a dual sample player machine offering a playful and versatile complement to Syntakt's existing digital and analog possibilities. SP Twinshot can be selected as a new option on any of the eight digital tracks, and is designed mostly for drum sounds, with each of the two sample slots carrying its own set of parameters. Slot 1 is responsible for the transient, the initial attack of the sound. It lets you tune the sample, play it in reverse, and shape it using a filter and a decay envelope, giving you a lot of control over the character of the hit. Slot 2 is less elaborate, offering a tune parameter best used for adding the "body" to a drum sound. The user can adjust the volume balance between the two slots and apply a shared overdrive effect to both samples, while the internal memory stores up to 64 samples available globally across all projects.

This update does not turn the Syntakt into a full-blown sampler, but it does add a very practical tool for sound layering. That distinction matters. Syntakt owners have been asking for sample support since the box launched, and what Elektron delivered is something more focused and idiomatic than a wholesale redesign.

Twinshot is only part of the 1.40 story. Another key feature is the new Track Relations menu, which lets you define how tracks react to one another. You can now layer several tracks so that they always play together, making it easier to build one strong sound out of multiple machines. The second use of Track Relations is for choke-style groups: a note played on one track will immediately cut the sound of another.

On the modulation side, Syntakt's modulation options are extended by Key Tracking, with up to four parameter destinations that respond differently depending on where you play on the keyboard: lower modulation closer to your anchor note, and more emphatic modulation the higher you go. The new Filter Pan lets you adjust the cutoff frequency of the filter independently in either the left or right channel of the analog FX track, opening one side while closing the other for subtle or dramatic stereo motion.

Elektron also packed in Snap on Parameter Locks, Prepare Mutes, Note Parameter Lockable to Scale, Live Record Overdub, Live Recording Parameter Locks only on already existing trigs, Track Select options, and Page Autocopy.

Syntakt OS 1.40 is available as a free update for existing users, and Elektron recommends also installing the latest version of Overbridge. Updating the Transfer app is especially necessary in order to move samples to the device for the first time, and Elektron includes a free sample pack to get you started. For a machine that sat mostly quiet while Elektron pushed Digitakt 2, Digitone 2, and Tonverk last year, 1.40 is a serious statement of intent.