Elektron releases Syntakt OS 1.40, adds Twinshot, first sample playback

Elektron has expanded the Syntakt’s toolkit with OS 1.40, a free firmware update that brings sample playback to the hybrid 12‑track Syntakt for the first time via a new dual-sample machine called Twinshot, also referenced as SP Twinshot. Twinshot lets users pick two samples at a time from a pool of 64 global samples, pairing a transient and a body sample for layered drum and percussion sounds on the digital tracks of the Syntakt.

Twinshot is selectable on the Syntakt’s digital tracks, with Wrdtunes specifying availability on any of the eight digital tracks within the unit’s 12‑track architecture. The machine is built expressly for short-sample playback rather than full sampling: you choose two sample slots, blend them, reverse playback forwards or backwards, apply overdrive and distort, and modulate with LFOs to taste. Sonicstate described the addition in playful terms: “Twinshot, Bringing sample playing to a device already covering so many Elektron bases really does solidify it as a heck of an all rounder. And it's very much a happy bending of the rules of nature in order for it to be possible, given that Syntakt's architecture wasn't designed to accommodate samples. But Twinshot is here, nonetheless, in all its quirky goodness.”

OS 1.40 couples Twinshot’s audio features with sequencer and workflow changes intended to integrate samples into live rigs and pattern work. New Track Relations, presented as Layering & Choking, arrive alongside Track Select options and a Page Autocopy function. Parameter workflow gains include Snap on Parameter Locks and a Note Parameter Lockable to Scale, plus Live Record Overdub and a constraint that Live Recording Parameter Locks apply only to already existing trigs. Synthtopia and others also call out filter pan and key tracking among the additions.

A new Control All Config option changes how FUNC + pattern control behaves across tracks. SynthAnatomy summed the change this way: “With this, you get to decide just how much control that powerful function exhibits – specifically, which tracks come along for the ride when you FUNC and turn your pattern whichever wild direction you want.” Those same release notes and coverage note a number of other FX, modulation and sequencing tweaks alongside various fixes.

Elektron’s rollout requires users to update desktop tools: Sonicstate relays the company instruction, “Please update Transfer to get things ready for the new OS, especially necessary in order to move samples to your device for the first time - and with a free sample pack to get you started. Please also update Overbridge - a new version of which is also released today to immediately work with 1.40.” The update is free for Syntakt owners and was reported as available for download; SynthAnatomy lists the update date as October 16, 2024, while other outlets reported immediate availability without a specific date.

Syntakt owners who remember the device’s April 2022 debut will see this as the latest in Elektron’s pattern of major engine updates: firmware 1.3 previously added four machines and an analog square waveform to BD Sharp. Wrdtunes framed the change plainly: the OS 1.40 update “clearly expands the capabilities of Elektron Syntakt but does not change its core character,” adding sample-layering without turning the box into a full‑blown sampler.