Tonverk is Elektron’s most versatile sampler yet£1,199, elektron.se
Elektron fans knew of Tonverk long before it was officially announced, having been leaked via Elektron’s own Elektronauts forum in early 2024.

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Back then, information on the new device was scant, but prospective users were nonetheless excited for what appeared to be a new form factor for the Swedish developer: smaller than the likes of the Octatrack and Analogue Rytm but larger than the Digitakt or Digitone-style boxes.
Now, over a year later, Elektron declares on its website, “In many ways, Tonverk could be your perfect Elektron workstation.” Will it live up to such an epithet?

At the time of its leak, many were quick to deduce that Tonverk appeared to promise expansive effects routing capabilities, lending itself toward the Octatrack side of things, while its 13-key onboard keyboard suggested more Analogue Four-style chromatic playability. Both of these predictions were correct: Tonverk is a polyphonic multisampler offering a host of functions that tie several strands of the company’s output together rather neatly. Its sequencer offers eight stereo audio tracks, four bus tracks, three send tracks, and a mix track. It also provides a raft of new effects, a variety of interesting routing options and, significantly, multisampling.
There’s an accompanying MPC-esque Auto Sampler, which can automatically map samples from MIDI-connected hardware instruments— indeed making monophonic ones playable polyphonically if desired. This is a must if you don’t want to spend hours inputting individual samples for every instrument, which can number in the hundreds when it comes to more expressive instruments. Happily, Tonverk’s 1023 sample slots per project across 4GB can accommodate these with ease. The included SD card offers an overall memory of 64GB, so you’re unlikely to find yourself frustrated in this department— and if you are, you can simply get more storage.
Image: Press
Its physical size will come as a welcome development for some; more spacious than Elektron’s smaller boxes (doubtless many will prefer its Trig keys being in a more intuitive single row than the double rows of Digitakt, Digitone and Syntakt) but more compact than the larger-format instruments. It’s not far off the size of the Roland SP-404MKII, only oriented in landscape instead of portrait.
Tonverk’s build quality is predictably solid, with a sturdy steel enclosure and a few well-deployed additions on the rear. USB-C is now supported when it comes to connectivity, and since it’s also used for the power supply, there are two ports. There’s also a slot for an SD card on the rear (great news for CF-card-carrying Octatrack users), and four separate audio outputs alongside the headphones output and two audio inputs. On the main panel, the primary volume knob is now an endless encoder presenting a digital readout on the screen instead of the analogue pot found on previous Elektron units. The sequencer Page LEDs have also gone, once again favouring a screen-based display. This is perhaps a pragmatic decision as well, since Tonverk offers up to 256 steps per pattern per track, and 16 LEDs would likely look a little overwhelming.
Trig keys here take on a slimmer, Digitone-like form instead of the larger square buttons found on many other Elektron boxes. As a long-time Digitakt user I find these to be on the slim side, but then again, others who aren’t so prone to bashing their sequencer buttons with abandon (and fairly poor aim) might prefer them. The first eight are for stereo audio tracks, followed by four for bus tracks, three for sends and one for Mix. These are lit subtly differently to indicate their roles (a touch too subtly, perhaps). Audio tracks are of course self explanatory, but there is one very powerful trick up Tonverk’s sleeve. Alongside the two more conventional track ‘Machines’— Single Player (single samples) and Multi Player (multisampled instruments)— there is a Subtracks Machine which allows each track to accommodate up to eight different samples of its own, programmed via the lower row of the onboard keyboard. Every sample can be sequenced separately, and while these must still obey many of the overall track’s settings, each gets its own settings on the Source, Filter, Amplitude, and Modulation pages. It won’t give you the same discrete control over every sound that track-by-track processing will, but with these it’s essentially possible to sequence eight different drum machines simultaneously— a whopping 64 samples at once! That’s expansive, even for Elektron. Those familiar with other Elektron devices might be disappointed to find no such machines for slicing, repitching or stretching, but as of the latest firmware update a powerful new granular machine named Grainer has made an appearance, with more hopefully on the way.
The Tonverk keyboard. Image: Press
The chromatic keys are of the same size as the Trig keys, and these I did appreciate, greatly; no more menu-diving to allocate pitch to a sample or awkward chromatic keyboard mapping over the Trig keys. There’s also a Step Edit button, which expands upon Elektron’s classic Grid Recording mode by allowing step-by-step editing with the keyboard, with a small LED dot on each key acting as an intuitive display for different notes and states on different sequencer steps— triggers with red, for instance, or parameter locks with flashing red or yellow. There is a handy column of LEDs alongside this to indicate the keyboard octave, and if there are notes programmed out of range of the selected octave, the relevant octave LED will indicate this. This is of course aside from the extra performability accommodated by the keyboard. I could punch in melodies with ease with the transport going, improvise in real time over a pattern or even use Tonverk as a capable synth in its own right, not least with its arpeggiator or Chord mode. It’s a brilliantly thought out piece of design, and I’d imagine constituted one of the primary reasons for increasing Tonverk’s form factor. Suffice to say, it’s well worth it.
The next Trig keys along are for four separate buses, allowing groups of tracks to be processed as a subgroup (all 12 of these tracks can also be used for MIDI). As anyone familiar with the Elektron workflow will tell you, effects and parameter locks are as crucial to the output of these machines as the sounds themselves, so to be able to process select groups of sounds in this way is a powerful feature; one I found created huge amounts of movement and dynamic excitement. Beyond these are the Trig keys for sends, allowing for further effects processing in parallel, either from the Tonverk’s internal algorithms or from external effects units via the C/D audio outputs.
As for those effects, it’s a generous list— more than the Octatrack and more than I have column space for here. But of the 17 (yes, 17) individual effects available I can say I particularly enjoy the Degrader suite of bit crushing, drive, redux, stuttering and more. Another stand-out is the expansive (and brilliantly named) Rumsklang Reverb, which gives control over both early and late stage reflections and has some of the best visual parameter animations I’ve seen on Elektron devices.
The Tonverk auto sampler. Image: Press
At the end of the Trig keys is the Mix track, which allows for control over the mix at large, including a master effect with modulation options. All other routing is handled via an easy-to-navigate routing menu screen, which even allows control over which sounds are sent to the headphones output. I would have liked to see two further audio inputs, since involving any outboard effects means it’s impossible to receive or record audio from anywhere else, but as it stands, this impasse is relatively infrequent.
At this point, it’s hard to think of a gap in Elektron’s catalogue, but if there was one, Tonverk does a fine job of filling it. Its sampling power is considerable, but its routing, effects and workflow are such that it really makes every sound it produces its very own.
Tonverk is priced reasonably, too: at the upper end compared to the likes of the Roland SP-404MKII, but more or less around the price point of the larger Akai MPC X and exactly halfway between the Digitakt II and the Octatrack MKII.
‘Your perfect Elektron workstation’? It may just be.
In and out on the Tonverk. Image: Press
Key features

Polyphonic multisampler and audio processor
8 stereo audio tracks
4 bus tracks
3 send effect tracks
1 mix track
Up to 256 steps per pattern and track
Onboard chromatic keyboard with step editing
Auto Sampler for mapping multisample instruments
8 voices per audio track
Selectable machines per audio track (Single Player, Multi Player,
Subtracks MIDI)
Onboard effects and modulation
Flexible routing
2 USB-C ports / USB bus power
2 6.3 mm audio inputs
4 6.3 mm audio outputs
1 6.3mm headphone output
5-pin DIN MIDI in, out and thru
SD card slot

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