Just before song mode was released, Elektron announced the ECC 5B sleeve for the Model series.
They didn’t sell any of these of course, and even worse: They accidentally ordered 10 times as much sleeves from a Chinese factory as they originally wanted.
Sales of the Model series already collapsed because the Syntakt was way more successful than anticipated. Complete warehouses in Estonia are fully packed with Models, waiting to be sold…
So to overcome this, they quickly developed song mode for the Digi’s in just two weeks (it has been available on the MD for more than 20 years, so they just copy/pasted the code, how hard can it be), to start their devilish but utterly clever marketing campaign.
Because with song mode added, all of the Digi’s became the complete standalone grooveboxes we always wanted them to be.
They will feel as premium instruments, and there will be not so much to COMPLAIN about. It will be easy for us to be PRODUCTIVE and finish tracks on these beatiful devices. They almost will feel… will feel… like a DAW 
Once we realise that, we all want to be genuine DAWless again. The songmodeless cool kids who never finish tracks and just post 10 second snippets to the Current sounds from your gear thread, with comments as:
- “Just recorded the analog output to a tapedeck”
- “No song mode used”
- “No post processing, just BIM -> BAM -> Heat -> Chase Bliss CXM 1978 -> SSL Six -> RME Fireface UCX -> Ableton Drum Buss -> Ozone 9”
So then we need Elektron gear without song mode right?
Spoiler alert
Next week the Model:Samples/Cycles will be on sale, including the new sleeve with a 50% discount.