What happened
Elektron has told users of Elektronauts, its official forum, that it will remove topics and comments that share, request or direct people to the files, tools, repositories or instructions needed to modify firmware on its current machines or earlier generations. The policy covers all legacy machines and applies to the company's official social platforms too. Elektron points to the risk of bricked instruments, blocked future updates and affected warranty cover, and to protecting its intellectual property; general discussion of the subject is still allowed.
The statement arrives as two hobbyist projects gather pace. Octabam, an MIT-licensed tool, builds a custom Octatrack operating system from the owner's copy of the official OS 1.40C, adding new effects and a larger kit structure, and says plainly that it is not endorsed by Elektron. Gearmulator MD/MM, which runs the Machinedrum and Monomachine as plugins, went from its sixth to its fourteenth alpha between August 26 and September 21; it ships no firmware and tells users to supply their own from hardware they own.
The interesting bit
Both projects are careful in the same way: neither distributes Elektron's code, and both make the owner bring it. The policy does not turn on that distinction. It covers directing people to the tools at all, which means the best-informed conversation about extending these machines will now happen somewhere other than the manufacturer's own forum.
The reasons Elektron gives are real ones—a failed flash can brick an instrument, and a modified unit is harder to support. But this is also a company deciding how much of its instruments' afterlife it wants to host, and on its own platforms the answer is: talk, but no tools.