Elektron Analog Drive

The Elektron Analog Drive is a distortion pedal from Swedish maker Elektron, released in 2016, that puts eight different analog drive circuits in a single enclosure and adds digital preset storage and MIDI control to switch between them¹². Where a normal drive pedal gives you one circuit and a handful of knobs, the Analog Drive gives you a clean boost, several overdrive and distortion flavors, a fuzz mode and more, all recallable at the tap of a footswitch³.

The pedal is discontinued. It now sits on Elektron's legacy pages alongside the company's retired instruments, and a 2025 review describes it as discontinued, so it is found on the used market rather than new¹⁴.

Eight analog drive circuits in one box

The core idea is simple: instead of choosing one drive sound, you get eight, and each is a distinct analog circuit rather than a digital model⁴⁶². Elektron CEO Jonas Hillman pitched it at launch as "the most flexible stompbox there is," pointing to the eight different analog distortion circuits⁷. The circuits include what Pedal of the Day calls re-creations of little green overdrive boxes and out-of-production octave fuzz pedals⁴.

The eight modes, as listed by reviewers, are⁴:

The Klon-based Focused Dist mode drew particular praise. Performer Magazine's Chris Devine wrote: "Speaking from experience with the originals, it really nails it. Plenty of picking response and dynamics, just like the original"³.

The controls and the sweepable mid EQ

On top of the drive circuit selection, the Analog Drive carries a 3-band analog EQ with a sweepable mid⁴. The mid-sweep control moves the center frequency of the mid band, which gearnews noted at launch "might come in very handy when sculpting your own tone," since a fixed mid band can only cut or boost at one spot⁸. Premier Guitar's review highlighted the mid-sweep control as a key feature⁵.

The panel works two ways. A manual toggle switch "brings in the functionality of a traditional stomp box, where each knob is active," as Devine put it, so you can tweak gain, EQ and level directly like any other pedal³. Outside manual mode, the knobs program the preset currently in use. A two-number display shows which setting is loaded, sitting next to the save control³.

The footswitches follow the same split personality. The middle footswitch engages the pedal, while the side buttons scroll up and down through the presets³.

Presets, MIDI and expression

The Analog Drive stores 100 presets, mapped to MIDI Program Change messages 00 to 99⁶. Send a PC message from a MIDI controller and the pedal recalls the matching preset⁶. It appears on Disaster Area Designs' list of MIDI-supported devices, confirming its place in MIDI-controlled pedalboards⁹.

Control changes reach deeper than preset recall. The MIDI chart assigns the gain control a CC MSB of 16 and a CC LSB of 48, and with 7 bits in MSB and 1 bit in LSB the resolution totals 8 bits, a range of 0 to 255¹⁰. In practice that means a MIDI controller can sweep the gain knob smoothly rather than in coarse steps.

There are also 2 expression pedal inputs, which accept CV as well, opening the pedal up to synth rigs⁴. The gain control is expression-pedal compatible, as demonstrated on That Pedal Show¹¹. Hooking an expression pedal to the mid frequency control effectively gives you a wah: Devine found it "can also work like a wah pedal, but the range isn't as wide or as harsh as a conventional wah. However, it's much quieter"³.

Where it came from

Elektron is a Swedish company better known for its synthesizers and drum machines than for guitar pedals; Premier Guitar called it a "Swedish effect outfit" arriving late to the stompbox world⁵. The Analog Drive came out in 2016¹, announced on 30 November 2016 and immediately available, retailing for $379, €399 or £349². It followed closely on the heels of the Elektron Analog Heat, Elektron's stereo desktop processing unit with eight analog effects circuits, which had been announced only weeks earlier⁸. MusicRadar's launch coverage stressed that the pedal "isn't just for guitarists," positioning it for synth players too⁴.

The Analog Drive itself never got a hardware revision. Its desktop sibling did: the Analog Heat MKII arrived in 2018 with 128 user preset slots, and the Analog Heat +FX later carried 512 user preset slots and 8 stereo analog distortion circuits, the family's ideas carried forward in racktop form¹²¹³.

What reviewers made of it

The pedal was well received. Guitar World gave it a Platinum Award in May 2017, judging it a distortion connoisseur's dream¹⁴. Performer Magazine's Chris Devine found the eight modes each held their own, from the TS-like Mid Drive to the Klon-based Focused Dist³. Pedal of the Day, reviewing it in 2025 as a discontinued item, concluded it lived up to the hype, "giving me all that I can handle and more, much to my delight"⁴.

The main practical drawback reviewers flagged was size. Guitar World noted the "relatively oversized housing, which occupies about the same real estate on a pedal board as three or four standard-size stomp boxes"¹⁴, a real cost for players counting every inch.

Is it for bass and synths?

Yes. Pedal of the Day describes it as working for guitar, bass, or keyboards⁴, and gearnews noted at launch that overdrive pedals get used on guitars, synths and drum machines alike, which is the world Elektron comes from⁸. The CV-accepting expression inputs make it especially at home in a synth or modular setup⁴.

Questions