Sound quality: The drum synthesis is quite good, it does take a lot of attention to detail most notably with respect to the filter and its envelope as well as the VCA. Doing so allows one to get some pretty great sounds. The snares are good, not amazing, and the clap is quite versatile. Metal sounds are a bit below par - hats and cymbals have a small sweet spot. Having samples and analog synthesis engines that may be combined is really great.

Ease of use: Elektron fail big in some basic principles of UI. The most crucial is 'recognition vs recall' e.g. the reason the keys on your computer keyboard have letters on them - so you needn't remember what each one does. Some may see this as a compromise necessitated by the extensive functionality. The practical concern is that one must store a lot of hidden shortcuts in their brain to access all the great things it does. Sample management, kit management, and sample transfers all are less than ideal as well. Recognition vs recall also is important in kit and pattern naming - there is none to speak of. Knowing where parts and variations live is also a memory exercise. Users of MPC drum machines may find this incredibly annoying - I do.

Features: 5 is not a good enough score, this one goes to 11. There are few missing features and perhaps the impenetrable memory based UI is the price one has to pay. Few meaningful things are missing - as I write this I can't think of anything major. It would be nice to have a filter on the master, and you cannot (yet) record note repeats but you can sequence them if you know the secret key combination. Scenes and Performance mode are both really nice features.

Bang for the Buck: I like it and use it all the time - it sounds great and has plenty of nifty features. The sample management and kit issues are really a sore thumb and must be fixed. It would be useful to name and display patterns while performing. Overall it delivers as a premium priced and very modern drum machine but the shortcomings feel rather major in and of themselves as well as in contrast to all its great qualities.