Someone said the A4 is futuristic, I have to agree
Elektron’s influence in sound, UI, sequencer functions and firmware quality will be observable in years to come
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Far from out of date. It just isn’t a big poly synth 
Never was… Grab a deepmind or Parva if you want something like that in the same price range Tho I can get some pretty huge pads/poly patches with only the 4 voices onboard…
Feature for feature compared with all other synths out there it’s still forward thinking/deep/flexible/good value. Just might not be what you actually were looking for in a synth personally?
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I think it depends on what you’re looking for… Obviously…
As a “poly synth” for you’re Wakeman’esq solos, yea it’s prob. limited.
As way to get 4 distinct sounds, with all its amazing modulation capabilities, etc… really, short of modular gear, what else can touch it? And that’s not even counting the basically infinite capability it has if you run a few MIDI CC LFO’s to drive things like aftertouch, velocity etc. (rach of which can modulate multiple params) and yet again that’s not even touching the PERF!
(And of course don’t forget the sequencer(s), PLOCKS, etc… I mean holy shit! For $1000!!! You can get a brand new A4 for like $300 more than a Heat! and that’s just an effects box!)
If you are a keyboard player… Yea, prob. limited. If you’re looking for 4 analog voices with as much or more sound making capability as a modular system… Where else you going to go for $1K? No where… Nothing else comes close.
With all these new synths like Novation’s Peak etc. I can’t wrap my head around why in the hell they are mono-timbral?! To me, again for my use, THAT is WAY more limitation than being able to play deep chord voicing.
Bottom line the A4/K has got to be the best bang for the buck in the entire synth market, hand’s down.
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I can download a free VST virtual analog ploysynth and get high polyphony.
I can buy a vintage monosynth and get one note.
I can buy a Sub37 or a Pro 2 and get a paraphonic capability.
Id say this -
Is a ln MS 20 out of date?
A minimoog?
Oberheim?
A great sounding instrument is timeless.
The AK has a certain sound to it ( which i like but objectively some dont, horses for courses ).
What you choose its purpose to be will decide if its for you or not.
I think out of date is a phrase that doesnt fit the subject. Is a Les paul or strat out of date? A piano? Its a musical instrument which, despite the flashing lights and OS updates and blah blah. Blah is used to create sounds for musical expression. Or just plain fun.
Just my tuppence worth 
Thanks for all the responses. Wasn’t meant to be an inflammatory title either!
And yes I meant a three note chord AND some extra stuff.
In a sense, the things people are mentioning - the multi timbrality, the sequencer, and the fact it sounds so good - are exactly the problem: I want to make a whole track on it, like the workstation it seems to be, but the polyphony limit forces me to compromise all the time.
I like harmonically dense music. To me personally, tracks without rich chords are devoid of emotion. And when I’m making a track and I’m inspired, 4 voices just feels miserly.
How many voices should we expect in 2017 for a synth in this price range?
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Good luck to find 4 voices and a sequencer that powerfull at this price.
If you don’t need the sequencer or if you are fine using your laptop…it is another story!
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I hate to be ‘that guy’ but one good option would be to have an AK + A4.
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The A4 is an instrument and should be treated as such. It is not a fully fledged audio workstation. It doesn’t claim to be one and will never be one.
As an analogy, you could create whole tracks on a guitar. You could overdub the guitar in a DAW and create harmonically dense music. Treat the A4 in the same respect.
If that doesn’t float your boat, hardware analog synths might not be your thing. You might be better off getting a really good MIDI controller and use VSTs in a DAW.
A fully fledged analog hardware audio workstation that is capable “making whole tracks” (assuming minimalism isn’t your thing) without overdubs (even in 2018) would cost you an insane amount of money… not to mention that doesn’t even exist.
I feel as though maybe your expectations and understanding of hardware is misaligned with reality.
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Go hybrid, I love it. A4 for bass/leads/acid. VSTi for maximum depth. Minimalism isn’t my thing but it’s so obvious to me that you can probably play a gig with just an A4.
Elektron instruments really show their value with the time you put into them.
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This is exactly what I want. An Analog 8. Poly chaining doesn’t work though, sadly, so I’d need something else to sequence them, I guess.
Also to add that I probably did have unrealistic expectations of the AK. I had the Virus TI before and then tried lots of VSTs, in turn. I don’t have money or space for multiple hardware synths, and I like learning one synth inside out, so I’ve always wanted to find one to do it all. An Analog 8 would be that synth! Like I say. Frustrating.
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There are ways to get a good harmony out of a single voice. You can rig. Voice to have up to four notes through tuning and 5th sub. Throw delay on and maybe a square wave LFO and you could have a feeling of 8 notes coming from a single voice.
I love to make entire tracks out of a single A4 you can do things with the A4 and it sounds really intimate
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I think i would use one of them for chords and the other for 4 mono voices of random sounds, basses, leads. Yeah you can’t split across them automatically of course.
Maybe there would be an AK8 in the future indeed.
BTW you are probably aware of this but as someone else just mentioned, you can do chords on single voices due to the 2nd oscillator and sub oscillators for both. Yes the sound isn’t as fat, but honestly something like 8 note poly of a fat analog sound is pretty brutal to fit into any music sonically.
Voice stealing when playing pads?
You’re comparing old oranges to new apples.
DM12, Peak… no sequencer
A4 has one hell of a sequencer with very unique features.
Sounds like you want a poly with more than 4 voices. i.e something “different” than what you have.
But this does not discount A4’s capabilities. It’s but a single mark against A4, while it leads in numerous other categories.
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I don’t own the AK or A4 but I’m seriously tempted from time to time by the idea of the A4. To me it is one of the nicest sounding modern analogs out there. IMHO, If five years old is out of date for an instrument, to me it was never worth having. But it just sounds like the AK was just not the right synth for your needs. Definitely not out of date, in my mind.
I’d say you are just going through the process of refining your desired use of hardware synths.
Example of an “out of date” synth maybe the Korg Triton. But then I’m sure there are great uses for an old Triton.
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I do crazy learning exercises with my machines. I made myself record an entire album/mix using just the A4 performing live. I started a whole new project just to make drum beats on it, and I made an ambient pad mix with it. Focusing on these single things it’s good at eventually allowed me to incorporate the things it’s good at. The first Elektron box I got was the RYTM and I do the same excercises with it, too. The A4 was a HUGE turning point for me, because I was able to simulate lots of 1980’s sounds for the horror movies I produce, and the synthwave sounds I love. For that it’s invaluable. I’ve literally had people ask me on soundcloud many times “is that a cs80?” or “what synth is that?” because it can pull the weight, you just have to know how to use it.
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Another thing to bear in mind - you say you like harmonically dense stuff as you feel that chords add emotion, well with just 1 track you can use four discrete pitches, using detune and sub or 5th you can get quite a range of chords, granted the envelope and filter will be shared by each note - but p-locks and noteless and trigless trigs aside from being a ‘workaround’ can also offer unique articulations that can give fairly unique voicings.
Embrace the limitations and possibilities and things really open up, different sounds on each step, creative use of reverb and delay can go a long wall to filling out complex structures.
I use a gameboy cart called nanoloop mono, it is like a much scaled down version of the A4, it only has 3 monophonic tracks and even with that it is surprising what can be coaxed out of it, I find it a good way to excercise the constraints of minimalism, here are a few instajams I made with it:
No way trying to patronise you, if all of the above seems obvious to you then disregard, but sometimes on the face of it limitations can seem a bigger barrier to creativity than they actually are.
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True dat!
And dont forget to mention it lacks sending those 6 midi note on usb or midi out 
I think polyphony has its reasons to be more than just 8. Imagine this in a small box you can carry on -
- In my opinion the proper number of the voices, the one with a piano keyboard, would be 47.
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