To reassure you I’ve just buy the AK so…
i guess i find a great combo AK (Mono but Powerful) + MicroMonsta (Poly this little beast)
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i do wish the A4 had been an A6 or A8. Id have paid more for it.
Granted it sort of is an A6 with 2 lanes of cv sequencing which is great but.
Let us know it goes. How will you be sequencing the MicroM?
you can only play 4 voices at the same time, yeah. sometimes just three if your release settings are too long 
but … you know that you can have each voice to literally play a completely different “Synth”, right?! Not much out there (especially not in this price range) which is capable of that. activate “use track sounds” in the poly config, load completely different patches to the individual tracks, pan them, play a chord - and there you go … 
sound design possibilities are huge on the A4 - it will never really be out of date because of that. and like @William_WiLD said in the beginning: Dont forget that the A4 was initially meant as a 4 track Mono Synth only. That changed with the Analog Keys you bought.
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I think the multi timbre per step sets it apart from any other synth. Plus the number of envelope shapes/slopes thanks to digital control. Not to mention the weird filter. It’s a versatile analog machine.
The lack of midi sequencing is disturbing though. It’s meant to be a CV sequencer on the other hand.
I did have a period where I just didn’t use if for about a year. Now it’s really fun to play now that I put some keys with aftertouch on it.
I don’t see it getting old. Nothing is like it, yet.
generally speaking: which real analog synth was actually getting old at all? all those iconic synths of the past … Jupiter 8, Juno 6, ARP Odyssey, Oberheim OB-8, etc. etc. those are old as hell but were unique in their own sense. they are sought after like nothing else today 
many of them cost a subcompact car these days - if not more!
if Elektron one day discontinues the analog four im pretty sure that it will line up with those synths after some years. Due to its uniqueness. So you should be happy to get one today where its “only” a grand
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IMO … it’s a bit unfair … but I can understand your point …
There is one thing we should consider. Either a high quality but decent priced analogue synth is monophonic and provides some complexity for us sound designers, or its polyphonic with less complexity.
An analogue synth with complex audio and modulation capabilities is a giant like the Schmidt Synthesizer and costs a fortune.
If we compare synths like the Prophet 6, the Oberheim 6, or the Deep Mind 12 to the A4 we compare standard concepts, which are supposed to produce “classic” timbres of the 80/90s to a synth, which popped up in 2013 (maybe earlier?), has four independent very complex audio-engines and four independent sequencers and was supposed to sound “new” and “different” compared to synths of the mainstream.
Just remember that the A4 allows many unusual features like the use of one VCO of a “track” to be replaced by the voice and timbre of another A4 track and to use all parameters of both “tracks” … that’s modulation and filter-bank frenzy … just to mention only this one.
There are so many monophonic legends around and are rebuilt now like the MS-20, Korg-Arp-Odyssey, and the Minimoog Model D, and many musicians beg for an ARP 2600 … ??? …calling four voices “out-of-date” might be only the realization that you wanted a “classic” polysynth from the beginning, but got just the wrong thing.
Sell it. There’s nothing to say against changing horses. It’s a tool after all and you need tools, which fit to your purpose best
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nothing to be added to that. just: Word!
Imo the definition of “out of date” is when an instrument uses communication standards so old that it creates significant extra work and cost simply to get it to work with other instruments. The a4 is far from being in that position. And even the oldest instruments can still be played and recorded, so then it comes down to just making a decision for how you like to work.
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Let us know it goes :
it’s very nice through a bot of AK overdrive and Elektron Effects… very nice sounding.
How will you be sequencing the MicroM?
control the MicroM via Midi outs, Audio goes from MicroM to AK inputs… and I sequence it via Ableton/Overbridge. Direct Monitoring on the AK Headphones output.
For now it’s nice. For my Live it’s probably the MPC Live will sequence the MicroM …
Very nice combo to me.
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Tetra comes close, AK/A4 is better than that in almost all those categories.
I just came to this conclusion the other day: the AK is fundamentally different than other “analog” synths, whether vco/dco or va or whatever. I had been very methodically and stoically designing sounds with it, eventually adding plocks very judiciously, but then I experimented with a different mentality of “just go with the flow” and the difference in results was considerable. Instead of methodically designing sounds, i just made very simple basic sounds as kits and then scuplt the sounds further by live recording patterns and adding lots of motion recording and plocks. In this way, the sounds and kits and patterns are very intertwined and intermingled, it’s possible to make sounds with very subtle or complex modulations. The sequencer is an integral part of the sound, oddly enough. Without it, it is maybe a little more average as a raw synth but that’s not why people buy it and use it. Right now I use mostly AK and in truth nobody believes me when I tell them its only 4 voice polyphony, you can get things pretty busy with this instrument. I like the idea of Mictomonsta, think it’s a great sounding synth and Probably a good companion to AK. Right now I use a Volca FM for my little extra palette of flavors. Wouldn’t mind more synths, I don’t think AK is meant to be your only synth, but it certainly has this whole area of capabilities that no other synth has. It works best if you don’t try to make it sound like other synths.
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That is the truth of it. Most complaints I have read about the A4/AK in the past seem to be rooted in exactly this. The A4/AK is special, we can tame this wild beast, but we shouldn’t try to break it in. That*s why I love and have this instrument.
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But the menus…shudders
Haha yeah it’s the opposite of a wysiwyg synth. The hardest part initially was memorizing what parameters are in which location. Some aren’t where you think where they would be. I have a lot of history with grooveboxes so submenus and hidden parameters isn’t a problem though. A simply laid out, knob per function synth is a good companion to AK imo, but if you’re only getting one synth and that’s what you’re after, you won’t be happy with AK.
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I bought my A4 two weeks ago. I have spent about a week with it. I have never owned Elektron gear before.
I was browsing the forum while working on a track entirely made with the A4, had to create an account to say, no definitely not. Sounds like you just bought the wrong piece of gear, I think you meant to buy a 8+ voice poly synth. A few friends said the same thing, then they came over and were totally blown away by its capabilities.
Here’s my view.
There is nothing on the market like it.
A single voice can play a 3 note chord with ease, with sound locks you can have an entire drum track on one of the four tracks, so there’s your pads and drums on two of the four tracks and we haven’t touched parameter locks yet. This is just a 4 voice synth yet you have a drum track, a 3 note pad track, two tracks left, it grooveboxes better then some grooveboxes.
Wack in an ext in, sequence some cv gear, add some long delays/reverb and then change patterns to completely different sounds instantly, that’s a hell of a lot more then 4 notes playing at the same time, even just from the a4. The workflow is inspiring.
I’ve used/owned a pretty long list of hardware and synths and know of most things on the market, there is still nothing that supersedes this or makes it dated in any way. Take away the sequencer/Overbridge other synths come close, but can still do things that no new synth can really do (pwm on all waveforms is just one example). There are a handful of synths on the market (Virus $$$) that offer something similar to Overbridge. There isn’t anything that lets you; Stream all individual voices + separate FX over USB while still using another soundcard as your main interface, route your DAW tracks straight through the entire analog signal path, or send your daw tracks through the reverb/delay/chorus with the push of a button. In effect your getting an outboard analog filterbank, analog overdrive, a nice reverb, delay, chorus for free, all via usb or real connections, all pretty much a click away with no setup, totally integrated with your DAW.
Imo this is the future, not out of date.
No regrets over here, I just want to get more Elektron gear. It incorporates seamlessly with a modern studio.
I’m getting more music done and songs sketched out then ever. Ableton is infinite voices and FX yet all that choice really slows things down and personally I find it very hard to stop working on projects and finish them. Now I can compose most or all of a tune on the A4 then still pipe it all straight into ableton in individual tracks over USB. Add some stuff from ableton, keep using it as a 4 voice analog poly plugin vst with all the perks that gives (1 click midi mapping, daw automation).
It’s all about how you use whats available, then the on paper limitations fade away, even still for me those limitations are a bonus. Look at the 909, jeff mills can hold a crowd of thousands in 2017 for half an hour with that one 30 year old box. Instruments don’t get dated imo. All are valuable and unique tools, some more useful to some then others.
My two cents.
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Just for your curiosity listen lingouf quatuor solitaire
here : https://ant-zen.bandcamp.com/album/quatuor-solitaire
This man use only analog for this album .
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I can tell you that by today it is still up to date 
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I would encourage everyone to remove “out of date” from their synth vocabulary.
The only people who believe that synths can become outdated are the sales people ready to sell you a new synth.
Meanwhile, used Arp 2600s, TB-303s, Minimoogs, Synthis, Monomachines and more go for absolutely crazy prices. All of them could be considered “outdated” by some definition, yet people are outbidding each other to buy them.
It is valid to consider the A4/AK a bad fit for your setup, to dislike its workflow or not love its sound. Each of those are personal choices that no one but you can make. In the general case, the A4/AK are great synths with amazing features and some clear limitations. They are still supported by Elektron and still integrate nicely with a DAW unlike my “outdated” Virus, which is still very useful despite the abandonware TI software.
On my desk right now:
- Virus TI: outdated - TI software is no longer supported
- Analog Keys: “only” 4-voice poly
- Syntrx: a new interpretation of a very outdated synth
- Octatrack Mk2: maybe not outdated, but the sound is “terrible”
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Out of date??
Name me something good thats in date. Its all just dust in the end.
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