I’m very interested in one to complement my Digitone but it seems like its limitations fit it directly into genres I don’t really make.
The A4MKII and Novation Peak are both on sale currently. The A4 comes with all the bells and whistles of Elektron and a powerful engine, the Peak comes with more polyphony and sound design possibilities but all the examples I’ve heard lack a bit of character.
Help me out!
Buy an a4 mki on the cheap and decide if you like it or not
I don’t have an A4 but I can say that what you get out of all the Elektron instruments is really up to you…MGMT use an Analog Rytm (there’s a nice little interview here on the talk portion), and Sophie, Avey Tare and Autechre (all extremely diverse in terms of sonic pallette) used the Monomachine to great lengths.
It just seems to me–as it seems to seem to you–that Elektronauts tend to gravitate toward house, techno, et al. But these machines are capable of all sorts of sounds as long as you coax them and feed them a nice bit of English Toffee.
You’re looking for that greasy RNB/blue grass vibe, right?
What type of music are you making? There’s a group of Hip Hop guys that use Elektron gear… But yes, there’s mostly techno and house stuff… I honestly think you can cover most styles of electronic music with these tools though… What makes Elektron so special is their sequencer and work flow design. These are grooveboxes not just synthesizers and samplers…
I’ll answer to your post title…
The A4 (MKII) is integral to every track on my recent EP. And, although I suck at genres, I would not label the music dance, techno or IDM.
Video from the opening song:
Early rendition of Tejarpsdalen - using ONLY A4 MKII:
My group makes a mix of Boards of Canada sounds, trip hop, and psychedelic rock-ish stuff. We run an AK, DN, DT, and sometimes an A4 or heat along with our other gear.
I am in agreement here that they are versatile boxes that you can use across a lot of genres.
I make some hip hop and mostly un-quantized stuff and have DN/DT. Ill say that my elektron pair is not the center piece of my setup at all, they play specific instrument roles. Most of the time Ill play my DN with a keyboard since it sounds so good but I dont always want the sequencer. I still use the sequencer sometimes but knowing that its going to have that Elektron sequencer groove to it.
I still love my DN/DT and will not sell them but I also never bought them trying to replace my original setup, I got them to enhance it.
What the hell did I just watch!?
Dude. That’s messed up
Would have much preferred to see Bjork in her underwear, but hey I’m open minded 
Oh man, Carl’s rattled me
What was this thread about again
Man, you can even do “Volksmusik” (folkmusic), classics, jazz, nursery rhymes or whatever you want. Just because it is used (heavily) in some genres doesn’t mean anything. That’s like saying a piano is only good for classics … Imagination is the key word 
Cant play Indian music with piano though, no 1/4 tones.
… just a matter of tuning 
… but, of course, it is not really made for it.
At that point id just buy a Sitar, instrument that sits well in the genre.
Some good - and very educational - examples here:
Specifically, A4 doing “Berlin School” (quotes are deliberate): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=botxc4ZiN7g
Best,
Hans
I did this electronic punk track with an A4 and a Rytm.
Plenty of good piano based dance tunes.
Electro Guzzi used to to strictly acoustic techno, too.
thats awesome, great track showing off elektron electro punk !