Elektron announced that they could no longer maintain their pricing structure due to weakening global currencies. So, yes, inflation.
But, hey, anything that funds the R&D for another Elektron box in the next year or so I’m all for.
the price rise finally hit Japan. The A4 has gone up an extra $300. Super depressed, I was planning on getting one in december but with the extra 300 now I can’t.
Honestly (and I know this is heretical to say around here), as someone who loves and reveres the OT like I do, you won’t use the A4 quite as much as the price tag would dictate. It’s great when you need it, but often you don’t.
If you already have tons of synths, and are used to playing/sequencing them with the OT, it won’t be a radical change from your current setup- just two Elektron sequences to tend to. I like having them both set up, but you get the most out of it crafting sounds and parts of tracks with it as a standalone device- it requires a lot of subtle attentiveness and tons of practice to use it to it’s full potential live with the OT. It is nice as a pattern looper with a controller keyboard- jam out, record, let it run, tweak the OT, back to the A4. But it won’t be the creativity revolution that the OT was for you (if you’re anything like me).
@RyanElektric and nedavine
Yeah that’s been my experience so far too. A4 requires a bit of patching to get good basic sounds even. Since the OT is the center of my setup, I often just use the A4 to add a bassline and maybe one other track. Hopefully I’ll explore it more deeply soon, but right now it makes me wish that I just had a couple analog voices within the OT. For the music I make, it’s a little annoying to switch patterns on both sequencers every time I want to change. I need to try to make some tracks w/ A4 at the center to get over the hump
They actually came out and blamed the economy in a post on Elektron-Users about 3-4 months ago.
Maybe they decided to put a separate analog polysynth on the back burner in and in exchange for making the A4 a 4 voice poly they’re charging more due to the obvious increase in functionality and overall demand that will come with it?
Well… We have to wait and see. Jon has already said that theres new features coming. Not how many and not when. Thats why i think its going to be a larger os update this time. With the raise.
I think the A4 was cheap from the beginning. But maybe Elektron had a plan for that too.
@RyanEkektric and @Jamrod I guess I might be better off getting a virus or a Nord or some VA poly to compliment my tetra, shruthi_1 and juno. I just liked the idea of making little songs using just the A4, Kinda like a studio grade OP-1. I would get a cheap second hand Monomachine but with no microtiming or individual track lengths I don’t think I will bother.
If you must go digital, get a Waldorf Microwave XT- cheaper than a Virus and much more distinctive.
If the A4 isn’t all that, would a MK1 MnM be worth it? seen one for $550 and was thinking about it.
For $550? Why the hell not? You could probably turn back around and sell it for about that much so I’d give it a try.
I’ve never owned one but everyone that does loves it. It is a very unique digital. I don’t know the differences between the two models, just that you can’t get a +Drive on the MKI.
For that price, I would buy a second one. I love my mono.
the A4 is an analog device and costs may change according to the components used…increasing the price of the A4 of around $200 just for some software upgrades doesn’t sound that realistic, or at least, it wouldn’t make A4 users happy…
i do agree this may be related to inflation and/or new components used and therefore new costs related to the new components
…it’s just the economy that makes things change price, not so much we can do… 
just go for it! 
Well… I would say that it depends on what kind of software feature they come up with.
I think the polymode and some kind of +drive thing would justify that kind of raise.
Thats not a small software release. But maybe youre right. I dont know.
The AR‘s price was just increased by 200€ on Elektron.se.
A4 is listed at 1430€. Did they increase A4‘s price as well?
I have been debating buying an A4 for a few months and if they just increased the price I gotta catch one for 1100€ as long as I still can.
For those on a budget I’m not exactly sure why anyone would buy a new A4mkII when you can easily get a 2nd hand MkI in perfect state for 600 euros these days?
I thought about that long and hard. I don‘t want to spend 600€ on a used A4 mk1 to be unhappy about its bass response only to end up buying some other synth for bass or an MK2.
Hence i figure going straight to the A4MK2 saves me that trouble
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Also I spend most of my time in a country where you can‘t usually buy used Elektrons. If I was in Berlin I‘d prob buy an MK1 because they‘re as plenty as the day is long there
I’m super-happy with my mk.1, I got it for a great price. that said, the individual outs and additional perf controls on the mk 2 make me a bit jealous – I’m not sure the sound changes would swing it for me, but those features might. I like the form factor of the mk. 1 1though