How many mk1 owners use external FX? The internal chorus and delay are OK, not great but fine. Whereas I struggle with the reverb… Am I just terrible at dialling in settings or do others find the reverb disappointing too? The Digitakt reverb is cool, and my Novation Peak has a nicer reverb for sure.
Keen to hear thoughts on what fx pedals might help - I like the Earthquaker Devives stuff. And the Mooer Ocean Machine seems great value.
Dialing in the high and lowpass filters is always my first move, finding frequencies that enhance the notes being played. I’ll use p- locks to change the filters, shelving frequency, and gain.
Instead of always having it on a track, try selectively p-locking steps to make them stand out more. Or alternatively you could assign the decay time on a performance knob and mess with it live.
A bit surprised hearing this since I’ve always considered the onboard fx units to be top notch and certainly amongst the best there is compared to other synths.
I actually use my AK on 2 mono sends from my mixer even though I’ve got Eventide and Kurzweil outboard.
Settings are always very subjective and for me I usually route the chorus and delay into the reverb and then hi-pass filter the reverb a lot. Also, as said earlier, p-locking or adding a slow lfo to modulate for example the chorus part usually makes me happy :).
H9 can add different flavor.
My favorite reverb ever is the EHX cathedral. Really tweakable, and you can also get some freaky glitch stuff out of it. Plus it’s stereo.
That’s how I go about it. And they work well if I’m using them for very very subtle effect. It’s easy to ruin the sound with those onboard effects if you just add them dialed up to 11.
But also, I agree that all the effects on my mk1 AK and A4 are only rudimentary sounding, compared to the reverb/chorus/delays I have in the Strymon and MRX boxes. Even my mono Boss pedals outshine those in the AK & A4.
Still, I wouldn’t waste a penny on outboard effects without first following @VanillaSun ‘s advice. It’s all I need most of the time; on the elektron gear.
I find external effects just clutter my work flow, to be fair. I had a big sky for a while, and it sounds great, so recommend that. The A4 built in reverb has never failed for me though, sounds excellent and is so easy to tweak. Big sky is a bit more menu divey.