Except for the TB-303 and all of its clones… 
Really? Didn’t know this. 
It’s never to late to learn new things 
Edit: couldn’t stand it … was very curious … so I took an oscilloscope to my A4 … maybe somebody is interested too:
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Transistor Pulse = 0 (middle)
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Transistor Pulse > 0 (near the right limit)
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Transistor Pulse < 0 (near the left limit)
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This is great! I’d love to see the other waves at this level of detail!
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If you also do one of the “proper” pulse wave, you’ll see that it’s much straighter.
On the TB-303, the square wave is derived from the saw with a minimum of components, that’s why it has a somewhat unusual shape and sound.
this track was made ONLY with A4 … plus some Ableton FX … TrabanT A4 banging techno! … this aint dull, is it?
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This post on another thread may be of casual interest to some folks on here … it’s connected to this debate about the nature of the A4’s perceived sound character … chip in 
I owe the A4 for 2 years now, and for the last year i have been digging the sonic possibilities of this machine. For my part, i love the flexibilities available, there are multiple modulation sources that allow deep evolving sounds, but i have also come to feel that there is a silky thicknes missing on the pure oscillators sounds (no modulations, filters, or FX)…
I think the core sonic aesthetics of this synth, are somewhere between atmospheric and melancholic sounds, rather than deep and thick basses or leads.
What do you think?
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I’ve come to view it as my ‘do it all’ synth. But I’ve been working hard to mimic classic analog synths for my project over at www.newwavepresets.com.
I thought like you when I first heard the factory sounds that it leans toward being good for ambient but … I found that there is a lot more.
The basic oscilator waves are just the same as almost any analog synth. In fact when I listened to just 1 saw on my Prophet 6 and compared to 1 saw on the AK it’s quite identical.
One tip is to build up a large group of ‘basic waves’. I view it as my own personal ‘wave table’ On the A4/AK I start with one of the basic wave shapes and apply AM and get as many different waves as possible and save all the interesting variations. I go back and use these as starting points to build presets from. And I repeat this process with other modulations too, like FM. After getting a bank of various waves you have a ‘color pallet’ as it were to paint new sounds from.
For a nice bass I like the combination of a square wave and a saw. And on the square use PWM.
Exactly what leads, basses do you want to make? The A4/AK can do almost anything!
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The combination of filters, modulation, the sequencer and of course the FX make the sound on this box. Sometimes i get out a massive sound, a sweet-smooth sound, a silky sound, an aggressive sound or a mixture of all above mentioned. Sometimes i sit in front of it and think during twisting the knobs - WTF - it’s better to turn it of.
Anyway, to me it sounds great but patches need love. Some basics are the special envelope-types used on the filters - the way they are interacting together. Changing the shape of the tri-wave to a more saw-like-wave is also an option.
Maybe some hardcore-purists are moaning about the pure sound, but there is the FX-section and it is an integral part of this machine, so use it and you will be surprised.
What Noisebuddy says about the internal effects is right on target.
The chorus, reverb, and delay are very nice. And I don’t even think about it ‘masking’ the sounds because the effects are just as much a part of the sound as anything else.
Sometimes I like to see how much I can get just out of using noise, or feedback with distortion. As was mentioned above. It’s fun to start with something simple and keep adding to it.
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@TokyoDisco Nice sounds you got on your page. The “Meadow (Keys)” sound awesome, i am supporting your cause, keep on developing those nice sounds.
You are definitely right about the presets, they are pretting boring and i guess that is a important part on showing users the capabilities of a machine. But as of most the users on this forum, for me the fun part is twisting nobs, and with more reason on a hardware synth, we are not paying a good amount of cash for presets.
I like your approach of using it as a wave table, i will definitely be trying that. You got a deep sound design knowledge than me, and hearing what you create makes me want to dig deeper, which i think is the purpose of this forum and my post. At first i was overwhelmed by the machine, but later i started figuring it out and loved the flexibilities it gives, i am relatively new to sound design, and this machine has real taught alot about that.
I have never think about selling the A4, it already has a special place in my soul, but what I’ve been thinking about is what sonic possibilities can this machine give to my music. I definitely think that on the overall features the Elektron products are realky innovating the synth and sequence world.
GREAT WORK ! amazing sounds , clean but rich !
I noticed that the default position of the filter already removes some of the frequencies.
The other thing I overlooked for a long time is the pulse width : through this parameter, you can already get a lot of different textures to start with.
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Very nice!
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I played 2 festivals this summer and this is a recording of one of the warm up sessions , so its not 100% perfect, but it captures what I played . One was 90 minutes in this style, the other a 45 minute version
Its mostly an Analog 4 , and the pads are a waldorf Blofeld running through a nord micro into a strymon big sky , the nord also does the waves/white noise/wind sounds
Cheers
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Thanks Rodilh!
Another cool thing to play around with is having some unique aspect to the start of a lead or keys sound. I guess it would be a ‘transient’ sound. And also try to create a rich sound to start with before filtering away at it.
For example: Here is a sound I made as a ‘basic’ starting point. Try it and save variations and experiment with the settings. It may spark something for you - or not (~.^)
OSC 1 Tun = 23 ~ 26
TRK = OFF
LEV = OFF
WAV = SQR
SUB = OFF
PW = 21~24
ALL Others = default
Page2
NOISE
FAD = 51
LVL = 58
All others = default
OSC2
LVL = 75 (try from very low (eg; 33) for gentle / max for harsh)
WAV = Tr Pulse
PW = -7
SPD =45
PWM =33
All others = default
Page2
SMD= 2 -> 1
AM2 = ON
TRG = ON
All others = default
LFO1
SPD=33
MUL= Tuned 2K
MOD = TRG
WAV = EXP
DST1= PM1
DEP= 45
All others = default
So here is a basic sound with some character maybe like a ‘harmonica’ or something. Now after building up a harmonically rich sound there is something to actually start ‘sculpting’ away from. I think it’s good to have a nice big ‘chunk of clay’ as it were to start with.
As for the filter
For a string sound you might try:
FRQ= 20~45
RES=20=45
OVR= 12~30 (I like about 30)
TRK= 8 (Or to your taste)
DEP=39
Filt2
FRQ=17
RES=35
TYP=PK
All others = default
ENVF
ATK=10
DEC=54
SUS=0
REL=52
SHP= 3
DST= OSC2 PW
DEP= 3~ 19 (soften the string sound)
AMP ENV
ATK = 17~20
DEC= 70
SUS= 30
REL= 45
SHP= 7
CHO = Great place to use it if you want a wider string sound
REV= If you like it - I always do on strings.
Other options;
OSC1= 45
AMP ATK= 0
All other settings as above
This makes a cool bass in the low registers and ‘thin’ brass like sound in the uppers if you use filter tracking.
Anyway these are some things to try as starting points.
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Another thing which came thru mind is the fine resolution of the parameters. I now have the BS2 and i miss the detailed sound-shaping like on the A4.
I don’t know any brand on the market today providing this kind of surgicality - DSI?
Those coming into my mind instantly are …
… if we don’t consider the modular world or plug-ins and, if versatility of oscillators, filters, and the modulation depth is what makes up the “surgicality” …
- DSI Prophet 12
- DSI Pro 2
- Modal 02 and 08
- Arturia Matrix Brute (should be, if the specs come true)
- Alesis Andromeda 6
- Schmidt
- Access Virus series (okay - digital)
- John Bowen Solaris (digital too)
- Arturia Origin (digital)
… and I’m sure that there are more to add
Tokyo disco is showing a new strength of the a4 - vintage sounds that almost sound aoustic, and has done amazing job getting vintage warmth out of the a4
I have purchased a lot of the Tokyo sounds
I Have whipped up a couple of buchla fm patches myself but Tokyo disco - could I set you a challenge of adding some buchla easel style patches
Also some ems synthi style stuff ?
The os update makes the a4 my favourite synth on the market, well next to my old pal the monomachine
I had the a4 tracking an arp 2006 and 2 ems synthis the other day - pretty deep experience
Shows the a4 can at least sit next to the greats - well in my opinion anyway.
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