Sold the a4 mkI but I'm not sad - why?

The Lounge General Discussion
#23

My live setup (playing shoegaze/Dreampop) is my A4 with my TR8s.

In terms of performance and interface, I adore the A4 mkII, but I always come away unhappy with the sound. When using 4 voice unison it sounds great and I have programmed some lovely shoegaze-y pads as well, which work really well polyphonicaly. But when using it as a 4 voice mono, which is really what I want out of it, I struggle.

I want to try running it through an Analog Heat, see if that helps getting me a bit closer to what I want, but I also get regularly tempted to cut my losses and switch to a DT & DN setup.

On the plus side, it’s pretty awesome having all these choices!

#24

I actually like the sound of the A4 mk1, probably because I prefer digital synths to analogue ones so I am not bothered that the A4 doesn’t have a strong analogue vibe like say a Moog.

The main issue I have with the A4 is deciding whether or not to use the CV outs.

Ideally I would like to sequence my Snow, which would require either a Doepfer or Kenton CV to MIDI interface. However, I am not sure how seamless either option would work, particularly with regard to note lengths (I have considered MI Plaits, but sound/feature wise it is no match for my Snow, plus I have no real interest in modular).

#25

All analogue synths sound crass till you add Reverb or Delay to them. In particular Moog. So the A4 is just as unremarkable. But it does a lot more.

#26

Lack of separate outputs always got in the way for me. So, I got an AK.

The old A4 is gathering dust. Might start to use it for 4 voice poly - if I can find space.

#27

IMO the best analogs sound great without any effects on them at all.