So I had the A4 MKI I bought just to try out up for sale, but I think I might actually keep it. Like I don’t need it at all, but there’s just something so nice about it that I can’t put my finger on. Coming from MnM and M:C, the sound palette of A4 seemed limited until I dove a little deeper and found that it has quite a few interesting ways of manipulating the analog circuits. It also makes a great fake TB-303 and can whip up some nice snares, hats, and claps. (I’ll reserve my current opinion on its capabilities as a kick synth.)
I’m about to sound ridiculous but I actually bought it to see if it could replace my MD as I was thinking about selling it. It’s because I thought the drums that people were getting out of it sounded really good and to be honest, MD’s limitations used to turn me off from using it all that much. MCL has since changed that…
I’d just like to comment that while A4 not a good replacement for a MD - like, at all - it does what it was made for very well. Very good sound, lots of well-thought-out modulations. Love finally having access to the mysterious spirit of real analog. There’s so little I’d want more from this device. Besides more voices of course. Great companion to MD for obvious reasons. Drums + chromatics.
Also I want to add … to anyone else who’s owned a Monomachine and regretfully sold it … A4 makes a decent substitute for MnM, in that it can cover a lot of the same sonic territory for chromatics if you nevere cared about the VO machine and have Digitone or M:C or something else for FM. (Though MD can do FM and A4 can do a limited form of it.)