Just wanted to share something I’ve been thinking about in my first few weeks with my A4, as the suitability of the user interface for synthesis, particularly for someone who has never dived that deep into making their own sounds from scratch, was something I was a bit concerned about.
I’ve actually been really pleasantly surprised how great the A4 is to program despite the relatively small number of knobs and the small screen, and I feel like I’ve learned more about synthesis and making patches from scratch with it than I have done in years of playing with soft synths, or with the Microbrute and Virus I bought a few years ago.
I think there are a few reasons for this:
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Everything is really logically laid out and quick to access. The way the parameters are grouped together into logical pages, and the vast majority of parameters for a given track are only one button press away - there are some which require a second button press, but these are less frequently used, and mostly easy to remember where they are (e.g. envelope 2 requires two presses on the envelope button). It’s pretty easy to memorise the position of the knobs for each page too, as they are arranged in an intuitive order and common parameters such as attack are the same across different pages.
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Having everything grouped together in pages actually makes you think a bit more about what you want to achieve. With the Microbrute, I’d mostly just randomly play with the sliders and see what happened, which is a lot of fun, but the A4 makes you think a bit more about what parameter you want to tweak before you do it as you have to go the right page. For someone who has been pretty lazy about learning synthesis, I’ve actually found this a good thing as it makes you think a bit more when tweaking sounds and you start to get a much better feel for how each section shapes the sound.
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Having all the parameters on screen and the knobs being relative encoders makes it really easy to compare your patch to another one (e.g. from the library) on another track, just by switching between the tracks and looking at the values. I’m finding this a great way to learn how seemingly complex sounds are made - take a library sound you like on one track, on another track start with an init patch, and then switch between the tracks for each page, copying over parameters and noticing what effect they have. It’s interesting to start from the first oscillator, notice how everything sounds quite plain, and then observe how each additional page brings the sound to life!
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You can use it anywhere, anytime, without needing a laptop! I know this one is kind of obvious, but for me again it’s quite a big advantage. I work on computers all day and often in the evenings, I don’t really want to stare at a big screen. While on the A4 you are kind of staring at a tiny screen
it’s not the same as looking at a backlit screen, so I find it easier on the eyes. It’s also portable enough that you can sit on the sofa and play with it for half an hour, or as I did just now, take it out onto the balcony and make the most of the sunshine while making some sounds. -
It’s very immediate and fun! I often only find half an hour here or there to play with music stuff, and I find the A4 is great for this, as you can really easily a cool sound going, then bring in additional layers, all in one box without needing to worry about any set up. When you’re out of time, just turn the power off and when you turn it back on, everything will be just as you left it. The fact that you can get great results quickly really motivates me to learn more.
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It goes really deep, but it doesn’t have to. I think you can get great sounds from the A4 with fairly minimal work (I’m not a synth expert, so not comparing it to anything else here, but you definitely don’t need to work too hard to get a cool sound in my experience so far), but the synth engine is incredibly deep, so if you want to go deeper, that possibility is there… and chances are, if you read a cool synthesis tip, you’ll be able to implement it on the A4 thanks to the huge amount of modulation and parameters. I feel like it’s a great synth to learn as it has the capabilities to grow with your knowledge.
it’s not the same as looking at a backlit screen, so I find it easier on the eyes. It’s also portable enough that you can sit on the sofa and play with it for half an hour, or as I did just now, take it out onto the balcony and make the most of the sunshine while making some sounds.Just thought I’d share this for anyone who’s on the fence about buying one (as I was). I absolutely love it, much more than I expected to - it’s the most fun I’ve had making music for years and I often find myself thinking about things to do it on it throughout the day or reading tips on here, which is a good sign 
Cheers - and thanks to all on here for some amazing info!
Tom