A4MKII vs Pro-800 with Heat +FX

The Lounge Other Gear
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I’ve recently bought an Analog Rytm MKII and it’s an excellent drum machine for my needs. I’d like to pair it with an analogue poly synth later.

The A4MKII would be the perfect choice here but I’ve been looking at other synths as well. I really want effects so I thought about getting an Analog Heat +FX with a polyphonic analogue synth like the Behringer Pro-800. I love how to Heat +FX sounds and I also like the sound of the Pro-800.

As far as I understand (after researching and reading the manual to some extent) I could sequence the Pro-800 with my Rytm (and play polyphonically with the pads too!) so that I wouldn’t have to buy a separate midi keyboard/sequencer. And I could run it through the Heat +FX then record it to my DAW. I don’t play live or do jams.

I imagine it would work like this:
Pro-800 > MIDI > Rytm
Pro-800 > L/R jacks > Heat +FX
Heat +FX > USB > computer (to record and listen) or Heat +FX > headphones out (to listen)

I’m not sure how the p-locks, conditional triggers etc would work with this setup, but I’ll look into this more. These Elektron features are important too, I use them all the time on the Rytm.

Anyone having a setup like this or something similar? Would love to hear about your experiences.
Maybe at the end the A4 would make more sense and then just call it a day.

Thanks!

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Rytm and Analog Four are probably the two weakest Elektron devices to sequence external midi sources. That stuff wasn’t gonna get added and then they finally did but it’s not as robust as the Digitakt, Syntakt, or Octatrack. Not sure there’s much there for p-locking like those other devices have. And I believe you have to sacrifice drum tracks to sequence midi.

Heat +FX is nice but if you’re not afraid of using your DAW for effects I’d probably just stick with that.

Analog Four would be my vote over the Behringer synth and Heat+FX. You get tons of hands on control and sequencing power for the Analog Four synths and it’s also one of the single greatest pieces of gear to go along with eurorack stuff as it’s a great CV sequencer but also you can run eurorack oscillators (and other external sources) through its sound engine. Plus you still get analog filters, analog overdrive, and reverb, chorus, and in my opinion, the best elektron Delay which is only on the A4 (it features overdrive on the delay repeats which I love) which you can use to process external sounds as well.

Most of the good stuff that’s on the Heat has somewhat of an equivalent on the A4 but you also get a really good synth as well.

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Rytm MIDI output is extremely weak, you can’t even output the upper half of the MIDI note scale. Almost a waste of time. I think it was intended for layering on external drums or bass sounds.

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#aside #nitpick

The Rytm can do this too. The control for it is on the FX track Distortion page, not the Delay page.

It can sound great! Even more so if you pair it with modulating the Delay’s HP and LP filters.

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The same delay is also on the Analog Rytm, so A4 is not exclusive in terms of delay

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And the Syntakt, that allows you to route both delay and reverb into the FX block that has overdrive etc

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That one’s a little different, I think. You’d get a fixed amount of crunch for all delay repeats.

The delay in the Four and Rytm builds crunch onto crunch because each repeat gets fed back through the overdrive.

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Aha! Cool. Didn’t know :slight_smile:

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I thought originally it was on Rytm but then when demoing a Rytm and reading the manual I didn’t see the control there, that’s good to know.

Regardless, it’s my favorite elektron delay. The one on the analog heat +fx just being the digitakt delay is kinda disappointing.

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I’m think it wasn’t possible to sequence external gear via MIDI DIN OUT with either the Rytm or the A4 at launch, it was added long after release so these functions are tacked on both device.

The Rytm is really not the best for sequencing a polyphonic external synthesizer given its limitations.

Overall I think the Syntakt is a better product, although it can’t import samples and lack a few performances tricks the Rythm has.

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This makes the most sense from what you’re describing. If plocks and the Elektron sequencer are that important to you and polyphony is not an issue, go for a pair of two Elektrons. You could also think about pairing Rytm with Syntakt or Digitone.

Depends on how important analog and deep sound design are for you, that’s the main selling point of A4. It also has more buttons and performance mode, which is a plus as you’ve mentioned you’re interested in something knobby. It requires you to plan a bit ahead instead of spontaneous jam results, but you say jamming is not your goal.

I personally really appreciate Rytm and A4 combo nowadays after having become quite familiar with the Elektron workflow and the basics of analog sound design. The combo can still be a bit intimidating since it’s so powerful and complex, but sequencing a poly with Rytm and adding AH would be way more intimidating and cause more problems imo.

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