+1 On the Volca Drum. It has random patch generation as well, which can get you from zero to weird in an instant.
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Yeah, the drumbrute impact is great to pair with the a4 but VERY limited for sound design. It is definitely a ton of fun, though.
I got the volca drum a while back, and it didn’t quite work for me at first, so I set it aside for a bit. I’ve recently picked it back up, and it’s definitely MUCH more capable than I had given it credit for… it’s just a bit more work to get there than I was counting on, it’s not what I’d call “immediate” - but with the ability to do per track sequence length, chain sequences together, and do per step probability and motion sequencing/parameter locks — you can get surprisingly far with it, and I love the synth engine now that I’ve spent more time with it. It is still fundamentally a volca, but many of the apparent limitations can be worked around - outside of storage limits - and you can get some wild sounds out of it.
I really think the digitakt is a good option, like others have been saying. It’s immediate enough to just have fun with, has an excellent sequencer that will play very nicely with the A4, and you can go fairly deep into it and get more out of it than you might expect, and it will likely be a long-term instrument that you will always have a use for.
Truthfully, a lot of this depends on how much you want to work with samples vs. a synthesis engine. I think the A4/digitakt combo covers a ton of ground together, and at minimum you could sample the a4 and free up some analog voices for other uses, but likely you will do much more than that with it.
But if you’d rather just tweak synthesis parameters and not have to load/record/edit samples, it may not be what you are looking for.
I think knowing what you are looking for when you say “sound design” will help answer this further, but I’m also positive you could always find a place and use for the digitakt.
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yeh this is what i thought when i saw the digitakt suggestions. in terms of sound design capability, would a (second hand) digitone be a more suitable suggestion?
Cycles and Digitone would offer you new sound design possibilities.
But samplers such as DT (or even good old OT) could offer you some interesting possibilities as well. DT can go granular, and OT offers so many things if you’re ok with the learning…
Look for second hand machines, they can come pretty cheap.
Or gather some money and get yourself an AR… Second hand market prices are unbelievable!
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Concerning the Volca Drum - for the price (or even double the price), you won’t get a more flexible drum machine - it does standard electronic drums as well as a wide array of weird percussive noises.
As @Oxenholme mentioned, the random patch generation is a lot of fun.
Sequencer and controls are pretty fiddly and limited, though.
I pretty much only keep it around because I can sequence and p-lock it via the Digitakt. I’m pretty sure I’d sell it if I had to rely on its internal sequencer.
If you have an iPad, check out Elastic Drums and Seekbeats, both very powerful apps with a lot of sound design possibilities for low prices.
Get yourself a little interface like Korg Plugkey or similar and you’ll be able to seamlessly integrate the iPad in your Studio setup.
Also, maybe think about the Electribe 2 - it’s around 250€ used and can create a whole lot of different sounds.
Basic sequencer, no p-locks but flexible sound engine.
It’s a bit of an underrated machine, mainly because it sucks so hard as a synthesizer 
, it’s a capable drum machine, though.
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I can highly recommend that. My go to for experimental glitchy drum stuff.
Every time it popped up I was wondering why people would think Volca Beats is a good sound design tool…
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The Nord Drums have a very deep synthesis and sound great - apart from Reaktor, it blows any SW / iOS drum synth out of the water. But they need a sequencer. Maybe your budget could stretch to a DT + second hand ND 1.
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Unfortunately Nord Drums are ridiculously overpriced on the used market. I was lucky to get a ND2 for 250€ a few years back, nowadays you can’t even find a ND1 for that price. Plus, you only get CC control over the parameters with ND2.
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…3 voices for drums…!?
…ur aware of soundlocks, are u…?..one voice on one track can cover a lot of drums…
and i also say…push ur budget a little further and get a used takt…
perfect match for ur a4 and ur further needs…in any way…
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I use a DFAM with the A4 . It blends in really nice with the entire A4’ eco system . You can trigger it through CV which gives the DFAM all the elektron sequencer tricks . And ofcours you can use all of the LFO en Filter capabilities of the A4 to further sculpt the sound of the DFAM , wich gets you in FM Drum style territory real quick ! 
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I like using model cycles as a 2 voice/3 layer drum machine. Each voice has its own individyal output and does not leak to the oposite one ( volca drum does).
This is good for extra external audio procesing…and 3 layered sounds can give you quite powerful results.
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Good point. I saw a ND 3 second hand locally for around 400 euros a couple of months back.
The volca drum is a fun unit that can surprise.
I’m currently considering the Squarp Rample for this sort of role (honestly, watch the Red Means Recording demo!): just putting in a little 4ms Pod - it’s fully controllable via MIDI.
i second this (disagree about synthesizer, but whatever).
initially bought my E2 to use as a drum machine.
it has 16 tracks with individual pattern length; per-track filter, modulation, insert effect and additional overdrive; very nice selection of drum sounds, gate arpeggiator for playing rolls, and other cool stuff.
and it has proper stereo output (unlike Volcas that even don’t have line out).
PS. regarding synth — is not so weak as it seems, and classic filters emulations in E2 (borrowed from King Korg) are superb.
but yes, overall synth architecture is limited, so it works well for only certain types of sound.
PPS. nothing of my gear does pitch modulated 808 kick easier and better than E2.
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Nord Micronodular fits the budget and can be quite deep.
It requires different workflow than Elektron but can be effective in its own way.
Because it is a Make-Your-Own-Synth type of machine you need to be professional with sound design or download good patches and customize to your needs.
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To be clear, the ND3 also has full CC control like the ND2.
Since OP already has an A4, maybe get a half-decent synth in addition and use A4 for drum duties? A4/AK are actually amazing drum machines, something about the envelope shapes, the snappiness of the envelopes and the tone in general just lends itself to percussive synthesis (imho).
I’ve thought about adding an A4 to my AK so I can use one of them solely as drum machine.
Or like already mentioned, sample your A4. Half of the fun for me is using the synthesis, fx and seq madness, though.
I think Model:Samples is enormously sound design oriented. The LFO goes to extreme rates, there is velocity modulation, lots of ways to modulate everything with p-locks. It could be thought of as a 6 voice semimodular system that uses samples and single cycle waves as oscillator sources. When you really dig into it in an experimental fashion it becomes quite rewarding.
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i’ve read several times here and there that Axoloti (http://axoloti.com) has processing power comparable to MicroModular.
then, Akso (derived work that uses the same object libraries for making patches) has significantly moar, and can run way more complex patches.
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