Analog 4 mk2 LFO Free mode POLY issue . Bug?

Elektron Gear Analog Keys/Four
#1

Hello elektronauts

I bought the mk2 before two weeks ( I had the mki for about 3 years) and I noticed a weird behavior at the lfo. I play a chord with quantized recording so all the triggers are synced and when I increase the F1 frequency it affects the sound like it is arped. After that when I switch it to the trig mode its ok and when I switch it back to free mode it works as it should be as then it is synced. It is strange because it shouldn’t separate the notes of a chord as they all played at the same trig at the exact same time . They all should have the same lfo .
Is it a bug or am I missing something??? I remember that the mki didn’t function like that.

Here is a video

Analog Four/Keys OS 1.50A: bug reports
#2

Sounds like the lfo per note is triggered at different times maybe because you haven’t hit the notes at the exact same time… but the when you change to trig it resets…

Seems like normal behaviour to me

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#3

Yes. Exactly but the notes are triggered at the same time and they are totally quantized.

#4

It sounds like the higher g note was hit slightly earlier than the others…
It does get quantised, but it’s holding the free lfo timing as you entered it…
Honestly seems normal behaviour to me because is set to free.
If you stopped the sequencer and restarted it they probably would be in time

#5

Starting from a new cleared Kit, the LFO’s offsets points are randomly set so they float around until a TRG setting starts them. Not sure why this is the case, and there’s a valid argument that they should all be reset/set to the same phase position when clearing the Kit. Not really a prob for me though - i’d much rather bemoan the lack of seq clock -locked LFO phase :smiley:

#6

The point is that I used 1 lfo . This lfo should function exactly the same (time, depth) to all notes , because they are triggered at the same time…

#7

not really. you’re actually using 1x lfo from each of the 3 voices enabled in poly mode. the analog 4 was originally a 4x mono synth, with the versatile poly options added afterwards. so maybe it works a little differently to how you’re expecting.

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#8

I thought it was how he was entering the notes, but that makes sense, I have to experiment with this a bit more because it’s a nice effect, I know how to deliberately make it happen on the peak not 100% on the AF yet

#10

Just a thought, but I think since Raf1 has disabled “use track sounds” all voices come from a paraphonic track (the chord triggered). Therefore, there should be only one lfo, I figure.
Can’t check it right now as we’re having a power outage at the moment.

Maybe the F1 frequency is modulated by another source as well (e.g. lfo2)?

#12

From what’s my experience each voice has its own LFOs. The only thing that’s special about a paraphonic track is that the LFOs of more than one voice gets influenced by the trigs. But when the trigs doesn’t sync LFOs their phase can be all over the place.

About the issue at hand: let’s have a little thought experience to understand especially free running LFOs better.

When a free running LFO (which is bound to a physical voice) gets started by, for example, the very first trigger and no other follow up triggers change its mode it will run and run and run, no matter if the sequencer itself is running or stopped. It just does its thing with its phase constantly circling.

Now suppose that this physical voice comes across a single plock which changes the lfo temporarily to a synced mode. When the lfo afterwards continues in free running mode its phase got also altered/synced.

The above mentioned plock doesn’t need to be a real plock, a sound lock with synced lfo settings will also result in that alteration/syncing of the phase.

The same holds true when the physical voice gets temporary borrowed by a paraphonic track. This also can and will influence the phase of a free running LFO.

When trying to simulate a (what you think is) “buggy behavior” from an init sound you’ll need to take all of this into account. When starting out with just a single voice in use on a init sound everything is simple and predictable, but as soon as the configuration gets more “real-worldly” the phase of free running LFOs can get influenced in so many ways that it becomes mind-boggling to try to predict it.

Conclusion: IMHO what you experience isn’t a bug. It’s just the nature of free running LFOs. Unless you enforce very carefully some syncing by your own their phase is somewhat “unpredictable/random/all over the place” (decide yourself how to name it :wink: ).

Manually switching the LFO mode to trig mode and back temporary syncs them, of course.

(Disclaimer: I’m quite in a hurry, so my explanations above may be a bit “off” in the details, but the picture itself should be correct / no time for dedicated testing)

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#15

After a long discussion with Elektron with many videos and an inspection of the unit by them which found no fault, concluded that is a firmware’s bug. This is an update for those who will notice that.

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