Analog Four in contrast with Moog and other synths

Elektron Gear Analog Keys/Four
#89

If it’s ladder filter you want…get the Moog. It’s one giant sweat spot and nothing will ever compare to beutiful Moog analogue oscilators driven just perfectly into a ladder filter - you just can’t compare the two architectures though, the Moog is just built to sound like a Moog…

If versitility and a vast pallet of sound is what you want. The A4 wins hands down. The dcvcos “or whatever” driven into the Elektron filter won’t get you the Moog sound exactly, its not as hissy / spitty / gnarly…

but it it will give you 20 times the pallet of the Moog, it is more polite at the level of osc into filter. I think…but you can go more places without the imprint of the character of the synth becoming to obtrusive.

I’m a fanboy of both Moog and Elektron…
But this is not Twighlight and I’m not K Stewart…i can have the vampire and the warewolf🤣 if I were you I would simply get both and be happy.

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#90

Sweatspot…:rofl:

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#91

Haa

In Australia, and can’t sleep because it’s so hot here…Freudian Slip maybe…

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#92

If you want to find out irl, I have an AK and Subsequent37 available for purchase :wink:

#93

It seems a large number of people talk about the A4 as sounding “plain” or “thin”. Is the core sound really that weak in regards to other analog synths?

#94

…a4 is by far, my most favourite truu analog synth of all subtractive plus ones out there…period.

not even to mention it’s percussive qualities…

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#95

It’s like having a white or neutral canvas. I wouldn’t call this weak. It’s just the starting point after switching on and having an “initial patch”. The A4 is very versatile, and a neutral starting point is of an advantage, because it doesn’t lead to a particular usage. We have to use the knobs to get great sounds.

Those “other” synths are like a canvas in different hues and from a sound designers view this is a limitation, because we never can let this hue behind.

There are some synths, which sound gorgeous without much tinkering, but often they belong to the second kind of instrument. Great and limited, which is not a bad thing, because we can dial in very quickly and easily great sounds. The A4 needs more work, but rewards this with more versatility :wink:

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#96

I am under the impression that it’s mostly the MK1 that gets these comments. And I know where they’re coming from. There can be a certain 2 dimensionality to its sound that I also sometimes recognise in the AR

The Mk2 on the other hand is full of character (to me)

#97

I’d chalk that up to mostly user error. I felt the same when I first got my A4Mk1, but then learned how to use it properly and those complaints vanished :slight_smile:

Stuff like not running the oscillators at full volume etc is what I mean.

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#98

…i never got the complaints about the mk1…

…as all mk2’s they’re nothing but facelifts with a bit more shortcut knobs to avoid some menu diving…the little further tweaks the a4mk2 version got in particular added on, are same due…soundwise…
it’s just some little low end solidation, to also more easy achievement to get there…
if someone thinks to be able to hear this, it’s nothing but a feeling…
but hey…it’s all about feeling…and this damend little black box, no need for mk2 here, is my most beloved elektron instrument of all swedish inventions ever…

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#99

This is a sound byte of some chords on a poly patch that I was messing about with on the A4 mk1 the other day. I think it sounds pretty big and lush, rather than plain and thin…IMO.
The fx on the A4 are lovely. There are so many possibilities that after 4 years I still find totally new ways to make sounds.

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#100

Keep in mind that it’s a breeze to program knob-per-function Synths compared to clickety clack clack Elektron menu madness.

#101

Yeah chords with a bit of unison and pan spread, chorus And delay can sound pretty big, I think because it has such a range it can be perceived as thin.

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#102

Id rather program any elektron rather than the Moog sub 37. Sub 37 is fine so long as you are happy on the front panel, soon as you want to go deep… horrible.
Elektrons are painless, once you know your way round.

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#103

And I will echo what others have said about Moogs being tricky to fit in a mix. You can totally make an entire track with just a Moog, (I have done so) but you will need multi tracking, heavy processing, and essentially, destroy most of the sound in order to get it to fit in the mix.

And that always seemed like a shame to me. Moogs really shine when they are allowed to fill the frequency spectrum.

As to the question A4 or Moog? I dunno, totally different synths, I dont think its a fair comparison. A4 is as much about its sequencer as it is about its voice. Where as any Moog is all about its voice.

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#104

Been loving messing around with OSC sync sweeps!
But it’s easy to overlook its poly capabilities depending on your setup…maybe if you’re rockin the AK it would seem like the more logical to start building poly patches…maybe not.

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#105

This is exactly what I was thinking. Some of the things I wanna modulate on the sub are buried…like arp gate length and lfo swing. The tiny screen and long list of brutal abbreviations…

#106

Can’t speak for the Sub37 but the Dominion 1 for example smokes the A4 when it comes to programming and Sound.

Sold the A4 when I bought the Dom and never looked back.

#107

I’d say this is less true for the Subsequent as compared to the Sub, as well as the Grandmother and to some extent the Matriarch (when you don’t go full four oscillator). There’s more headroom there and slightly easier to fit in a mix without processing away what’s good about a Moog.

But it’s still a generally very valid point. Moogs are more band synths, in that regard.

#108

I like it to play moog synth, then sample and chop it
Since moog has a more direct and for me intuitive front, it is more easy to sound amazing. It is easier to start and to make music (for me).
My a4mk2 is more than amazing, especially with my ah. But when sitting in front of it, listening its inititial, confronted with menues and indirect knobs, sometimes make me feel sad. Once i am ‘programming’, the monster comes out of the A4.
Also the look of the a4mk2 feels strange. It looks like Phillips hospital equipment. It doesn’t look as dangerous as it is

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