Analog Four MK1 - Meh....?

One week for such a deep synth isn’t even scratching the surface. Give it more time and you won’t regret it :slight_smile:

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Install this:

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I’m certainly going to! Thanks!

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Kimura are great too, must have really.

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I’m into it!! Thanks again. Had my A4 in operation for about two weeks. I’m rocking it for a harshnoise/drone kind of show next weekend then I’m back to the beats. These packs’ll be great!

BTW, A4 is a noise/drone weapon on par with the Lyra 8. It’s unbelievable.

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Here’s some of the best tips I picked up from the A4 mk1 “deep bass” thread:

While most A4 users likely know about using the multimode filter with keytracking to boost low frequencies, there were a few other takeawys from this thread that I found very useful.

1.) The filters are the main source of bass woes; as evinced by oscilloscope images of external gear being run through the A4. In order to get the filters to behave in an “expected” manner (similar to other synths) try the following: for filter 1 take off res boost, leave keytracking off, set res to around 64, and leave the cutoff all the way open. I found that a bit of overdrive is also useful with positive values of 12-25. Use the multimode filter for your filtering needs (envelopes, LFOs etc.).

2.) It is possible to get a pretty hefty square using the tips in step 1 and by setting PW to ranges between -2 to -8.

3.) Not from this thread but it is also possible to get a nice saw by following step 1 and setting the oscillator shape to triangle. Next, turn the PW to -64 and voila.

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Wow seriously great tips in here. My A4 hasn’t gotten much use this year, but this thread has convinced me to bust it out again.

One more tip to add:

A holy shit moment on the A4 for me was figuring out you can set up the 4 voices to trigger round robin style. Make it so each time you hit a key you trigger a different voice.

You go to Poly Config and set “allocation” to “rotate”. I’ve made some craaazy patches this way.

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Oh, and by all means use the search on this forum, it’s full of hidden gems.

https://www.elektronauts.com/search?q=trick%20%23elektron-gear:analog-four

Example:

https://www.elektronauts.com/search?q=Synthesis%20%23elektron-gear:analog-four

Example:

Let’s not forget the famous one, to read any time you think of A4 = meh

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I also love it for percussions… and apropos modular: it’s one of my devices, that plays best with my modular system with it’s CV-outs. Only Elektron with CV-outs…

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This one! I had the Lyra 8, but I far prefer the A4/AK for noise and drone. Harsh sounds, is what I like most. But it can also produce very soft sounds.

I bought the A4 M1 twice and then the AK. I’m not a keyboard player, but the keyboard really makes a difference to me. I love the Elektron sequencer, but I prefer to play the AK with the keyboard and joystick and that even though I usually prefer compact synths. The AK feels like a more complete instrument to me. I hope Elektron will make a synth with a keyboard again.

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Goddamnit there were tons of great tips here that at the first read I thought the A4 had a compressor that I didnt know of lol

But yea I think the a4 experience is the same for most people, the first few weeks you’d be like EH, IS THIS IT WHY DOES IT SOUND SO FLAT and fast forward a year it will be like FACK ME THIS IS MY BEST ANALOG SYTNH. it’s my favourite box now apart from the OT of course duh

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You can send all four tracks through the overdrive which kinda compresses stuff - no need for outboard and the reverb is amazing imo once you know how to use it!

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What do you mean by this?

Distortion, at the right levels, has a similar, if much less controllable, effect to compression, in that it limits the dynamic range of the signal passing through it.

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I meant that I don’t know if there is a way to send all four tracks through one distortion somehow unless we are talking about the filter distortion in poly mode.

Ok, sorry.

Been a while since I had one, can’t remember the routings too well.

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I think if you go to performance setup you can send all the tracks to filter overdrive and adjust to taste with one knob

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Oh, I didn’t know that. I will look into it for sure.

There’s no master distortion on the Four (or I’ve missed something important :slight_smile: ). Did you set up a performance macro that controls all the four (eight) track filters? Or did you use neighbour tracks to pass the sounds through from track to track?

I set up a performance macro and sent everything to filter overdrive - at least I think that’s what I did!
I’ll have to check when I get home

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