Analog Four "Use Track Sounds" as creative tool

Elektron Gear Analog Keys/Four
#1

Hi fellow Elektronauts,

Lets say I have sound + pattern on Track 1 + 3 playing a nice sequence.
If you press the “Mix” button on the MK2 and check the box at “USE TRK SOUNDS”, something really nice happens. The unused Track 2 (with no programmed sequence in it) suddenly starts to play along with the other two Tracks creating something totally new sounding. To me it sounds like all active tracks start to use the programmed sequences now all together. I think this is intended (see manual description below) and hell yeah this is a nice feature. from now on I use this as a creative tool to record more unexpected audio sequences.

I am not fully understanding what’s happens here so feel free to comment my findings.

According to the Manual:
“USE TRK SOUNDS” forces the selected voices to use the Sounds of the four tracks, instead of letting the voices dynamically use the played Sound. Tick/untick box to activate/deactivate using the [YES] key or the [LEFT] and [RIGHT] arrow keys.

Have fun!

#2

it’s certainly intended

you can do nice subtle organic poly things with this if you copy and subtly mod a patch on all four voices so the voices are cyclically picked in a round robin fashion

super flexible on lots of fronts

5 Likes
#3

For more spice try using 3 voices for patterns that work in fours, or the other way round, so that the notes cycle in an unusual way. Eg: If you have 3 notes in a 16-step pattern, use all four voices. That way the sounds used per note will fold over (sort of polyrhythmic… sure it has a proper name).

1 Like
#4

? :content:

#5

i know, terrible explanation :zonked:

e.g. 1:
this is a 16-step pattern that has notes in threes:

X - - x - - x -
X - - x - - x -

‘use trk sounds’ with all 4 voices enabled in rotate mode will lead to the sound return to voice 1 on the 5th note and it continues to fold over.

e.g. 2:
this is a 16-step pattern that has notes in fours:

X - x - - x - x
X - x - - x - x

‘use trk sounds’ with 3 voices enabled in rotate mode will lead to the sound return to voice 1 on the 4th note and it continues to fold over.

its a small but neat trick that can be very pleasing to the ear (if you like that sort of thing) :nerd:

4 Likes
#6

Now I am confused :wink:

1 Like
#7

Now I get it. :content:

#8

Thanks!

1 Like
#9

It would be more like:
Trig: x - x - x - x - / x - x - x - x - /
Trk: 1 - 2 - 3 - 1 - / 2 - 3 - 1 - 2 - /

It would be like using polymeters, or tracks that aren’t the same length.

The Trig pattern is a basic 4/4, but because it uses the “use track sounds” feature, it’s cycling through the different sounds on each trig. If you had 2 or 4 tracks active for this, the results would be predictable and repetitive, but if you use 3 tracks, trig 1 through 3 go through the track sounds, but trig 4 goes back to track 1, then on the next bar you’re starting off using track 2 on trig 1, then trig 2 uses track 3, and so on.

Hope that helps.

4 Likes
#10

yup! what i meant to say :smiley:

#11

Use Trk Sounds is one of my fav features!

Settings voice allocation to ‘rotate’ with slightly different sounds on the tracks (maybe also pan sounds) and performance macros that control filter, envelopes and modulation (vary lfo shapes, speed, targets etc on different tracks) for all sounds is great for some crazy bass and lead sequences. I usually go from my AK into a stereo reverb or delay and then tweak stuff like crazy, jumping back and forth between individual tracks and macros^^

2 Likes
#12

me too perfect for sound design in layering fashion
Perfect for multi as well

it’s very convenient for the user he can really use voices as he want to use it.

1 Like
#13

is this comparable to DN where you can trigger the other 3 tracks as well?

The cycling trick would not be possible there, right? This seems like a nice addon for the DN! I mean… I will get an A4 one day … but I am waiting for the black edition to come to the 2nd hand market :slight_smile:

#14

I briefly checked the manual, seems DN doesn’t have ‘Use Trk Sounds’, voice menu only controls voice stealing (you can lock voices to tracks), unison and layering.

You can do layering on A4/AK, but also a whole lot more. There’s so much you can do with the different voice allocation modi and ‘Use Trk Sounds’

Edit; also A4/AK has neighbour tracks like on Octatrack! :slight_smile:

2 Likes
#15

Oh okay… hehe… actually the A4 mk2 was my first Elektron synth. But I sent it back because I obviously didn’t know about that feature :smiley: