I’m planning to buy Analog Four mainly because of his sequencer. I don’t have any hardware synths any more and i don’t mind working with samples as well.
I’m making mostly ambient-ish type of music and i want to try how will some Elektron device fit into my production.
What do you guys suggest? A4 sounds wonderfull but should i consider Digitakt for my purpose?
Theyre completely different machines, one being an analog synth and the other a digital sampler. They fill very different roles, kinda an apples to oranges comparison.
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I think he means the digitone
I’d go for the A4/AK for ambient. Used for about 700€, so not realöy more expensive than a Digitone.
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TBH … for ambient style music both wouldn’t be my first choice. Not as sound sources and even not as sequencers.
IMO for long evolving sound scapes even 64 steps might be a little short. The Elektron boxes have been designed to support techno-like step sequencing. One of the strenghts is the capability to do every single step completely different things and this inside one track. They have been designed for fast and rhythmic movements in the first place. Doesn’t mean that they are absolutly inadequate, but IMO not optimal for ambient purposes.
I would suggest to check out a combination of a synth like a Virus TI2, a Blofeld, a Novation Peak, a DM12 etc. as sound source and a sequencer like the Squarp Pyramid. This would be monophonic flexibility and polyphonic riches combined with a sequencer, which can step- and linear sequencing. A sequencer like the Pyramid supports live recording as long as the memory can take it.
Both synths are delivering great sounds. Since I only have the AK I can say that warm and lush sounds are feasible, but at the cost that all four voices are needed.
A decent external FX to go with the setup would also be of great help, to create long evolving textures. Check out Eventide or Strymon stomp boxes, as an example.
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On the other hand… For ambient - maybe you don’t want resolution of 16ths. So if you slow down to 1/4 notes you suddenly have 16 bars per pattern with the option to use conditional trigs and chain patterns. It’s not really a reason to not use this instrument for ambient.
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A4’s FX track can also be more easily p-locked (no need for MIDI cable loop and setup like DT), make those p-locks conditional, like @CarlMikaelBjork mentioned, and you’ve got an interesting ambient box capable of vast sounds that can evolve in unique and unexpected ways. Conditional trigless trigs on the synth voices (doing things like PWM and sync amount) is also huge for ambient.
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A lot of the music I make is in the ambient Berlin School style, and I am happy to use either for this kind of music. The sequencer on each lends itself well to the sorts of sequences used in that style and the conditional trigs make it easy to extend them well beyond their pattern lengths.
The Analog Four (I use the Analog Keys) is well suited to the genre since it can easily generate sequences and also be used for traditional analog style leads and effects. The four-voice limitation isn’t really an issue since Sound Locks can be used to put more than one sound on each track. Plus, this style of music benefits from a minimalistic approach. You can also play polyphonically, though the limited voice count means you’ll only want to do it on the sparsest of sequences. I generally overdub the polyphonic bits. As a bonus, if you have (or get) any old analog synths or modular stuff, you can sequence them with CV. The A4’s CV integration is pretty hard to beat. Another bonus is that you can run external instruments through it and process and mix them with the A4’s sounds.
The Digitakt’s eight tracks make it a little better for fleshed out tracks, though you can’t play polyhonically without resorting to resampling or using external MIDI gear. The fact that it’s a sampler allows a lot of flexibility. In Ye Olde Days, we used to say that it was easier to make a sampler imitate a synth than the other way around. This is true here, too. It’s easy to make, import, or sample traditional analog sounds in the Digitakt. You can also do wavetable style stuff in it, which is very good for PPG-style sounds used on classic ambient records. Eight additional MIDI tracks means you can add a lot more gear later on and still control it in the familiar environs of the Elektron sequencer. And though there is no song mode, it really isn’t too crucial for ambient music.
Either choice would be a good one, I think, assuming you can make the sequencer work for your specific needs. I love them both and would be happy with either as my main (or only) machine.
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Agreed. This is a way to do it, of course. Although I prefer to work with linear sequencers and more polyphony for ambient pads. I am no friend of linking many sequences, or layering several tracks, if I can do the recording or play out the live performance in one take 
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