Another A4/AK praise thread

Hi,
I got my A4 this monday. I am already in love with it, it is just as good as my rytm if not even better! The two analogs make such a formidable combo that I am contemplating on abandoning/packing up the rest of my rig (already decided on selling my blofeld). Don’t even need a mixer, just plugging the rytm into the A4 inputs.

I remember being on the fence wrt the A4 for a long, long time… Many demos and videos sounded a bit weird somehow? But after trying one in person, I’d say the same that applies to rytm applies to the A4 - you need to tweak that synthesis to reach the sweet spots.

But now I am wondering - would 2x A4’s > rytm? hehehe :3lektron:

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Agreed!!! :heart:

I had an A4, switched it for AK (which I like even more). Chances are that if I ever get an A4 MKII - the Keys will stay. Even though I’m pretty much all for “one in - one out” due to limited space.

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I’m interested in the indiout mod, but only if there is a modding service that does it to your machine… Can’t really solder myself and never have been a super DIY person. Would kill all my lust for the A4 mk II

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Just got a RYTM MK1 and like it A LOT. Will pick up an AK. Second hand prices suit me very nicely.

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Had two a4 for a while. Must say did not like it.

Was too expensive for a8 imho

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Don’t know. I’m thinking I’d have to make space. All this is highly hypothetical, seeing as a) the MKII is not out yet and b) I don’t know how I´d fund it if I wouldn’t sell anything. :wink:

But in theory I could imagine keeping both.

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yes, especially if poly mode became available! :diddly:

There is a poly mode.

But perhaps you mean poly chain?

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2 would not hurt at all kind of bummed they’re not boxes… I actually really love the box style of everything now things won’t match OCD issues

ahh, yes, sorry bout that… polychain

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Just picked up an AK. My god it’s good! I feel like I’ve grabbed a great bargain. I had thought that the sound quality might be on a par with a good quality VST, but to my ears the AK sounds better. It’s really much better than I thought from the sound demos.

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The joystick is really great - esp when morphing between effects (and the reverb and delay are of the highest quality). I’m blown away by how good the AK is. I think it’s the best second-hand bargain you can get at the moment. I’m thankful that the MK2 is coming out because it makes the AK cheaper in the 2nd hand market. Thanks Jukka for giving me the heads up.

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@ 2xA4 I briefly considered getting another second hand A4 as a drum machine. But the A4 does have a bit of a distinctive sound. I was afraid itd be too much of that kind of dull/dark sound the filters have.

Your opinions and my own brief experiences are also leaning to just a combo of rytm + A4 right now. Even with two A4’s, I’d still not have samples, and I am kinda coming to the conclusion that the sounds of an A4 and the rytm complement each other quite nicely. Also, the UI of the rytm is tailor made for drum duties so there’s that too.

WRT the A4 sounding muffled, I have noticed that even with the filters fully open, some waveforms do not sound nearly as “buzzy” as from my moog or arp, however to my ears I can get much closer to that level of buzzyness by turning up osc lev and adding a bit of overdrive… Would you agree?

Btw, is there a way to prevent a track from transposing? In some situations I might not want to xpose all the A4 voices… Do I just turn keytracking off for these voices? Or is there a way to preserve keytracking while still excluding from global xpose?

When you press Transpose you’ll see which Tracks are ‘engaged’ for transpose as they’re lit, just toggle the ones you don’t want transposed

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I’ve just got back into Elektronland, swapping a Virus TI kb for an Analog Keys. After 1hr of fiddling - what a bit of kit :o

Is there a list anywhere that brings together all the different soundbanks out there? Want to hit the ground running and see what it can do :slight_smile:

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Welcome back! :wink:

I bought that one :

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Awesome, exactly what I was after - cheers :smiley:

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That’s nothing compared to Megabreak ! :wink:

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I haven’t really spent that much time with making custom sounds with the A4 yet, but dabbled with it some more last night (formatted the plusdrive lol). Couldn’t really come up with anything super impressive though, and found it difficult to dial in what I heard in my head. Somehow programming the A4 is different than programming sounds with my other analogs, the process is much more deliberate…?

Well, anyway, started to get a bit discouraged, so thought I’d check out some soundpack demos from elektron.se to see what kind of scope experienced programmers could coax out of the A4. Listened trough then all just now and I am very impressed! I can only hope to get remotely as fluent with the A4 some day.