Another A4/AK praise thread

Got this one cooking last night.
Squelchy bass isn’t a typical sound for me, but it was working on AK Track 1 so I built the tune around it.
HPF with resonance up and keytrack at 32 to follow the notes.
I’m consistently baffled when I hear complaints about A4/K bass. It’s got the goods though it is more of a black cherry flavor of bass than the chocolate Moog sound.

3 note pad in Track 2.

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Nice one! Reminds me of drexciya in a good way

btw, you do have the AR808 soundpack, right? Works really well for elektro IMO, good starting points for building spiffy “direct beat” kits

Stinson’s ghost is constantly haunting my studio.
He must have passed through on I-70 in his rig regularly when he was still with us.

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Just ordered an A4. I praise whomever suddenly set the price for new MK1 A4’s to be $829 USD across many retailers right now. After trying to get some other mono synths set up with the Octatrack and keeping track of MIDI CC charts and the like, it’s just easier to dig myself in deeper with the Elektron workflow I know and love.

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Update:

This is my first Elektron. I got it at 829.00 as well. I was suppose to get the Korg Arp Odyssey with the SQ1 sequencer but when I saw the price drop of the A4 I immediately did research on it on youtube and here at Elektronauts.

I was worried about the steeeeeep learning curve but people who have used this machine advised me to focus on the A4 for about a week. I’ve been learning since Sat when I first took the macprovideo tutorial .

I believe the A4 will help me rhythmically and melodically to create these tunes . For the type of music I do which is Belgian New Beat I think this will serve me well … It’s a keeper too. I already know.

I’d like to get that Octa but I already ordered the Akai MPC LIVE>

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Hi,
I’m gradually becoming the owner of Elektron equipment; a Machinedrum a year and a half ago; an Analog Heat more recently and, 10 days ago, an Analog Four. I love all of them.

With my new found Elektron interest I have been reading more and more on this forum add things are now more relevant to me; previously it was only the Ableton forum that I would frequent as I have been an Ableton user for 10 years. Anyway. . . to return to the topic . . .
I’m quite suprised by some of the negative press the A4 gets around here. Maybe I missed the boat and the initial tsunami of enthusiasm for the device has gradually worn off. Maybe the announcement of the MKii has turned some people’s heads. However, I find the device truly terrific. I read about concerns about bass, and even Elektron seen to suggest there are weaknesses with their promotional statements about the newer version and how it will provide improved bass. However, I find that the A4 rattles my walls perfectly well. Perhaps my naivety is on display here and there are other devices that would cause my neighbours to sell their houses or the local fire brigade to try to identify the tremors that are being generated from my music room. However, I must say that I’m not sure what I’d do with that much power of it really does exist. It reminds me of a Pirelli advert a while back that stated: Power Is Nothing Without Control. Surely there is no greater level of control than the A4.

Anyway, to finish, I guess I’m trying to say I’m suprised with the negativity for this device. It seems to be truly wonderful. And I know that I should disregard other’s views; they have no effect on my enjoyment after all. But, I’m intrigued: has the good will faded for the A4 or are the lovers of the device busy using parameter locks save assigning LFOs rather than enthusing about the little black box on the net?
Cheers,
Adam (Gradual Elektron Enthusiast)

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The A4 and Keys are nice and inspiring instruments. But I guess tastes differ.

Myself - I love the Analog Keys. :heart:

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Personally I’ve never had any issues with the sound and I’ve had it since it was first released. The resonance boost addition was a nice touch but I was happy with it prior to that. I have had absolutely no problem getting room wrecking bass from it anywhere along the line. Anyways bass is such a small part of what the A4 is capable of.

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Yeah, it’s funny how modern/electronic music and those instruments that are associated with the manufacturing of it are measured so often by their ability to produce bass. Personally, I find the A4’s versatile nature and inventiveness a massive attraction and the same applies to the Machinedrum.

These machines inspire exploration and experimentation and often lead to many “happy accidents” in my existence so far.

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I really like it! It can do all sorts of amazing sounds. It can be very traditional sounding or even do sounds usually associated with modular. It has a very wide array of sounds.

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It can make some massive bass lines and way more besides. I have mine about a month now and am delighted with it. Was such a steal with the price drop - paid 899 euros for it! Combined with the sequencer capabilities and being able to change preset sounds per step is another massive advantage. Bass on it sounds great to my ears too, especially when coupled with some of that lovely ambient reverb!

Haters gonna hate. That’s what they do.

I love my A4. That’s what I do.

Those of us who spent proper time with the machine know how vast the sonic territories can be with that beast, how gentle or savage it can be, and the controls it allows over its voices.

At the current price, especially in 2nd hand, it’s probably one of the best choices out there.

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Yeah, I had no intention of adding one to my setup. However, like you say, second hand prices are crazy.

Suddenly they are well within reach of a modest budget. I find myself lost in the world of the Machinedrum and A4 and Heat and forget that my laptop typically pulls all these things together.

I have checked out your YouTube videos, especially on percussion; top stuff. Really helpful.

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I think the A4 is my favourite Elektron machine to date, I loved it from day 1 when it was in beta, the various enhancements added since then have made it even better, people’s tastes and requirments differ though and that is cool with me. As an instrument I find it to be very flexible and easily able to be used on its own to do complete minimalist jams, the sound locks and flexible architecture allow me to work within a limited but not too restrictive framework that I particularly enjoy.

I wish that there were a few more routing options WRT modulation destinations from the LFOs and envelopes, and I wish that the illogical scale page was sorted out - but this is the same on all Elektron machines.

The trig conditions are really great, I think that a few extra enhancements here would make the sequencer even more flexible though.

Overall I find it the easiest Elektron machine to get sounding good quickly, it seems to have far more sweet spots than the AR and MD possibly due to its more open architecture (no ‘machines’) and it is also my favourite Elektron for analog kick drums.

One final thing I love about it relates to my use of nanoloop mono, due to the similar architecture of the sequencer and sound generation (although of course the A4 is more featured) I can use nanoloop mono on the go to come up with ideas then quite easily translate the patterns into the A4, or vice versa with some omissions. Combining the 2 quite different approaches to pattern creation is a nice way to encourage me down paths which I might not have travelled otherwise.

But yeah the A4, a classic in my book.

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Sold mine a while a go, slowly realised the mistake, getting one back in the next few days.

IMO both elektron analogs are modern classics. There is so much mileage within either of them that it makes many other synths and drum machines look primitive in comparison.

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I sway to and fro with my A4. Not sure why. Some days are great, others aren’t.

I think if every track had its own delay, I’d be in heaven.

While I can see that some classic sounds are not so easy to program immediately and that you have to take time to find your sweetspots on the A4, I still think the A4 is pure magic and versatile as hell. You can do so much on it it’s crazy.
And all the classic sounds are clearly possible as well, I heard it in many demos und created them myself. And it delivers enough bass for my purposes. The thread with the bass tips on this forum was very helpful. But you can do so much more than standard lead or bass sounds. And it can be such a great drum synth (shout out to @darenager)

I love it. Best synth I used.
But I have to admit. Some I can create some specific more classic sounds much faster on other synths. Diva for example.

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Perhaps its tough dialing in certain “classic subtractive” sounds with the A4, but conversely A4 can pull off sounds which the Arp Odysseys and Moogs of the world could never hope to do.

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