Anything else like the Analogue Four?

Yeah, I’m slowly getting ready to sell mine. Looking at the mileage, I can see that more often than not, I don’t use the results from it. It’s extremely funky, though. In the hands of someone more skilled than me, it works wonders.

I second that. I enjoyed making patches on the mother 32 and I loved the sound. But that sequencer is not good.

Shoot me a PM if you want to sell… I have some funds for it right now… not sure for how long though :laughing:

A4 is deep, and difficult… Theres so much to be found, but it can be exhausting.
Its not immediate at any skill level, but it is one that after any brake I come back to and think, ‘holy shit, I havnt scratched the surface!’
I feel like the a4 is not a one trick pony, in the best and worst way; its got a lifetime of tricks, but you really have to work your ass off for each one.
And as far as OP’s question, I cant really think of amything that can compare as far as the engine/sequencer combo, unless youre looking itb

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a very huge, very expensive modular system.
Without patch memory of course

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Looking at some alternatives here wrt them also having a “sequencer”…

I enjoy editing sequences , parameters, trigs slide parameters with the Analog Four (only wish the 16 steps could be used to live jam, to have more note range than just the 1 octave). The term “sequencer” is thrown around a lot in the synth world. To me; A 1 bar (16 step) pattern (often without memory or midi access) is useless. Then consider the easy of editing any sequence w A4 and it gets difficult to find a hardware alternative. Maybe some Roland Groovebox?

The motion record is not as fun as the A4 parameter locks but the MC-707 has a great onboard synth and sequencer.

…tempest is as great as unfinshed as not in production anymore…while still pretty pricy, though…had a big crush on this linn meets smith design…but gladly, i’m over it…

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Interesting response. Can you elaborate on what you mean by working your ass off to find its tricks? I’ve owned / sold an A4 in the past, but I didn’t find it that deep to be honest.

Basically, id often find myself in loops of always ending up at the same types of sounds, and then after a while break through to somthing i hadnt expected to hear from it. Always fun discoveries, however, ended up moving on from it, just way too divey for me, turns out im just not that into sound design

Analog 4 was my first synth and Elektron box that drew me into my love of Elektron hardware after trying out a friends Machinedrum and not being able to find a Machinedrum for sale at the time. I still love it and look forward to using it with my Rytm to record more tracks with Overbridge. It’s great for handling modular gear as well.

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I second that.
The sequencer on the DB-01 is indeed pretty impressive for such a small unit. It can do things the Elektron sequencer does not: reverse :slight_smile:
The MOD lane is also very nice and leads to unexpected results.

Edit: I sold my DB-01 (and other things, Hydrasynth, Doctor A and a GFI Specular) to fund an A4 Mk2.

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I had an A4 MK2, personally, I was underwhelmed by the sound, loved the functions/sequencer.
now I have a vermona perfourmer MK2, much better analogue warmth imo! Just no sequencer (but have an OT for that)

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Already mentioned but the Dreadbox/Polyend Medusa is a possible alternative. You have a 64 step seq with p locks, lots of modulations (5 LFOs, 5 enveloppes). You can FM analog osc 1 & 2 with the 3. Also possible to fm the analog filter. 3 digital osc with wavetables and digital fm possibilities.
BUT it’s paraphonic, monotimbral and you only have one pattern per patch (only 128 patches can be stored).
I think in the spirit of having an analog synth with powerful digital control, it’s close to the A4.

I was pondering between a Perfourmer Mk2 and the A4 Mk2. In the end I went for the A4 as it has 4 voices as well. The filter on the Perfourmer did not convince me. Personal taste I suppose :slight_smile:
Thing is the Elektron workflow works well for me.

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This thread seems like it might become the inverse of this one:

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I currently have 2x A4mk2’s and an Analog Keys, it’s my favourite Elektron device by far and I don’t think I’ll ever not have one now… so, simple answer to the OP is no, there’s nothing else like the A4, IMO.

But, there’s one device that is similar in quite a few departments that is criminally overlooked and probably the best sleeper synth you can get right now:

The Roland JD-XA.

It has 4 mono analog voices, each with 2 OSC and a Sub, and tons of mod/fx options.

On top of this, you get another 4 digital voices with 64 note polyphony between them that gives you VA, waveform and the Roland Supernatural sound engine.

So that’s 8 part polyphony, all usable/programmable independently of each other, and you can mix and match any of them to play on the keyboard itself.

It’s a beast…,and I think it makes an amazing partner to the Digitone and it’s 4 midi tracks.

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On the sleeper JD-XA, what about the screen and menu dive but I only had the JD-Xi so maybe it’s different.

It is a bit menu divey for certain things, like when you dig in to mods, but it has hands on controls for the most part (oscs, filters, envs, lfos, etc) of what you’d want.

Sequential Multi-trak is like an Analog Keys from the 80s:

  • 6 voice poly with fully analog voices
  • Multitimbral (6 mono parts)
  • Bulit in arpeggiator and 6-track sequencer
  • Fairly simple synthesis, but flexible enough (filter FM, PWM, chorus etc)
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