Can't decide if I should keep the A4MKII with NAMM coming up

The Lounge General Discussion
#1

My return window is closing so I have to decide soon…

I have my first nearly full track using Elektron gear completed but the only thing I’m really using the A4MKII for is song mode… The Digitakt and Digitone absolutely kill it together. This is making me consider returning it for the Octatrack, which seems redundant at first with the Digitakt but I think could be a great piece of gear, or wait it out for NAMM and potentially get the new Elektron Digi gear coming out.

Do you think I’m simply not diving deep enough into the sound engine? The A4MKII has so many more sound design possibilities than say my Moog Sub Phatty… An insane amount of depth that’s hard to really utilize I feel, most of the time for musical purposes (which is exactly why I will never go modular). Based on the presets it can create some crazy weird mono sounds but I don’t know if that’s what I’m going for.

What do you think? Should I spend a full week using only the A4MKII and see what I can do for the song I’m working on?

#3

Yes.

Yes, again.

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#4

I would suggest to explore the videos and sound examples in the following thread to get an idea of the capabilities of the A4:

#5

How much time do you have left with your return window? NAMM starts Thursday, I think.
I’m set to buy a secondhand A4MK2 next week from a friend. From everything I’ve read, it does take time to really get the most out of it. I’ll most likely use it standalone for at least a couple weeks to see what I can squeeze out of it.

If this helps…my first Elektron machine was the DT. After much deliberation I added an Octatrack and thought they paired very nicely together. The more I learned the OT, the less I used the DT. Finally just sold the DT a couple days ago to help fund the A4. I may regret that, but if I do I’ll just get another one down the line. No idea whether a new Elektron machine will be what I’m looking for or not. The OT is by far my favorite piece of hardware I’ve ever owned so far by a pretty huge margin, for what it’s worth

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#6

I say it depends. For me the choice comes down to your compositional and playing style. If you’re a chords or stacked voices type person, you won’t be happy with any synth with just 4 voices, no matter how good those voices are. I realized after buying a couple Moogs that I’m a polysynth player. I don’t regret selling a stack of monosynths to end up with a Nord (actually 2), a Digitone, and a Prophet. I’m so so much happier right now, even if I gave up on a few specific timbral possibilities, I’ve gained so much more for my own playing style.

On the other hand, I know composer/performers who think much more in the line of an orchestra, many unique voices playing mostly monophonic lines summing up to one overall huge and beautiful sound. If that’s you, then the A4MkII is an unbeatable weapon of sonic greatness, equalled in differing ways by many but not necessarily excelled by anybody, and likely won’t be, ever. It’s a true classic.

So it’s less about what the A4 can do or what you can get out of it, and whether or not it even suits your compositional / performance style at all. Make that decision, and whether or not to keep it is done for you.

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#7

That’s true I suppose. I’m not a huge fan of glitch but I love having a huge variation of FX in my tracks, my Digitone + guitar cover almost all of the voices I can possibly need since I usually have my Moog playing bass and my DT covering all drums and cool samples, then the original sound design on the A4…

I think I just need to play with it some more. Next year I’ll get the final Digi box they inevitably release because I just absolutely love the combo so far. I need to use my A4MKII more in my tracks because it has a really unique sound… Off to the drawing board… I’m on a hot streak with this song and I want to release it soon I just need to finalize the Song Mode design on the A4 and record it into my DAW for mastering. Release within 2 weeks for sure!

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#8

Sounds like you have your synth bases covered already, I’d return it and keep your options open.

#9

Au contraire, it sounds like the A4 adds a nice extra capability to what the OP loves - it’s a real gem of an extra instrument, and can contribute dynamic FX and spatial filler to enliven the core tracks they produce otherwise.

If money’s not an issue, keeping the A4 allows @Birth_Chord to dive deeper into it as time permits and to really open it’s possibilities for sound design - which is where it does indeed shine very brightly indeed.

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#10

It’s truly a beastly synth. I mean my Moog Sub Phatty was over half the price of it… For one voice (albeit that voice is very nice).

I only just started experimenting with dynamic trig locks and modulation… I know I can trig lock on my Digitone but I never really do unless I’m using a different sound than assigned to the track, mostly create static synth sounds I enjoy and use them with the occasional LFO. The A4 on the other hand, being mostly utilized as a mono synth makes me push the boundaries for dynamic changes of the assigned track voice to create motion.

I’m not thoroughly convinced though. I give it a week and I will see how I can implement it in my song.

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#11

I don’t always use the sequencing capabilities of the Elektron machines, but for FX that’s a very very powerful feature. One trick you may want to consider is designing sounds where the pitch isn’t controlled by the keyboard pitch, but the timbre is - FM/AM mods are one way to do this, or turn off pitch control of the oscs (sort of drone mode) and use pitch as a mod source to another parameter, then use the arpeggiator to play that modulation. I don’t have an A4 so I can’t say if this is directly possible on it, but I did that a lot with my Moogs (Subsequent 37 was a good one to use this for) and it really opens up a new playable set of effects and morphed drones. You can then sequence pitch using plocks…

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#12

i mean if you return it whats stopping you literally walking to the shop and buying it again if nothing tickles your fancy at NAMM? or even staying in and buying one online, it shouldn’t be too complicated a decision. if you want to open your options just go for it, if you miss the return window you will undoubtedly make a loss for no reason

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#13

I have around 12-13 days left in the return window I believe by the way. I think I’ll end up keeping it.

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