I’m a brand new Elektron user. I’ve bought the Elektron Analog 4 three days ago.I’m still learning a lot in synthesizer, sequencing, midi ect…
I’ve got a prophet 08 as well i’m able to get some great sound from it and i would like to make those sounds even more interesting by using some of the A4’s effects, LFO, ARP, filters ect…
I don’t know where to start or how to connect my prophet 08 to the A4.
On the back of my prophet i’ve got " L/R Main output" “L/R outuput B” “Phones” 1 “Pedal/CV” 1 “Substain” “MID in/out” “Midi Thru” “Poly Chain out”.
I’ve got a few balanced jack cables and 2 midi cables.
If you could tell me how to set that up it would be much appreciated.
Connect your output cables from the Prophet to the Input jacks on the A4. Then select a track on the A4, OSC1, for instance, and select waveform, and input L or input R. Voila! I haven’t actually done this myself yet, but I’m pretty sure that’s how you do it.
I’ve plugged “main outup L/R” from my prophet to the “input L/R” on the A4.
Selected track 2, OSC 1 Wavefrom “in L” and OSC 2 Waveform “in R”. I’ve got nothing.
You’ve got to trigger the track if you are attempting to use LR inputs as OSC sources. You can crank up the release to INF if you just want to pass audio thru.
imo the most useful things you could do would be to pull the P’08 through the external inputs of the A4, don’t get bogged down putting the DSI sound through the A4 filters for now - yeah wack the vca level up and put some analog noise through the A4 filters one quiet sunday and explore the inputs as osc sources too, but P’08 wet through the A4 fx will be nice - the other thing you could do is use the CV out from the A4 and connect it to the pedal input of the DSI, but that input is heavily filtered so it’ll soften some of the A4 cv signal which you can sequence and treat with lfo, in this case, sync the dsi to the elektron, or sync them up anyway - well if you sync the A4 to the dsi you can use the prophet as a midi controller, but be wary of all that cc/nrpn data the dsi will chuck out
you’ll have to wire up the cv stuff carefully, there are plenty of threads on this, yhbw
you can’t sequence the DSI with the A4, your best bet of control is through teh very very limited CV route which will give you one channel of info, ie no gate, but maybe pitch if the pedal input can be a modulation source for osc pitch in dsi
Nope, not properly, you may get limited cv control of pitch as I said, but not gate (note on/off) the p08 is meant to be played, and it has it’s own sequencer ! You’d need a cv to midi converter to get someway there, simpler to sequence from an Octatrack which I guess you don’t own. IMHO the a4 oscillators and filters are way more fun than the p08. Two different animals, both good at their own game
MIDI can be tricky when trying to “sequence” a lot of DSI gear due to the use of NPRN as well as CC’s. You would need to take the time to read in the back of the Prophet 08 User Manual of which parameters are controllable externally through MIDI CC’s only.
It’s not that anything is awry with DSI gear, it’s just that NPRN’s are used for some things or even most, MIDI CC others, depending on which DSI synth, due to the amount of control available through the MIDI CC range of 0-127 is often not quite fine enough in order to avoid “zipper/stair casing” whereas NPRN gives incredibly higher resolution of control.
Now, other also great synths such as any Access Virus, for instance, you will find controlling almost all parameters via MIDI CC much more able companions.
As already mentioned, your P’08 would make an awesome controller for your A4 with after touch/velocity, and running it through the FX will be equiv. of using three different Eventide Boxes at same time.
Thank you for your replay Namnibor. I’ll be honest with you, i didn’t understand everything that you said. Like i said i’m still learning a lot about synthesisers, midi ect…
Basically i want to play live and record live. I know i’ve got a sequencer in my prophet 08 but i find it to hard to access while playing live. I would like an external machine to control de sequence of my prophet 08. I was thinking of maybe the “Doepfer Dark Time” do you think that would work?
You need to read your user manuals before spending money on things that may or may not work. The sequencer within the Prophet 08 is only going to sequence the Prophet 08 and also cannot be controlled externally in the way I think you wish, aside from using a DAW.
The A4 can do a lot and make massive sounds. I know synthesis and took me a while to wrap my head around Elektron way of sequencing…and still learning. Definitely read manuals and would suggest learning about synthesis basics.
Basically i want to play live and record live. I know i’ve got a sequencer in my prophet 08 but i find it to hard to access while playing live. I would like an external machine to control de sequence of my prophet 08. I was thinking of maybe the “Doepfer Dark Time” do you think that would work?
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i can’t recall if the Dark Time has a MIDI sequencing option, possibly, but it’s a good sequencer for CV synths, and that’s primarily what you’d pay for. You cannot CV sequence the P08. The sequencer in the P08 is not as direct as a Dark Time but it’s not too hidden. Not as playable as an Elektron sequencer. The OT would be something worth considering long term as it’ll give you MIDI sequencing (max chord would be 4 notes) and audio recording so you could easily capture and loop all the nuances (and full polyphony) of the P08, plus you’d get fx for the dry DSI. The OT can do so much more of course and it’s a live performance sampler, albeit a very deep instrument that would take time and commitment to get the most from. There’s lots of other options so ask around!
Yes the Doepfer Dark Time has midi sequencing and with the latest firmware it’s got some really nice midi features, like having the upper 8 steps control the pitch and the lower row controlling either length, velocity, CC1, CC3 or a CC of your own choice.
The Dark Time can be the midi clock master or slave to the A4 and at the same time output midi notes.
So you can do a setup like:
A4 → midi clock → DarkTime → midi notes → midi synth
my 2 cents: I have a DSI Poly Evolver and the sequencer is arguably the best thing about it. The P08 has that same sequencer. Its not as complex as an Elektron sequencer ( no sequencer is ) but it has tons of possibility. My point is, I think you are missing out if you are choosing to neglect the P08’s sequencer. It would be like buying an ms20 and not using the patch bay.
I haven’t actually done this myself yet, but I’m pretty sure that’s how you do it.