just take it away somewhere quiet with a set of headphones and get lost in it - if you are having trouble with the features watch some basic tutorials to take you through things you may have missed
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For me the A4mk1 comes alive when you run with through some proper distortion, especially the low end. Had it pair with the Analog Drive and it was fantastic.
All the love you need is already there! 
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Pretty cool stuff in that video. I like the idea of using it with no oscillators, I’ll look into that 
@LyingDalai for sure there’s some options I haven’t mastered yet, thanks for the reminder with the AM, I defintely have to spend more time experiencing with it before giving up
@B_LD yeah I’ve spent quite some time exploring the thread, but most of what I get from it is really experimental stuff that sounds real cool but I won’t end up using in a production, having it going the full weird way doesn’t allow for much space for other elements imo !
Anyway thanks everyone for the advices and tips, it has given me a few really good ideas on what to try next!
You’re very welcome.
Referring to your initial post I’d say: Dedicate some time to explore the A4 only. And while I don’t see myself ever contributing very experimental stuff here, there’s still a lot of valuable knowledge in it to be found that might lead to a deeper understanding of what the synth can do for you. If that’s meeting your sonic requirements is something you’ll have to find out yourself, of course. 
Edit: Ah, and as usual: Let’s hear some examples what you’re after, will you?
ahaha
Forgot “I feel the children we made our quite bland”
I use it mainly for ambient & downtempo instrumental music. I have the Analog Keys and I find that I can create some very expressive sounds with the AK. The four-part multitimbrality and the powerful UI gives me a lot of flexibility for layering sounds on-the-fly.
The oscillators have a very smooth high-end that allows me to make more ‘pretty’ sounds that my other analog (DSI) can’t do well (it gets fizzy and harsh in the high frequencies). Things like flutes, bass clarinet, sax type sounds with an otherworldly synthetic element to them.
I also really like the dual filters. This allows me to sculpt the sound a lot more than most analogs with just a low-pass filter. The resonant high-pass filter with key tracking is great to accentuate bass or thin out a sound for a more realistic midrange.
All the overdrive options are really useful too, I especially like the sound of the oscillator feedback option, though I wish I could run both oscillators through it.
The cleanness of the oscillators allows for some very organic sounds, if designed with care. Unfortunately the cleanness also makes the oscillators sound pretty underwhelming at first. This synth requires a lot of attention, and it rewards the user by being deep and full of tricks.
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One thing might be that trance (and some to extent, later techno and electro) is defined by VA synths rather than analog. That’s not to say you can’t get to that sound via analog means, but you have to go about it differently. A lot of it is polyphonic chords or massively unison leads. And the A4’s built-in, 4-track, voice-sharing version of polyphony is probably not going to get you there on its own.
Rather, think about it like designing four layered patches (across all tracks) where each track’s two oscillators (and sub! Remember that “5TH” sub) are tuned to chord intervals or slightly detuned to get that unison feel.
Also, while the A4’s envelopes are very snappy and feel quite VA to me, the primary ladder filter is too juicy to my ears. Using the multimode filter instead can help with the vibe.
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I have A4 Mk2 for only 3 weeks and honestly having a hard time with it because of menu diving and complexity but every session I discover something new, lots of weirdness thanks to modulation and a lot of destinations. Sometimes listening a pattern for hours while slowly tweaking parameters catapults me into another sphere. A4 is definitely a keeper and I wont get rid of it, crazy analog synth despine its limitations. Now I understand why people have love/hate relationship with it.
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I’ve got my A4 in 2013. I used the machine nearly every day since then till around 2018/2019. 2023 and 2024 just on rare occasion… let’s say I’ve got tired from it’s sound signature. Anyway, when I ran out of ideas I used the plocks on nearly every possible parameter and got some astonishing results by pure accident… that’s one way
The other way is to dive into the modulations, oscillators, filters and of course the sequencer by purpose
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I had an A4 mk2 for probably…6 months or more?
The first problem was I used it alongside an OT and small eurorack setup and knew very little about how to operate any of em So I bit off more than I could chew. I didn’t like sequencing modular from the A4 for reasons I can’t fully recall. Wound up getting a midi/CV converter and using the OT for that task. Spent a couple weeks using the A4 standalone and was pretty blown away. I especially loved all the drums/perc I was able to come up with and use samples from that to this day. A4 kicks are something very special IMO. When it came to leads, pads, basses etc, I thought it was very capable as well, but enjoyed the process of making basses and leads in eurorack. Short story, I never had fun using the A4. Everything just seemed liked a convoluted chore to me at the time. Not sure how I would feel now that I have a much better handle on synthesis and the Elektron approach. I’ve been curious to try one again, but as ‘limited’ as the Syntakt seems to many, I’d never trade mine for an A4. Syntakt is stupid fun to use and fills in so many gaps for me.
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do you have a mk1 or mk2?
A key point for this is to know that pulse width affect AM big time, so if you have Osc 2 modulating Osc 1 amplitude, set Osc 2 volume to 0, and mess with its pitch, shape, pulse with, PWM, envelope on pitch or pulse with, FM LFO, etc.
There is also hard sync that let you get interesting tones: if you sync 2 to 1 all the modulations on osc 2 pitch are what you want.
Then you can have cross modulation… Plenty of crazy tones you’ve never heard from your synth yet.
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THIS ! Sounded like the most “exotic” thing I hadn’t done yet and indeed I didn’t get that kind of sound in all this year, great and simple tip for further sound design stuff just as I was looking for, thank you!
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This comment has also gotten me down new roads in the past 2 days, thanks again 
trying to forget about making leads, pads, bass and making rythmic, dynamic noises is indeed a lot of fun with A4, something I think I had forgotten about for a while
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This post/thread had me digging my A4 mkii out of it’s bag again to experiment and go through my projects again. Actually found quite a lot of usable (mostly pluck and acid) sounds for my trance music
Still not a fan of the reverb, only ever gotten it to sound lush on some patches on the DN - dunno if they’re the same algo. But there’s pedals and stuff so that is fixable
The chorus sounds nice tho, and the delay delays
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Don’t forget you can automate or modulate e.g. reverb predelay or reverb filter for more dynamic reverb…
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Yeah that’s not a bad shout, will give that a try. But will i then have to have the sequencer running while sound designing? Will give it a shot
I didn’t jive with it as a traditional synth, I wasn’t as much of a fan trying to bend it to goth/trance ends.
People love it as an analog drum synth, so I do want to eventually reconnect with one and engage on that level.
On the plus side, it’s been some years and the earlier… skill issue with loving gear for what they are (over breadth) is less of a concern.
You don’t need to use the sequencer, you can use an LFO. Specifically modding the reverb’s pre-delay very slightly via LFO gets a nice modulated verb sound. Also make sure you try out the high shelf settings and some low cut, I found that pretty helpful for the AK verb.
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