Help -New to elektron - confused and need some guidance please

mfx · 2014-04-25T01:01:35.000Z

Received mine today…I am so lost.
This is one confusing system and I am trying to clock my head around it

So far achieved :

Scrolling through patches yay.
Using as a midi controller for vst in Cubase.

Where I am confused :

I think a lot of it is actually understanding how to navigate the system and what buttons to press. I understand they are multifunctional ie funtion +.

After skimming the manual what does what.(Damn the screen is small).

Selecting one of 4 different tacks but not knowing how to assign different parts and see a patch and when selecting a different trk, the same patch is still showing but a different sound plays back (which is expected but cant see the patch name as it still displays the previous tracks patch name), confused?
Can see Banks a-b and guessing no other sound banks are loaded, how to access +Drive would be of help.
Set up A4 as external instrument in Cubase and can select differnt midi channels from within cubase, but unable to identify how to change the banks/patches as does not seem to respond how the other synths do.

Side note (God I pray the overbridge works similar and as simple as the Virus TI).
I take it that the usb does not carry an audio signal, only midi?

I am struggling to know where to start with this, let alone getting down to tweaking - it’s frustrating and I will look back on this post in a few months and think “good grief”, but for now I feel like am needing to break my arms to hinder the pending frustration

Checked out some videos on the usual utube and even the 7 year old lost me…I need a bare basics guidance, step by step, on what does what…the manual is not very coherent but then I am dyslexic, maybe its my issue.

Anyway help please, not flaming here, frustrating and reaching out

Daisuk · 2014-04-25T01:14:21.000Z

The A4 basic operations are pretty straight forward. If you just want to get into tweaking;

Select a track you want to start with, typically 1 (press the track 1 button)
The buttons below the screen now are pretty clearly marked with the different sections - Amp, Filter, Synth etc. Press these to tweak parameters. Some of these can be pressed twice to access a second menu.
Press the red “rec button”, now you can place trigs on the sequencer
While holding down a trig you can press notes on the little mini keyboard to select a note
Press play
Hear what’s going on, and tweak some parameters
Do the same with track 2, 3, 4
On the effects track you can choose settings for the effects

It’s pretty straight forward, really. Just start with this, and you’ll be flying in no time.

dimi3 · 2014-04-25T01:33:58.000Z

DON’T “skim” the manual! It is a simple machine it might take a bit. I would also start out not connecting it to cubase, play with it on it own.

dimi3 · 2014-04-25T01:36:31.000Z

If you are dyslexic… then the best place to start is the sound flow diagram.

ark · 2014-04-25T02:26:04.000Z

""mfx"":

Using as a midi controller for vst in Cubase.

Umm…the Analog Four isn’t really intended for use as a MIDI controller. How are you trying to use it?

mfx · 2014-04-25T10:58:42.000Z

Hi Guys

Realised this should be in the Analog Keys thread, however as the A4 users are more established and effectively the same. Appears from helpful response may as well sit here, if that’s ok.

@Daisuk - Thanks it’s this type of info I need as a starting point. Step by step guides work well and your time’s much appreciated.

@dimiZ - Will revist the manual, I’m not too bad but I am finding the manual a little lack lustre in fluidity. But once printed it I am sure I can absorb the info better.

@ark - See above, AK but still relevant here I trust

Thanks guys. Got my son to sleep so see if I can get some time with the kit.

Keep the help coming.

science · 2014-04-25T15:21:31.000Z

if you need to know the name of the track you are on press the track with the red led next to it. then on the screen in the lower left corner where the name of the kit is, it will say the track name for a few seconds.

to load a new sound on a track press the track key quickly two times on the track you want to load the sound. this is the same as Function+Sound then choosing sound browser.

the +Drive is not something you “go to” in the typical way you would go to a drive and load a kit,sound, project.

All Kits are not accessible and are kind of partitioned.
for example. a project holds 128 kits. but if you are working on project A, and you want a kit from project B you can not load it. Kits are contained in a project and the A4’s +Drive can hold 128 Projects.

Sounds are not partitioned and can be loaded from the +Drive from any project. because sounds are not just saved in the sound pool of a project (128 sounds in a project pool) they can be accessed by pressing function + Sound.
Then choosing sound browser or sound manager.

Tracks and patterns can be saved but they are saved to a single file hidden from the user. this file is saved with the project and is used for when you need to revert back to a certain state after experimenting etc.
each track can be saved and each pattern can be saved in each project.

keep in mind that the project separates everything except sounds.
Also each project has a sound pool of 128 sounds. the reason for the pool is.
When a sound is in the pool it can be loaded instantly from trig to trig on the same track in the same pattern. a sound that is not in the pool can not be instaloaded this way.