Help with sound locks and resonance settings

Elektron Gear Analog Keys/Four
1

Hello,

I had an A4 and Octatack a couple of years ago and sold them in 2014 as I got really frustrated with the results I was getting. I’ve been through a load of gear and software since, sold the lot and now I have just bought a new A4 with the intention of focussing on it alone. The lack of results was purely down to my lack of skillz in all areas of music production and synthesis! Anyways, enough of my life story… :sob:

I am putting all my percussion on one track for now and have noticed some variations in the sound that is heard depending on what is on a trig before the sound that is played. I have two examples and I hope someone can shed some light and possible workarounds (if any). If that’s just how it is then no big deal, I just want to improve my knowledge.

I have turned Oscillator drift and F1 boost off.

Example 1

I place a kick on every beat - the kick sounds the same on every beat. I place a HH before the kick and now the kick sound varies on the beat where the HH precedes it, but not on every pass of the 1 bar pattern, sometimes it is every other pass, sometimes more. I can hear a click or new transient being introduced. I have rest envelopes, turned off PWM, LFOs etc.

Example 2
I place the sound 080 Tom (it is all resonance and no osc level) on a trig and play the sound, it is loud and punchy. I place a trig before the 080 Tom and now the sound of the tom is weak. If i raise the Resonance of filter 2 past half way for the preceding sound the 080 Tom sound returns to somewhere near it’s original sound. I have set the envelopes of the Tom to trigger from zero on all env pages.

Questions…

I don’t really know what’s going on in example 1.

I guess that in example 2 the Resonance of the Tom isn’t getting to its full level because of the Sound Lock with no or little resonance preceding it?

Anyways, I hope you’ve got to the end of this lengthy post and come offer some advice and some pointers if you do place all your percussion on one track.

Many thanks,

Wayne.

2

Hi Wayne, when using soundlocks, I have noticed that the osc’s and filters do carry some transient information over, which in turn effects the sound of the following trigs.

This is especially evident on sounds that vary greatly from the preceding trig.

This is A4 life. The only way you can ‘fix’ these to meet your expectations is to do exactly as you are, experiment.

Sometimes, when I have room, I place a silent trig before the one I want to sound a certain way, for say, a bass drum sound it will reset the osc and filters before the audible trig is triggered.

3

This is the nature of analog filters. If they are at a certain point in resonance and cutoff and then need to rapidly change to drastically different parameters, they will produce clicks and what-not since they can’t simply just switch like a digital filter.

My recommendation is to keep this in mind while using sound locks, try to use sounds with a similar filter type for one track and you will minimize filter clicks and pops drastically. Sounds with a lot of resonance also takes longer to build up the feedback.

4

I used to find this an issue until I started to see explanations on the forum. Now I understand what’s going on I actively choose sounds that cause these kind of reactions and instabilities.

5

Thanks for the replies guys. All useful information to know and fits with what I thought was going on (which I’m happy about). For sure I’ll think about sound selection more with the A4 now and not just bang any sound lock in as I would on the OT.

Cheers!

6

I find that a way to eliminate or at least reduce clicking is to use shorter note lengths so there’s no overlap between sounds.