How to put more than four notes on one step of the sequencer?

Elektron Gear Analog Keys/Four
#1

I’m trying to make an arp consisting of 5 notes but as it seems each step won’t accept more than four notes. is this an inherent limitation or am i doing sth wrong?

#2

Maybe I’m misreading what you are trying to communicate but how could the A4 use more than 4 notes per step since it only has 4 voices?

#3

Playing an arp is not the same as playing all four voices simultaneously. it can only use one voice and plays them sequentially.

#4

you can read about arp here:

#5

Ah. Ok. I had owned an A4 a long while back. The “per step” part threw me off but I remember now.

#6

Have you tried with keyboard/external midi?
Arp on, but sending 5 notes from another seq/DAW or keyboard. Should work I guess?

Or maybe record the arpeggio onto a track as trigs? Live recording works with incoming midi notes, so you could record your arpeggio easily with software/hardware arp (or simply play yourself^^).

#7

yes, I already know that it would work with the incoming midi. I use a QY700 as my main sequencer and there’s no problem regarding the midi coming from it to AK. But sometimes i just like to play around with the AK alone and not to fiddle around with QY700 and that’s when i feel the need for putting more than four notes per step. I already wrote to elektron to see if they include it in the next update as it is an unnecessary limitation.

#8

Thanks for the link!

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#9

Not much you can do besides using an external arp or recording the arpeggio into a pattern, I’m afraid.
A4/AKs arp isn’t exactly feature-rich compared to other Elektrons, especially compared to OT, so I pretty much haven’t used in years.

There’s indeed no apparent reason for the note limit, though, the arp can’t be p-locked anyways, so it wouldn’t matter if additionally played notes were displayed or not.

All I can think of is memory as the arp is saved with a pattern.

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#10

Ja, but I don’t think that would be such a hassle for the ram. it’s merely bytes of data. And I actually love the AK so far. the fact that it doesn’t have a sampler also makes it more appealing to me. The only thing which is meh is that it doesn’t have a sustain pedal input. OT or any kind of table-top synth is a no no for me. I have this occult feeling about synths with keyboards and beside arps I never actually sequence as i find it a slower process than recording as playing. Thanks for your commitment in answering.