But it’s not ‘just’ four monosynths. It would be had they not implemented voice polyphony. Sure, I think most if not a lot of people treat it as one or more monosynths, but the functionality is certainly there.
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…there’s different tune options to each single osc…???..whaaaaaaat…!!!..
mindblowing concept…whoever invented this…MUST be a geeeenious…
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Since my piano playing skills are mediocre at best, I love that the A4 (I have the keys version) has only 4 voices! Gives me a good excuse that I’m not playing Chopin or Monk…
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And nobody mentioned to OP you can setup poly mode and voice stealing algo’s so yep you can make beefy juicy things but it’ll possibly steal from elsewhere. Trick is to sacrifice a track except for percs so it’s not always triggering
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Well, no it’s not. There are four analogue voices in A4. The polyphony mode allows to steal voices to play four notes at once, but it’s not possible to add more voices. It’s a hardware limitation.
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If you haven’t already, check out this thread:
Isn’t the Analog Four the most incredible and deep instrument from Elektron so far?
Plenty of examples here of how expansive this instrument is. Yes, you can tune the oscillators to chords as previously mentioned (and change the chord voicings with parameter locks per step if you want), and to my ears at least those chords can sound quite lovely, even if it isn’t the same as having 8 or 12 stacked oscillators like on a non-groovebox polysynth.
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I understand it’s a hardware limitation and you simply can’t “add voices” without underlying changes. My intent is not to be argumentative, please don’t take it as such. I was simply saying it’s not just four monosyths. While it’s not a true paraphonic synth, simply the fact that voice stealing is implemented means that it’s capable of playing polyphonic notes.
Of course, how one intends to use it is up to them whether that’s the initial intent/design of the device or not. I (probably much like the OP) would use it for chords as much if not more that more of a monosynth role. I think it would be great if there was an MKIII that had more voices and adding true paraphonic capability without workarounds would be killer. Think of it as Elektrons version of a Novation Peak, but with their already killer sequencer and functionality.
Alas, this isn’t what the A4 is (today), but I can’t really fault someone for wishing it could be.
EDIT: I don’t own an A4 and have never used one. Maybe I’m being a complete idiot (which is entirely possible) but I’ve always been under the impression that the voice stealing thing implementation allowed for playing up to four notes at once. If that’s not the case, then my fault.
No Elektron instrument is as simple as it would be had another company made it. The Digitone, when I had one, was a drum machine, despite it being an FM synth. That’s the wonderful thing about Elektron devices, they fit into your workflow.
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I get it. I was always under the assumption that it was four tracks, four voices per track.
Can’t wait til OP finds out that the Minimoog is only a monosynth.
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For real, I caught that A4 stealing from my Digitone, my Norand Mono, and even the toiletries in the bathroom!
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I don’t think that the purpose of the a4 is to play chords, or to use polyphony in a traditional sense of ‘keyboard playing’ … each voice (1/4) is its own instrument. you can affect the timbral qualities of each voice radically (different from one another) … perhaps it’s better to think of it as four separate and unique voices–in the sense that each voice comprises one element of a fleshed out ‘track’ - percussion, melody, harmonic (or atonal / inharmonic) embellishments, etc. … The sequencer is quite powerful.
If you want to play keyboard, look at a Novation Peak or something.
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Already got a Novation Peak.
The Dave Smith Tempest being a 6 voice analogue synth was a great bonus, just a shame A4 isn’t an A6. Still I think I will get one regardless… maybe. I know I am looking at the wrong way, doesn’t stop it being painful though.
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The key advantage of the A4 relative to the Peak is that it’s multi-timbral. Twice the voices doesn’t help if you want 4 different things going on at once. Conversely the 4 voices of the A4 are a hinderance if you want to play complex chords.
I owned a Tempest back in the day. Despite the extra 2 voices I never found the Tempest worked particularly well for melodic stuff compared to the A4. I ended up trading the Tempest for a Prophet 12 desktop (+ a little cash), which as you might guess was much better suited for both melodies and chords!
But back to the A4, despite having quite a few analogs with more polyphony the A4 will always have a valued role in much of my music making because of it’s true multi-timbral nature and Elektron sequencing powers.
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Elektron could create a A4 Expander.
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Damn. Gives me the itch for an A4 mk1
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There are times when I’d really like the A4 to be an A5 or an A6, but most of the time I can make it work how it is.
If I really feel want 5, 6 or X note polyphony from the A4 I’ll multisample the core sound of it (filters open, minus fx) and use Ableton’s Sampler or my MPC to achieve it.
The poly side is quite a small part of the A4 in reality when you have one. You buy it for what it does well.
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If they implemented official polychain feature even I would buy two. Say a 5 or 6 note chord that can only be controlled from the first A4 and the remaining 2 or 3 notes controlled from the second A4.
Yes please 
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Nice…
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I think I pretty much see your point, for a long time I did not even consider looking at the analog four, because 4 tracks on paper can be extremely underwhelming and limiting.
When I realised that what I at the time really wanted, was a synth where I could make parameter macros, maybe do some fm, have a decent amount of modulations, I came across a video about the A4 and it fit more than anyhting. I got a good deal from a friend of mine for an Mk1 looking beautiful next to the OT Mk1, and I kinda understood that the 4 voice limitation wasn’t that much of a pain in the balls as I anticipated, also started preferring using only the A4, because it really surprised me how deep it can really go all by itself.
If you have the chance to do it, pick one up, if you do not feel like it is worth your time to dig your nose into it then sell it.
To get the most out of an Elektron machine, was never the easiest task.
Getting the most out of anything requires you to take the time to master it.
And I already heard people making the weirdest most complex mind melting sounds with the A4, so I don’t think anybody needs to worry about the polyphony ruining the experience of owning and using an A4 for what it is 
It doesn’t mean it couldn’t be improved in a lot of ways of course, and hopefully it will be. 
Also didn’t loopop make a paraphonic A8 tutorial with midi magic?
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