If you look at the official A4 MK II Cenk video, he mentions several (admittedly vague) changes they made in the synth engine between MK I and MK II.
“We’ve reworked the analog circuity for deeper bass, stronger leads, and brighter tones”
My understanding was that those changes made the MK II more like the AK’s synth engine.
So are they identical or are there differences between the sound of the MK II and AK?
It’s quite different, I have Mk1 and Mk2, , The ladder filter and especially the overdrives are different. It does different timbres and voices stacked through the overdrive react differently.
The differences are to the AK/mk1 architecture, the AK polished the original circuit, the MK2 was a redesign. After 6 years of exploring the mk1 I can attest that there are sounds from the MK2 I didn’t expect, mostly with how the overdrives react. It’s certainly weightier towards the bottom but with the same oscillator arrangement it leaves a similar impression. The AR by contrast is capable of effortless bassy tones from a vanilla state.
The A4 family can cover a lot of sonics equally, the DNA is definitely close, but the MK2 has a few spots the originals can’t follow and is an improvement.
Well explained!
In other words Mk1/AK sounds more muffled, grittier and melancholic, Mk2 can be brighter, more open and wide, more Hifi if needed, but can also be muffled, gritty and melancholic If needed. I prefer Mk2.
But …we talk nuances here.
iirc, the mkii includes the original mki overdrive as well as a redesigned one? (Original is accessed by negative overdrive depth)
If that’s true, then that’s a huge difference right there. The mkii overdrive keeps much more of the spectrum in its drive, vs the mki that squashes into bass/mid. (not bad, but definitely not as versatile, at least the way I use the a4)
never used a mki so can’t compare more than that
Cuckoo made a vid that Shows the difference