I recently got chance to get an mki and currently reading the manual and testing it so far, but isn’t the A4 the most incredible and deep instrument from Elektron so far?
I currently own an octa mki, a machinedrum SPS1 mkii, a Digitakt, and a Digitone. Thinking about selling the Digitakt and staying with the rest tho I am so impressed by the many different options that A4 allows for sound creation, isn’t it? I am just blown away by it and sounding wise…love at first sight! What a tremendous synth and programming instrument. It just blew my mind really… So complete!
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Little Modular in a box - very flexible - AF4Life
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A4 gets the award for most versatile hardware for sure
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Analog Keys is easily my desert island synth, so yeah I get it. AK sound engine inspired me to break apart songs I love and cover them for the first time in my life. The flexibility of how voice counts work is huge for me.
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A4 is amazing. I recently used it to sequence an external synth via MIDI over its CV track and fed the external synth into a DT to take advantage of its compressor. I was kinda on the line about keeping the DT too but this worked out so well that it’s not going anywhere.
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Yes, for me A4/K (and OT) are by far the best Elektron machines, not as popular as their stable mates, as they are both a bit less immediate which puts a lot of people off I think. I think it is cool that there are 3 ranges of Elektron machines, but the flagship machines are where it is at for me.
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This was the draw for me. I looked at the range of sounds from the A4 and compared it to my M32/Subharmonicon combo and felt I’d been short changed.
My Digitone is my No1 box, so more of that is appealing!
Love it. Owned it for over a year, and I still find something new almost every time I sit down with it.
My current favorite thing is setting up each voice to rotate in Poly Config. Then each time you hit a key, you can trigger a different sound on each voice. Been having loads of fun setting up kits with 4 different voices, and then playing all the voices live through some pedals.
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I was just playing my AK and thinking, this thing sounds like four Buchlas in a box. Madness. No desire for any other analog synth.
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Most underrated Elektron box for sure.
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It looks crazy how wild can you get combining envelopes and lfo’s + parameter locking! I’m having so much fun…oh man, this sequencer, and how about its FX track!!! …what an incredible sound pallete… it is a paradise for any sound designer. And so, I’m just simply scratching the surface. It reminds me a bit to an analog 21s century mixture from a Yamaha Rem1x and a Blofeld, isn’t it? Great to heard also your opinions back, great info!
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Ymmv - it sounds great but programming sounds on it is a real pain in lower back imo.
Interface is quite well thought for sequences as with all things Elektron. Plocks and all that.
But starting the design of a sound from scratch (eg a simple sawtooth) is not very enticing.
I owned one for years and did great music with it but ended up selling the little mofo as I found myself using presets rather than programming my own sounds. Replaced it by a super6 which ticked all the boxes I was looking for. As for sequences I can still do the same thing (and much more) with an external sequencer.
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I’ve got a MKII, previously had a MKI, and agree with pretty much everything here.
It’s an amazing box, the interface is quite well thought out and it can do so much.
But… i found I really had to work hard to make it sound good. I’m probably spoiled by my DSI Rev 2 where you’re never too far away from a sweet spot.
As others have said though, the A4 is actually amazing for percussive and atonal sounds.
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So true! Inspired by Miles Kvndra on creating almost entire songs on a Digitone I dove into the A4 percussive side. Man, it’s so impressively deep and versatile.
I almost never use preset other than learning a few ins and outs about an instrument. So currently I am checking out a lot of new routing patching ways that I would never thought of.
Super inspiring machine!
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Worth a look for A4:
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I had it, (MKII), liked it, but sold it.
at the end, very versatile, jack of all trades but master of none kinda thing.
pads -> my prophet 6 sounds better
basses -> vermona perfourmer wins
arps -> octatrack better at it
midi sequencing -> octatrack better at it
and so on
So if you want 1 synth that does a lot, then its very cool indeed!
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I’ve had an AK for about a year. I’ve always liked it, but in the last few months I’ve come to love it.
I think that’s simply because I’ve dived deeper. eg: I’d never bothered with the AM or Sync before, I thought I didn’t like them. But: after actual investigation, there’s a world of sounds in there, particularly the kind of raw, dirty timbres that the ‘polite’ A4 has a reputation for not being very good at. Likewise, using some less-obvious LFO settings and destinations. Likewise, sequencer options like Direct Jump. All great stuff with so much potential.
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Any recommendation for some mind changing tutorials like Max Marco did for the OT?
Would love to get deeper - but still only scratching the surface of the MKI.
Thanks in advance!
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Is all that sound from the same session on the A4? Would be veeeery interesting to know how much processing has been applied outside of the A4… That is one hard hitting kick 
I think in those arbitrary categories you can say this, that or the other synth might be subjectively better (i.e. the A4 can’t deliver bass as solid as a Minitaur) but those comparisons tend to be of basic, bread-and-butter sounds. The A4 excels at creating complex and evolving timbres that defy categorization, as well as being an incredible percussion synthesizer, and then all the CV, midi and fx track possibilities with the sequencer… you really can’t compare it to conventional synths IMO.
I have a JD-990 with Vintage expansion, which to my ears is the most beautiful-sounding pad machine ever made, but it doesn’t compete with the sound design possibilities of the A4.
The DN does comes close in the digital realm, but has a very different character.
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