Isn't the Analog Four the most incredible and deep instrument from Elektron so far?

Very nice.
My comment on the bass of the A4 is a pure running joke, I am part of the cult,
my A4 is certainly my best friend.

6 Likes

I might do this. Where would be the best place for this?

1 Like

Right here! Export it and upload it as a file.

4 Likes

Okey. Y’all want to see some of my FM bass magic? :nerd_face:

BA DEEPFM++.afsnd (672 Bytes)

Edit: I might add, that this is an MKII patch. Not sure how it translates on an MKI…

19 Likes

This is awesome.

3 Likes

I had an A4 mk1 years ago, approached it like a standard polysynth with tacked on sequencer. it was grand like, decent pads n all, but tbh I didn’t really get it.

picked one up again yesterday n its just clicked. jesus it’s good :heart:

10 Likes

I have an MKII and I drool every time I see a MKI K pass, I have to collect some money.

2 Likes

Mk1 is capable of anything you can think of except samples but then again I’ve synthesised fairly convincing guitars and basses out of it in the past - enjoy with headphones and something to open your senses

2 Likes

I’ve been trying to make piano-like FM sounds with the A4 but no luck. Any tips?

You mean e-piano sounds like FM Tines on the DX?

Yes. I have tried lots of different ratios and different env settings for the FM depth but haven’t gotten anywhere near piano sounds.

Not even with the help of the two filters.

Hmmm. Not really being into sounds like these I might take the challenge just for fun to see how close I could get. What may make it more difficult is tracking stability across several octaves. In my experience FM patches tend to “fall apart” / glitch in higher octaves which will render them less playable most likely.

Also keep in mind that analog FM is far less stable than digital FM.

Polyphony also plays a significant part in these sounds atmosphere with layering harmonics, I guess. And most likely chorus.

1 Like

The reason I have been trying to create the familiar sound of piano with the A4 is to be able disintegrate the sound in a way that isn’t really possible by using samples.

The instability when moving across the freq range has definitely been the biggest challenge.

Classic DX7 patches use Algo 5 which consists of three two-operator stacks. The first two form the tonal basis and are quite similar (1:1 ratio) and slightly detuned for chorusing effect. The third stack is creating the sharper bell-like (14:1 ?) hit. I’d start emulating these separately and then combine.

3 Likes

I haven’t really looked into how it’s been done with digital synths yet, but instead just tried different approaches with what the A4 has to offer. Having digital lfos and analog oscillators makes it behave in a certain way compared to fully digital or analog I suppose.

The osc drift is probably better be turned off when going for this kind of sounds.

First try. Not really close I guess. :thinking:

6 Likes

Not too close but very very nice anyways.

There is a small resemblance of a Rhodes sound on the lower notes I guess.

1 Like

Yeah, that was my impression also. It’s way easier to get into organ-like territory. And as expected, lower registers sound better. To my ears at least.

1 Like

This is going to be really hard to pull off in analog. Subtle sounds like this rely on the perfection of digital phase manipulation to really nail the target harmonics (and only the target harmonics). Analog (and thus the A4) are not that precise.

Also, even if it were, a triangle carrier is always going to give you a buzzier sound (again, stray harmonics), and those piano patches want to be smooth and round. So it’s kind of two strikes against it.

Which is not to say you can’t do piano-like on the A4. This is pretty piano-adjacent for example:

But it uses sync 1→2 to provide the harmonics and adjusts the pitch of 2 with envs to control the amount. That feels more in the wheelhouse of analogs, IMHO. But it’s still rougher than the pure sine bliss of a digital.

10 Likes

Very nice, I wouldn’t say THE piano but quite A KIND of piano, I like it. To travel.
Other really cool stuff on your Soundcloud.