I don’t know if they’re perfect squares or not but the sub osc has a nice hollow sound to my ears, so what I ended up doing was setting osc 1 to square turning on sub and slowly moving the pulsewidth until they sounded in sync, then mimicked this on osc 2, got something close to what I was after that way. Needs more tweaking but seems to be a good place to start.
Blockquote
it can also be used to loop the envelopes in a mathematical way obviously calculated within the pattern length.
short values will then recycle before it hits the next trig
…I guess that would be another option to more highlight something like this in a future update / a graphical representation of the function not just the value of the knob. think about it 
My mk1 just keeps on surprising me - just when I think I’ve hit a brick wall the box gives up a perfect percussion sound or floating pad or warming bass - c’est parfait
6 Likes
Yeah its surprisingly deep
And not as much hardwork as the MnM but equally as rewarding due to soundlocking
Techno whizzkid Blush response is about to drop a vid with one.
Mine is mint .
Will wait for the price hiking and sell on.
1 Like
And the presets. This machine really wants to teach me the value of presets.
The A4 excels in drums IMO. If you took away the Elektron sequencer, i don’t think many people would buy it as a synth because of its sound. I know, it’s “deep” and you can get awesome sounds if you spend 30 minutes programming it, but even then it lacks compared to most monos out there. I find it funny seeing these youtube videos, “how to program a good bassline on A4”, and the video is 35 minutes long. like really? The Pro 3 will create a usable bassline just by looking at it, it sounds good all around AND it is a VERY DEEP machine with lots of features. I get that the A4 is deep and has lots of options, that’s great. What I don’t get is why Elektron couldn’t make their flagship synth sound better. why don’t they care? Dave Smith cared, and he delivered. He makes good-sounding synths that cover bread-and-butter sounds but can also go as weird and crazy as you want. I don’t expect nor do i want the A4 to be a moog, or a DSI, but would love it if it sounded as good as one and gave me that smile when I hit a raw oscillator on it instead of the scratch my-head, is that all you got look i give it when i turn it on and hit a note. I have owned it three times now. And i am at the point where i am probably going to sell it again. as good as it is with drums, that’s not enough for me and i don’t need a 4 voice drum synth.
I think Elektron makes amazing samplers. But none of their synths do it for me.
I will say, that the deep bass thread on this forum, the user Area303 gives instructions (below) on how to make nice bass with it and for sure without a doubt that is a nice, smooth sounding bass patch
My $0.02
Edit: and all this talk here saying the init sound doesnt need/shouldnt sound good is a bunch of rubbish, yes, it for sure should because that is the base of any sound you are going to make. There’s a saying, “you cant polish a turd” which comes to mind. I would love it if the first thing i hear when I turn it on and play it sounded good. Why not? other “deep” synths do.
5 Likes
It was my first real synth after getting a Moog Sub 37 and still great instrument. I like that I can play an entire set just with the mighty A4 by itself.
2 Likes
I upgraded to the A4 from the Volca Keys and Bass, and that was a hell of a jump. I was blown away.
My relationship with it has changed some since then, and I do have second thoughts about it sometimes. I’m now on week three of my mission to lay the foundation of all new tracks with it, and it always feels like time well spent. Yes, it takes a lot of time, but I’m just doing this for fun outside of work, so it’s a nice little journey usually. And spending time with the sequencer usually rewards well.
2 Likes
This sounds very much like the assessment I made after the first year with the a4.
Today it’s my favorite and best sounding groovebox and I also believe it could not deliver the sound pallete it does if it was a very different design (e.g. fat raw osc sound right after the init. like my MFB Dominion).
It makes it super easy to sequence sounds that work great together even without additional EQing. You get those well balanced grooves out of it. I appreciate the sound characteristics much more with this in mind.
But I struggle with it when I use it in conjunction with more than one other sequencer/synth as I loose focus and joy to program the a4 sequences properly.
4 Likes
I stayed up till 4:30 am with it and came to the conclusion that i need to drop my expectations for what I wish it did better and embrace what it does now and it does that really well. One function i never used on it that I use on Elektron samplers is p-locking bouquets of sounds on a single track so I loaded a bunch of percussion sounds and then loaded a bunch of random presets and did that with a few tracks and came up with some really useable and funky sequences. I agree the sounds mesh together nicely and the A4 does sit nicely in mixes. Everything sat really nicely together.
I try to keep my setup as minimal as possible. Too much for me is a distraction, I want the fewest amount of machines possible, a synth, a sampler, a turntable, and of course an Analog Heat. I was hoping the A4 could get me where i wanted to go with certain sounds but adding an extra mono to my setup to fill that void won’t ruin me. And definitely don’t want to sell it a third time because i came back to it for a reason. Going to keep her. I really enjoyed the sound of the Erica Synths DB-01 when i had it, not the aggressive side of it but it does smooth and funky really nice so when funds permit it will join the A4.
7 Likes
I sold everything but my A4 mk2. Its the one box I use I the living room (with good monitor speakers) and sometimes in combination with ableton. Struggling to find my flow with ableton, slowly understanding techno and synthesis. I absolutely love the A4!
This is my A4 only contribution to this topic about the ;most incredible instrument 
21 Likes
What a great phrase/artist name 
2 Likes
feel free to use it LOL. Or ‘Sound Bouquet’
1 Like
Final boss: Metal sync
I had not been using Unison mode much but wow, activating even 3 voice unison completely opens up sounds on the A4, everything from percussion sounds to bass and chords, they really pop now.
I am not a fan of presets but finally checked out the Analog Foundations sound pack and the Deep Synthetic House sound pack and both contain some really good starting points for some nice sounds that are usable for the music I am making. Without Unison they are so-so but once Unison is on they activate. These presets will be a great way to reverse engineer and gain a deeper unstanding of creating my own usable sounds on the machine. I still wish the base oscilators had a little more vibe to them but am happy i am getting usable non percussion sounds now from it. I loaded some of the Pro 3 waveforms i sampled into the Rytm and made a patch and it for sure is a different beast as far as vibe goes, the A4 cant compete there but what it does and the vastness of options makes it highly useable. And it sits just right in a mix. glad i hung in there this third time and didnt sell it again.
6 Likes
unison makes the drum sounds pop fer sure.
1 Like
Question about the A4 and its CV abilities. I don’t own any modular gear nor do i want to go down that rabbit hole. But if I did want to purchase a single bass module, like the Erica Synths bassline module, this then means I could sequence it from the A4 and route the audio into the A4 in one go, therefor adding an additional oscillator that fills that void the A4 has for me? Do modular modules need anything else like special power or do they plug in to a standard outlet for power?
You will need a eurorack power supply. Also a case of some sort because you don’t want to damage the module. I would recommend a small powered case, like a 4ms pod. They come in various sizes. Just be sure to get the powered version.
3 Likes
The Bassline is available as a module and as a desktop version.
Surely simpler than in module in your case.
2 Likes
Yes, I owned the DB-01 before and really enjoyed it. Got rid of it when I bought a Pro 3 but sadly had to sell the Pro 3 for some emergency funds that were needed so would like to get this back. I kept the DB-01 as tame as it gets as I dont like the aggressive side of it, but it always seemed like a tiny bit of overdrive was present, even when OD was turned down. I read some time ago the module version of it does not do this and yields smoother sounds when needed. The DB-01 sequencer is great though. But, if i could control a module like it with the EK sequencer that would be really nice.
2 Likes