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

Elektron Gear Analog Keys/Four
5772

Got an AK on the way!

I had an analog rytm mk1 for a while with the intention of using is for more synth and drone type stuff. When it got down to it though I found the synth engines quite limiting for anything outside drums or percussion, especially as you can’t have envelopes trigger from zero, so have to ensure the envelope has fully closed before the next note or spread across tracks. All quite fiddly.

The sample playing was ok on the MK1 but will make do with M8 or computer for now.

I’ll report back on my experiences after it arrives :laughing:

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5773

Thanks!

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5774

A4/Keys is deceptively deep! I’m still learning after four years with the Keys.
I think it’s very much like the Octatrack in that it takes a long time to build up the muscle memory and intuition for how patches and menus are structured- the rewards come late in the game when you realise what an incredibly flexible, modulatable, performance synth you have. It’s a great instrument that I would only recommend to patient individuals.

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5775

People sleep on the CV abilities too…

5776

that’s my baby there!

thankfully I tend to always read the printing on the front panel (which is correct), but there have been a few times I’ve almost got confused when looking at the back.

This unit is one of the very first batches, inside there is a sticker warning the tecnician that all main ICs (dont remember the part number) have been mounted rotated 180 degrees due to a mistake during the IC chip manufacturing. lol

But it has the most solid and smooth endless potentiometers out of all the elektron boxes i’ve ever used, and it’s still in perfect shape!

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5777

It’s dangerous but afaik most audio outputs have at least a DC blocking cap at the end of the circuit, that should block any CV voltage and not result in such catastrophic damage, yet I’m not gonna risk it thats for sure!

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5778

Another small little something.

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5779

No lazy AI here, please.
13 trigs? Come on…

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5780

Yep, I added 2 more oscillators from my modular via the CV and it’s incredible what sounds I can get with just that setup. I am often tempted to make that my entire hardware setup: 64hp modular + A4 mk1.

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5781

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5782

I started my music journey about a year ago. My son is in a music program at college oriented toward being a music producer. I got curious about what he was doing and before I knew it I got sucked into trying all kinds of things myself, And found I really loved it. It has been pure exploration, and exploration is my jam. Not in music specifically, but also just in general.

Now I had no clue where to start save for what I saw my son doing. So I started experimenting with DAWs and a bit of hardware. To be precise, I played around with FL studio, Ableton, and Waveform 13. I also tried some hardware. After sufficient experimentation, I learned what I really liked (Bitwig and various MIDI controllers) and what didn’t suit me very well (Roland MV - 01), and what I didn’t like at all (MPC). No shade for the ones I didn’t go for; I just picked what I liked and stuck with it.

Here one year on, I’ve gotten exposure to soft synthesizers like the ones native to Bitwig, some of what is in Arturia V collection X, Pigments, Vital, and to a lesser extent, native instruments Komplete. So I’ve seen the filters and twiddled knobs on adsr and FX, etc. So some of the commonplace things are familiar to me, but familiarity is not proficiency. Proficiency is the direction I’m headed for year two.

Since my first exposure to hardware wasn’t the best with the MPC, I’ve been reluctant to let my GAS take me in the direction of hardware. But I do prefer the immediacy of having knobs and display to doing everything with a mouse all the time. I like the ergonomics and the inspiration factors. So I decided to go for one of the starter synths. I know the Korg minilogue comes pretty highly recommended for these things, but what was on sale and what I got started with was the cobalt8. And I really like it for the sound and minimal menu diving, so I got The cobalt8 used.

To fill in for the rest of the synthesizer needs I wanted a more rigorous approach, so set up a Gemini A.I. instance to give direction for the coming year of learning. I told it I value immediacy, flexibility both in the present and future, minimizing redundancy, and maximizing the economy. I named my genres of interest - Berlin School, dub techno, ambient, the Carbon Based Lifeforms variety of Psychill- and let it crank.

After a lot of q&a, it recommended the A4.

I pushed back on this at first because I wasn’t imagining something in the groove-box-ish format, but it pushed back and outlined the following as benefiting my aims:

  • The powerful sequencer on the unit and the p locks among several features would seem, it claims, to make the machine made precisely for what I’m aiming to do spanning all of my genres.
  • Buying used under $1K for effectively four mono synths, multi timbral, multi-track out, a powerful sequencer to rival hardware sequencers, and effectively a stand-in audio interface with overbridge. It’s a unit that could eventually expand into modular or semi-modular, And so is both comprehensive and flexible.
  • And while not exactly knob per function, the workflow is pretty fast and surprisingly immediate.

While I am glad to have the research result, I want to check with the community here. Does this sound like a good choice for the aims I’ve stated? Does the rationale sound, well, sound?

Coming into the holiday, I’ve lost access to my studio temporarily and so I’m sitting here with a box that I can’t do a whole lot with at the moment, but my first exposure has me pretty. I agree that it doesn’t seem impenetrable even if it isn’t quite knob per function like you’d see on some other mono synths. It does seem to be extraordinarily capable. I’m pretty excited about it! But I also want to keep it real and wonder what the community thinks about these instruments given what my goals are.

Thanks for having me in and putting up with a really long first post :slightly_smiling_face:.

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5783

Welcome!

I think you will find that most people here wholeheartedly agree that the A4 is an awesome machine. It might not be an instant gratification machine, but it goes really deep and you will need nothing else to make great sounding music in the genres you mentioned.

There are many A4/Elektron wizzards here on this forum, so you will find no shortage of help if you have any questions.

That said - and please don’t see this as an attack - I am kind of wondering what you are exactly asking here? If you simply are looking for confirmation of your purchase, we are of course happy to provide it :wink:

5784

I’d be fine with a little bit of validation :wink:

But in all candor, the question is right in there. Given the criteria I gave for what I wanted in the way of setting up a rig to make the kinds of music that I want to learn to make in the coming years, is the A4 a particularly good choice? This may seem like a strange question, but early on I hit on the MPC. That’s a sampler and not a synthesizer, but the workflow was really the thing that killed it for me, so while I know that the A4 isn’t strictly speaking the groove box, it did make me hesitate given its form factor.

But in particular, if this is going to be an especially good choice for Berlin School, dub techno, and psy chill, I would definitely want to know that from those in the know. I was shooting for the least amount of equipment for the maximum amount of capability, and my existing poly synth and the A4 was the result of the research and I’m wondering too if that sounds like a plausible way forward.

And for anyone, this: what learning resources do you most recommend for a beginner to be A4?

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5785

That’s a difficult question to answer because workflow preferences are really personal. But the A4 definitely provides all the tools you might need (with the exception of sampling obviously).

Also, my hunch would be that if you don’t like the MPC, you might like the A4 because their workflow philosophies are kind of polar opposites :blush:

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5786

Hello. :slight_smile:
Glad you found the right thread to dig deep for a lot of inspiration. There’s been many exceptional demos shared which should give you a good idea about the sound of the A4. Furthermore, there’s a vast amount of hints and tips covering various aspects to be found in the forum – search is your friend to explore more than 10 years of dedication I’d say. Personally I never required anything else to learn about the specifics of the A4. But this is, of course, depending on individual preference.

And while you’re new: AI is not so much welcomed in these realms. But the more specific questions you come up with, there’ll possibly be a lot of very nice and friendly real humans providing answers.

If I were you, I’d start to take a descision, read a fair amount of the (very good) manual, and start your journey of exploration.

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5787

Welcome! I think, based on your post, that you would enjoy the A4. It is as powerful as you’ve been led to believe, and the workflow is not “fast” like a knob-per-function synth but it is intuitive and logical, so the programming experience feels quite easy when you get used to it. There’s a lot to explore so for me the A4 kind of naturally lulls me into a flow state as I poke around the synth and evolve my sounds.

That said, it definitely helps to have a good grasp of synthesis and synth architecture when you approach the A4. The first time I had an A4, I wasn’t quite knowledgeable enough to understand the many options available, which made me feel overwhelmed and uninspired. Over time I got into modular synthesis and learned a lot more, and that brought me back to the A4, because when you understand these tools you can see that the A4 offers a lot of them (as well as the ability to p-lock and modulate them, as you mentioned).

So that’s my endorsement as well as my caveat. It’s an outstanding synth, groovebox, sound design station, all in one musical machine, but it does help a lot if you’re on sure footing with synthesis when you go into it.

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5788

To me the A4 is more akin to how I imagine Special Forces Training to be. It denies you any Comfort, even basic Necessities, asks impossible Things of you and tells you, there’s the Bell, you can go ring it at any time you like and sleep in that comfy Moog* Bed.

*Insert any other Synth Manufacturer here if you so desire

😅

Ofc I only say that to make myself feel superior

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5789

The A4 is so good that I sold my Mk1 to buy an AK (A4 with keyboard) and am considering buying another Mk1 or Mk2 in addition to the AK. All of that in addition to my literal room full of cool synths.

The A4 is excellent as a standalone device, but it also integrates well with other MIDI synths and Eurorack. If you love huge dongles, you can integrate your A4 into your DAW via overbridge, but I strongly prefer pure soft synths when I’m (rarely) doing DAW stuff.

If you haven’t already, scroll to the top of this thread and at least skim every post for both validation and useful tips.

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5790

Thanks for your thoughtful response. Overall I have a lot on my plate between both learning the tool and learning the particulars of each of the genres that I’m interested in attempting to produce. First steps, long journey.

My Hope in particular for the post was to see whether or not the community had any perspective on the conclusion that the AI I put forward: that this instrument is particularly well suited for my aims, namely to comprehensively and capably cover my genres alongside my Cobalt 8. The research that was returned stated but it would be hard to find a more perfect fit. That of course wasn’t the end of my research but it did I must admit put me on to an instrument that up until that point had not even been on my radar.

As to AI sentiment, I understand. My point of view is nuanced in the sense that I am personally firmly against using AI to generate creative content within a song and deliberately avoid AI generated music, I have not formed an opinion on any/all other domains of its use. This rolls around every once in awhile in the Bitwig forums and when it does, I generally choose not to engage the topic beyond acknowledging the different opinions. I surely do not hold it against anyone if they don’t like/use AI for any given purpose.

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5791

It’s absolutely appropriate for your genres.
The A4 is very, very capable, but it’s not the most immediate synth. It takes time to figure out. The interface is a little inscrutable at first IMHO, very small screen with identical icons, so learning where the parameters are is muscle memory as much as anything. I’ll put it this way: I’ve had an Analog Keys for about four years, and I’m still learning it, but its value scales with my increasing skill, if you see what I mean. I’d argue it’s not the best synth to learn synthing on because of its interface - it requires patience - but if you actually reach the point of understanding every option in its menus you’re a good way towards mastering analog synthesis in a way that will translate to anything else you use.

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