Yeah, I was suspecting something like this 
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Yeah, I won’t get deeper into this conversation, I like them both for what they do, and know their limitations.
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I find the suggestions of the A4 ‘needing’ programming and it not being performative quite strange.
I think it’s really performative, and fast at getting there… I can have something going from Init or from a preset and be playing and tweaking it as fast as I can on any other synth I own. I can’t think of one that’s notably faster.
I agree that you can go deep on the programming side, but that isn’t necessary and doesn’t compromise its speed of just playing.
And the complaints about mutes!?? Really? Func+track, or Mix and Perf modes where you have them on the 16 trig buttons… you need more??
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I’m very used to it and know where all parameters are located by heart. Owning a take 5 now it’s still quite liberating and a different experience having all functions laid out in one place and not having to jump pages and watch a little display ( A4 mk1). I obviously like the elektron approach but I totally get if someone prefers displayless knob per function layout. I might shift towards more immediate layouts in future
The big thing about elektron synths is how feature packed they are and with multitimbrality and multiple tracks allowing you to use it as groovebox rather than a standard synth. I can’t get full tracks out of the take 5 like that
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Agree with this … I also find it very expressive as a live instrument.
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I get this. I have an Analog Keys, and it feels soooo less fluid to me than my A4mk2… not just the OLED/styling of it is improved, the way the ADSR’s are represented too compared to the AK makes it tough for me to connect with it in the same way.
I don’t have a Take 5… but I have a Prophet 6 and a Moog Matriarch, and they are great to use for their hands on nature… but can you imagine how big a knob per function A4 would have to be?? 
And, it lends itself well to muscle memory and 95% of the important things are only a button press away.
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that’s their strength of course. Packing so much power in this small housing
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mk2 is the way to go then maybe. I like the size of the m1 and I have it since 2014. Almost no worth to sell seeing how low the secondhand price is
Those manuals give me flashbacks when opening up a C64 box 82359 years ago. I love it.
Too bad Monomachine is only for men.
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Sophie sorted that dilemma out.
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My god, I just read all 995 comments. I’m somehow less intimidated and more intimidated with this A4MKII that I’ve had for exactly 7 days. Back to the manual.
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A4 mk1 still blows me away after years and year, only just found page two of the arp menu?? Whaaaaaat???
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I like the macros, but at the end, I think I prefer to save the settings, tweak all normal parameters, and no+kit to go back to saved settings.
Feels like macros have a lot of possibility, but narrows down for my use case.
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One not-so-obvious feature of the ARP designer is setting the ARP length using encoder E.
Doesn’t seem to be labeled anywhere on screen, but you can turn it to set the number of steps between 1 and 16. (It is mentioned in the manual though I think).
It can be kinda groovy when you set it to a polymeter like 5, or 9 etc.
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I won a syntakt in the recent Elektron survey thing, but I already had one and they were cool enough to let me trade in for credit.
DHL just dropped off a nice shiny A4mk2 and now I have to decide on whether I continue working through the recent Digitakt/Hydrasynth/SP-404 updates, or just go ears deep into the A4 for the weekend. This thread has given me so much to think about
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I’ve been doing this for months now. Be prepared. 
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Got carried away in dub. [A4 solo, slight EQ + limiting afterwards]
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Plugged my fucked up mc202 into audio in, selected in from osc menu laid down some trigs etc etc fun fun makes the a4 a crazy effects and filter module when will I ever tire of this unit???
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Just bought an A4mk2 because of this thread and the great ideas being shared by the community here. Still need to read the manual, and just skimming the surface for now - but it really feels like an amazing synth.
I have an ARmk2 and DN, so thought that this would be somewhat redundant in my set up and had been putting off getting one for almost a whole year. But seems to me that the quantity and extent of modulation options alone make it excellent even just for making experimental sounds, textures and drones.
Here’s a track I made with the A4. Lots of arp and poly shenanigans.
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Got a new A4 coming, never touched one before.
I am going to read all 1000 posts in this thread 
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