please do 
For me, it’s all about the sequencer. If I just want a lead sound or a bass sound that I’m going to play myself, I usually reach for something else as well. The raw tones are honestly nothing special. But the A4’s ability to make creative, expressive sequences is kind of unmatched imo.
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Yeah, it’s very good for percussion - it’s probably the thing it’s best at (as has been stated here probably hundreds of times). The problem there is I’m drowning in percussive machines already, and it’s not why I bought the A4. I wanted 4 monosynths in one box, which I got, but find extremely underwhelming.
I think this is the problem I’m having with it. I don’t care about the sequencerat all. I have my Push which I use for 99% of my sequencing, and already have DT and ST. On top of that, running it alongside any other sequencer is just too much for me. Something about the form factor makes it way harder than the Digis. The arpeggiator is cool, but takes a bit too much faffing about.
Yeah. It doesn’t sound bad at all, but it takes so much more effort to get it to sound interesting in a way that fits my music than literally any other thing I own. I basically bought it because I love the ST’s analog machines, but something about the whole package of A4 just doesn’t click, even if the individual parts are all good.
I know this all sounds like whining - I know the A4 is a great device, and I’m trying to love it. I just can’t figure out if it’s actually for me. I love hearing everything you all do with it though - this thread was a major reason I finally got one.
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I appreciate reading your thoughts and all the other posts in threads like this.
It seems like such a polarizing instrument.
I’ve been interested because it ticks so many boxes of what I’m looking for, and there’s an analog keys on my local marketplace for a pretty decent price, so I’m very tempted.
But I read as many disappointed comments about it as I do glowing ones.
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Get the AK 
you won’t regret it !
worst case scenario, you can resell it without losing value…
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I guess people looking for a Moog or DSI analog grain and/or large chords are usually disappointed.
People OK with its versatility and keeping experimenting for years are the ones amazed.
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One thing I like about mine compared to, say, my Digitone is that I can use the two external inputs to process stuff through the reverb and delay effects and the effects don’t randomly turn themselves off. I rarely use the A4 synth parts these days but keep it mainly for the effects and CV/Gate outputs.
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Are there any videos you followed to get to a place where you had effectively learned to do this? I make minimal house/ rominimal style tunes and the A4 sounds hugely capable at making weird synthy percussive layers akin to modular percussive layers often used in that style of music, but I’ve not quite gotten there with it myself
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Does the A4/Keys have a compressor that can compete with the Digitakt?
I’m wondering if I can route other instruments through it and use it as a makeshift mixer the way many people use the DT. Just wondering if it can compete in this area.
Thanks
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It does not have a compressor.
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I have composed many patterns I like on the S-1, but was afraid I couldn’t play them live because the pots jump values and it just kills everything.
I thus recorded this patterns in the A4, and tried to get some very simple analog sounds that could match what I got on the S-1.
I finally recorded each pattern on each track of one A4 pattern, programming 4 variations of sounds.
It was a piece of cake, and the result greatly outperformed my expectations, it’s so much fun I have trouble to focus and work on the track ^^
Do I love this synth!
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In dt en dn You can turn this off in the settings. Something like ‘all trigs the same fx. After checking this box, they don’t reset
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I bought a buchla easel 208c, to combine with my a4 mk2 and my pulsar 23 and my hapax 
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I’ve never seen that option but will go look next time I’m using the Digitone.
I’d mentioned the issue elsewhere on this forum previously; someone replied to say it was a bug that you get round by playing some Digitone notes from time to time, which I’ve been doing ever since. Cheers!
What I thought your problem is, a4 has kits that can be used in different patterns. I’m tn, there are no kits, every pattern has its own settings. So when moving from one pattern to the other, fx might suddenly change.
There is an option to share the fx settings over different patterns.
I’m not changing patterns, the effects stop working in a single pattern after a while if you’re only using the audio inputs (and not using the Digitone’s internal sounds).
The solution is to fire some sounds from the Digitone into the FX from time to time but it’s a bit shit cos, if you forget, it invariably packs in in the middle of a recording.
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I believe that the internal effects should only stop when you double press the stop button. I may well be mistaken though.
Sadly, you are.
Sold my A4 at the beginning of my modular obsession. Decided recently that I need another one. So the hunt is on for a clean gray one. This was a fun jammer I made when I had an A4. Good backdrop on vacation.
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Hey M0ld … I kind of think you’ve diagnosed your own illness here.
Some people truly love the A4’s sound, and they can make it talk. Other people, not so much. Those are both reasonable opinions.
Personally, I think of the A4 as the closest I will get to a Rev2—a tone color I like but wouldn’t reach for all the time.
What’s seductive to me is being able to sequence multiple analoguish sounds with conditional trigs, to set up this little dynamic orchestra of shifting variations. Again, that’s a matter of taste. Since it sounds like you prefer sequencing with other gear, what the A4 sequencer can do is irrelevant for you.
No one has to like everything …. and nobody does. fwiw
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