Kicks on A4

Elektron Gear Analog Keys/Four
#21

Also, nothing wrong with downloading the sound pack and working backwards.

#22

Thanks. Will try this.
I just tried maybe 100 kicks. One is ok but I prefer what I did.

#23

I’m with headphones. Maybe I need a sound system with a sub ! :grin:
A compressor too. Is that why it is supposed to be easier on AR ? (I don’t have it)
Anyway it is already quite good. :wink:

#24

Also designed some kicks this week. My favourite was a really subby kick but with a nice attack just by using the self oscillation of lp2 on filter 2 and an filter envelope. I think in general drums sound really really great on the A4.

3 Likes
#25

Sound design kicks and beats is very nice on A4, but i think you should not expect to be successful immediately after opening the box…

1 Like
#26

Why not ? :slight_smile:
A4 parameters are common to many synths.
With sound locks and p-locks it will be great !
But for a kicking ass kick like XBase 09 maybe I will have to find an analogue module for that, with CV control.

#27

I tried self oscillation of filter 2. Sounded good.

After I tried self oscillation of filter 1 but with resonnance set to the max, there was like a white noise. Decreasing resonnance made it slower. Is that normal ?
I used an init kit, no white noise, no oscillators, no lfo dest nor env dest.

I tried both filter 1 and 2 self oscillation but the sound became unstable. Is that normal ?

F1 resonnance was on boost and Oscilllator DRift set to on…

1 Like
#28

Can’t say what’s normal and what’s not but using the filters in this way has a personality. If you put two kicks close together or plock a different sound just after, it will sound different than if you had them on different tracks for example. Also, note length, as I think I mention in the original post. Part of the charm is these science experiments and the constant variation. But the sound bite in the op has what I think is a lovely consistent analog kick.

#29

Just figured that Bend and Slide from OSC2 page 2 could definitely have some use in crafting kicks and toms !
I never use these parameters usually…

3 Likes
#30

Thanks for answers. Not used to dual filters, I’ll try to layer sounds but I’m quite sure I will be very hard to obtain hard kicks Xbase 09 like.
Interesting anyway.

#31

definitively

#32

When Korg announced the Volca Kick, which uses the MS-20 filter, I realized that a monotron and an analog four can do the same thing. I use one cv track set to value to control the filter cutoff with the resonance cranked, and modulate it with the envelopes. It sounds awesome, gives you the flexibility of the a4 sequencer, costs like 40 bucks, and doesn’t eat up a synth track. :grin:

2 Likes
#33

I paid my Monotron 15 euros new. Before A4 I wanted to midi control it with Arduino ! :wink:
I already soldered 3 wires.
Any link or advices to achieve Monotron’s control with A4?

1 Like
#34

Totally!
I’m using a monotron delay, but the principle is the exact same with an original monotron. Also, I’ve left the circuit board exposed because I like the modularity of it this way, to cv the filter, all you need to do is solder in a minijack that connects the tip of your cv cable to the point on the board labelled cutoff (in my case I soldered directly to the potentiometer leg because I wanted the wires to be on the top of the board.), and one to a ground point. I used the negative battery terminal for ground.

Once you’ve installed a minijack, it’s simply a matter of finding the correct voltage levels for the filter cutoff. My monotron delay’s filter passes no audio when -.2 volts is applied, and its cutoff is fully open at around 4 volts. Set your cv channel to these minimum and maximum line values (I’d expect the regular monotron uses approximately the same cv as the monotron delay), and you’ll now have a sequenceable ms-20 filter!

You’ll soon be tempted to try and control the oscillator as well, which is 100% possible. You’ll soon have a very capable analog monosynth for the low low price of €15! (Although I don’t think it responds to gate inputs, but that’s another project if you’re interested.)

6 Likes
#35

Thanks. I’ll check this asap. I think you can control gate too. :wink:

1 Like
#36

Is it a beat off topic? :wink:
Gate control for Monotron :

1 Like
#37

Hi all,

I am looking for a few good recipes to build kick, snare, and clap drums from scratch on the A4 MK2.

Any good recipes to start with? I watched a few videos but they skip over some steps or the screen is too blurred out to tell what they are doing. I can get pretty close by starting my triangle wave form and messing with filters and frequencies and envelopes but never can get that right sound.

#38

Triangle wave form is a good place to start for cleaner sounds. For kick drums, if you go click twice on the “Osc 2” button you will enter a menu where you can use the Bend Depth (BND) and Note Slide Time (SLI) to generate the body of the transient. A good starting point would be a fairly high bend depth and somewhat short slide time. For the higher parts, clicking twice on “Osc 1” will let you add some white noise for the click (and you can use the FAD option as a pseudo-envelope generator). Tune filters and other envelopes to taste. There is definitely some magic to using the envelope destinations creatively (“Env” menu and set the destination with “DST”).

For snares/claps, the white noise is a great place to start since you can add the body using the filter resonance with an envelope generator by setting whichever parameters work best (frequency cutoff and resonance seem intuitive, but I’m sure there are more experimental choices). Obviously you can add body with the other oscillators, but you probably want a more sine-ish tone for the snare.

Hi hats are more white noise with a lot of attention paid to the filter cutoff/resonance/overdrive and envelopes. You can probably get it to “ring” a little like an older drum machine using a wave with a lot of harmonics and a clever filter settings.

The real key to sound design from scratch is to plan out which frequencies you want to hit with each element and really taking the time to dial in the sweet spots. I find that it is often easier to have a few really good drum kits than a lot of individual sounds.

If you want in-depth resources that you can research on your own time, try reading about the machine circuitry on the AR. You should be able to find what parameters are available and emulate them on the A4 with more customizability.

Remember, it’s all sine tones and white noise. It is your ear that brings it to life!

8 Likes
#39

Many thanks! I love my A4 MK2 and so fun to just experiment with sound design for hours on end. Incredible power for what one can do with it.

#40

Why not just analyse a preset sound (or one from a sound pack) you like? Load it up and play around with its parameters to see what it is you like about it and how it is done.

1 Like