About a month ago I bought my first Analog Four MKII, and shortly after I also picked up an Analog Rytm MKII since the opportunity came up. My long-term goal is to be able to do live jams with these machines. I’m not in a hurry … I know I learn slowly and I like to let things sink in over time. I usually have about an hour a day (sometimes more) to dedicate to practice.
There’s an artist I really admire, who often performs with two Analog Fours, sometimes adding a Digitakt or Syntakt. I don’t want to copy him, but I really like his style and I’d like to use it as a reference point until I’m more confident and able to develop my own sound. From what I see, his jams are often built around a strong kick, with other tracks dedicated to sound effects, and he makes heavy use of fills and quick performance techniques.
One thing I struggle with at the moment is understanding what kinds of sounds I should focus on creating. I have a trained ear as a listener, but when I shift into a production mindset it feels like I’m starting completely from scratch.
Unlike him, I have both an A4 and an AR, and I’d like to understand how I can structure my study sessions to move in that direction while also making the most of the Rytm. I’m not particularly interested in sampling (though I’m willing to practice it to fully explore the AR), but my focus is really on learning how to jam in that style and build up the skills to eventually perform live.
Do you have any suggestions on how I could organize my practice, how to split the work between A4 and AR in this kind of setup, or even how to approach sound design with a clear direction? Any tips or personal experiences would be super helpful. I’ll also include a couple of links to his jams so you see what I mean.
It sounds like your priority is performance so I would focus on that first. Use presets at the beginning as there are so many good ones to choose from. Save learning sound design on the instruments until you’ve got a grasp on your performance style and technique. Maybe keep it simple at first with the A4 on synth duty and AR on drums. Learn to setup performance macros on both machines. This will also allow you to dip a toe into the sound design potential of each of them. Then maybe look at scenes on the AR as an additional performance element. After you’ve got a firm foundation in performance, then start digging into sound design to really personalize your music.
I’ve just set my A4 and AR up again today with the intent to make and practice tracks for a live set. I’ve wanted to do that for ages but had a musical slump the last nine months or so. So, your message feels timely for me. Good luck with your adventure!
Here’s some skills/techniques/ideas I used before when getting the rudiments going:
learn to sync the machines
Learn how to make use of sync’d oattern seitching (so when you olay Pattern A3 on one, A3 plays on the other.
also try NOT syncing the patterns so you have a feel for which method you prefer
Get used to playing on two machines at once
practice various parts of a track: grooves, breakdowns, build-ups, verse-chorus switchivers, if that’s your thing
Decide how uou’ll use the AR compressor: either treat the AR as a drum bus and compress “just” the drums, or feed the A4 into the AR’s Ext Ins and use the compressor across the whole mix (most people find the Ext Ins are too wuiet so you have to make choices that can shape your aesthetic noticeably)
work towards using a regular scheme for tracks (e.g. kicks always on the kick track, “pads” always on track 3, or whatever works for you). Being consistent about it removes the burden of remembering which “voice” is where when you change from one “song” to another
Will you also take a mixer?
The A4 has CV outs and the AR has CV ins: cooncidence?
The AR is slightly”dark” in tone but the A4 is slightly bright: coincidence?
If you only have 30 minutes a day, try to finish something in that 30 minutes. It might be a single pattern. The important thing is that you have some sense of closure after those 30 minutes. If your goal is to perform live on your setup, I reckon that’ll come later, and you should instead focus now on composing short patterns.
At the start of the following day’s session, listen to the previous pattern(s) you made. What worked? What sounded wrong? Don’t fix the patterns, however. Let them be. Simply reflect on the good and bad without too much emotional attachment. Then start another pattern.
You can return to the first pattern months or years later to improve it using the understanding you gained over time. Avoid working on the same pattern, over multiple sessions, until it is “right”. You may succeed, but it’ll only be attributable to happy accident and near-endless twiddling.
Repeat the cycle every night. Listen to and reflect on the old patterns without modifying them. And, again, make a new pattern in the remainder of the 30 minutes you have.
At some point in the future (wait for it!) you will listen to an old pattern and understand technically what needs to be done to fix it. And your modifications will be made with clear intent, using your new knowledge.
welcome to the Elektron family! I second using the presets at first to focus on learning the sequencer and functions as well as how to navigate the main menus like oscillator, filter and fx settings. Also since you have both machines, setup MIDI with either the A4 or the AR as the master clock and controller. I love both and A4 was my first synthesizer and experience after Machinedrum to Elektron gear.
Sorry for replying only now, the last couple of days have been busy. I’ve been reflecting on the advice you gave and I first went back to the Rytm manual. Reading it now with different eyes compared to the first days really helped. Even just reviewing the full signal flow, something I kind of skipped before, makes me see the machine more completely.
After a week of trying things on the A4, I noticed that I can now make the kind of kicks I like on the Rytm much faster than before, which feels like a small but real step forward. From now on I’ll mostly practice with both machines running together, unless I want to focus on something very specific. I’d like to concentrate on sound design for leads and FX sounds, and also on developing a bit of sensitivity for drum patterns that are more mature than the very simple ones I do now… and in parallel I want to start practicing performance mode, since it feels like a fundamental part of these machines and probably the earlier you train it the better.
I have to say that re-reading the manuals every now and then with fresh eyes is really useful. Most of all, I’m happy that what I enjoy the most is the process itself and the difficulties it brings… that’s the fun part of not depending on immediate results. Having two powerful machines on my desk and discovering them slowly gives me a new kind of pleasure in my daily routine.
Thanks a lot for all the replies and for the warm welcome I felt here… I really appreciate it and I hope to come back soon with more precise questions after some more hours of practice.
