Tomorrow I will finally get my hands on an A4. Needless to say, I am SUPER excited. Having only an Electribe MX as my one and only instrument, I believe it is a giant leap forward when it comes to music production.
Now, I’ve made this topic since I would like to hear what I should do with it once it arrives.
Besides updating the OS and installing the Richard Devine and Atmospheres sound packs, I would like to know if there’s perhaps any software I could make use of (I know Overbridge is yet to be released, but perhaps there are other things you guys use).
Also, should I keep the original kits or just load it with the most recent soundpacks?
Save project with factory patterns – this can help you in the future to look inside patterns which were created by other users.
Create new empty project and work inside it. You can also save factory project to new project slot and work with it – it has already loaded sounds in project sound pool and you can instantly use it for sound locks.
Download and install free sound banks from elektron.se. I suggest to install free sound packs from http://www.floppydiskpirates.com/free-patches/ and also listen and buy non-free sound packs from this guy.
After step 4 go through all sounds in A4 and copy your favorites to new A4s sound bank for easy access. This can be easily done in A4s sound manager.
Tips and hacks:
Use “1 kit per 1 pattern” approach at the beginning of learning A4 – this will prevent you to lose your interesting kits and work at all:
a) create new pattern
b) assign new kit (if you need sounds from previous kit – just copy old kit to new empty kit slot)
Save your kits and patterns right after it is ready and after necessary modifications.
Use sound & parameters locks feature – it is extremely powerful feature which allows you to use your A4 in 100% and create very rich arrangements using only 1 track of A4.
Sometimes, when you have huge amount of sound locks in one track it is useful to use delay and reverb effects like additional “audio sequencer” over track sounds. I.e. put trigger with bass sound on the first step of sequencer and add delay effect (p-lock needed parameter for this trig) with needed amount of repeats and volume. After that your bass sound will appear several times during pattern playback without using additional trigs (listen my song – I use the same idea for the bass). You can also use reverb in the same way for bass, pads, drones…
Once you have a track with big amount of sound locks, turn on arpeggiator for this track – this will add additional variations of the pattern and it also gives sometimes very interesting unpredictable and impressive grooves!
Don’t forget about transpose feature for modulation!
Probably the most useful tip – use your AnalogFour as a standalone device at the beginning and try to create full arrangement using only it – it is easy, just try it and you will know the limits and possibilities of the device.
I just started tinkering with the synth. I got the basic gist of what was going on, then started messing with it like any analog synth: picked a patch, tweaked the oscillators, filter, LFO, etc. I wanted to listen to the actual sound of the thing.
I then watched a couple of A4 vids on youtube to see how others were doing things like drones. I had the A4 for two weeks before I even hooked it up to an external keyboard, or CVed it to my Moog SubP. I like to get the feel of a synth before I ever dig deeper into its possibilities.
Wow! Thanks so much for taking your time to write all this! While I’m still confused when it comes to kits, sounds and pools, I know it will make perfect sense once I actually get my hands on A4 (in a couple of hours!!!).
I’ve looked through floppydisk pirate’s sounds and have found quite a few mind-blowing ones. Will definitely consider buying a few, if not all, packs.
Yeah the parameter lock feature is what I’m really looking forward to. Watching people create mindblowing sounds in 1 track is what got me into considering the a4 in the first place.
I’ve looked around here and found user-made randomizers, gotta try that out too
Once you Finnish the pro way of doing it, my way was to get rid of the presets function 2, turn off the lights , put the a4 on your lap not connected to anything else crack a beer smoke a huge spliff, put on the headphones and do some sun ra interplantery space way inc. every night, press and turn every knob and button in crazy ways For over a month, nothing else live and breath the a4 its then only then will you begin to understand and I mean undestand!
These are really good tips, this post should visit anyone new with gear. Learning curve is not the easiest, specially if you are new to hardware programming.
I would suggest this video for beginners: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfH0-0HDAzE , A4 is the same as keys, few different interface stuff, poly mode is under kit and so on.
I really would jump into buying loads of packs at the beginning. Sure you’ll get some great sounds but you’ll just end up with loads of presets you don’t understand. I’d leave that till later.
Flick thru the presets till you find one that interests you.
Don’t look at the settings!
Write down what you think is going on.
Is it a Saw wave or a Triangle, can you hear pulse width modulation. Can you hear the Sub OSC or Noise? How are the Filters, Env, FX & LFO affecting the sound?
Clear the next track & try to recreate the first. You can switch between the 2 playing the keyboard but no looking.
Give it some time. Once you’ve got as close as you can compare the 2.
Sure, you might be a million miles away the first time you do this but it will lead to a deep understanding of the machine.
Now when/if you buy the packs, you’ll really appreciate the sound design!
i used to be a preset tweaker, slowly I am learning to create a sound from scratch… I don’t master it yet, but I love it.
This helped me a lot!
not for free, but very powerful. It learns you to listen to the way a synth sound is build op, and to create it yourself. you can try some demo chapters…
I take it you’re not going to sell the Electribe now you’re an Elektronaut! I’ve not owned an Electribe but I bet it’s a killer combined with the A4. I love mixing PCM sounds with analog. I understand the for analog sound but there’s worlds of beautiful stuff you can do with digital that analog just won’t. So do both Sir, do both!
Might sound somewhat chicken & egg, but i found the best way to extend my understanding was to force myself to answer any question i couldn’t answer on here, by the time you don’t need to go to the inits or the manual you know you’re getting it on side, these’s so much to be picked up from the other responses, but trying it out really consolidates the building blocks
Hey, I’m a noob on here ( actually my first post ) and come from using an Electribe ESX with the A4 which I aquired 6 months ago. Gamechanger!
After a three month period learning the elektron way/ interface and concentrating on sound synthesis, I had created a dozen+ patches that I liked and deleted the rest.
I just wanted to jam and found the hundred’s of patches plus those you can purchase was more the enough to start creating.
It’s all part of the learning curve but the whole thing really clicked for me when a forced myself to start making full songs with pattern chains and song mode instead of jamming with single patterns.
I used my ESX for drums and vocal samples. The Electribe’s Song mode synced to the A4’s song mode is brilliant!
In saying that, I have caught the Bug and recently purchased an Octatrack to replace the Electribe. Sigh!
These drums sounds are really really incredible and will be a great tool for learning how you can program drums on the A4 (or any synth for that matter). The A4 is an amazing drum machine especially when you utilize sound and plocks.
Also in case it wasn’t mentioned take the time to learn Performance mode. It takes some time to setup but incredibly worth it and you can get really creative with it. Could spend hours just messing with performance mode on a track.
Just another shout out for the DRUMA sound pack! Can save a lot of time to get some good, solid and working kicks, toms and hats. Plus a few extras too. I would love any more sound packs by Daren. Here’s the link: https://sellfy.com/p/HYhN/
Start by listening all bank of presets.
Start by Mute/Unmute and how sounds stacks and make a whole entity (kind of a song ingredients).
Learn how to Create a new project. How to load it.
Then i probably learn to make a sysex backup (DUMP send)
Then i install FREE packs from Elektron (DUMP receive)
Then i plug a midi keyboard (if you haven’t you really need to start thinking about it) because if you miss velocity, pressure, pitch and modulation you miss a lot of LIFE from the sounds !
Then i listening ALL and write on a piece of paper all sounds you really love
[ READ THE MANUAL : PRINT IT ON PAPER ]
Then you Reverse engineering it (i mean you start by put effects OFF and understand how effect change the sound, start to OFF LFO assignation and understand what LFO make to the sound, then Filter and other parameters.
[ You can learn that by Overbridge if you prefer both way are ok ]
And start to recreate those sounds you LOVE.
THEN make your own from scratch with the different skills you learn.
for analog sound but there’s worlds of beautiful stuff you can do with digital that analog just won’t. So do both Sir, do both!