1

well this is my third elektron , had an octatrack and a monomachine at different times, but both now gone :frowning:

I’ve had the Keys about a month, really love this box , its as deep as the octatrack (well not quite as deep) but in a different way , The only thing i am sort of missing is the monomachine FM sounds ,

But maybe in a future update ?? :slight_smile:

anyway learning lots of stuff on the forum.

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David

2

From what I have read, the A4/AK doesn’t have the correct circuit design for analog FM. Or so we have been told, there have been other hidden features before. They do have a CPU for the digital controls. Now is there a DSP in there as well? Is that CPU powerful enough for any digital synthesis? Maybe FM can be added in digitally and passed through the analog filters, but once again I’m not sure the audio path was designed this way so who knows if any of that is possible. But if they can manage getting an FM machine in there like on the AR then that would be amazing.

But glad to hear you are liking the AK. This is my next planned purchase once I get some financial things lined up.

3

You can get FM-ish sounds by turning LFOs up very high and modulating certain parameters. The problem is that there is no LFO key tracking yet. But you can program it manually in the sequencer

4

Ah that is right… and it has ridiculously fast LFO’s doesn’t it so you have a lot of room to play with. They can reach near audio range right? I thought I read that can cause very FM like phasing effects when an LFO is at or near audio frequencies.

5

Yeah most people want those sharp phased metallic sounds when they say FM and the digital LFOs of the AK mean that they go very fast. From zero to atonal in no time.

LFO key tracking is a request already and it shouldn’t be too hard.

6

Oh , well it would be a shame if it wasn’t possible to implement
I did have a play around using the LFOs at very fast speeds , you can get those harsh metallic type sounds , but not the softer bell / clang quality …

but need to keep experimenting

7

You would be able to get those clang sounds by combinging envelopes with LFOs

For example make an ENV that is an exponential wave that is linked to the depth of that very fast LFO and make it very fast, basically have it only play the loudest LFO modulation on the first hit and have it lower to whatever sounds best to your ears. You can get really close.

8

Thanks , I will give that a try