OK, I'm tapping out - I can NOT make this patch

Elektron Gear Analog Keys/Four
#1

I’ve been working off and on at trying to make a good facsimile of a certain patch for well over a year, and I’m basically not getting close. The patch in question is used on a French 79 track called “The Remedy”

Here’s a link to the official video on Youtube:

(If, for any reason, the link doesn’t work, just search on “French 79 The Remedy” on YouTube, and it’ll pop up. The video is animated.)

He uses an Analog Keys to do this. I have an Analog 4 MK II, which, in theory, means I should be able to get pretty darn close. But… owing to my lack of skill, bad ear, or whatever, the 30-50 hours I have put into trying to get close to this have been pretty frustrating.

I actually just came over here from Fiverr, because I was looking for anyone over there who does patches - and there are LOTS, but 90 percent are on Serum or Sylenth, or some other VST like Diva, and the rest are mostly Prophet based. I couldn’t find ANYONE who works with Elektron.

So… if anyone can help with this, I’d be grateful. I’d be willing to pay (that’s why I went to Fiverr), I just don’t know how to find someone who would be able to recreate an AK patch on the A4 with fairly good accuracy. (Also, if I should have posted this in one of the other Elektronaut forums, please suggest which one - I went back and forth before deciding that, since this was definitely about the A4/AK, I should try this one.)

Any suggestions? Thanks!

P.S. There’s an old demo video from Perfect Circuit of the Analog Keys demonstrating the factory presets, and the one he’s playing from :41 to about :49 in the video sounds fairly close - WAY closer than anything I’ve been able to come up with. Is there a way to get the AK presets on an A4 MK2? (Video here:

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#2

Couple thoughts, although listening through phone (will try through monitors later).

  1. Are you exclusively focusing on the bass sound?

  2. Is it possible that two or more patches are layered? It kind of sounds like some detuned saws with a mid filter release but also a sharper/noisier sound with a faster attack. This could possibly be created with some LFO trickery on a single source but could also be a matter of layering.

***on relistening, it definitely sounds like a short noise burst on top.

  1. Even through my phone it sounds like there is some post processing. Is it possible the patch in question was eq’d/saturated/ compressed? This may be the missing sauce.

  2. From my understanding, the sound differences between the Analog Keys and mkii shouldn’t really make or break a sound.

Keep up the good fight!

Edit: wanna post some of your efforts?

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#3

My efforts have been so poor that I haven’t saved any of them. I’m really REALLY not close. Your discussion of the (potential) elements of this sound prove that you know a great deal more about sound design than I. If there were a way to get Analog Keys factory presets on the A4 MK2, the factory preset I referenced in the Perfect Circuit video is far, far closer than anything I’ve been able to do.

I DO have a compressor… (an Empress pedal), and of course there’s the compressor on Ableton. The sound he’s getting is so rich and fat, I’m sure he’s got a number of kinds of sauce on it, but I doubt there’s a compressor on the Perfect Circuit demo video. (Wouldn’t that be sort of cheating?) The thing which impresses me about that patch is that, aside from the incredible movement, power, and substance in it, the sound is so saturated and so fat, but without being the slightest bit “farty”.

I guess, for all of us, there’s a patch (or more than one) which, when we hear it, just lights up all our little receptors and makes us think, “Ohhh, yeah. I want to make that sound - I NEED to make that sound!” Mark Ronson discussed this in his miniseries on AppleTV, and, for him, the sound that got him was the intro to Duran Duran’s “Save a Prayer” (which I think was done with the arp on a DX7 - if you heard it, you’d recognize it instantly.) Anyway, for me, this sound on French 79’s 2019 album was what actually got me started buying synths just before the pandemic. (My bank account sort of wishes I had never heard it.) At this point, I’ve been chasing it so long it’s starting to get on my nerves a bit, so that’s why I’ve taken the quest online.

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#4

maybe it’s accomplished in post. i would look into multiband compression. it’s absolutely a dual saw with a detuned higher octave. maybe some notch filtering, definitely some parallel saturation, and a good chunk carved out of the midrange via eq

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#5

As others have mentioned, there may be some post processing. Some of the drum elements have a similar processing quality/crunch/dynamics to them that the bassline also has.

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#6

I’m not really clear what you’re trying to achieve exactly.
The bass-ish sound in the French 79 video?
Or the entire track?

The A4/AK four could definitely do such things.
Certainly there’s some post processing on that track, but that’s usually just icing on the cake.
First you have to get close with no post processing.

Have you downloaded any sounds for the A4?
There’s quite a few free sound pack, and some really good ones that don’t cost much at all.
They’re great for starting points and learning how such sounds are made.

#7

Have you tried reaching the artist?

#8

Gave it a try :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

Not quite there. I think it’s going to be something like a simple square or saw wave, PWM, lots of chorus, an eq to boost the bass, and an envelope controlling noise level at the start of the note.

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#9

The bass synth on the track is what I’m after - The first 20 seconds or so doesn’t really reveal all the complexity in it that becomes more apparent as the track progresses. The first time it progresses up to the higher note and you hear the pitch-bend, it’s basically on from that point.

I actually did (purchase and) download “vintage keys” from the Elektron site this past week, but honestly was not impressed. If anyone has suggestions for good free (or not free) sound packs for the A4, I’d be grateful. (If you’re listening to this French 79 track, that’s a great example of the style I like.)

Thanks!

#10

That actually occurred to me, but I think he’s probably a little big to respond to something like a random Elektron user emailing him. If he would only play a gig on the West Coast I would definitely go, and try asking, but he’s only playing NYC in August on this world tour.

But you know… nothing ventured, nothing gained. I believe I will see if I can get an email address or something and give it a shot.

Thanks!

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#11

THIS:

You got further there than I have gotten in many hours over the course of more than a year. Thank you! I don’t know if that’ll get me there, but if you have any other hints at where to start, please share them!

#12

I think you’d be surprised just how down-to-earth a lot of artists are. And also, who might be hanging out or lurking in these threads.

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#13

Don’t have an A4 but I have a Syntakt which has a similar DVCO machine. Sounds pretty simple to me. Not sure if this is steering in the right direction but I would describe the very start of the sound as the defining element. Like the filter frequency cutoff pops then drops. I was messing around with LFOs modulating the oscillator balance but I don’t think it is that complex. It definitely sounds like it is going through some chorus though in my opinion. Example with Syntakt going through Digitone chorus:

Maybe @Floppydisk_Pirates would be able to guide you in the right direction. A lot of Elektron sound design there (also check out the soundpacks which are awesome)

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#14

sort of… ?


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#15

Especially If theres someone they can geek out with.

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#16

Depends how much overdrive was used in the AK. I’m hearing drive.
Someone here probably knows how to make the mk2 drive sound like the AK. I don’t.

Try this. Press play

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#18

can’t access my synths right now, but i hear something based on SAW with PWM, and the second filter is used to cut out a lot of the low-end.

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#19

I have an A4mk1, and honestly, the first preset, called “The Saw”, is a good start. There’s more chorus, some distortion/saturation, and some EQ. There are a few other presets, like “Oh No It~s” (?), that have some elements to contribute. I wouldn’t expect an artist like this to use a preset unchanged. Are you sure it’s an AK? I know he uses one, but he has a lot of other gear as well.

#20

I’d say 2x saw, detuned a little, maybe sub octave, tight decay filter envelope to get the transient snap, filter cutoff relatively low, resonance low, quite high filter env mod.

I can’t get to my AK at the moment (Ice Cube would be proud) but I think the critical thing aside from the suggestions above is in the envelopes, it is a pretty standard classic sound, often used in the 80’s Carpenter etc.

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#21

also I think quite obviously portamento and also the filter is keytracked if it’s based on the factory patch. You can hear the filter opening when they are sliding it up to the higher notes.

(never even touched either of the synths though, so if those aren’t a thing on either of them then I am a big fool)

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