I love the A4 but I can’t help but feel like I’m missing out on the greatness that is the OT, even though I already have a DT…
The A4 really suits me though even if I don’t end up exchanging it, it’s fantastic for bizarre sounds, crazy bizarre sounds… also lush pads, soundscapes, percussive sounds, funk sounds like clavs and high pitched bass patches, especially rotating between the four tracks, it can get very funky… the list goes on. I also have a DN which is great for percussive sounds and of course metallic, bell, or mellow sounds alongside your classic FM synth sounds. The A4 gets a lot of hate for being dull but I don’t see it at all, it’s extremely unique in my opinion, so unique in its sound possibilities that it’s quite identifiable to me now.
The return window closes on my A4 pretty soon so I’ll be locked in if I don’t return it this week, which isn’t a bad thing of course. I just want to get some OT owner’s input on the setup because I haven’t really spoken to many owners. Also, I love song mode which is the main draw for me. A4MKII has it but the arranger on OT simply looks more advance. I play the guitar alongside all my tracks.
Setup – Analog Four MKII, Digitakt, Digitone, and Moog Sub Phatty –
Edit: I could also find a DSI Rev2 8 Voice for roughly the same price.
I think OT is great for loop recordings, a crazy looper for guitar with realtime mangling possibilities, you can control crossfader with a midi expression pedal (up to 250 parameters per track morphed between 2 values).
Very advanced sampler for recording and realtime mangling, fx control, but not that good playing possibilities compared to polyphonic samplers with higher pitch ranges (OT is only one octave up or down), multi layer, overlap…
A few differences with DT concerning midi tracks, like prog change per part only, but 3 midi lfos, a great arpegiator once you modulate it with lfos.
As mentioned often, you have to be very patient to master it.
You can find cheap A4 MKI or OT MKI if you want both later.
Sorry to post these again, but I think it’s better than explanations concerning realtime possibilities, guitar only vs Octatrack, no samples, bass / drums made from guitar. (Guitar through AH though).
I recently teamed up an A4mkii with an OTmkii and absolutely love this combo. So many possibilities. Some say the OT is a nightmare to earn while others say it’s not so bad. First two weeks for me were pretty tough, but I’m decent at it after a few months, but there’s still plenty to learn. For me that’s a very good thing. Just doesn’t feel like you can reach its limits, but you can very quickly find a workflow to get up and running. I recently sold my DT to help fund my A4 and have no regrets so far. The OT’s midi sequencer is also tough to beat, for me. I loved the OT/DT combo for awhile, but found myself wanting an analog drum machine and multi timbral synth. The A4 does both of those things quite well.
Here’s one caveat that might apply to you…my friend who sold me my A4 replaced it with a Rev2. He likes to sequence everything from the OT as opposed to syncing up several sequenced things and you get 8 (very nice) voices as opposed to 4. I’m still happy with my setup though, so no complaints
One workflow thing I’m enjoying at the moment is to load up a good kit into the A4, sequence a pattern or two I like, then sample that into the OT. Once that’s done I load up a different kit into the A4, go to a blank pattern and sequence the A4 from the OT as if the A4 were just a sound module. Everything is tight and easier on my brain!
Interesting question… A4 can be used with neighbord tracks and inputs + FX, lfos, to modify DT and then maybe you can re sample in the DT the FXed sounds ?
But so you need an A4mk2 to do this because of the Outputs.
Can be a really nice hybrid setup. But you haven’t the same FX’s than on the OT, maybe the OT willm give you more tweaking on your samples.
then you can send back mono samples to the DT.
Edit= I think, sampling, re sampling, and re re sampling is a great workflow to adopt when you want a particular grain, texture, who is yours.
It’s not so much of a second guess, it’s I like to improv a lot. Three Elektron boxes is just a bit much to handle even though I can use song mode. With the OT it has a better song mode and sampling capabilities for my improv.
I’d consider an OT or DSI Rev2 a slightly better fit.
It’s a tough choice between the OT and Rev2 as a guitar player. I really love funk, my Sub Phatty is almost exclusively used for bass sounds. I also love weird music like Tipper and Shpongle, and also triphop such as Emancipator, which I feel the A4 is nice for, having 4 part multitimbrality. But the Rev2 has 2 part and 8 amazing voices… You know, if I get the OT I could always sample the Rev2 though lol.
The main issue I run into is just the amount of sequencer power I have is not utilized. I think I’d prefer less Elektron sequencing currently, I mean 3 sequencers? That’s a ton of trig possibilities going unused and it’s not particularly musical to fill them up arbitrarily. I’m more of a musician than an electronic arranger, hence why the OT for real time stuff or Rev2 for sonic capabilities appeals to me. Let’s be honest, a huge part of the Elektron premium is the sequencer, I legitimately don’t sequence any MIDI devices right now using my DT so there’s 8 more channels… And 3 more on my DN (I sequence the Moog with it).
I’m going to watch some more videos on the OT and Rev2 listening on my Klipsch and finally decide tonight
