As an absolute noob here… But a longish… Time lurker
I would like to thank this community for all the great info it provides.
I’ve had the Rytm a while now love it and feel pretty comfortable with it. Now I have just got hold of an Analog four! Awesome now I can now make a duo with the Rytm.
My question is could somebody explain exactly how
To link them together, and what internal settings I should use?
Does the Rytm run through the keys? Or the other way around?
Does the combined sound come out through just one of the machines outputs or both?
Assuming you are not using OB, the RYTM should run through the external inputs of the A4/Keys. Then in the FX track of the A4/Keys you turn up the volume on both the left and right channels (think this is on the OSC 1 page, but have neither machine in front of me).
Then I would run a MIDI cable from the MIDI out of the RYTM to the MIDI in of the A4/Keys and in MIDI sync of each machine set them up to send/receive clock/transport… Then press play on the RYTM and the A4/Keys will start too.
I don’t think there’s a better solution than acquiring a small mixer, even just a small line mixer without eq or mic pre-amps, even though those can be found very very cheap.
The problem with the above solution is that all the kits would have to be set up the same way (wrt Ext ins) if you were using pattern changes between both
Secondly, the AR inputs would force you to use the same compressor settings for internal and external
A little mixer would be a good investment and allows easy expansion and caters for other inputs … All of these are 100eur or less
I think i’d make AR the master clock and transport
Just on the basis that a drum machine seems like a better candidate to give ‘priority’ on clock (first hand clock) to, to be honest, I don’t connect them up especially rigorously either way, but that would be my starting point, no other logic
Yeah thanks, I’m going to be getting a mixer pretty
Soon to use a couple of outboard effects…
Although I’m holding out until we all know what the heck the new ELektron devic will be just in case they make exactly what I need! Dam teasers…
Especially since if you were to do A4 into AR you could us AR’s compression to ‘glue’ your synths and drums nicely. Plus AR has reverb and delay in it so you’re not gaining any effects running it through the A4.
As far as OPs question. I’d just run clock from AR into A4 (midi out of AR into midi in of A4), then go into settings or AR and make sure you’re sending local control only from ARs pads and buttons so you’re not setting the A4 weird midi messages. Make sure AR is set to send clock and A4 is set to recieve it. That AR is set to send transport controls and A4 is set to receive it. And if you want to get real fancy set the AR to send program changes and the A4 to recive them. That way when you change patterns on one it will change in both. Sorry I’m not using exact terms or step by step instructions I don’t have my machines in front of me but all these settings can be found under the settings of each machine.
If you’re still having trouble with it or have any questions just tag me and I’d be happy to give you a walk through.
It looks like you still post here so maybe you will respond to this corpse thread:
Do you find issues with volume leveling running A4 into AR ext in? I’ve not done it with A4 yet but I’ve run syntakt through the AR mk2 ext in and Syntakt on full blast couldn’t keep up with AR’s internal tracks even at relatively low levels when the distortion was above about 30%.
Hi actually I haven’t tried it in a while so i don’t remember… Now I run Analog Keys into mixer channels also the Rytm goes into its own Mixer channel… But I will run the Analog Keys into the Rytm ext in this weekend and see if I hear any volume issues that you seem to hear.
I will get back to you real soon.
You can add a lot of level to each AR track with the per track overdrives so I feel like this is kind of an unanswerable question because there are too many variables. There can also be a huge variation between levels of A4 patches.
I just tried with an AR init kit and some random A4 patch I had loaded up and the balance was fine. But then add a bunch of drive to the kick and it gets a lot louder, so you have to turn that track volume down to compensate.
So it depends, but you definitely have the tools between both boxes to set the levels of each part appropriately and get a good mix. You just might not be able to load up two previously made kits on each box and have them fit perfectly together without some tweaking.
I’ve been doing it and if I’m using the Rytm’s distortion at 30% and healthy quantities of OD I end up with track levels in the 15-30 range on the mixer to not disappear the ext in audio. Maybe I just need to add an in-line amplifier or something to make it useful but it seems more like there’s a lot of fixed attenuation on the input signal. This is definitely an area where more recent Elektron stuff has been a lot better, though obviously the Rytm still has a lot going for it.
I just tested it out. Recorded a steady tone from a single voice of A4 through overbridge. Then analog output of A4 into AR through overbridge. The level was identical. There’s no attenuation happening.
The issue is you’re adding potentially 8 other analog voices on top of that plus possibly 8 sample layers, and each of those 8 voices basically has its own overdrive pedal after it. Obviously you’re going to need to do something to adjust the overall mix.
A4 into AR for the compressor. AR as master. The reason for doing it this way is that you will have to attenuate the AR sounds to match the level of the inputs which come in quiet (then you can boost it up with the compressor or at the mixer/interface/DAW all together). Then the AR will always be set to meet the inputs so if you plug anything else in you won’t have to painstakingly turn all your patterns down track by track at a later date. Like I had to.
