Should I trade my A4 for something else? Help me decide

Elektron Gear Analog Keys/Four
#7

The A4 has a bit of an uphill battle before you can artistically merge with it.

But once you’re there, it’s awesome.

The A4 is one of a kind. There’s very little out there that really compares with what the A4 offers. Closest you can find is the Tetra, but all that offers is 4 part multi timbral, and even then the interface is nowhere near as convenient as the A4. All the soundscaping possibilities make it very capable.

It might even offer the most parameters of any Elektron.

Everything about the A4 takes effort to get any sort of worth from it. But you just have to build up those muscles and then it will come more naturally.

Furthermore, the secondhand prices of the A4 mk1 make it hardly advantageous to consider selling. I believe I bought my latest A4 for $530. A steal for what it offers.

Also, sure enough, if you sell it- you’ll probably want another one within 6 months.

Just stick with it. Challenge yourself to make a track just using the A4- and you’ll get along with it better when you reintroduce it with your other gear

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#8

I also say: try to keep it. Its an amazingly deep machine if you want it to be, or just like I use it: acid monster :). I got the MKII but that shouldnt make a big difference…

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#10

Used to be psychedelic electronic stuff, but our new album is a big mix of orchestral, ambient, pop, and other stuff.

#11

I’d say go AR if you use A4 for drums only!
AR is much more immediate for analog drums (I tested AR a few hours).

A4’s Soundpool with Multi Map sequenced by OT is great, but not immediate at all. More possibilities with up to 128 drum sounds.

That’s why I’ll keep mine anyway, adding all it’s possibilities of CV / GATE sequencer, filter / fx for external signals…

I hope it won’t help. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

I bought a XOX Heart to add the more juicy acid sound I miss. I have to solder it to make a 5 voices acid machine! (6 if I buy a 2nd (80$)).

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#12

Way to go, I find it juicy enough for acid and even more when paired with my pulse 2…

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#13

Thanks for the responses everyone, plenty to think about so far, before I posted here I was pretty much set on going for an AR but my wife suggested I post here before pushing the button…

I do think the A4 is an awesome machine but having had the DN for a while it just doesn’t seem to offer much different to what I can achieve on that, I’m not a pro synthesist but I find it quite easy to create subtractive synth type patches on the DN, in my experience so far I can replicate most A4 patches on DN but not the other way round. It would be interesting to hear if there are sounds that are only achievable with the A4…

That said I haven’t really explored the A4’s live inputs with plocked fx and filters, perhaps that will open up new sonic worlds… something to try before making a final call.

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#14

I sold my Analog keys a year ago, and just bought another, because overbridge.

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#16

Couple of choices if possible. 1. iPad into OT is awesome. 2. DT into OT is awesome esp as it can take any audio from a pc etc. 3. Analog Heat to make your VSTs and OT sound even better.

#17

A4 can take audio from PC too I think :thinking:+ A4 can be used to make OT and vst better two :slight_smile:

#18

I almost finished my xOx Heart, sounds better than A4 for 303ish sound!
A4 / AK with x0x Heart

#19

Very interested in this thread. I just have a DT and OT. Haven’t really touched the DT in months an was certain the DN was gonna be the next purchase. But after spending a couple hours playing with both at a music store, I walked away thinking the A4 was the ‘winner’ for me. I wanted to prefer the AR or DN, but that wasn’t the case for me

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#20

YES!

I’ve had both prior to my current A4. While the DN definitely has a sweet special sound, I feel the A4 is better enabled to explore different avenues.

Granted the A4 DOES take more work, but that work equates to freedom when it comes to designing sounds and performance macros.

Listening back to some of the tracks I made when I owned the Digitone, I do miss it. If they ever deside to release an “expert mode” firmware that wasn’t so focused on ensuring that you get musical sounds out of you box- I’d consider replenishing it.

I’d definitely choose the A4 over the DN, though.

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#21

That’s exactly what I thought :slight_smile:

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#22

I’ve decided to keep it for now, this was the piece of advice that swung it:

Also the price differential with the Rytm isn’t going to make for simple straight swap… just need to stay away from forums and youtube videos of other gear!

7 Likes
#23

I’ve found I often can tweak tweak tweak a sound into oblivion while sequencing it, and come to a point where I just go, “ah, it sounds quite good, not quite there, but fair enough”, stop the sequence - and then just play the keys on the machine, and it sounds fantastic all of a sudden. It’s really … precarious, in a way, I find that it sounds best when played carefully, even if you can’t really play keys (like me), just try making a patch intially with a sequencer, and try to just play that out by carefully repeating and playing a few notes. Always a winner for me. It’s such a delicate little flower, haha.

It’s one weird fucker, and it always takes me places I didn’t expect. Truly one of a kind, I don’t think you can come even close to the sounds it can produce with anything in its price range. And as the others have said, just explore it more, get into those parameters you’re not really sure how they impact the sound, explore them one by one and see how they affect the sound (just the various sync modes between the oscillators, for instance, can make a huge difference to its sound).

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#24

I need to devote more time getting familiar with the performance macros- that’s where things can get really magical.

A lot of effort and foresight to step away from the meat and bones of the track I’m working on and work on programming those- but, man, what a return on investment

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#25

The A4 is indeed such a nice and rewarding synth, would not want to miss it!

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#27

I figure you’ll get $650 max for it…
Ask yourself, A) what else costs that much and B) what can it do?

The answers are A) A whole lot of stuff and B) not nearly as much as the A4 can :slight_smile:

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#28

I’ve had an odd relationship with my current A4. Picked it up dirt cheap but never use the thing. Actually put it up for sale for about 2 days a couple of months back before deciding I was being stupid. I can see myself putting it away for a bit to see how I feel about things. Despite loving the look and feel of hardware, I’m not a big user of it (vs ITB). At the moment I kind of feel like one of those clowns who own a few expensive sports cars that never get used!

I’m in an even more extreme version of this with my Voyager. Again, picked it up about for a crazy price. It’s my first Moog and looks fantastic. I play with it every now and again - mostly just recreating the Regular Show intro and making naff bass heavy sounds - but nothing ever productive. I know without doubt I could never replace this for the price I paid but that feels like a shitty reason to keep something. It does look mighty cool though.

Anyway, back to A4. Keep digging and trying stuff out. Using it as a drum machine is a great shout. Including AK’s this is probably the 5th or 6th time I’ve owned an A4/AK and this time around was the first time I got into the sound pools and multimaps in a bigger way. A bit more fiddly with the A4 vs AK but works a treat for drum patterns. The A4 can be a lovely box to play on it’s own for a bit too. Def worth knuckling down with it for a bit - whats the worse that could happen?!

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#29

Can relate to this, but if your gear holds the value you paid for it its not too much of an issue, you are simply trading one asset for another, its like having money in a bank that you haven’t spent yet, why feel bad about it?

Anyway, the question for me was not so much about the merits of the A4 but about what it can offer to a setup already consisting of an OT and DN. I find my workflow with these two really nice and focused and covering a broad spectrum of sound possibilities, two sequencers is a sweet spot which leaves the A4 feeling a bit redundant and relegated to drum duties. The question I have is can it add something distinct and unique to the setup.

So far I am exploring the FX tracks using the cue outs from the OT. Multimap also looks really interesting, I didn’t know about this before and it looks like it could be a game changer for me as I could use a midi track on the OT to control the A4 and keep my preferred performance setup of 2 boxes, something I couldn’t do if I swapped the A4 for an AR.

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