asking here, as I haven’t found the info anywhere else; do the buttons on the S-4 have rubber coating like on the newer elektron machines?
They’re similar. They have that kind of feel and that clacky-ness to them like the A4 MKII. Also the case has a metal coating that kind of attracts fingerprint smudges.
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The buttons feel very similar to the A4 MKII. The knobs are hard plastic with no coating.
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Just arrived. Not much in the box. A minimal experience
Not complaining - just saying
- The S-4
- a large power supply plug - bigger than I would have thought
- a MIDI dongle
No quick start guide - no manual - no stickers or other tat
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I’m on my 2nd S4 after the first one fully bricked and was replaced (with minimal hassle and much assistance from torso).
I keeping on meaning to post that I really like it, even in it’s current not-quite-finished state.
I use mine as a traditional sampler - recording tones and drum hits and playing them back mono- or polyphonically - and as an effects unit for my P12.
The machine sounds great and the selection of effects is interesting (although the delay whilst useable is a little anaemic).
Without midi playback or sync I think the tape machine is nearly useless in a larger setup (although still fun standalone). The current modulators feel a little rushed and the device will definitely benefit from different types of modulators to bring out some musicality for some of the functions (especially the resonator, which is begging to be sequenced).
As it is, I have a use case which it fulfills nicely; so any future updates will just improve it for me, rather than form the basis of a functional instrument.
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Hi Martin
I would like to get it a sampler with granular processing
Did you test the granular processing? and what do you think?
It’s hard to compare for me. My experience with granular is limited. The S4’s granular engine is called mosaic. It’s not a full blown granular synth. It’s more meant like an effect in an effects chain. But there are a couple of interesting parameters you can tweak and modulate. It sounds fine to me. So it really comes down to what to are aiming for with a granular synth.
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I’ve had a morphagene, Arbhar and beads and they’re far better as a granular processor in my opinion.
I actually sold all of them after preordering the s-4 but I have plans to get the morphagene back. I actually think they would work really well together.
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Habit by CB seems quite morphagene-y to me, if you have patience for dip switches. It’s mono tho (but in nice yellow 
)
Edit: sorry, sorry, I meant Mimeophon lol 
Morphagene is only for Eurorack?
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Yea. Could completely use it standalone with a small pod case though.
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Got mine yesterday, I’m happy with the build quality and the encoders, and the overall sound - apart maybe from the delay and reverb - is good. Also very pleasing and are some of the visualizations of what parameter do in a device, especially in the filter and the deform device.
It’s really simple to turn almost any selection of 4 samples into some good-sounding but generic ambient music within minutes, and without consulting the manual. I wish they implemented scenes and performance functions, though, so that more variation is possible.
I especially dig the deform device, it sounds nice and gives a wide range of options, from subtle coloring to radical transformation.
The delay and reverb section is not my cup of tea. Maybe I need to spend more time with it, because the routing is a bit weird, and some parameters appear to do several things at the same time, so maybe there are more possibilities than I’m aware of right now. If you want a wash of reverb and delay, that’s definitely possible, but I failed at creating subtle delays and reverbs for short percussive grains. The delay is sorely missing high- and low-pass filters for the feedback path, cutting highs after the reverb is not enough for precise control over 4 tracks with dedicated delays and reverbs. Also a pre-delay for the reverb would be a nice touch.
Modulators are great, and the visualization is a great help to see what you actually get. The spread parameter is cool, and I dig the idea to have a dedicated amplitude parameter for Wave and Random that can scale the modulation across all destinations, would be nice to have that in the ADSR, too. Also an option for looping the ADSR (especially in combination with manual triggers) would be sweet. What is missing is a way for one modulator to affect another modulator.
There’s one thing I noted about the manual, it is really long, but does not do a good job at explaining how things work, and what exactly the parameters do, and it sometimes even gives conflicting information. For example, the routing diagram for Vast, and the text about the parameters appear to contradict each other. The
The apparent lack of scrollbars confused the hell out of me at first. I thought that the “free” option in many select mode menus was missing somehow, because I only saw three options and no scroll bar. Only after I noticed that the scroll bar is missing in the sample manager I discovered that this thing does not have scroll bars at all. WTF?
It is definitely very easy to obtain pleasing results from the mosaic device without having any experience with granular synthesis. And if you already know how granular synthesis works, you’ll feel mostly familiar with the controls, except for some odd parameter names, and the Pattern parameter together with the scales, which is something new.
One thing to notice: it is a granular effect though, and not really granular synthesis as you would get with a Tasty Chips GR-1 or similar. The most obvious limitation of that is that you can’t grab grains from the future, so to speak, which is really noticeable with percussive source material with longer gaps between audio events. Another instance where that becomes really apparent when playing the S-4 polyphonically. While the the GR-1 would synthesize each voice from pitched grains taken from the original sample, the S-4 merely extracts grains from a polyphonic stereo recording. Haven’t spent much time playing with that, but the difference in results is really obvious to me.
The available parameters are also rather limited compared to the GR-1. To name a few differences: while the GR-1 provides 3 parameters for defining the contour of the grains, the S-4 has only one. The GR-1 can play reverse grains, the S-4 cannot. Having those options makes a great deal of difference of how you can shape sounds, and I prefer the amount of control the GR-1 provides.
But that is only part of the picture: I have sold my GR-1 before preordering the S-4, and I don’t regret this so far. I appreciate that the S-4 has a superior and more flexible filter, plus the deform and vast devices, which provide a lot more options in total. And I do prefer the UI of the S-4 over the GR-1. Overall I think the S-4 is more flexible and easier to use.
Even if I were to find that ultimately the S-4 is not for me, I’d not go back to the GR-1 but take a closer look at the Tempera
14 Likes
S-4 available at Escape from noise…
Not sure if they ship outside of Sweden!
I have bought from Escape From Noise, and I live in Portugal. They have an option to show prices in five currencies, including USD and EUR.
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They are in stock at dlxmusic.se also
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Thank you for your comments!!
Also I´´m looking the Tempera too!
I would appreciate it If someone could share their experiences about tempera 
… in the Tempera thread.
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In stock at Juno UK at the moment, I just bought one for delivery next Tuesday 
There is a major update on the horizon:
Devlog #6
1.0.5 is now 1.1.0
We are happy to let you know, the next update for the S-4 is almost ready. Besides MIDI and analog sync, we’ve bundled in a number of other fixes and improvements, in what we now are calling version 1.1.0. Here’s a sneak peek at what you can expect:
- Fixed an issue where TAPE wouldn’t play when switched from POLY.
- Resolved a crash when multiple CCs controls the same parameter.
- A fix for an issue causing MIDI CC on a single parameter to be shown on all subsequent tracks
- Addressed envelope aliasing and playhead position issues in the POLY device.
- Tweaks and fixes to the delay in the VAST device
- … and more!
We’re in the final stages of polishing this update and can’t wait for you to get your hands on it. Thank you so much for your patience!
Regarding Saving and Loading
We have seen some of you still have issues regarding saving and loading projects. This is something we are actively looking into. We want to make sure we address all instances where it occurs, so if you’re encountering this problem consistently, please reach out to us directly here on Discord with details on how to reproduce the issue.
Community Questions
Q: Will Devlogs be published in other places than on Discord?
A lot of you have been asking if there’s a way to follow the devlogs in another place than here on Discord. We are currently working on integrating a new mail-out system on our website, where you will be able to sign up to receive updates on new firmware, devlogs and regular newletters straight to you inbox. We’ll keep you updated on when this goes live!
That’s it for now! Thanks for reading along, and see you again very soon!
Cheers,
Torso
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They’ve been promising midi sync for months now, will greatly improve the functionality but it’s still a basic feature, if it works properly. Not a very exciting update. At this point people still can’t save and load properly.
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