Using the A4 like the MnM

Elektron Gear Analog Keys/Four
#1

I sold my MnM (which I now regret) to fund an AnalogFour. Overall, the A4 makes some awesome sounds, and I am loving being able to route external audio through the filters. I also am enjoying sequencing my 0Coast with it and feeding the audio through the filters. However, I am definitely missing the immediate fun that Plocks had on the MnM. It seemed like I could tweak one parameter on the MnM and get a wildly different sound, whereas on the A4, it’s a more subtle change a lot of the time. Maybe this is just me only remembering the good times with the MnM.

How are y’all using Plocks to make the A4 for interesting and dynamic in sequences?

1 Like
#2

Yeah, man. I sold my MnM originally back in September(I believe?). I then took a chance and traded my A4 for a MnM because the oppurtunity appeared. With the MnM being my only synth at that point, I played around with it a little bit more and WOW!

I then traded my AR for an A4(I was inspired when someone said the A4 was BoC in a box, also @Cosmic stated that the A4 is like an encyclopedia of synthesis ). Now having some deeper experience with both, the MnM wins hands-down. A4 definitely has a great flavor and is , but the MnM is SO FAST and VAST! So cool!

One cool thing I’ve been meaning to experiment with is multi mapping the A4 soundback and trying to play that with the arp on a track to see if you can replicate the BBOX arp(but obviously deeper due to more potential sounds)

Also, one perk to the A4 > the MnM is your can share sounds via the sound back so you could have one trig be FM resemblent, another trig be a a more tradition sound

1 Like
#3

What do you mean by " multi mapping the A4 soundback and trying to play that with the arp on a track"?

#4

Thanks for the mention :pl: A4 Wins.

1 Like
#5

You know how, on the MnM, the BBOX if you put an ARP on that it would cycle through the BBOX sounds and create really glitchy rhythms? Well, there’s a way to map your soundback to different notes on the A4, and I’d BET there’s a way to link the multimapping with an arp and cycle through the sounds. I haven’t tried it though(also, multi-mapping is a little bit trickier on the A4 than the AK(want) and you need a midi keyboard to play the mapping outside of Multi-Mode(I believe).) And you can really quickly cycle through the sounds, I reckon

1 Like
#6

Full of ideas

1 Like
#7

I think the sound pool on the A4 is really brilliant, as it can turn a single track into whole symphony of sounds - in particular with more percussive/stabby patches. Only issue I have had is running out of voices when going a bit overboard with it and trying to incorporate some pads.

But between these two synths (A4 and MNM), which are the only Elektron instruments I have ever owned, I have to say that the MNM really has an amazing immediacy and after jamming just for a few minutes you already have some very interesting things going on. On the down-side it can be a lot less forgiving when trying to tweak parameters a bit too much.

2 Likes
#8

OP- try the second pages under the oscs for big immediate tweaks. Also fm and pwm.

1 Like
#9

It’s the machine selecting options that I love on the monomachine and now the AR and before that md
The a4 doesn’t have machine selecting but you can fake this by just setting up sound pool presets as machines
Pad - ens
Fm
Bass
Modular
Sid
Box - those drum packs

The advantage over the mm is you can lock per step the presets/machines

Try just using one track and lock in say all the fm sounds
Try and do track trigs, one track trigging another

Theses days I happier with the ar and monomachine than the a4 and mono
I just like the machine selecting concept much more

#10

What bothers me with the AR is the limited placement of the machines.You can’t have a bass drum, snare, bass, and rim shot playing independently. And you can’t make a track just using cowbell synthesis :frowning:

1 Like
#11

yer this is annoying

1 Like
#12

Small mercies!

sliceetwo - have you discovered that you can plock any sound in the sound pool on any step? This is something the MnM can’t really touch at all. Unfortunately, you can’t target the sound pool with an LFO, but the upside is that you do get a lot more precision with 128 additional base sounds to choose from. (edit: ok, everyone else has suggested this too…!).

#13

I actually haven’t messed with the soundpool at all. I should research that a lot more, huh?

1 Like
#14

Yes, it means you can have all drum line sounds on one track, with conditional trigs.

2 Likes
#15

You can if you use the low tom as a bass drum(or use samples) :okej:. If you got stupid creative with plocks/sound locks, scenes, perf, conditions, effects, song mode/chains, you could get a cowbell track out of literally one track… :cb:
Slightly off topic but it was mentioned so just my 2 cents…

Edit: I know what you mean though, I just like to always find a way :cheeky:

1 Like
#16

Yeh true this drove me nuts before the new machines came in.
Im really growing to like the ar, with the first 4 bd/sd tracks the go to, the cowbell a fav machine and the rest just sampler tracks. The toms are always the 303/Sh bass machines. There’s also noise and impulse on each track. It’s different to the mduw, where I don’t need 16 tracks and layers . Ar just bangs with only one track - best sampler drum machine sound I’ve ever heard.

1 Like
#17

This is true! It’s a great sounding machine! I miss mine. Working with the MDUW now, the 16 tracks is pleasant overkill at the time being

2 Likes