Hey guys I’m coming on two weeks with my analog four and finally figured out most of the functions I’ll ever want to use with it, but I’m wondering what type of sounds do you use yours for? I’m having a hard time figuring out where its strengths lie as a synth, I personally like it for pads, arps, and some bass, but I don’t think the oscillators or filters are very good sounding. Whenever I try and make a lead sound it just sounds a bit too thin, sterile maybe. Anyone have any tracks they’ve made that really show off this things versatility?
A4 was the first Elektron instrument I wanted to own, but ended up being the 3rd one I bought.
It took me a while to find my stride with it. Things started out a bit rough, and I was thinking maybe it wasn’t for me. The decision to take it or leave it was approaching so I dedicated a week to it and sought to use every feature I could, and filling every performance encoder with custom assignments. I’m glad I did because it might very well be my favorite Elektron now.
The belief that the 4 tracks were too limiting was the first thing I had to push past.
I have a Nord Drum on the CV track now, and that has opened it up in terms of being able to do entire songs on the one sequencer. In fact, I would implore anyone who used A4 for drums and feels limited by the 4 tracks to pick up a cheap 2nd hand ND1 to free up some voices. Otherwise, getting creative with sound locks on all the tracks (not just drums) helped a good deal.
I use it for just about every sound imaginable. Drums, bass, leads, pads, stabs, weird atmospheres, noise washes, etc. That it is so capable of all of these sounds means (for me) that it doesn’t have a particular strength in terms of voicing. That can make it more difficult to dial in bass sounds, or what have you. But it’s in there. The thing about versatility is there’s a wider landscape of possibilities to navigate through to access something specific. This can be frustrating at first, but once you know your way around and start to build your personal patch library up with some jumping off points that work for you, it becomes very rewarding. So rewarding that I often dream of adding an Analog Keys and running them in sync with program changes, an 8 voice dream marriage.
One last thing I have to add is that I view the sequencer as important as the sound engine. The ability to parameter lock and sound lock makes it as much of an instrument as the dual filters and sub oscillators do. P-locking the FX track makes it especially expressive.
Here are a couple techno things I made with just the A4, and nothing else. Both just single kit, 2-3 patterns each. Lots of performance mode work. The drums are a bit minimal as this was pre-Nord Drum acquisition.
…the filters and oscillators sound weak?!
replaced it after two month?!
sorry guys…no matter what synth you guys gonna buy next…hopefully it got the right presets for you ready made…otherwise you’ll end up the same dead end road…
if you can’t get breathtaking sounds out of the a4, no matter if it’s leads, bass, pads, drums, or fx, or just weird soundscapes and fuzzy noises and an endless pallette of sick sounds…
you never digged any real hardware analog synth before…and/or ur absolute clueless…
dig deeper…the a4 is a beauty…really…
or play on with fruity loops or whatsoever…got nice soft synths with endless readymade sounds, i’ve heard…
u obviously can’t tell the difference anyway…
and forget about the rytm…it won’t take u there if the a4 did’nt work out for u…
but as with all elektron gear…the first motto is…don’t give up…it’s worth it a hundred times end of the day…
i soundchecked five minutes ago in a big venue…jammed with the a4 only, for a moment…
made the house shake…
AdamJay - these tracks are f’in awesome! I was under the impression that I wasn’t terribly interested in techno, but it may be time to question that. The manner in which these tunes build, as well as the sounds involved, is pretty memorizing.
And the snare sound you bring in at around 4:30 on the 2nd one…pretty much sounds like an acoustic snare!
inspiring.
AdamJay - these tracks are f’in awesome! I was under the impression that I wasn’t terribly interested in techno, but it may be time to question that. The manner in which these tunes build, as well as the sounds involved, is pretty memorizing.
And the snare sound you bring in at around 4:30 on the 2nd one…pretty much sounds like an acoustic snare!
inspiring.[/quote]
Cheers for that.
Every tool is a weapon, if you hold it right!
…ah, now i’m sure you’re getting there…keep on tweaking…
Reeloy, although I wouldn’t say your argument applies to me, do you have any A4 tracks you could share?
[quote=“” FutureSomeday""]
Whenever I try and make a lead sound it just sounds a bit too thin, sterile maybe.
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Is oscillator drift on?
Other things to try are resonant high pass to give the lower freqs of your lead some body.
Peaking filter is also good for this, with LFO modulating the frequency slightly.
Subtle LFOs on things like sync amount, linear defune, and negative overdrive will also fatten it up.
And don’t neglect that chorus effect!
I’ve been getting some pretty good bass patches out of it lately. I bought a moog minitaur and have been going through the presets and trying to match the moog’s sound in the AR.
One of the tricks I learned is to use the ladder filter and its overdrive settings more instead of just playing with the multimode filter. You can also increase the ladder filter’s resonance with the F1 Performance Boost option in the Sound menu to get more of a “scooped eq” shape and a sharper peak.
Also, since I have other boxes, I’ve started using the A4 in polyphonic mode more.
I’ve been meaning to ask, how do you get such a wide stereo spread on your hi-hats? I’m curious - thanks
The A4 can sound great, but it’s also very versatile so it’s sweet spot isn’t as big as some other instruments. While it does IMO sound smaller from a init patch than some other synths. Which can actually be helpful when mixing lot’s of stuff. It’s just quirky and there are lots of tricks that can help it to sound really good.
Check out Osc retrig. This starts all the waveforms at 0 and gives a lot more punch and attack because of it. Good for bass or anything that needs to have a percussive quality. Leaving it off adds a bit more random quality to the sound.
Watch the Osc levels, I like to keep them around 70. This keeps them from overdriving, and you have more control over what the overdrive sounds like coming out of filter 1. Very useful, and some light overdrive instantly makes things a lot bigger.
If your going for straight Saw sounds, the Triangle waveform with PW set to the extreme is a phatter Sawtooth than the normal sawtooth waveform. Much more bass. I only use the normal sawtooth when I’m looking for that phasing two sawtooths detuning effect.
Also try starting with Osc2 first. Get your basic waveform set up and then turn Osc1 on to the Feedback Osc type. This while bring a phattened version of what’s coming out of OSC 2 from Filter 1 back to the Osc stage. Just play with the levels. A fairly high OSC2 with a Feedback OSC1 just loud enough to hear sounds great.
Watch the resonance on Filter 1. I actually until recently didn’t like Filter 1 much at all and prefered to use filter 2, because the resonance of filter 1 is so piercing and able to shatter eardrums with headphones. This lead me to keeping the resonance no higher than 70 (with the res boost on, res boost enhances bass output). This keeps the filter from self oscillating and your in instant acid city. The 303 didn’t self oscillate and the A4 filter just like the 303 can sound juicy and is now sounds great. It would help to map Res to a performance knob if your going to use it this way because if you accidentally kick that Res up past 70 it’s very loud and piercing.
Also use Filter 2 with HP and tracking to boost the bass.
The envelope shapes for the AMP and FIL can definitely affect the sound. 2 and 3 seem to have the fastest attack (enough to click) and the ones with dots start their cycle with every trig so end up being the punchiest. Leaving this off has more variation in the sound of a trigger, much like Osc retrig, it’s basically ENV retrig.
And if you need to go even further, use some chorus, or even unison.
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Make room for them in the mix, plus p-locked reverb sends. Reverb eq isolated to around 2kHz to 10kHz.
Sometimes I’ll use the delay in it’s most stereo setting, with the delay also feeding into reverb.
what do I use the A4 for ? ---- as a Paperweight
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I’d be interested to hear or see those patches.
How close to Minitaur have you been able to get with it?
[quote=“” TrabanT""]
what do I use the A4 for ? ---- as a Paperweight
[/quote]
I have a nice round rock that works great as a paperweight- want to trade? My rock is pretty heavy but I’ll even pay postage.
(Resisting the temptation to say some people must be doing something wrong, I’ve heard some great things coming from my AK)
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I have a nice round rock that works great as a paperweight- want to trade? My rock is pretty heavy but I’ll even pay postage.
(Resisting the temptation to say some people must be doing something wrong, I’ve heard some great things coming from my AK)[/quote]
hmm… what does ur rock sound like? does it come with gravimetrical midi … which OS in on it? I will give it a thought … right now there are a lot of papers on my desk which require the A4 to be on 1 spot … cheers bro
What do I do with it?
Dunno how to call it, but this song was made on the A4 only, drums included, no external fx
My rock sounds exactly like an AK in paperweight mode.
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I use my A4 or AK to create sound packs and new presets for both machines. 512 presets of mine adorn this little beauty already. The Sound and workflow of the A4 or AK is simply excellent. It’s always a matter of taste but for me the best analog synth with the best workflow and sound out there!
Just check the demos and download free patches and free sound packs on my website here: http://www.floppydiskpirates.com/
Cheers,
Janosch
Demos sound good Floppydisk, does anyone prefer the monomachine or octatrack to the A4?