writing stuff off is a really smart way to get a leg up on expenses.
scrolling thru presets and multiple vsts (pre-my-mac), led me to leave electronic music utterly for a long time. re-engaging with folk music and four course string instruments taught me that being limited leads to, for me at any rate, greater creativity. I don’t turn up looking for the exciting sound, get distracted and make zero music.
The a4’s strength is that it’s a) primarily monophonic (i know it needn’t be) and it’s got b) a lovely upfront sound. It’s generally very immediate and sound shaping is relatively uncomplex.
I do like that, and it’s the reason I’d really have to have a tough discussion with myself if I did venture to replace it.
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I had the exact opposite experience, I found it quite complex and cumbersome to program. It’s not as bad as some older synths, but it is a bit obtuse. At least compared to a one knob per function synth.
Yeah I get that. it’s definitely on the quirky side; I felt that at first come to think, but now it feels as i describe.
my ‘big synth’ is the summit, but i can find that overwhelming still at times.
Also the tendency to bang on that blummin reverb… lol
It’s just easy to get lost programming it since it has so many options for modulation and you can’t see everything on a single page. You, or at least I had to really concentrate when making patches. Took a lot more effort than a traditional one knob per function analogue or an MS2000.
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sounds like you want to sell the A4. do what’s best, yo. i have an A4 MK1 that was awesome at first but has been on a shelf for awhile. whenever i use it, it’s engaging, just not immediate for me. it’s not a go-to box for the type of music i want to make right now. maybe the MKII’s ui feels different. like you, there’s too much other gear in my stash now. if you’ve made peace with selling, go for it.
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I found my A4 second hand, and I am very (!) happy with it. So, please, if you have any doubt, sell it and enable someone else to benefit!
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ok, haha, you definitely seem like you’re not going to be talked out of it!
But, you specifically asked, so . . . here’s two things you should (could, if you wanted to. . but hey, it’s up to you!) try before you sell it.
• sync the clock to your digitone and use the A4 internal sequencer instead of OR ON TOP OF the Midi you are sending from the digitone. It’s probably technically possible to p-lock the relevant cc-s and but realistically you’re never going to have the fluid workflow that you have when the internal sequencer is p-locking everything OR just p-lock some interesting parameter changes and let those loop while you sequence your notes from the digitone.
• you say you also use your DAW often. . . have you tried using the A4 as an overbridge plug-in (particularly with something like Bitwig?) This really lets you dive into and modulate all the parameters and get super detailed with sound design possibilities. I know people dog on overbridge all the time but man it really works for me! This is something the A4 can do that I don’t think your other gear can do, and it’s pretty cool.
Or follow your muse, get a Strega or whatnot, that’s fine too!
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Thanks for the suggestions
I don’t have a Digitone.
I love the idea of Overbridge, but I’m in Pro Tools so until they’re kind enough to release AAX, I can’t really use it.
Ah digitakt then, same dealie!
I just spent some time watching demos of the Subharmonicon. Pretty cool,
Then, I spent more time watching demos of the Analogue Solutions Impulse Command. WOWZA. That really got my juices going. Talk about a “happy accident” machine.
I think that thing is just the kind of “different” I’m looking for. Never seen/heard anything like it.
I would probably trade someone the A4 straight up for one of those right now.
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I spent a couple afternoons living on the A4 just trying to fall back in love with it.
I just seem to always default to using it as a rhythm/drum machine. I can’t really squeeze anything synth I really love out it. I guess I just don’t love the sound. It sounds good, can’t deny that. Just doesn’t really tickle my ears.
I don’t know. This might be silly.
Personally, the Analog Foundations presets from New Wave Presets have breathed new life into my A4, and I find myself using it a lot more with them.
(Both Analog Foundations volumes have 128 musically-useful sounds.)
Also, the AnaTron library from pbsonic also has many useful sounds as well.
I’d say try those libraries (depending on the music you make) before getting rid of your A4.
(In my opinion, these libraries will give your A4 a new lease on life.)
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Have you looked at the Analog Drums volumes from New Wave Presets yet?
(Along with the Analog Foundations volumes I mentioned.)
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I sold the MKii for a pretty good price and funded a sweetheart deal on an A4 MKi and a Microvolt 3900 to satisfy my new semi-modular desires.
I suppose the Analog Four is too cool to totally get rid of, but not cool enough to justify the small bells and whistles of the MKii. I don’t really miss anything to be honest, and I don’t feel guilty about keeping it around now.
I’ll try to have my cake and eat it too for a while.
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The A4 is probably one of the synth I wanted to sell the most from my collection BUT, it is actualy such a flexible machine that always end up finding a new way of using it and end up keeping it.
To give you an exemple, the two last things I did with it:
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Writting sequences with nice harmony on the four tracks and run the full thing to fx pedals or any other processing chain to destroy the whole thing, it does lead to really fun results. It’s like having a bus of four mono synth to process at once.
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This one I didn’t tried yet but that’s a plan for this week: using it as a stereo “resonator”, I mean using the four voices only as filters (bandpass for that purposes) two on the right / two on the left, to process external signals. I recently got this idea after explaining how the Qpas module from Make Noise work to my synthesis students.
Anyway, there’s lots of things to do with the A4, sometimes not even as a synthesizer, even tho it is not easy to use it is sometimes quite rewarding.
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I agree.
It is easily worth what I paid for the MKi.
I couldn’t justify the MKii for more than double the price with as much as I use it and with other items on my radar.
That’s how you do it, basically the same synth with a new toy to play along with 
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I swapped out my ARmk1 for my old A4mk1 the other day. I just wasn’t feeling it for the synthesis of the AR. Immediately got back into the A4. The sounds I made on it a while back were still exciting me and I still think it synthesizes better drums than the AR.
Now thinking of paring the A4 with a DT (again), which can sample and enhance my A4 drums, and free up the A4 for melodic duties. OS 1.30 fixed pretty much everything that annoyed me about the DT before and pushes it much closer to the things I liked about the AR.
Anyway… A4 still the most inspiring sketchpad I have. Sold one once before and regretted it. My 2nd one is a keeper for sure.
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