And did you think about a couple of Eurorack to complement A4?
That was part of my hesitation, selling my AR for DT+Eurorack for drums. Today I set A4+AR again, once set : instant gratification, cool groove with guitar. Have to record this!
I wanted to control Perf with A4 Perf knobs, but I didn’t find it great. @nionmu, some advices? I may key A4 Perfs and use another controller…
yes, but in my experience, no matter how simple it might be what you’re going for in eurorack, everytime you set up a rack on modulargrid, you realize that it’s waaay to expensive for what it does. And that you’re probably better off with a standalone unit, if you don’t want to go all in
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If you like to create your sound, as you wrote, I think AR in not for you.
It’s a good drum machine but the synthesis possibilities are too limited.
And, as someone wrote, the drum synth in not too impressive.
If you like the sound design way you can create interesting percussion from A4/Ak or DN as you wrote.
AR is an instant gratification drum machine but not a so experimental drum synth.
Just my opinion…
do you use a4 and a4, or is it a typo? i have set it up in a way, that ar and a4 perf controls trigger both devices at the same time… so i can choose if i want to use the (momentary) pad on rytm or the encoder on a4, or i can reset the encoder value by tapping rytm pad… like on the video i posted… i think it is encoder destination, ext and internal… did it not work or do you just did not like it? i also play ar autochannel via a4 keyboard on cv track…
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also to stay on topic, i have ar mk1 since many years and still love it. it is a groovebox, not just a drum machine… i do like the sound of the synth machines, but also mix and match with samples…
edit:
regarding sound design: it is a thing of perspective: for a drum machine… the oldschool drum machine was pretty limited with a few parameters per voice/drum static for all ttiggers…
but the rytm has different machines plus samples plus per step sound change and insane sequencer with scenes and perf macros… of course it is no fully fledged synth, but to say the sound design is limited, is, at least for me, not true…
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Typo. A4+AR
Worked perfectly but I probably didn’t setup the right Perf values for AR, filtering A4 and AR similarly. I’d also like to invert knobs values.
That video? Couldn’t open it.
Share something
Nionmu, yes.
If you compare with classic analog drum machine AR has tons of possibilities.
Sure.
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Agreed. It might not be like the A4, an all rounder, it certainly has its own unique sound. But that sound can be monstrous, wild, cutting, soft, all kinds of designs.
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Owning a RYTM Mk1, this is the only device I’ll never sell.
Simple, immediate and with the standard elektron sequencer features it makes easy to make tracks with just one box (see John Tejada album made only with RYTM linked somewhere here in the forum).
The distortion with the compressor are the key of this machine in my opinion, sometimes i like to push them to their extreme limits only to hear the crunch comin out of it. Nasty.
For 600€ I would take it as a 2nd unit to pair.
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What about the model cycles?
I’m not too fond of most of the AR synth engines, especially kick, snare, clap, rim, BT and cowbell, which I don’t like the character of either the envelopes or the tone. I really like the noise, imp, vco and hat and cymbal machines though, the sample section is great if a slight bit limited with the way loop is handled (compared with DT). I’m not overly fond of the distortion or compressor myself, but the delay and reverb are very nice.
On balance though the Rytm remains one of my favourite drum machines of all time, the pattern sequencing is great, song mode is just ok (when compared to OT) sep outs are a bonus.
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Time for an AR cowbell only challenge? 
I don’t like claps, toms, I wish snares could be snappier without effort. Yes Length vs End is sad! Lfo on Start doesn’t work properly apparently. Couldn’t use an rdm lfo on Start for a drum sample chain. Maybe a workaround…
Was interested in the Tejada album so looked up the link:
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jepp. That’s what I experienced. Some effort or sample layering needed most of the time.
I guess as with A4, you have to know the sweet spots and tricks. I know many for the A4 fortunately, but was too lazy to dig into AR.
But maybe digging for sounds is exactly what the OP wants 
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Just go buy the Behringer 808 clone or the Roland TR8s.
Case closed.
+1 for TR8S. It sounds so good and it’s so performable. Lots of tricks up its sleeve.
I listened to a couple of demos and wasn’t impressed. Not really my cup a tea. Even in the eighties couldn’t get used to the Roland boxes (I have owned a few). I’m looking for a more experimentation oriented device. I really narrowed ir down to the AR or the Tempest, the latter being beyond my budget the choice is really between a AR MKI, and just keep doing wat I do now: AK+DN+SP16 for sound and pattern creation, and then resample. I’m tempted by one of those drum machines because I expect a more spontaneaus workflow from them. Lots of helpful observations here, thanks everyone for chiming in!
After OT and AK, you’d be familiar with AR very quickly.
Well, if you need something quick and spontaneous I would check also Arturia Drumbrute, at the price of less experimental and less weird sound manipulation unless you chain in it with some fx units.
I had a Microbute time ago and the only regret I have it about selling it is about its quick and easy good sound to get, of course at a cost of experimentation diving if used alone.
Otherwise, if you need something that can let you go far beyond the standard drums, I would suggest, on top of the AR mk1, also a used Machinedrum (if you find it at a reasonable price, eventually to pair with a MegaCommand box to get extra features like different length per track like newer elektron boxes etc).
Ah, I looked at that one too (I even demoed it in a store before lockdown) and absolutely hated the sounds! But the MD could be an option indeed. I do admit that I got lost in the different namings of that device (looked to me like there are versions, and options, subversions and over-options… in short I don’t understand which is which and what I should be looking for and what price is right for which version so I kind of abandoned that idea). But it’s a good suggestion!