This thread is a bummer for those of us on the other side of the world. We don’t see prices nearly this low. And the $NZ fell again today…
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I picked up my Ak4 MK1 yesterday (thanks @Scrufftv!) and after playing around with it for a few hours I can tell you that I will not part with this thing in the foreseeable future. And certainly not for cheap!
When the TR8S came out, in Berlin the TR8 was selling for 200€ used…I even saw one go for 180€ on Ebay Kleinanzeigen. Used prices for the TR8 seem now to have recovered to around 300€.
I’d think that as this wave of sell offs of A4 MK1s completes, I don’t see a reason for new (used)owners to sell their A4s for anything less than what they paid for…especially since they are already an outrageous deal / value-for-money.
Again, checking Ebay Kleinanzeigen for Berlin, the A4 seems to settle around 700-750€ now…just a few weeks back you could grab one for 550-650€.
That said, I’m of course grateful for the lovely deal I got on mine and I do feel it’s good vibes to not squeeze every last penny out of the used market, after all this is about making music and in a way we are enabling each other when we sell on gear.
I also want to add that, owning a Digitakt, I can see how the user interface improvements on the MK2s (layout, visibility, immediacy) are desirable and how that alone could lead to a depreciation of Mk1 prices.
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I have the chance to get a MK1 for £570, what do you guys think?
I wouldn’t pay much over £500 to be honest. That’s what I got mine for (with bag and lid) and the thing is about as new as as new can be!
Have you been pleased with it so far? Also I’m planning on using Overbridge with audio over USB to separate the individual outs. Is this currently reliable using Overbridge 1 or 2 Beta ?
Thanks
Well…
I came close to selling it recently but held on due to how “cheap” it was and becoming determined to give it more of a go. There’s a thread I started on it recently.
I’m now using it with OB and Live and got a new lease of life with it. For £500ish it really is ridiculous value and well worth taking the gamble on it. And with OB you can very quickly record patterns as audio and build tracks to far beyond the units 4 voice poly limits.
Others round here can go into more detail about what makes the A4 great and all that but I’ve gone from nearly selling to “this is staying” pretty quickly!
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Yeah I will be using mine via Live too. I was trying to save on using more physical outs on my audio interface as I use enough with my other synths. Which version of OB are you using? Has it been reliable?
The A4 is a great deal at £500 or £600! It’s a wonderful synth with a unique sound and massive possibilities.
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£500 is crazy cheap (comparatively) you can buy a less featured eurorack sequencer for more, or a MC-202 for more (which whilst great, and a classic, isn’t as objectively good as the A4 on any front).
I think the mkII definitely hit the mkI prices, but actually I think I prefer the look of the mkI, the LCD will probably outlast Oled, more compact case. No CV inputs on mkI and a couple less knobs, but not really a biggie and certainly not IMHO worth the difference in price.
Currently, to my knowledge there does not exist any other analog synth which can have wildly different sounds on each sequencer step, I think this is often overlooked. If it was a eurorack module people would be besides themselves with joy, the 8 oscillators, plus subs, plus filters, plus envelopes, LFOs (including the hardwired dedicated ones for vibrato and PWM) 3 fx, the extremely flexible and comprehensive CV sequencer with its LFOs, envelopes etc.
I think the A4 in any of its incarnations is probably the best analog synth ever conceived. IMHO.
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I didn’t own too many analog synths, but I would say - regarding features - probably.
Workflow and sound is another question. Many people don’t like the menus and many say it sounds like a digital synth.
I’m not one of them, I’m still a fanboy. But I had moments where I thought, how difficult can it be to get this simple sound right. You have to get to know how the parameters interact in various ranges
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Yes, I definitely think it requires a fair amount of subtractive synthesis knowledge to get the best from it, and the menu diving is something that can put people off for sure, but I don’t think it would be physically possible or practical to not have a certain amount of menu diving, given the amount of stuff under the hood.
I don’t buy the “digital sounding” criticism either, although I’d definitely say that like every Elektron machine it takes more effort to make it sound “good” more so than instant gratification synths, which are one big sweetspot like for example the SH-101.
Direct realtime parameter control is one area where I do think it is is lacking, it would have been great to have 8 freely assignable analog sliders for realtime tweaking, but the performance mode does somewhat help, the way that ranges of parameters can be constrained to within a range is very helpful, but unfortunately encoders just don’t have the same feel and directness of sliders. Midi controller sliders obviously are not a good solution here due to limited number of possible values especially with respect to things like filter tuning etc.
I guess I’d perhaps add the caveat that I would not necessarily say it was the best sounding analog synth in all cases, but certainly very flexible and well featured, for simple stuff like Roland monosynth sounds, I think it can get close enough to satisfy most people most of the time, but obviously isn’t going to succeed at spot on emulation of things like a CS80 or Jupiter 8 etc.
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Well I managed to pick an A4 MK1 for £550 in mint condition. So happy days! It arrives on Friday so can’t wait!
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With respects to the Analog Four sounding digital. Too be honest when the A4 first came out, I just saw A4 (didn’t see the analog in it’s name) & listening to a few demos I thought it was a digital synth. Then I saw it was called Analog Four, so I read more about it & found it has digital effects.
Maybe the digital effects give it a digital sound sometimes? I’ve never heard one in person tho.
I’ve also heard a lot of demos & tracks with it sounding analog. I’m sure it depends on how the sound is designed & used. & of course personal opinion.
Yeah it’s called hybrid as was the tempest it sounds very fat and warm but can also can do sharp digi type sounds
The monomachine is the reversal
It’s not that, the FX are mixed in at the outputs to the fully analog signal - some of it is that the vanilla sound starting point is kinda underwhelming, it reveals the least flattering aspects of the core sound (it has DCOs like many famous analog synths, but the VCOs in the AR e.g. sound way better in a vanilla state) - the key to the A4 is sound design and it excels in that regard as there’s so much under the hood
it can sound a little focused/clinical but also quite modular and inescapably analog - it’s just that it doesn’t have the easy broad vanilla sweet spot of classic analog synths
it’s stunning value at those prices given how deep and capable it is, before you add in CV and the excellent effects - it takes effort to get the best from it
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A4 was my first analog synth. I read the comments about it sounding digital and wondered how a “real” analog would sound.
After owning Microbrute, 0-coast, analog eurorack modules and two moogs I’m completely convinced the A4 does sound analog. Surprise 
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If an A4 or AK was the only synth I could own, I’d buy a decent mic pre with EQ (1073 clone) or the AH, and I’d be just as happy as I was with the model D or Prophet-6.
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A lot of good info, thanks 
I plan on getting an A4 MkI soon. I almost got one awhile back & was willing to pay $900 - $1,000 for it, so I can’t pass up the prices these are going for now.
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Nice
I love both analog & digital, if I like the sound of it I don’t care what it is. All though, when I got my first analog synth (Ms-20 mini) I fell in love with the analog sound & the sound of the Ms-20 mini. I think it’s because I’m more drawn to the sound of acoustic instruments…“real” sounds… not sure how to put it, but for example with the Ms-20 mini, you can hear & feel the “realness” in the sound, it’s noisy & has a lot of character, you can hear the thickness & different textures in the sound.
What I love about digital synths is they can sound like anything (of course it depends on the synth). If it’s imitating an analog synth, it might not always sound like an EXACT copy, but can get really close & sometimes I can’t even tell the difference. Plus digital synths can make sounds I really like that analog synths cannot 