One can also layer all oscillators of the 4 tracks - that makes 8 oscillators and 8 subs . If you can’t make your bass fat enough like that you’ve got a serious problem 
1 Like
Some good tips here. Deep bass is indeed about creating it well in the mix. I use standard trick of EQ side chain to duck under the kick to prevent the rumble. So yes!!! the A4 is capable of good bass sound. However, this topic gets me and somehow I am keeping my eye open for possible other oscillator/synth to provide the lower bass. Indeed due to lack of separate outs of the A4. But the boundaries are to be found.
That’s the main problem with the A4 when creating different sounds as a kit. Only having 1 pair of outs, I constantly have to adjust the sounds so that all four sounds sound good in a mix. I’ve got around it when recording by multi-tracking one sound at a time but when playing live, it really limits you.
1 Like
As with all sounds the way we persieve them dépends on some factors and ones u have that insight it will help you alot to achieve yoar goals.
*
1 > ATTACK The first milliseconds of a sound wil have a big influence on how we persieve the the rest of the sound. The Roland D-50’s sounds are very mutch based on principle. The human brain will define a sound totally different depending on the attack-fase.
ONE OF THE BIG ADVANTEGES OF THESE MACHINES ARE THE SUPER-FAST ENVELOPES
*
2 >
HARMONICS
The High-Freqencie harmonics will allso have a big ifluence . Having a good bass dousn’t mean there’s no high-frequency content.
These freq.'s can be of very low level, but they will change how you hear the dominant ones.
*
3 >
HARMONIC EVOLUTION in the Dominant wave. Pulse-with can be your friend here. But I would keep any modulatinon rather slow to keep TIGHT basses.
**
TYP : The CHORUS FX can be very usufull with basses BUT it can allso make them thinner. ( One way to avoid this is to keep it mono )
Experiment with EQ-settings and with-settins ( and all other parameters )
**
A bass will sound very different depending all the other sounds surrounding it .
**
Don’t forget the OVERDRIVE/DISTORTION on trhe filter-page
**
For TIGHTt and CONSEQUENT bBASSES it’s preferrable to sync the OSCILLATOR-START at the OSCC.-SYNC - page ( to avoid different begin-fases ). And ofcoarse SYNCING them in different ways wil give you differen harmonic content.
**
Basses in sequence change in caracter by changing the realease ENV - state.
*
!!! Try pitching ONE OR BOTH Oscillators an OCTAVE UP sometimes. Maybe this dousn’t sound logical but try
*
Enjoy
3 Likes
How setting the kit to unison and all 4 voices are used? That should create a really fat bass, especially since I think you can adjust the depth of the unison.
Any input on that method of creating fat bass?
1 Like
It should work, just gotta find that sweet spot of unison depth before it gets too phasey. Still helps to use the other tips in this thread like Osc retrigger, an envelope shape with a fast attack and filter 2 boosting the bass frequencies.
I’ve never tried UNISON-mode but I think it’s mutch more interesting to make a sequence on 1 track - copy this one to the other 3 tracks - and use the same sound with the same settings on eatch track.
- The big advantage of this is that you have total-control on all voices seperatlty - the will sound tyhe same as in unison at the beginning - but you can edit per track now - instead pof only being able to detune
1 Like
I’ve never tried UNISON-mode but I think it’s mutch more interesting to make a sequence on 1 track - copy this one to the other 3 tracks - and use the same sound with the same settings on eatch track.
- The big advantage of this is that you have total-control on all voices seperatlty - the will sound tyhe same as in unison at the beginning - but you can edit per track now - instead pof only being able to detune[/quote]
The “use track sounds” option does this. Or is it not available in unison mode?
Indeed - rather than using the unison detune and spread set them to zero and use the track sounds (same sound copied and adjusted per track). Do that rather than copying a sequenced part means you can ay all sounds from one keyboard track. I find unison can cause havoc in the subs sometimes so helps to have one track just triangle with filter and hping the others.
Thanks for the tip.
Highpass with high resonance and tracking on Filter two is just mad. I get a really nice low end with this!!!
Hello,
First image is a SE1 square wave
The second one is the same sound thru Analog four (I mean SE1 plugged into Analog four input, without any processing. Analog Four output plugged to the same soundcard).
Do you see that huge problem? There is a permanent hipass filter in that device. Sure there are possibilities to add artificially bass with hipass resonance filter, or with overdrive, but this is unusual. But original waveform is hardly recognizable. My other devices are way more transparent. For example Nord G2, MFC42…
Is my brand new unit broken? I don’t think, since so many user speak about bass problem in this synth. Will Analog four MK2 be far better? How can we be sure? Please Elektron, verify that before release!
Anyway, congratulation for other features 
3 Likes
Always a Hipass filter ?
WTF!!
Yeah I raised this issue in another thread recently, stating that the A4 needed a filter bypass, as I felt that the filter, even when fully open, was still ‘colouring’ the sound.
I was basically told I was crazy, but I’m used to that 
Man, create a ticket and send that thing to Elektron.
Good reminder. Maybe they can add it in future update.
I think DC offset is removed by Hipass filter on every device. It’s could be badly calibrated. Was it solved in Analog Keys? May someone make a try with let’s say any square wave low tuned thru an Analog Keys?
What were you’re exact filter settings for Filter 1 and Filter 2 ?
With default settings, the low pass Filter 1 frequency is not set to max (100/127), res is theoretically neutral at 25.
The multi pole Filter 2 is set to Hipass, frequency not set to min (0/20), and res to 20 (neutral?)
Edit : I suppose you used the Ext In setting, so my question can seem stupid. But it made me think that the hi pass behavior can be only on External Input or before the Fx part.
I would make the test with Fx off (Global > voice routing), and with individual inputs :
https://www.elektronauts.com/uploads/default/original/2X/1/12268d2ceec64f8edf0eb83689880d6166c4e888.jpg
1 Like
Tank you Sezare56 for pointing out my approximations!
First of all, I really didn’t know about theoretical neutral res position of A4. Where can I see documentation about that? I thought best position to be neutral il Filt1 at maximum frequency and minimum resonance. So my 1st test isn’t good. I made it again and again with your setting, with better results, but not perfect at all. Then I tried with those settings:
Filt1: Frq max, res 57
Filt2 as a LowPass 2 poles: freq max, res 0. That was the best matching result, sonically and visually (1st picture).
What do you mean by “I suppose you used the Ext In setting”? Is it a setting memory? I just received Analog4 and I didn’t see that in manual. But I understood a real test needs to bypass filters. So I used Fx Track and passed Se1 that way (because first test was made using Ext in as an oscillator). Results are way better (2nd picture), but not perfect in comparison with SE1 directly plugged in the soundcard (3rd picture). That pointed out one evidence : first terrible bass problem result is not due to for example an output HiPass DC offset, but it’s more like some said a filter problem.
It doesn’t seem easy to get a clean signal and then filter it?
I first made those tests because I was very disappointed of rough waveforms when comparing with other analog gear. My principal concern is to get nice Saw and Square without having to boost lo end with HiPass and res (I choose that machine to use both filter, not to compense problems with those filters).
Now, my goal is to achieve internal best Saw and Square, without loosing the filters. Every trick is welcome.
1 Like
elektron user Purushka mentioned a very cool filter technique using the resonance on the high-pass filter with the freq down low to open up a juicy bass sound … mentioned in relation to something else, but the technique he described is really useful, kind of abstract, almost counter-intuitive.
i don’t quite remember the instructions.
thought it might be useful for the A4
1 Like
[quote]FILTERS
4-POLE LADDER FILTER
There is no way to turn the ladder filter completely off, but turning up the cutoff frequency will pass all frequencies through. It should be noted that zero resonance does not give the flattest frequency response – instead it drops some decibels both in the treble and in the bass. The flattest response is reached when resonance is somewhere around 25, which is also the default value.
2-POLE MULTI MODE FILTER
There is no way to turn the multimode filter completely off, but if no filtering is desired there are a number of good ways to let all audio pass through unaffected by the filter:
HP2 at minimum frequency, no resonance.
BS at minimum frequency, no resonance.
LP2 at maximum frequency, no resonance.
PK at max frequency, no resonance.
PK at min frequency, no resonance. Note: this gives an inverted signal.[/quote]
There’s some more info on the multi mode on pg 64. Of the manual… 
3 Likes
Yes I saw his post and… I nearly bought A4 for that use. But it’s something that works way better on other gear… even with Reason Substractor. I mean it is more usable because A4 is a little bit unpredictable. When I usually do that, I first begin with a traditional Saw or Square and then, with HiPass, cut low end and boost what I want. With A4, Saw and Square are… a little weird. Square doesn’t seem to be so squary. Sure, SE1 or Moog square are also not as squary as let’s say the perfect Ableton Analog one, but here it is really weak as soon as HiPass is selected. So there isn’t an easy way to just boost or remove that frequency of a “common analog square”. That can either make beautiful sounds… but not those I expect.
I though one could use Analog 4 filter to sculpt traditional waves, but we have first to use both filters to build the waves.