You mentioned that the A4 is less hands on and menu driven. But what I’m finding is that if I set the oscs, filters etc in a nice sounding but kind of middle ground setting I can then set up the performance mode to then modulate the sound just using one knob if I prefer or the ten knobs.
Makes the most of the digital control, and very hands on and no menus once set up. All with the safety of returning to the original sound. Not sure you can do that with the Korgs. Also for me one box is better than two.
Between your two options it’s easy - OT and A4. the price for second hand A4’s in the UK is simply ridiculous right now and I presume that’s similar across the globe. As cheap as £450 boxed and in near new condition? Crazy!
I’ve owned all of the A4 variants and, to my ears at least, the difference in sound across the lot of them is minuscule. The jump in price from the Mk1 to Mk2 is just not worth it at all in my books. Same goes from an in use perspective. I didn’t feel like it was an upgrade like I did moving from OT mk1 to mk2 - now that was worth it.
But, like @PekeDorty points out, Diva and Pigments (as well as Repro) really do run rings round the A4’s core sound. I do like the delay/reverb on the A4 though.
My take, stick with the OT only, maybe buy Diva/Repro on sale and sample/sequence the shit out of that. Force some limitations on it and you’ll be in the right ball park. For a while, I ran an Ableton template with 4 Repro 1 instances sequenced by the OT. Wasn’t a million miles away from what I was doing with the A4 to be honest. But to completely contradict that, if you can get a Mk1 dirt cheap then don’t turn your nose up to it. It’s a great wee box to just sit down and play with. Instant fun with it.
I guess the A4 is not my taste then I have so many Preset Packs also bought / installed and some sound pretty okay … Diva blew me away within the first seconds - sounds even more ANALOG™️
But I’ll wait with selling and see what the hopefully huge FW update any time soon (?!) will bring. The Digitone has imho also very ANALOG™️ like sounds.
My short answer to just reading the OP is: my experience with the A4 was that I just wanted a simple poly analog synth and that isn’t what the A4 is or really wants to be (imo).
So if you are just looking for a simple poly analog then yea, you are paying a lot of money for stuff you might not use.
Good point, the performance macros can be the most used knobs. I haven’t dug into that much yet.
@J0n35y I really am not too fond of VST use, when I start making music. Also I need something to enter chords with into the sequencer of my OT. Which is one reason I am leaning towards the minilogue, just enough of a keybed to get the job done for me.
@jemmons I see your point, but just to play devil’s advocate, isn’t MIDI CC with the Octatrack sequencer quite simple, as it has a learn function? So with the minilogues knob-per-function layout I just have to turn on MIDI learn, wiggle a knob, and I can start p-locking.
@InTheAM Yes, I am kind of looking for a middle ground here…but again, shouldn’t that be possible with the OT’s midi learn? But yes sometimes just playing a few chords on a keyboard can be very inspiring in itself.
Any interesting videos out there, where people use the OT + any analog synth as a simplified A4?Or just some interesting use of MIDI CC p-locks?
Yea, absolutely, you are getting that Elektron sequencer with OT if you want to go that route you can always sequence or sample the other synth with the OT.
I’m not sure what you are getting at with the bit out the OT’s MIDI learn : )
Controlling multiple parts of a multitimbral synth seems to be one of the core use cases for the OT. I found it very easy to setup with the Virus, which allows for CC control of most of what you’d want to control.
If you want an OT-driven franken-A4, then the thing to do is collect manuals of all the analog or analog-ish synths that interest you. Then look at what they expose via CC, usually listed at the back of the manual. Then decide whether this strategy will give you the degree of control over sequenced sound design that you want or need.
The DSI Evolver would work, as would the Tetra and Mopho. But their modulation options are limited compared to Blofeld or the Virus. But then the selling point of Dave’s synths was that they were analog.
If you can find one, a Korg MS2000r could be an interesting option. You can think of it as a sort of digital, two part proto-A4. You even get step and analog sequencers, but you can target fewer things with those than with plocks. Reverb prices are low, so MS2ks could be a decent investment too.
I have so many Preset Packs also bought / installed and some sound pretty okay … Diva blew me away within the first seconds - sounds even more ANALOG™️