A4MKII Vs KORG XD TALK ME OUT OF IT

Dude you can’t come on Elektronauts and hope that people will talk you out of buying Elektron gear, it’s just never gonna happen. Though I suspect you knew that when you posted :joy:

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Should i change the title of the thread?

im thinking…

I need an excuse, outside of “i want it”, please someone encourage me just a little…so i buy cool stuff…?

No seriously, i value the opinions of everyone in this forum and there is allot of users of each of the two bits of kit here, and im looking for input. Because its a lot of coin to me! and it makes me nervous spending it…

The click-bait title is an opportunity for anyone to say anything that might sway my decision in a direction. However i know there will be bias…thats why i want to give others the chance to “talk me out of it”…
Any “Hater” thats gotta “Hate” couldn’t resist spilling the beans on why they dont think i should do it. But nothing so far…just a resounding DO IT…

Not that impulsive though…

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Should we be sorry about this? No ranting - no trolling - I would say, great :smiley:

If you ask whether to take this or that beautiful girl (or boy … just to stay correct), well, don’t be surprised, if you get a “take them both” :smiley:

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But the A4’s sequencer cannot be used for MIDI sequencing. CV sequencing only. Elektron wants you to buy another box of theirs if you want MIDI sequencing - yeah, some peeps don’t like that but it is what it is.

The XD’s with its 16 steps is admittedly pretty limited.

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get the Elektron if you’d like to create sequences
get the Korg if you want a playable synth

elektron is not as playable as the korg and korg can’t touch elektron’s sequencing

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The Sound should be Most Important and be the final Argument for your decision.
I find the Korg XD Sound rather on the harsh Side, when the fx are Off.
The A4 has a very distinct warmer Sound, that might Not be as brilliant and shiny shimmery but more earthy.

Listen to These Demos.
At 1.00 min there is this Pad Sound with vocalish Part that Shows the XD Basic coldish shimmery harsh character Sound quite well:

A4’s earthy warm organic Sound:

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Digitone and XD!

Now thats a great sided by side. Worlds apart…!

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Thanks bradleyallen, Sequencing capabilities can be learned over time. Or bought…:rofl:

The fundamental sound of a synths charater however cant be changed without a massive o.s. overhaul our parts overhaul…its character is imprinted on everthing you do. It might be best to make sure you get along with the core character / sound…? Ive spent good money on fx and outboard filters trying to make bad synths sound good…when the problem is that they are garbage at the level of oscillator. The above videos have convinced me that the A4 sounds better…but what interested me with the xd was that blending in off the digital osc, the A4 oscs seem more vanilla in the surface but i watched the cuckoo video where he was demonstrating AM capabilities and i realised my lack of imagination might be the reason the A4 seems vanilla on paper. The A4 just sounds better in videos, the xd has a hissy spitty toppology…

Maybe you should check out the SonicState and Sweetwater (Daniel Fisher) demos for yourself.

Though if we’re speaking of purely analog synths, I prefer the Dreadbox Abyss.

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If we say both equally then i agree. :blush:

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A4 MK1 + 2 has DCO’s not VCO’s

Yes … you are right … I have edited my post accordingly, thanks to point this out :+1:

The coolest thing about the Minilogue xd is the ability to load user oscillators and effects. Yesterday I loaded a formant filter into one of my delay effect slots and it’s just fab and I expect more fun stuff to come. I’ve already filled a lot of oscillator slots with algorithms taken from Plaits and they really lift the synth into a new territory. Once Korg fix a clicking problem I’ve identified it’ll be fab; the only drawback I can see is the linear decay which can’t match the versatility of all the A4 envelope curves. Not seen any reviewer express any interest in this so far though. Korg’s sequencer is good if you’re recording four lanes of knob tweaks or simple acid patterns - but I sequence mine from an Octatrack (as indeed I sequence my A4 and Digitone). You should probably play one and then decide…
(Another thing to consider is whether you really enjoy playing any synth with encoders rather than knobs.)

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The A4 is great for all kinds of Sounds.

Sound Design Tips from the fabulous loopop:

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It all depends ob whats already in your Studio. Mr. Toe (scnr) already owns a Braids, so adding an XD makes less sense because to me it seems more of the same, since He could integrate the A4 with the Braids very easily and come into similar Sound territories as the XD.

Carl Mikael has a good Video about this:

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Um…it really shouldnt be based on whats already in my studio…or this descision will look rather like a first world problem on crack.

ACCESS VIRUS TI SNOW
WALDORF BLOFELD
MOOG SUB PHATTY
MOOG SUB 37
MOOG DFAM
AKAI AX73
ELEKTRON DIGITAKT
ELEKTRON ARMKII
YAMAHA N12 FIREWIRE MIXER
YAMAHA TX81Z
EMU XL1
ROLAND JV1080
ARTURIA BSP
ARTURIA MICROBRUTE
PITSBURGH SYSTEM 90 MODULAR
ADDITIONAL 90 HP MODULAR EURO
DINKIS TAIKO
BRAIDS
WARPS
EXPERT SLEEPERS FH1
ROLAND BITRAIZER
ROLAND DEMORA
ROLAND TORCIDO
ALESIS 3630 X 2
LEXICON MX200
STRYMON BIGSKY
TC HALL OF FAME 2
ELECTRIX FILTER FACTORY
AKAI MFC42 FILTER
AKAI XR20 DRUM MACHINE
KORG KAOSS PAD 3
UC33 MIDI CONTROLLER
VOLCA FM
VOLCA KEYS
VOLCA BASS

hahahaha
More synths…

Need an analogue poly other than the limited ax73 and volca keys…

:zipper_mouth_face:

You really dont need both. Or you sell half the Synths you have.

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Now it’s clear ‘need’ has nothing to do with it! Both it is. A4mk2 now. XD later.

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