it means that it’s so tweakable that you can easily just push the different parameters too far and end up with something pretty underwhelming. The base sound is painfully neutral, most likely because it’s so tweakable. All of the modulation options are great, but unless you know exactly what they do, you (or I) easily end up overwhelmed by all the different options and lack the understanding of synthesis to actually know how they affect the sound. Compared to like a classic Minimoog that sounds good no matter what you do, it’s a real puzzle.
I only used presets, but the drum sounds I got out of it were really great. Sound design, well read above, it’s incredibly deep but also obtuse and complex. Techno gig in a box means it has those sweet performance macros.
I bought my A4 used from a guy who’d bought it as his first foray into hardware.
He told me it was just too overwhelming for him for where he was up to personally.
He had kindly printed off the full manual and gave it to me with the A4.
When I was flicking through the manual, I found a whole series of notes he’d written in pencil next to certain sections.
As I was reading his notes it was easy to see his growing level of confusion…to the point I felt he’d really over complicated things tbh.
a4 as first hardware synth, as everyone else has already said, is a difficult choice. it seems like a polarizing topic, at least. i was in a similar position last year after diving into the digitakt and elektron workflow. it all just clicked. the controls made sense, the workflow was manageable, and i was able to make some pleasing patterns pretty quickly. when a used a4 mkI came up for sale locally through a friend of a friend, i jumped on it before even really anticipating what it meant. it was also a bit of miscommunication, in that it was advertised as a mkII but was a mkI for a good price. the a4 made immediate sense to me as a standalone groove box, which reminded me of my old mc303, but more capable in many ways. i still tend to use the a4 standalone. the process of saving and organizing is annoying and, for me usually, error prone. sound design potential is definitely high. it’s not an “easy” box to master, as everyone has said. still, it is a very deep box that i won’t part with any time soon. if i were doing it again, i’d probably choose a hardware synth without a sequencer or other groove box features — something dedicated to just producing sounds sequenced elsewhere, like the peak, micromonsta, or any of the sequential/dsi stuff people have mentioned. it really depends on how you want to make music and what works for you.
yeah this is the great but terrible thing about the A4. it’s very tweakable so it can sound great, but it really takes some thought and work to get there. if your synth experience is limited, you will likely craft pretty underwhelming sounds from it. versus, like you said, a Minimoog. or a Juno 106. these synths almost always sound great, they’re easy to understand, and every control is right in front of you.
this discussion reminds me that my first true synth experience was with a Nord Lead 2. excellent first synth. the manual explained what I couldn’t figure out from just turning the knobs, which was very little. and with it being four-part multitimbral, sequencing it with my Boss DR-5 meant I could get a whole lot of sounds going with a very simple setup. but eventually I had to give it back to the friend who’d lent it to me. I then went a different Swedish direction and bought a Sidstation. talk about night and day difference programming. anyone that thinks the A4/OT menus are rough should give the Sidstation a whirl.
The A4 sounded ok to me but I hated using encoders so I sold it. I need pots on synths, I bought a Microbrute, simple synth , one knob per function, lovely filter, loved the sound, eventually sold it but I want another. Interface and sound are number one priorities for me and I’m not bothered about presets. If it was me I would go for something like the Moog Grandmother, one knob per function and classic vintage anologue sound.
Just buy an A4 mk1 used cheap, scratch the itch. It’s my favourite elektron and in my humble opinion the easiest to use. Sorry to swim in the opposite direction to everyone else!
I bought a Bass Station and Analog Keys simultaneously as my first synths. I had no idea what to do with the keys. I sold it and bought a Rev 2 which I still have and love. I purchased an A4 mki a few months ago and have been enjoying it so much I just upgraded to a mkii. It is a tough first synth but rewarding if you stick with it for a long period of time. The voice count can be a bit tough for drones and soundscapes but it is doable especially with other gear.
I disagree that the A4 is difficult to use to get cool and really useful sounds. The base (initialized) sound of any analog subtractive synth is usually going to sound neutral if you have just the oscillators and nothing applied to them. This is almost certainly true of every synth noted in this thread (I added the word “almost” because I haven’t used several of them). The same is true of most VST plugins, including Omnisphere.
In my opinion (so far), the A4’s “difficulty” is due to the complexity and versatility of performance parameters, including the sequencer and how the voices are arranged on tracks, with configurable voice mapping (which is so cool, but a bit strange).
If you were just going to use the A4 as a four voice analog synth, it would be easy to get to good sounds. the buttons clearly label oscillators, amp (with effects), envelopes and LFOS. I actually think this part of using the A4 is easier than either the monologue or the Mother 32. Since the OP is familiar with Omnisphere, none of this will be new to them. It is only when you want to use the “groovebox” capacity of the A4 that things become strange and somewhat difficult.
Nearly all of the synths (maybe all) that have been recommended each have their own sequencers. Among all of my hardware, the A4 has the most attractive feature set and capability when it comes to the sequencer, which is why I bought it (I didn’t need another analog synth, but I do love that about the A4 as well). So, one thing to consider is, do you want something that will grow with you? The Minilogue is super cool, fast access, but it is pretty limited in terms of what you can do with it. I use it in conjunction with several other hardware boxes to build up deep and animated sounds, hardly ever using it alone–its just too limited for what I like.
