Gate length. Gives you a bit more extremes and fine tuning for ultra short vs ultra long when combined with the note length parameter on the note page (also p-lockable)
Certainly a “nitty-gritty” parameter. Congrats on reaching that level! 
Getting closer to the final boss!
It’s to get fixed envelopes, in opposition to note length for default one. Which explains why you switch from a long envelope to a short one.
You can get super snappy envelopes with this !
I’m back a week later to report my A4 studies are going reasonably well. It’s a very humbling instrument, trying to build a song completely from scratch. The sounds coming out of it now are unlike what I’d typically do with a group of machines. Slower and more contemplative, much like my relationship with it currently.
Oh okay. That makes sense. Thanks!
and also A4 mk1 is also one of the best step sequencers to sequence my 2600 B
Can’t stress this enough. Think: Claps!
Anyone have advice for getting good hollow sounds on a4, for some reason these have eluded me. I did finally make a nice hollow bass by turning oscillators off and just using the sub oscillators, but it seems like I should be able to get some nice hollow sounds out of the main osc. Do I need to be slower and more deliberate in my tweaking of pulse width maybe, idk some bread and butter stuff is really easy for me on this synth but other stuff really doesn’t come natural for me.
Awesome sounds
Thanks! Will give that a try.
I don’t know if they’re perfect squares or not but the sub osc has a nice hollow sound to my ears, so what I ended up doing was setting osc 1 to square turning on sub and slowly moving the pulsewidth until they sounded in sync, then mimicked this on osc 2, got something close to what I was after that way. Needs more tweaking but seems to be a good place to start.
Blockquote
it can also be used to loop the envelopes in a mathematical way obviously calculated within the pattern length.
short values will then recycle before it hits the next trig
…I guess that would be another option to more highlight something like this in a future update / a graphical representation of the function not just the value of the knob. think about it 
My mk1 just keeps on surprising me - just when I think I’ve hit a brick wall the box gives up a perfect percussion sound or floating pad or warming bass - c’est parfait
Yeah its surprisingly deep
And not as much hardwork as the MnM but equally as rewarding due to soundlocking
Techno whizzkid Blush response is about to drop a vid with one.
Mine is mint .
Will wait for the price hiking and sell on.
And the presets. This machine really wants to teach me the value of presets.
The A4 excels in drums IMO. If you took away the Elektron sequencer, i don’t think many people would buy it as a synth because of its sound. I know, it’s “deep” and you can get awesome sounds if you spend 30 minutes programming it, but even then it lacks compared to most monos out there. I find it funny seeing these youtube videos, “how to program a good bassline on A4”, and the video is 35 minutes long. like really? The Pro 3 will create a usable bassline just by looking at it, it sounds good all around AND it is a VERY DEEP machine with lots of features. I get that the A4 is deep and has lots of options, that’s great. What I don’t get is why Elektron couldn’t make their flagship synth sound better. why don’t they care? Dave Smith cared, and he delivered. He makes good-sounding synths that cover bread-and-butter sounds but can also go as weird and crazy as you want. I don’t expect nor do i want the A4 to be a moog, or a DSI, but would love it if it sounded as good as one and gave me that smile when I hit a raw oscillator on it instead of the scratch my-head, is that all you got look i give it when i turn it on and hit a note. I have owned it three times now. And i am at the point where i am probably going to sell it again. as good as it is with drums, that’s not enough for me and i don’t need a 4 voice drum synth.
I think Elektron makes amazing samplers. But none of their synths do it for me.
I will say, that the deep bass thread on this forum, the user Area303 gives instructions (below) on how to make nice bass with it and for sure without a doubt that is a nice, smooth sounding bass patch
My $0.02
Edit: and all this talk here saying the init sound doesnt need/shouldnt sound good is a bunch of rubbish, yes, it for sure should because that is the base of any sound you are going to make. There’s a saying, “you cant polish a turd” which comes to mind. I would love it if the first thing i hear when I turn it on and play it sounded good. Why not? other “deep” synths do.
It was my first real synth after getting a Moog Sub 37 and still great instrument. I like that I can play an entire set just with the mighty A4 by itself.
I upgraded to the A4 from the Volca Keys and Bass, and that was a hell of a jump. I was blown away.
My relationship with it has changed some since then, and I do have second thoughts about it sometimes. I’m now on week three of my mission to lay the foundation of all new tracks with it, and it always feels like time well spent. Yes, it takes a lot of time, but I’m just doing this for fun outside of work, so it’s a nice little journey usually. And spending time with the sequencer usually rewards well.
This sounds very much like the assessment I made after the first year with the a4.
Today it’s my favorite and best sounding groovebox and I also believe it could not deliver the sound pallete it does if it was a very different design (e.g. fat raw osc sound right after the init. like my MFB Dominion).
It makes it super easy to sequence sounds that work great together even without additional EQing. You get those well balanced grooves out of it. I appreciate the sound characteristics much more with this in mind.
But I struggle with it when I use it in conjunction with more than one other sequencer/synth as I loose focus and joy to program the a4 sequences properly.
I stayed up till 4:30 am with it and came to the conclusion that i need to drop my expectations for what I wish it did better and embrace what it does now and it does that really well. One function i never used on it that I use on Elektron samplers is p-locking bouquets of sounds on a single track so I loaded a bunch of percussion sounds and then loaded a bunch of random presets and did that with a few tracks and came up with some really useable and funky sequences. I agree the sounds mesh together nicely and the A4 does sit nicely in mixes. Everything sat really nicely together.
I try to keep my setup as minimal as possible. Too much for me is a distraction, I want the fewest amount of machines possible, a synth, a sampler, a turntable, and of course an Analog Heat. I was hoping the A4 could get me where i wanted to go with certain sounds but adding an extra mono to my setup to fill that void won’t ruin me. And definitely don’t want to sell it a third time because i came back to it for a reason. Going to keep her. I really enjoyed the sound of the Erica Synths DB-01 when i had it, not the aggressive side of it but it does smooth and funky really nice so when funds permit it will join the A4.
