Polivoks
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And CV ins too, which the mark ones don’t have (sadly).
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it’s a psychological thing for me 
instantly losing faith in the A4 after init – so for me it’s a thing / understandable!
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I don’t know. It’s surely a deep and powerful instrument. I got it a time ago from a fellow elektronaut, and I’m still struggling with it.
Maybe it’s because I lack the experience: the A4 was my first analog synth. I don’t doubt it’s a great synth, and I don’t mind (and like) to put the time and effort in it, but it’d be nice to have some in-depth tutorials/manuals.
The official manual is fine, but it’s extremely descriptive, so it’s difficult to know how to use each parameter in a musical way if you don’t have the experience. I know there are plenty of tips in this forum, but I couldn’t find some materials/course I could follow to easy my path with the A4.
I don’t want to sell it either: in due time I’m sure I’ll be happy with it, but the time hasn’t arrived yet.
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Yeah it’s not that beginner friendly. Why don’t you buy a cheap monosynth like a microbrute to learn synthesis with, then go back to the A4?
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it’s pretty tough for me to get a nice sound from init … and also tough to make an awesome preset “better” / the way I want. So I can confirm … it’s a hell of a synth no idea how people make great patches!
Then I remember to use unison / layering – and I see again how awesome this synth is
No holy grails around here, just wondering if “Isn’t the Analog Four the most incredible and deep instrument from Elektron so far?”
On the other hand, are you actually making any music just with “initial patch” sounds from any other synth, and no other tweaking, design, nor programming? 
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I guess it really differs with regards to your previous experience.
I tried an OT first and never got the hang of it. When i got the A4, though it is deep and flexible, it was quite easy to wrap my head around how it works… That said having a fair idea of how substractive synths work likely helps.
Actually i see the quality of the A4 being its sandbox character. It may be flexible but there are limits. Working in VCV rack or DAW systems you are lured into adding more modules, synths tracks etc… the A4 has a fixed (but flexible) set, and is expandable if needed. Yup yup i’m a A4 fanboy
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I got a typhon just to do this. Far less powerful, but far easier to use. And I like its sound.
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Did you check the free guide to sound synthesis by sound on sound? It is a pretty complete one.
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Typhon is a super synth with instant gratification from second one, and without any menu diving involve. Also its FX are reaaaaaally nice. Both pair really nice together but is a case of one knob per control, complete opposite to A4 if you ask me, and also much more limited from synthesis and sound design options. ( I also got a Typhon last December).
I read about it in this post some days ago. I’m going to look for it now, it seems like a good way to spend this Sunday evening 
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Let’s try not to derail the thread with semantics and other silliness. Keep it constructive and civil, no need to repeat the same point.
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Definitely reading about subtractive synthesis will help - the sound on sound articles are great. Also look up the Roland Gold manual, arp2600, Allen Strange book etc
I found the A4 synthesis parameters and programming really straight forward (but the Elektron file system/project structure is really really confusing to start with!)
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And when you’ve read the manual, read it again. And again. I knew I had leveled up when it had been a month since I looked at it. Took probably a year or so. But you have to make songs all the while, so it penetrates. And you don’t need to do the fancy stuff to make good tunes with it. So get solid at some level, then plunge in to some deeper feature and work with just that. Eventually you’ll make it through the whole beast. But reading the manual is the place to start because you’ll know all the crazy things it can do.
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The Analog Four is the most awesome Drum Maschine From Elektron so far !
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I’m glad this thread exists simply for the fact that it’s reminding me how dope the A4 really is. I haven’t used it much lately because I just tend to reach for synths like the Moog grandmother and DSI Pro 2 and Korg minilouge XD when I want some analog stuff, I forget how good the A4 actually is, I used it heavily when I first got it on release, I’ve loved it since day one and it’s only gotten better. I’m going to fire mine up tomorrow to make some patches and mess around.
Biggest things I’d like to do with it now besides make good sounds is: 1. Get into using it as a sequencer for my modular, I’ve done some basic pitch to CV 16 step sequences with it but haven’t gotten into using it for anything more interesting than that and considering that I don’t have a dedicated sequencer module I’d like the A4 to fill that role.
And 2. Figure out how to make good drum sounds with it. I’ve heard some good sample backs a couple of YouTube demos of people making drum sounds that are actually good with it. So im putting those into my todo list for when I get into the studio tomorrow 
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I liked the A4 so much that I upgraded to an mk2. IME it takes a lot of effort to get the most out of it. What bothers me about the init sound isn’t that it’s thin and weak (which it is), but that it takes a lot of page switching and tweaking to get to the good sounds. Want to make a bass sound? I always do the following steps before I start with the actual sound designing part:
- set f2 to hp
- filter tracking to 32
- cutoff to 31, res to 20
- osc1 tune to -24
- osc2 tune to -12
(this boosts the low end and makes sure the boost is consistent across octaves)
Want to make a poly pad? I always do this before doing sound design:
- Set lfo2 to random shape
- lfo2 type to hold
- dest1 to pitch with depth at around 0.1
- dest2 to pan
- oscx vibrato to slow speed and low depth
(this adds slight detune and width for each voice)
If I want to use the filter envelope depth on a sound with a long release, I have to adjust both amp and filter envelopes. To do this you have to flip between 3 pages (amp page, env page, flt page to set the envelope depth).
So while the init sound isn’t the most inspiring starting point, it is definitely the most neutral starting point. That said, I combined the settings mentioned above into a sound called “init” that I saved to slot 1. Loading up that sound takes me closer to where I want to be when I make patches from scratch.
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Yeah, this is why I sold my A4. It just took too much jumping between pages to program sounds. Not fluid or intuitive, although I guess with enough work you would have got used to it. Still, I wasn’t having fun programming it even if the results were often great. But now that I’ve been getting more deeply into the OT, maybe A4 wouldn’t be that bad…
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I’m sure that if I had jumped on the Eurorack train earlier when I had the A4, I would have kept it for CV sequencing alone and feeding good soundsources into its ext in.
But the MPC One does the job as well (if not better).
Still a good piece of kit when you snag a MK1 for a good price.
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