Until I read somewhere about the osc levels I used to have them around 100 and was frustrated with the sound being kinda bloated. Having them around 50-70 makes a big difference and also makes the filter distortion more usable.
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Ok now something strange: I just played this back through my phone and yes I can year a significant difference too. Also on shitty apple ear buds. On my studio cans though (Shure Sh840) the difference is almost inaudible.
Should I start mixing on Apple buds now? 
probably not. But no joke, I check my mixes very often on these while having a walk, they somehow sound quite transparent to me.
maybe you have bass problems in your room.
But strange that you think you can hear in on other synths then
thanks! prob mostly on purpose.
And there’s def a reason I reached for the p6 when I heard that part.
I do have bass problems in my room (who doesnt lol?). Though the KH120 + ARC 2 made that a lot better.
I monitored this little experiment through headphones though, decent ones if I might add.
I believe its the A4s muddy low frequencies masking the upper harmonics. Phone speakers simply don‘t play those back.
I‘ll give it another shot through the monitors tmr.
Sure thing man. Here a few posts I’ve made on that topic, maybe some of it will be of use to you.
The tips across all of these posts are basically the same. Have a look.
I’d add to them that the DCOs are quite stable (a little too stable), so you can use the LFOs to introduce movement to the OSC (eg send the tiniest bit of modulation to the OSC freq, or to PWM or Amplitude Modulation). Also, where Moogs or DSI synths have a sound and no matter what you do, you get a variation of that sound, with the A4 you really have to “sculpt” the sound…so the envelopes are quite important as well to get a nice sound, more so than on other synths I find. The A4’s envelopes are super flexible, much more so than on your average analog subtractive synth. Using the LFOs to gently introduce some movement onto the filters is also a way to make the A4 come to life. There’s a setting in the menus where you can turn down the resonance peaks of filter 1 by turning that option off (I believe). I keep that off most of the time and send a little bit of LFO modulation to FilterFreq1 or FilterRes1…also nice: peak filter on filter 2 and use the LFO to introduce a subtle filter sweep, it can really fatten up the sound.
In general you want to turn the dials much more carefully and slower than on your average analog subtractive synth. Somehow the A4 has entire worlds hidden in the spaces between its more extreme settings. Sometimes it can be overwhelming even. This is also true for its effects, in particular the overdrive…to me it seems that subtly different amounts of overdrive make the synths and its parts respond in quite different (sometimes unpredictable) ways.
Lastly, the effects on the A4 are very good for onboard effects. But you have to tweak them a bit to make them add something special. This is really a question of taste, personally I love my A4 for pads and atmospheric chords, so I like to set up long reverb tails and run a little bit of the delay through the reverb as well.
This is also a good thread with lots of good tips from this community, I drew a lot from it:
Hope some of this will help you connect with your A4 more/better, if you have specific questions re sound design on the A4, feel free to ask.
PS: Personally, I found the A4’s presets entirely uninspiring and at times even poor. Just mentioning that in case you’ve been primarily messing with the presets. The A4 wants to be engaged with more intimately 
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I have an A4 mk2, upgraded from mk1
Also i have a Moog matriarch
Maybe moog sounds better in many ways
Especially when i listen back my recording or sample
There is so much fantastic on this sound.
But, with my A4, i can make 2 channels with percussion
One with bass and one with lead or pad.
The sequencer makes it easy to ‘record, knob movements
The macros make extra movement in sound manageble
And the possibility to turn all, and no+kit= reset kit to saved settings
Makes it comfortable to tweak and then go back to where you were.
A4 is not about sound only
It is about movement
Music is not about sound only, it is also about movement
And for me, there is no better synth / groovebox to make a song with, than the A4.
I slowly learn my moog
No menudiving helps a lot
I learn about sound design
It is more pleasant to learn with moog than with A4
I advised an a4 to a friend of mine
Hé didn,t learn enough and when someone doesn’t understand movement
The A4 sounds so boring.
i think this year i will buy his a4 to use 2 A4’s and a mixer to do a live shows
Edit: i use my A4 with a heat (saturation) on the master
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Oh yeah, I noticed that I couldn’t hear much of a difference when playing legato as well. Wonder if some sort of note slide is coming into play.
I guess keeping or discarding the A4 does boil down to a few different factors; space, needs, genre, workflow, how much you like the sound etc. I love the groove box workflow and for me Elektron represents the pinnacle of that game. Like many others, I was really dissatisfied with the A4 sound and then one day it just clicked. A lot of people have sold and never looked back too…
I can definitely hear a difference on laptop speakers even. It’s subtle, but its there. Perhaps link up a tuner or spectrometer to have a visual aid.
Me too
What’s the Elektron One?
Ah, cool wasn’t aware of this one
You can hear a difference but can you hear the actual pitch? Linking it to a tuner would entirely defeat the purpose of this experiment.
OK some of those I’ve already tried but some are new.
Thanks for that! Great effort!
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Exactly this! The sense of movment coupled with a nice sequencer and good control of nuance is lovely on the A4.
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I don’t have perfect pitch recognition, but I can tell there is a minor 2nd between the tone notes you recorded. I suggested the tuner because I might have misunderstood your question. Anyways, good luck.
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So figured I’d give an example of the a4 being used for main melody, wide bass, and some slight lead. Digitone for drums and glitchy arps around 4:30.
Enjoy it if you can 
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I haven’t really seen much talk about using the a4 for full song arrangements and I want to add I quite like using the limits of the four voices to come up with some structures. i typically limit myself to having dedicated drum and bass tracks on tracks 3 & 4 respectively. I use tracks 1 & 2 for chords and melodies or additional percussion sounds when i need it. I can usually get interesting drums out of one track by applying delay sends p-locks to hi-hat sound locks to simulate overlapping drum sounds. You can also use the FX track p-locks or LFOs to vary the delay and reverb sounds for some evolving variations on the drum patterns. Think like Atoms for Peace, Kelly Lee Owens, etc. etc. type music. Does anyone else use the A4 like this?
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