The sound of the A4/AK... like or dislike?

Yeah. All things considered its a massively versatile, unique synth. Warts and all.

Might be… it’s still hard work creating super powerful sounds. Not gonna judge. A4 is brilliant in many ways. The implemenation is what can be critized imho. Give it a bit of Digitone UI/UX and it would rock away 90% of the analogs on the market.

The DN has 90% of the A4 UI…

Look at the voice allocation UI … super complicated / unintuitive in the A4.

You think? I had formerly a Vermona PerFourMer, which voice allocation works similar, maybe that’s why I find it quite easy to use. Matriarch on the contrary voice allocation is a PITA to setup.

My music journey started with the Digitone …kind of… that’s why I am a bit biased, I guess… I also created a thread (if you can remember … you tried to help there https://www.elektronauts.com/t/digitone-layers-workflow-in-a4-possible-with-kits-voices-only) because I found it so confusing. DN rocks in terms of usability. A4 lacks … because it comes from a different background (imho).

The confusion might come from the added kit management. But I have to agree, DN/DT are well streamlined regarding their UI. Some of that found it’s way into the former machines though.

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besides the little keyboard on the A4. So much nicer to put in notes when sequencer and keyboard are separated.
On the DN I play everything real time, cause putting notes feels tedious to me

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I have an A4 mk2 and a moog matriarch.
Moog is Nice, but i am not successful implementing its sound in my music
A4 feels shy, a little thin, not as alive when just playing some notes but the sound easilly fits in a song, and the sequencer can make my Sound inspiring

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That’s why I ordered immediately a DNK, when it got released…the Fatar Keybed is super!

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yes, I often think about replacing the DN and my komplete kontrol keyboard with a DNK as main keyboard

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I am thinking about this as well… but it’s soooo huuuuuuge - and then I think about that Earth Wind and Fire Song: September. Hint: Osmose :sweat_smile:

my komplete kontrol is bigger. It’s my only keyboard, so I would definitely sell it if I would go for the DNK. Not enough space for a keyboard collection :slightly_smiling_face:

You need a bigger apartment… :crazy_face:

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Analog Keys is the perfect formfactor for a compact synth with keybed. Not sure I agree with everyone commenting that the angle makes the screen hard to see. My current setup (on my table) is AKeys, Digitone and Octatrack.

I also find the interface on AKeys much better than digitone. Too many abstract icons on the digitone, and second (2/2) pages with very important sound designs settings “hidden” - for example the amp second page with effects send. Also, AKeys used the same kind of amici a has Octatrack and Rytm, ux-wise digitone is the odd one out in my setup.

But ofc. all a matter of personal opinion.

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I 3D printed a stand for all of my Elektron boxes, no problemo. They’re also very cheap if you don’t have a 3D printer.

I have an A4mk2 and recently got a Moog Matriarch, but I haven’t used them together yet.

I know people approach sounds/sound design differently, but personally the last thing I want are sounds that instantly sound huge/big, to me that’s a negative… those types of sounds take up a lot of space in a mix and do not stack well against other sounds. I find the A4 is really versatile for this reason, it’s a subtractive synth (or 4 of them) that usually require you to ADD to the sound, and they sit in mixes really well.

The Matriarch is a different beast altogether, but still requires work like the A4 (post fx/shaping, etc).

I liken them to guitars- we don’t say a Fender Telecaster is thin/weak, or a Gibson Les Paul, but have you ever heard them plugged directly into a mixing desk? They sound bland/thin… I think of good synths in the same way, the sound of them is the basis of your overall sound, they’re not often THE sound… that’s what’s cool about them, and the A4 fits into that category to me.

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Is your screen still ok? Mine got worse over time :disappointed:

I’ve only had my A4 MKII for a short while but I’m really happy with it so far.

I’d read all the comments about it sounding a bit thin or boring compared to X brand synth, so I was a little worried that I wouldn’t love it.

But to me it sounds really excellent right out of the box, even many of the presets sound great to me. The only other synth I have to compare it to is the OB6 and while that has the edge in the raw sound department, the A4 has so many other features that make up for it.

I’m not very tech savvy (just read my other thread) but I found the A4 to be pretty easy to get going with. The arpeggiator is excellent and just what I wanted.

I am currently running the A4 into my OTO BIM and BAM and it sounds absolutely huge.

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I can’t seem to find these anywhere. Would you happen to have a link to these?