Hmm, I’ve heard plenty of bassy dub techno demos of the A4.
I’ll try it myself today! The mailman already tried to bring my brand new A4 but I unfortunately wasn’t home.
Well, I have made at least one track on the A4 that is similar to what I want to achieve.
http://soundcloud.com/jgb/utkorning-via-lantbrevbarare-bokad (pure A4)
When I tried to get the same bassline as in the following track on the A4, it just failed on the really low notes.
http://soundcloud.com/jgb/bredsladda-sig-igenom-almungerondellen
The key to deep bass on the A4 is to use the filter feedback ocs type combined with both filters and no resonance and no drive. Find the sweet spot, it’s there.
is the delay overdive analog?
nope !
Now…a year later…and one at least major OS update later, that also improved the soundquality (to my ears subjectively)…what are you guys thinking about the sound of the Analog Four?
The different waveforms on different pitch, seemed to be sorted out by the last update, didn´t it?
sounds great
.
very easy to get it to sit in a mix with multiple sounds
.
or use the unison to run some single sound beef
but fiddly to operate, small screen, awkward mod dest selection,
plus a few other annoyances.
still feel I’ve got a lot mpre time before I find my sig sound in it
Interesting. I was trying understand the reasons behind the sound of the A4…because I didn’t really understand it. OS 1.1 made some improvements to overall sound, but after comparing the A4 and AK side by side, I upgraded to the AK. I found the minor tweaks they made to the filters and bottom end we’re noticeable enough.
A4 sounds hard and retro but also kind of futuristic. Like a lost planet of monsters from the 80’s all growling at each other in a future dialect…
I used it as pretty much the only synth on my last record and could hardly fit any other instruments in the mix. At the mastering session, the engineer had his full bass chops out the whole time…also got this quote from a blog "Sub-bass pulse that could trigger tsunami warnings if mishandled at sea”
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The key to deep bass on the A4 is to use the filter feedback ocs type combined with both filters and no resonance and no drive. Find the sweet spot, it’s there.
agree, but that’s not the end of it. use whatever waveform you like and search the sweet spot with one or both filters and a decent amount of resonance.
give some nice rumbling.
also make sure keytrack is set properly (32 returns linear tracking).
for more dirt: AM, PWM,…
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One simple change I’d make would be to make the filter envelope depth unipolar. Personally I never use the inverse side and find the resolution of the positive rather coarse.
Would love some alternate effects too. The reverb is great but does wear a bit thin after a while and I’d love some other choices to replace the chorus, even conventional stuff like a phaser or another delay.
Does anyone know whether the glitches you get when you assign the sub oscillator to a performance macro are intentional?
Re: the sub oscillators-- please correct me if mistaken but inability to adjust sub oscillator’s volume level is quite annoying to me because I can do this on all my other synths, older and newer, and feel the A4 sound would greatly benefit with being able to do more with the sub oscillator rather than either on or off.
Yes, the resolution of envelopes and even way they are not like way envelopes are on any of my given synths…my Spectralis definitely trumps the A4 in being more of a tweakable modular-like parameter user and ear-friendly.
If anything, a way to choose the behavior would be cool. However, I am very often using the inverse filter envelope depth. I would be very angry if that was to disappear.
Owned the A4 for about a year though. Learned how to use it, know many sweet spots and also know the weaknesses.
Still feeling that it’s an amazing instrument, though I understand that the sequencer and the FX are a big part of it.
The pure tone of the filter and particularly of the oscillators aren’t that high end, you have to know how to use it to make it sound great. It’s not a Model D. Don’t know if future OS updates are able to make the oscillators, particularly the saw wave, a bit more exciting. Hopefully, but I wouldn’t count on it, there’s only so much you can do about an analog synth.
Will I sell it? Nope. Maybe if someone makes something a bit like it, but even better in the pure sound quality department.
Would I buy a synth module which sounds like an A4 but lacks the FX and the sequencer? Nope, I’d buy something else instead.
If anything, a way to choose the behavior would be cool. However, I am very often using the inverse filter envelope depth. I would be very angry if that was to disappear. [/quote]
I’m sure there are those who have a use for it, so yes an option of course. But a parameter so important really needs higher resolution. IMHO.
If anything, a way to choose the behavior would be cool. However, I am very often using the inverse filter envelope depth. I would be very angry if that was to disappear. [/quote]
I’m sure there are those who have a use for it, so yes an option of course. But a parameter so important really needs higher resolution. IMHO.[/quote]
options are good 
Question nowadays, six years later, is…does the A4 MK2 still shows the same behaviour?
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I have found it’s closest cousin in basic architecture to be the JX-8P. Studying and replicating patches from the Zenology JX-8P really helped in pushing me into the deeper corners of the A4. once you discover the fundamental differences in filter and envelope behavior there really isn’t anywhere you can’t push the A4, well beyond what a JX-8P can do sonically. I’ve had the A4 for 5 years and digging deeper into it over the summer really made me appreciate it more than ever. Totally worth the investment in time spent under the hood.
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I feel like I was almost subconsciously affected by the common comments about the sound of the A4 being a bit lackluster so I’ve spent some time really focusing in on it.
I’m actually really impressed with the sound, I’ve seen a lot of people talk about how it isn’t a sweet spot synth and I think that’s spot on. ALL the parameters actually have a very significant effect on the character of the sound with the various gain settings being ones I imagine are often overlooked… Something I’ve noticed on a lot of vintage gear is that the VCA seems to saturate / break up at various settings and this seems to be a big part of their charm, the A4 has this ability but you just need to program it in.
I’ve been having no problem getting sounds out of it that I’d be more than happy to have front and center in a track and that could cover bass / leads / pads.
So yeah… thought I’d just mention my experience here as I think many people might be guilty of the same that I was - overlooking the potential of the A4 due to 1. it not immediately sounding big / powerful from an init patch and 2. there being a general consensus that it’s a weak / unimpressive sounding synth.
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