Analog Four teaser trailer

so my first review is, parameter locks! they changed how to do them. Also slightly disappointed this is the first elektron gear i've purchased that doesn't come with a really nice large sized manual. Sounds fucking great though, the demos and songs ive heard online dont really convey just how beefy this thing sounds, especially the drums

edit: nevermind about parameter locks, i was stupidly trying to turn knobs in the 'perf' panel. Now i realize that the actual synth parameters start on the 3rd button. Did someone here say the arp is parameter lockable?

edit2: the reverb sounds ridiculously good, way higher quality than the verb on the mono or md

Edited January 18, 2013 by Awepittance

only bottom row is p-lockable on arp, but it seems to be a given the rest will be at some stage, maybe because of other similarities to octatrack...

 

muting is my (small) gripe at the moment, hopefully something similar to monomachine is implemented at some stage.

 

reload and save shortcuts are handy too. (YES/SAVE or NO/RELOAD + KIT or SOUND).

 

Oscillators sound quite different at low levels as well, more.. mellow...

the synth engine on this thing seems deceptively simple, but with a little bit of time and tinkering you can get some pretty amazing sounds on it. I've been mostly experimenting with trying to get a good snare and bass drum. Haven't really figured out how to get a great snare and am struggling with decent cymbal sounds but the bass drums on this thing are out of control. There isn't a sine wave oscillator as far as i can tell so the best way to get a really heavy BD is via turing the resonance all the way up on the filter. Nice to have an actual noise generator on here too, I remember just being stunned when i realized the Tempest didn't use a noise oscillator but instead uses a short sample of noise as a wavetable, WTF? the thing costs twice as much as the Analog 4 and they couldn't put a noise oscillator in, shit's inexcusable.

going to upload some sample clips later this evening.
this thing has some of the smoothest most pleasurable FM modulation I've ever heard on an analog synth next to a Serge modular and Arp2600
pretty impressed so far mostly just by the quality of the synth character and color.

Edited January 28, 2013 by Awepittance

FM as in fast LFO to pitch?

 

someone finally took one apart:

 

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/psychlist1972/sets/72157632621387322/with/8418290625/

 

looks bendable :]

LFO to pitch and LFO to cutoff on the LPF, sounds soooooo smooth. It's been a while since an analog synth has pleased my ears this much.

did someone earlier mention you could parameter lock 'sounds' meaning switch presets upon each note, how the eff do you do this?
And im also wondering how to get the hang of the CV sequencing, it's not the most straight forward method i've seen before so it's a tad confusing. It looks like for all 4 CV tracks it only gives you one lane of note inputs, i was expecting 2 since it has 4 CV outs.

how do soundlock: hold trig button, turn track level knob.

 

also rtfm, is worth it :]

ive been referencing it, playing with the CV now using my doepfer. Still haven't got the hang of it

FluorescentGreyAnalog4FMdemo.mp3Fetching info...

 

no post processing at all, this is straight off the unit, using only 2 voices. Most of the time you're only hearing one voice though

 

it gets really great Farty AE style bass drum sounds

Edited January 28, 2013 by Awepittance

I'm still a little confused about the CV control part. I got the basic pitch / gate going but the env and lfos i havent figured out yet. seems really powerful though in theory

Cheers for the FM demo Awepittance, highlights parts of the synths character I haven't heard in other demos.

anybody figure out how to use LFO and Env for the CV outs yet?

thanks DerWacshbar, ill put up some more in a few days time. I've just been mangling the parameters on this thing to get weird sound textures out of so far, i've barely made any sequences on the device itself. This was done by using reaktor entirely to control the A4

  Quote

 

The two CV LFOs can be used to modulate other CV track parameters. They can also be sent to the CV/Gate outputs,

by setting up a CV channel's type as VALUE LIN and then letting the LFO modulate its VAL parameter.

 

rtfm man, also you're missing out on good stuff by not using the sequencer!

Edited January 29, 2013 by Guest

i read the manual extensively, the CV part is very minimal and it's not clear to me at all how to utilize the LFO and ENV Cv outs yet. I'm using the sequencer, but i'm having a lot of fun controlling this thing with Numerology and reaktor for now. When i decide to do a live set with it im sure i'll be focusing a lot more on using it without a computer

this thing sounds pretty incredible with AWP demo... damn

this thing is the shit.

 

AWP, have you tried neighbour track functionality yet? If not: make something on track 1, then on track 2, choose NEI as OSC 2 type. Repeat with remaining tracks to taste.

I haven't had a huge amount of time to play with it yet, my first Elektron box.

 

Impressions:

 

- Menu diving isn't that bad, still feels like an instrument rather than performing functions on a calculator.

- It sounds analogue. Not in a cliched warm/fat wobbly pitch way. Sounds like a well calibrated eurorack voice tied to a tight as fuck sequencer.

- The effects are good, but I wish it either had an effects insert or those two missing outputs. Needs some variation.

 

I have it linked with a Doepfer DE at the moment but looking at getting some kind of eurorack sampler driven by the cv outs and routed back into the A4, using it as an extra oscillator to provide variation. Considering a phonogene.

Kakapo, cool points you bring up. Now I want one even more.

Not a bass machine as such but...

 

I should also mention that my female housemate came in last night asked, "what the hell is that, looks cool, is it some kind of synth? Play me some bass." Cranked the volume up, played some deep bass and she got that wide eyed girl, bass hitting the spot look on her face.

 

Elektron Analog Four. Vagina friendly.

 

 

 

i think it's a lovely bass synth!

here's my first thing i did after receiving it yesterday:

 

https://soundcloud.com/jakobpenca-1/elektron-techno

that's groovy as hell, nice demo phling!

I just got an e-mail back from Elektron saying that they plan to implement a poly mode on the thing eventually, similar to how the monomachine lets you use all 6 machines as a poly synth. Great demo Phling. I haven't tried the idea you're talking about yet. Will try it today. If you figure out how to utilize the CV env and LFO outs please explain how you did it. I've rtfm a few times and still dont get it

holy shit, well i rtfm, but i didn't rtfphling'spost above, and goddam this thing is a monster with parameter lockable CV LFOs jesus christ

Reading this thread makes me want one so bad lol. Would be pretty neat to make a kick and a snare with two voices, and bass + lead with the other two, and build a groove with that.

Sorry to necro reply but this thread got bumped and I just had to say something.

  On 1/9/2013 at 2:10 AM, Awepittance said:

I mean seriously no transient detection/beat slicing? The thing would be a fucking beast if it had that, especially since it's designed for real-time sample capturing.

Honestly, Awep, don't you think this is a silly thing to get hung up on? I respect your opinion but there's a million and three samplers that can do that already. Naturally Elektron would do something different. The Octatrack can do things that would be difficult or impossible in anything but some crazy customized Reaktor or Max patch, and you can set them up pretty quickly.

  On 1/9/2013 at 2:56 AM, soundwave said:

I still don't quite get the point of the Octatrack? Personally I haven't seen much it can do that I can't already do with my Kaoss Pad 3.

LOL. This is like comparing a TB-303 to an Arp 2600 if the Arp also had a polyrhythmic, 256-pattern sequencer attached to it. It's just so much more in all directions.

 

Thanks for reminding me guys, I have not been giving my OT nearly enough love.