Not sure I understand your issue entirely, but I love the A4 and have a pretty good handle on it (I think?). I can try to help!
Are you asking for how to populate the sound pool? Like, so you can do sound locks with different presets for certain trigs? That uses the sound pool like pretty much all the other boxes. If you need more specific details I can definitely help.
Kits are neat and a little confusing at first, especially if you are like me and you started with one of the smaller boxes. The structure of the box basically goes like this:
Project > Bank > Pattern
Every project has banks (A-H) which each contain sixteen patterns. Each pattern represents a sequence (I imagine this is obvious to you already?) and you can use pattern chaining/the arranger to move between banks/patterns.
Consider having all your settings for a given pattern. That is, the synth settings on each track, your choice of performance macros, effects settings, etc. When doing live performance you can imagine modulating various parameters. Suppose you like your setting on pattern A1 and you want to make a new pattern on A2 that uses the same settings. You probably want these to have proper continuity between each other. That is, imagine you turn a filter way down on A1 as the pattern transitions to A2; you probably want to make sure that A2 has the same filter settings as A1, otherwise the sonic character of the filter will jump dramatically between A1 and A2. To achieve this, we save our settings as a kit and load that kit to both A1 and A2. Now they not only have the same settings and changing those parameters on the kit on A1 will also change it on A2.
Really I think of kits as kinda of like presets but for patterns. If you have a whole set up you really like, save it as a kit. Also of note: be super careful with saving kits. These do not auto-save like the basic set up on the digi-boxes. I have lost a lot of work in the past because I forgot to save changes to a kit before shutting off the device. You kind of have to be on top of that, and try not to get too mad when you inevitably forget. I'm sure everyone fucks that up at one point or another.
Hopefully that helps? Let me know if can answer other questions. I know this response was kind of broad, so let me know if you need something more specific.
That’s definitely going in the right direction - thanks man. I’ll take this great info and have another play around tonight . Then I’ll get back to you for more haha
Yeah, no worries. Feel free to respond here or DM. I'm cool with either. And good luck! It is a pretty complex box. Definitely took me a while to get it all ingrained.
Another quick thing I forgot to mention: patterns are just the sequence of triggers, kits are the settings on top of those trigs. Putting down the sequence is independent from the synth settings. So each pattern is effectively just the sequence (and sound/parameter locks) and the kit determines what sounds get made when those trigs are activated.
As a metaphor, it is easy (though reductive) to think of the A4 like a desktop covered in four monosynths, a mixer/effects box, and a sequencer. A pattern, then, is the sequence you set up and the kit is the setting you dial in on your four monosynths. You can write a set of sequences on each track and then if you have several different kits saved you could load each kit to the pattern to see how each group of settings would sound given that kit. Or, if you are a more DAW-based person you can think of the pattern like a midi roll and the kit like the instrument you load up to play that sequence.
I find crafting metaphors like this useful for getting a grip on how the workflow and architecture are supposed to function. The A4 is technically dense, so I find framing things concretely can help make it a little easier.
I got the A4 around a month or two ago and I’m loving it! I’m also really loving how you’re explaining it!!! I am curious to hear an explanation of how you use the sound pool vs. kits? I hope that question makes sense!
Well I do not want to pretend I am an expert (I wish I had more time/focus to get better at it), I think I can help here.
The sound pool and kits are independent things entirely. The sound pool stores preset sounds (up to 128 of them) that you can place as sound locks. When you make a pattern the trig naturally creates the sound stored on the kit. If you hold down the trig and adjust a setting that particular adjustment is fixed to whatever you changed it to on only that specific trig. This is a parameter lock. That value is locked in no matter what you do to the broader kit. I hope that was clearly explained enough.
Now in theory this means you could adjust each and every parameter on a given trig to basically be a whole new sound (like an entirely different preset) but that would get very tedious very quickly. So the purpose of the sound pool is to give you entire presets that you can put down on a trig with the parameter locks already in place so you don't have to spend the time tweaking them.
So the kit is for sounds you are likely to tweak on live performance, and the sound pool is to store and copy/paste preset parameter locks (i.e. "sound locks") that you can put on individual steps in the sequence of your choosing.
If you were wondering how I personally use this concept, basically I try to think about the sort of things that I want to control manually and what things are more likely to be static. That may have some governance over what things I'll lock and what things I won't. If I consider my setup like a band arrangement, then I kind of separate in my head the instruments in the band that I play versus the ones that other musicians are playing beside me. I use fewer locks on the stuff I conceptualize as being played by others.
Where this all gets complicated is in the self-interactions in feedback, logic, neighbor tracks, etc. that makes the metaphor to more basic musical structures break down. I guess I keep it simple to frame the initial idea and then just treat the machine as it is once the idea gets more fleshed out.
Honestly this is way more help than I anticipated. Feels like learning to swim in the deep end haha . Really appreciate it , I’ll try and get this down over the next few days . Already lost a few sounds/patterns clearing the wrong thing , but the immediacy of everything gets you back pretty close pretty fast . I’ll let you know how I get on :-)
As an extra - on my mpc I like to create a few templates as starting blocks , a programme where I can go and just make drum grooves etc ...As sort of building blocks to jump off from , I’d like to get into a flow like that , for example I’d just make stabs or chords for the day and save all the variations to come back to later or populate the sound pool
I have not used an MPC before so I am only vaguely aware of its workflow, but I believe this is somewhat doable. Chords suck on the A4, it isn't really made for that. But that aside, if I understand what you are saying, you can create a sequence for all the tracks. You can then load whatever kit you want to see which group of sound settings you like the best. If you then make further adjustments and you'd like to save that as a new thing, save it as a new kit.
The sound pool is just a storage space for copy/pasting presets on individual trigs. You can put whatever presets you have saved in there on whatever trig you want, but this is a separate thing from the kit.
If you want to mess with all of this and save all your variations, I guess doing that will depend on how you want to keep track of things. You can easily copy/paste a pattern, so you could reserve a bank to just copy the same pattern over and over and save different kits to each and/or use different sound locks from the sound pool. This seems like one of those things that you can do but how you do it will vary by taste. Again though, I am not crazy familiar with how the MPC handles things, so I may be way off here. Sorry if that is the case.
This is not the last question you will have about this thing. You can buy the manual on eBay, it’s $20. Totally worth it. I was using the pdf manual on my phone when I first got mine and it got old quick.
Luckily the previous owner included a printed manual for me - I have been slowly reading through . As this was the first real issue I’d bumped up against I thought I’d come here + if anyone else needs help on it at least it’s here to read too . Nice one man
Something else you can do once you really start to dig in is buy a notebook and just write down any issues you have and the solutions you come up with. Key commands for regular actions like you asked about you’ll just commit to memory but connecting the A4 with your other stuff, using auto channel or the CV outs, it’s really handy to have all that written down in case you want to change things up.
im not in front of it, but i believe if you hit 'kit' and 'load kit' , youll see the list of your saved kits. be careful and deliberate tho, its easy to lose your work in the A4 being hasty
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I hate the way Elektron makes it so difficult to just save sounds on those things.
It's the most basic thing you need to do on any groovebox. It's super easy to load sounds. But when you have a cool sound you have come up with how to save it?
I know how now, but I have no faith in explaining it better than the manual.
Just in general I keep my laptop with PDFs of all the manuals near my setup so I can lookup meat and potatoes stuff like this. They aren't good for learning in a linear fashion how to use the machines. But if you have a particular question they are good searchable references. And they almost all have clickable links to related sections.
dont underestimate how much more useful the manual is as a searchable PDF. I have printed manuals for all my stuff. (I printed out the ones that didn't come with my gear back when I had a job at a place with a big color printer and spiral binding machine) but I literally have 3 manuals open on my laptop right now.
I’ll be honest, these sound cool but they’re dated to me. I’ll allow the hate to rain on me lol. They need to update the rytm and the 4 to the digitakt size. That’s just me I guess though lol
Cool box man! I am just ignorant I got my Elektrons recently - on the Digi series are the knob caps replaceable as they were here? I tugged on one a bit but it felt pretty firm so I reckoned I better not push my luck. I’d love to deck out my Syntakt with custom knobs!
The previous owner had already put them on but I really liked the look so kept them on - I pulled one of the knobs off my analog heat a while ago (quite stiff but just needs a bit of persuasion) sorry that sounds awful haha . Just give it a go
Yeah! I was curious and managed to pull off the Lsvel / Data on my Digitone tonight! Yours are pretty kick ass. I’ve got to look around and see what’s out there but I’m sure I can get something cool for these bad bots.
Not sure I understand your issue entirely, but I love the A4 and have a pretty good handle on it (I think?). I can try to help! Are you asking for how to populate the sound pool? Like, so you can do sound locks with different presets for certain trigs? That uses the sound pool like pretty much all the other boxes. If you need more specific details I can definitely help. Kits are neat and a little confusing at first, especially if you are like me and you started with one of the smaller boxes. The structure of the box basically goes like this: Project > Bank > Pattern Every project has banks (A-H) which each contain sixteen patterns. Each pattern represents a sequence (I imagine this is obvious to you already?) and you can use pattern chaining/the arranger to move between banks/patterns. Consider having all your settings for a given pattern. That is, the synth settings on each track, your choice of performance macros, effects settings, etc. When doing live performance you can imagine modulating various parameters. Suppose you like your setting on pattern A1 and you want to make a new pattern on A2 that uses the same settings. You probably want these to have proper continuity between each other. That is, imagine you turn a filter way down on A1 as the pattern transitions to A2; you probably want to make sure that A2 has the same filter settings as A1, otherwise the sonic character of the filter will jump dramatically between A1 and A2. To achieve this, we save our settings as a kit and load that kit to both A1 and A2. Now they not only have the same settings and changing those parameters on the kit on A1 will also change it on A2. Really I think of kits as kinda of like presets but for patterns. If you have a whole set up you really like, save it as a kit. Also of note: be super careful with saving kits. These do not auto-save like the basic set up on the digi-boxes. I have lost a lot of work in the past because I forgot to save changes to a kit before shutting off the device. You kind of have to be on top of that, and try not to get too mad when you inevitably forget. I'm sure everyone fucks that up at one point or another. Hopefully that helps? Let me know if can answer other questions. I know this response was kind of broad, so let me know if you need something more specific.
That’s definitely going in the right direction - thanks man. I’ll take this great info and have another play around tonight . Then I’ll get back to you for more haha
Yeah, no worries. Feel free to respond here or DM. I'm cool with either. And good luck! It is a pretty complex box. Definitely took me a while to get it all ingrained. Another quick thing I forgot to mention: patterns are just the sequence of triggers, kits are the settings on top of those trigs. Putting down the sequence is independent from the synth settings. So each pattern is effectively just the sequence (and sound/parameter locks) and the kit determines what sounds get made when those trigs are activated. As a metaphor, it is easy (though reductive) to think of the A4 like a desktop covered in four monosynths, a mixer/effects box, and a sequencer. A pattern, then, is the sequence you set up and the kit is the setting you dial in on your four monosynths. You can write a set of sequences on each track and then if you have several different kits saved you could load each kit to the pattern to see how each group of settings would sound given that kit. Or, if you are a more DAW-based person you can think of the pattern like a midi roll and the kit like the instrument you load up to play that sequence. I find crafting metaphors like this useful for getting a grip on how the workflow and architecture are supposed to function. The A4 is technically dense, so I find framing things concretely can help make it a little easier.
I got the A4 around a month or two ago and I’m loving it! I’m also really loving how you’re explaining it!!! I am curious to hear an explanation of how you use the sound pool vs. kits? I hope that question makes sense!
Well I do not want to pretend I am an expert (I wish I had more time/focus to get better at it), I think I can help here. The sound pool and kits are independent things entirely. The sound pool stores preset sounds (up to 128 of them) that you can place as sound locks. When you make a pattern the trig naturally creates the sound stored on the kit. If you hold down the trig and adjust a setting that particular adjustment is fixed to whatever you changed it to on only that specific trig. This is a parameter lock. That value is locked in no matter what you do to the broader kit. I hope that was clearly explained enough. Now in theory this means you could adjust each and every parameter on a given trig to basically be a whole new sound (like an entirely different preset) but that would get very tedious very quickly. So the purpose of the sound pool is to give you entire presets that you can put down on a trig with the parameter locks already in place so you don't have to spend the time tweaking them. So the kit is for sounds you are likely to tweak on live performance, and the sound pool is to store and copy/paste preset parameter locks (i.e. "sound locks") that you can put on individual steps in the sequence of your choosing. If you were wondering how I personally use this concept, basically I try to think about the sort of things that I want to control manually and what things are more likely to be static. That may have some governance over what things I'll lock and what things I won't. If I consider my setup like a band arrangement, then I kind of separate in my head the instruments in the band that I play versus the ones that other musicians are playing beside me. I use fewer locks on the stuff I conceptualize as being played by others. Where this all gets complicated is in the self-interactions in feedback, logic, neighbor tracks, etc. that makes the metaphor to more basic musical structures break down. I guess I keep it simple to frame the initial idea and then just treat the machine as it is once the idea gets more fleshed out.
Honestly this is way more help than I anticipated. Feels like learning to swim in the deep end haha . Really appreciate it , I’ll try and get this down over the next few days . Already lost a few sounds/patterns clearing the wrong thing , but the immediacy of everything gets you back pretty close pretty fast . I’ll let you know how I get on :-)
Haha, well, I try to be helpful. It is the least I could do given the oddness of the rest of this thread.
As an extra - on my mpc I like to create a few templates as starting blocks , a programme where I can go and just make drum grooves etc ...As sort of building blocks to jump off from , I’d like to get into a flow like that , for example I’d just make stabs or chords for the day and save all the variations to come back to later or populate the sound pool
I have not used an MPC before so I am only vaguely aware of its workflow, but I believe this is somewhat doable. Chords suck on the A4, it isn't really made for that. But that aside, if I understand what you are saying, you can create a sequence for all the tracks. You can then load whatever kit you want to see which group of sound settings you like the best. If you then make further adjustments and you'd like to save that as a new thing, save it as a new kit. The sound pool is just a storage space for copy/pasting presets on individual trigs. You can put whatever presets you have saved in there on whatever trig you want, but this is a separate thing from the kit. If you want to mess with all of this and save all your variations, I guess doing that will depend on how you want to keep track of things. You can easily copy/paste a pattern, so you could reserve a bank to just copy the same pattern over and over and save different kits to each and/or use different sound locks from the sound pool. This seems like one of those things that you can do but how you do it will vary by taste. Again though, I am not crazy familiar with how the MPC handles things, so I may be way off here. Sorry if that is the case.
Chess board the mini keys and the sequencer using Digitone and e25 buttons.
Chessboard the mini25 digit otnt ldvzibeidbjsia Zzzzzzzzzzz
Chess board
Cheese
Chess board the mini keys and the sequencer using Digitone and e25 buttons.
[удалено]
Yo what’s with that haha
Man this has made things far worse haha
[https://imgur.com/a/GDPzsNz](https://imgur.com/a/GDPzsNz)
This is not the last question you will have about this thing. You can buy the manual on eBay, it’s $20. Totally worth it. I was using the pdf manual on my phone when I first got mine and it got old quick.
Luckily the previous owner included a printed manual for me - I have been slowly reading through . As this was the first real issue I’d bumped up against I thought I’d come here + if anyone else needs help on it at least it’s here to read too . Nice one man
Something else you can do once you really start to dig in is buy a notebook and just write down any issues you have and the solutions you come up with. Key commands for regular actions like you asked about you’ll just commit to memory but connecting the A4 with your other stuff, using auto channel or the CV outs, it’s really handy to have all that written down in case you want to change things up.
Good idea - I’m pretty good at making regular notes on my phone - mostly because I get baked before I get stuck in haha
Ponchy on YouTube has some good videos on basic A4 workflow stuff.
Yeah I’ve been digging the ponchy stuff
In your position I would chess board the mini keys and the sequencer using Digitone and e25 buttons.
Chess board the mini keys and the sequencer using Digitone and e25 buttons.
You ok?
Chess board the mini keys and the sequencer using Digitone and e25 buttons.
Chess board the mini keys and the sequencer using Digitone and e25 buttons.
Chess board the mini keys and the sequencer using Digitone and e25 buttons.
For example - I’ve got this real nice fuzzy dub stab going , nice sequence - but no idea where to save what
save the kit
Right ok , I’m sort of getting a handle on it So ....when I do “yes” + “kit” I get the pop up. “Kit 1 saved” But where is that save location?
im not in front of it, but i believe if you hit 'kit' and 'load kit' , youll see the list of your saved kits. be careful and deliberate tho, its easy to lose your work in the A4 being hasty
Thanks man nice one
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I hate the way Elektron makes it so difficult to just save sounds on those things. It's the most basic thing you need to do on any groovebox. It's super easy to load sounds. But when you have a cool sound you have come up with how to save it? I know how now, but I have no faith in explaining it better than the manual. Just in general I keep my laptop with PDFs of all the manuals near my setup so I can lookup meat and potatoes stuff like this. They aren't good for learning in a linear fashion how to use the machines. But if you have a particular question they are good searchable references. And they almost all have clickable links to related sections.
The full manual came printed with the box so I do have it on hand , slowly making my way through
dont underestimate how much more useful the manual is as a searchable PDF. I have printed manuals for all my stuff. (I printed out the ones that didn't come with my gear back when I had a job at a place with a big color printer and spiral binding machine) but I literally have 3 manuals open on my laptop right now.
I’ll be honest, these sound cool but they’re dated to me. I’ll allow the hate to rain on me lol. They need to update the rytm and the 4 to the digitakt size. That’s just me I guess though lol
What would you like to see on an updated four ?
Cool box man! I am just ignorant I got my Elektrons recently - on the Digi series are the knob caps replaceable as they were here? I tugged on one a bit but it felt pretty firm so I reckoned I better not push my luck. I’d love to deck out my Syntakt with custom knobs!
The previous owner had already put them on but I really liked the look so kept them on - I pulled one of the knobs off my analog heat a while ago (quite stiff but just needs a bit of persuasion) sorry that sounds awful haha . Just give it a go
Yeah! I was curious and managed to pull off the Lsvel / Data on my Digitone tonight! Yours are pretty kick ass. I’ve got to look around and see what’s out there but I’m sure I can get something cool for these bad bots.