303abuser i’ll argue against all of that all day. my second synth was an a4 and it’s easier to use than the ms20 mini i bought first. yeah you have to figure out the key combinations and the file structure, but it’s really not that hard; i think the whole elektron learning curve is overblown. and you can get a used a4 for $8-900 CAD, which is very reasonable for how powerful it is. you could buy no other gear and make great music for years with just the one synth. plus with overbridge, it’s certainly not aimed only at dawless set ups.
As someone who’s been in the game for nearly thirty years whose first synth was a JX-8P, I have to disagree. It’s one thing starting out with that - which is what you essentially did. It’s another coming from the more traditional ‘one knob per function’ of the JP-8000.
The whole Elektron deal was for people to play live a la ‘groovebox’ style. Overbridge came after. Yes, you can use it via Overbridge with a DAW, but Elektron stuff isn’t simple. It takes a lot of mastering those key combos and such to pull the power out of the boxes. So while I get that you love your Elektron gear, the users of that gear are very dedicated and drink the Kool-Aid. My point to you is that you either are or are not an Elektron workflow lover. It’s very polarizing gear. You either jive with their workflow or you don’t
Is it powerful? Absolutely. Is it generally expensive? Absolutely. Is it easy to use? Debatable. They’re sort of like Apple of the synth world. They have a rabid fan base with an equally as loathing group who despise them. Hehe.
As for your MS-20, I can see why that might be a bit intimidating but that’s a great synth to learn traditional subtractive synthesis on (and if I recall correctly, I recommended purchasing). I love mine and strangely, don’t find myself doing a lot of patching on it!
