pros:

- beautiful filter sound. the filters are quite bright, and have an extremely warm mid range when dialed down. this makes for great bass sounds, but it is a bit harder to get smooth pad sounds (I also own a matrix 12, which is the exact opposite in this regard). having 2 filters and the ability to route them in serial or parallel provides for endless possibilities.

- envelopes. definitely one of the high points of the synth in my opinion. each stage can have its own curve type (linear, exponential, logarithmic, ec.), which can greatly alter the character of the sound. there are many options for triggering and looping.

mostly pros:

- user interface. all the knobs are in all the right places, but menu editing can be a pain. the main problem is the smaller knobs are not very precise for parameters with large ranges.

- modulation routing. all of the typical modulation settings are there, and even some interesting and odd ones, but every once in a while I find myself wanting to do something that is not possible. there is a relatively small limit to modulation slots for each destination (either 3 or 1), and I find myself running out sometimes. there is also a matrix that can help save slots but it is limited to affecting existing modulations.

cons:

- envelope release. there is a noticeable step to 0 in the release tail as the envelope cuts off. it isn't bad in a mix, but can sometimes be bothersome when playing.

- FM. for some reason the FM is not as usable as the FM on my matrix 12. not bad for slight color, but I can't seem to do more extreme things with it and not lose the desired base frequency of the sound.

- tuning. it's not too bad after it warms up, but it does take a while. I usually have to go through the slow tuning process several times over the course of an hour or so before it's good enough.

- presets. they are awful. I don't really care now that I own the synth, but it caused me to have a poor opinion of the synth the first time I played it in the store.

- voice retriggering. I still haven't figured out what the issue is here, but with long releases, the voice retriggering is very noticeable compared to my matrix 12, which has 4 less voices. there is an "analog" setting for the envelopes which is supposed to start a voice's envelope from where it left off last on the next retrigger (ie. no jump to 0), but it doesn't seem to help much.

Thumbs Up (Sound/Interface)

Having used the Andromeda for about 5 years now and having owned the likes of Prophets, Jupiters and Junos I am very impressed by the A6's tone. I know exactly why some dislike its sound, its because they were/are under the impression that analog should sound vintage. There are an aweful lot of people out there who judge/dismiss the A6 purely on the premise that it doesnt sound as fat or warm as a vintage board. In my view this is not true - The A6 is a bit warmer and bigger sounding than a P5 rev 3.3 and it can get silkier than a JP8. I have coaxed massive basses which give Pro-Ones and MonoPoly's a run for their money. The A6 sounds cleaner and less compressed than old vintage boards. The ASIC design creates high dynamic range whereas old vintage chips outputted compressed/clipped/distorted audio. What I am saying is that the pure audio from the A6 is technically superior to that of old boards. If this form of analog sounds too clinical for you (to me it doesnt) then all you need to do is turn off background tuning and use some vintage analog outboard. Not that hard is it? Now quit your bitching because your naiivity bores me.

The A6 can sound vintage - The A6 can sound fresh and modern. As a working producer I *have* to have access to quality analog sounds which arent always retro. Fresh analog tones are very interesting to me....and they sound so much more convincing than virtual analog. If you want 80's bliss then the A6 will deliver that too....but you wont be cutting many modern records with those type of sounds (reality check).

To conclude then, cuppled with great sound and amazing sound shaping posiblities the A6 is a real winner. I am totally confident that 5-10 yrs from now people will see the A6 for what it is/was.....a true analog polyphonic beast.

Thumbs Down (Marketing/Alesis QC)

Some people have documented some minor bugs of the incomplete OS...none of these bother me. None of them are show stoppers. I feel more confident with the A6's functionality than I ever did with the Virus KC's and TI's (two synths I quickly returned).

My biggest gripe is actually with Alesis lack of marketing. The A6 could have been so big...a new analog revolution had it not been for sloppy (non existant) marketing strategy. If it were me, they'd be teaching lessons at school about how cool analog synths can be.

Conclusion

The A6 sounds amazing. Its one of the most high quality sounding synths on the market today - and yes, contrary to bullshit internet rumours on the net...Alesis are still producing the A6 - production was held up when they were looking into the tuning issue that affected a large batch Q4 2006.

Long live A6...

Its a poly but putting it in mono mode allows you to perform monosynth duties. At bass and leads, it is awesome (the bass through the second filter is awesome). Pads and strings and FX and other similar sounds however are obviously its forte. The envelopes can be amazingly punchy. The analog distortion is very nice too.

Essentially, this synth is analog with genuinely modern features. Its extremely versatile. Its sound is a little 'cooler' than vintage, but thats because it is made of integrated circuits the tuning is very stable. Its still warmer than any VA though.

It can be used as an analog filterbank and FX unit too. Really, this synth integrates very well into your setup. Its the flagship of my studio, Studio deKadent, and it fills that role very well.

In the end, the A6 does almost everything, sounds full and thick, and gives analog a modern twist. What it does not do well is digital sounds like wavetable synthesis (no digital samples in the oscs), FM synthesis (oscillator drift makes this unusable at high levels), but I have FM in my Nord and when I get the Virus TI, wavetable will be covered. Also, the A6 filters can be used on digital synths to produce great results... so in many ways this will not replace a good digital but will complement it and enhance it.

I honestly would recommend this to any setup that wants an analog synth. It integrates well, it sounds unique, it sounds modern but analog at the same time, it is incredibly flexible and it complements existing setups. The only drawback I can think of is the price... but in the end, the A6 is worth it. This synth is in the same league as the immortal analog classics.

There is a lot of venom for the A6. Ignore the vitriol. They wanted a vintage synth, they did not want the A6: analog V2.0

The A6 has a very bright character to it. While this might instantly make the A6 sound 'digital', don't let this fool you. You can use this to your advantage and widen your palette to almost digital-like pads, or crystal clear bell tones. Making a good vintage bass takes a little work, because the filter is much wider than on older synths. Unfortunately this gives a false impression that the A6 cannot do a good bass - Oh yes it can.

AMERICA BABY! This synth is from a USA company proud of its synthesis roots. Warm, pounding, aggressive tone. The Andromeda is the shining star in the jewel of Alesis' crown. Alesis, usually a "budget" company but one that has recently produced A6, Ion, Micron, and Fusion. Bringing pride back to the States!

Detractors of this synth are fascists, communists, or screw-ups. Japanese synths ruined the marketplace and corroded our values. At first, they were analog, but as soon as they found a new (cheaper) technology they championed it. And left our analog technology in the dust... lobbying the media to portray digital Jap synths as better. Well, this proves them wrong. It compares well with the old boys and it moves well beyond them.

Only thing i want to say is that people who notify this thing as garbage , fuck off, you don't know what you're talking about. The build quality of mine is excellent and it might not be a minimoog or a jupiter 8, that's just a shame for these two oldies, that they can't do like and sound like this thing. Moog and Roland should worry about making something right now that's better then the A6...

Good luck with that..

EJ

It amazes me that people want a synth that produces sounds from synths that are in some cases over 20 years old....trust me all the sounds that are going to come from the old analogues have been realised by better people than yourselves and trying to sound like someone from 20 years ago is a sad show in my book. Get an Andromeda and leave the old sounds behind and embrace the new sounds that this synth will give. Yes the learning curve can be steep but so what?Is'nt the point of being into synths about making cool new sounds and making great electronic music? The Andromeda is superb,sounds amazing and whats all this crap about build quality???slating a synth because yours has a problem with tuning 3 voices is sad...get it fixed and get over it.

Its a great synth and the people who slate it are either a) talentless b) have never owned one c) insanely jealous.

Do not make the mistake of judging the Andro on the presets because they are lame but do the job of showing you programming tecniques when you analyse the presets.

Come on ...Full analogue, Unlimited mod routings, in built sequencer,arpegiator in built effects processor all under the control of loads of hands on dials.

Amazing synth that will make sounds that leave old analogues gagging for breath.

easily a million out of five.

-overrated sound. filters aren't as fat as the origins, however pretty versatile oscillator combination... still, the sound actually is far away from what you consider a good analogue synth... here' you don't get quality sound but versatility -still many many bugs which will never be sorted out since the last update of the OS is more than five years old -knobs are just plain crap -pretty thin sound in comparison to other analogue synths which IMHO is a good thing if you know how to use an EQ...

3 points

This machine las so many layers to it that it is a complex beast but, if you just want to treat it as a analog synth then it is all layed out in front of you like any other analogue.

The andromeda just takes it all so many steps further with its sequncers and mod routings that just leave all the other analogue polysynth gasping for breath and I know as I own most of them.

The andromeda is awesome and anyone who says its a no no either have never owned one or have just played with the presets which admittadly do not show what tis machine can do.

1 million out of 5 easily.

To the guy who says its totally unusable all i have to say is learn how to program

You get pure quality 16 channels with moog and prophet power and much, much more.

You will not find it anywere else.

Sure it is not perfect but there is nothing that comes close. It manages its own sound and manages to cover many teritories of other classic synths if you make creative use of filter setups. Moog/obie and even rolandish tones aka jp8.

Soft/hard sync, obie filters, moog modular filters, ring mod, 32 analog oscilators, amazing ribbon controller. There is nothing else that comes close and there are just some highlights.

Be prepared to spend some time getting to know this as this much power doesnt come with complexity to program. Its not hard to program but there is just so much to understand first which will take a lot of time and the designers for the software were not from this planet.

Not for a beginner!!

I did a lot of research before buying, including reading most of the reviews on this site. Although I am a "part time" user, I have been playing and recording with Synths for over 20 years now, and have (what I believe to be) a good knowledge of programming and midi implementation. I currently own the following gear: Virus C, Supernova, JP8000, Korg Z1, Yamaha FS1R, SC 6 Track, Oberheim Matrix 1000, Triton Studio, and nearly every soft synth that has been produced over the last 6 years. The Virus C, for example, I have owned for about 3 years, and I have spent a long time programming it. The JP8000 I have had for about 6 years, and spent even longer programing it. The point I am trying to make is, that I KNOW VA SYNTHS! So, how does the A6 compare?

I'll own up, that I've had it for only 4 and bit weeks, although I have been programming it solidly from the very moment I got it into my studio. I purchased a 2MB pcmcia card almost immediately, on which I can now store 6 extra banks of patches(there are 128 patches spaces in each bank), and when you format the card it initialises all the patches for you, ready to be programmed. In short, I have already done a lot of programming on the A6.

First off, you are reminded that this is very much an analogue synth, since you need to tune the oscillators and the filters, which takes about 5 minutes every time you switch on. From then on, the synth tunes itself, so you don't usually have to tune it (although I have had to manually retune the odd voice on a couple of occasions). By and large, it stays in tune by itself, which is fantastic in itself! I used to use a Mini Moog which never stayed in tune, especially on hot sunny days!

The A6 has 16 voices, with 2 oscillators and two filters per voice! Some people, I know, get confused over this, which explains, in very large part, their inability to understand the sheer power and beauty of the A6. Let me explain. With 16 voices, you can treat the machine as having a polyphony of 16 notes per patch (ie you use 2 osciallators and 2 filters for the playing of up to 16 notes) OR you can have up to 16 different patches (each playing monophonically, of course) layered in (what the A6 terms) a mix, and each voice having 2 oscillators and 2 filters! I haven't yet, gone to this extreme, but I have created some wicked evolving pads, by splitting the voices into groups of four patches and layering them all, with each patch having a polyphony of 4. And the great thing is, you can program each patch (or program) with its own arp and sequencer settings, each evolving over different times, for some fantastically complex sounds.

The sequencer is analogue, too, and can routed to trigger all sorts of things in the A6. I like to use the sequencer's velocity parameter to trigger the filter feedback, which creates some brilliant spikey acid pads.

I have only just managed to get my head around the routing possibilities of the A6, since they are truly awesome. In fact, I'm already going back over the early sounds that I created to route in some of the little tricks that I've learned along the way.

What about the sound. Don't ignore the presets, as most people seem to advise (and I think they are just repeating what they've read elsewhere), but use them to find out what you can do with the routing possibilities. Eg. Call up a preset, then run your finger along the ribbon controller and find out what it does, and if you like it, go into the mod matrix to find out what the programmer did to get that sound, then apply it to your own stuff. It's far better than trawling through the manual. The basic sounds (and that is what the A6 produces from its oscillators, square, saw, triangle and sine waves) are what they are, and are the same as you will find on every other analogue synth. When you'e heard one saw wave, you've heard them all. The machine has digital control of the oscillators, eg the pulse width modulation on the square wave, but what you hear is true unadulterated analogue. As with any synth, its the filters that lend the character, and define what people perceive as its warmth.

The A6 has two filters per voice, a 12db and a 24db, which can be used singly, in parallel or in series. By default, both filters are routed to the same envelop generator (EG), but you can route either or both filters elsewhere.

I had read somewhere that the filters sound harsh and more digital than analogue, and that it takes some hard work to coax any warmth out them. When I first got the A6, this was true. The machine does not make it obvious where the settings are to get that phat warmth. But after about 10 days experimentation, I got what I was after, and I can make the synth sound as phat and as warm as any analogue you might care to pit against it. The secrets (and I'm sure there are others waiting for me to discover) lie all over the place, such as the sound generation engine, which you can tweak to suit the sound you are after. You have to consider very carefully the type of line or curve that you want to use on each stage of your EG, etc. I have learned that you need to be very subtle when making settings to any parameter, since the A6 is hyper sensitive to even the slightest change, and I strongly believe that those who have critised this machine (a) do not know how to program a synth, or (b) have been programming on old analogues on which you need to twist knobs of push sliders to the extreme limits to get any noticable change in the sound dynamics. Do that with the A6, and you end up with a chaotic mess, but treat it with respect and gentleness, and you get everything that you want (a bit like treating a lady - her name is Andromeda, after all!).

I could go on and on about this (please contact me, if you want any further information, or to chat about this machine - my email is leslawrenson@btinternet.com - and I would be glad to hear from you). The detractors of this synth are mindless idiots, who have probably never owned one or, if they have played on it, have no idea how to program. This is not a toy, and it's not like the JP8000 which (due to its, by comparison, extremely limited programability) can be programmed by a beginner very easily and with a far heavier touch. The A6 is a true pro synth, and it requires a very deep understanding of sound sythesis, as well as creative musical flair, to get the best from it. But the sounds it produces when you do get it right are truly beautiful, full of resonance, bite and analogue phatness! I've produced two tracks already, using mainly sounds from the A6, and the comparison between those sounds in the mix to my VA sounds is incredible, with the A6 sitting far more comfortably in the mix and oozing sheer quality and charm.

As regards bugs (one chaps on this site wrote tons of stuff about this subject), all I can say is that, so far, I have not encountered a problem and certainly nothing that has intruded upon my programming. My A6 has software version 1.40.12.

If I had to get rid of every synth but one, I'd keep the A6. I still have so much to learn about this synth, and I love every minute I get to spend with it. There are those on this site that have clearly got to grips with the A6, since what they say makes perfect sense to me. Those that have simply come on to the site to slag the A6 off have a different agenda, and are no friends of music.

I hope those of you that take the time to read this find it useful.

( follow buglist and wishlist a6)

Bug #1

Title: Square wave duty cycle bug Description: A setting of 52 is currently the true 50% duty cycle, rather than 50.

Bug #2

Title: Portamento tracking on unison voices Description: When using portamento (normal mode) on a mono patch with unison (2) turned on, it seems that only 1 voice is affected - the other seems to jump right up/down to the destination pitch. Switch port mode to 'chord', it works as I expected normal to. Is this a bug? (checked, however not found on my A6)

Bug #3

Title: VCO Pitch slide Description: When a note is triggered, the Osc audibly "slides" up to the new pitch, even with fast engine settings. Can be reproduced:checked, depends on engine settings and tuningsettings,therefore to me, no real bug, always could get some extra attention though -

Bug #4

Title: Sequencer hangs while using the sustain pedal. Description: Using sustain pedal and sequencer concurrently causes stuck notes until the sustain pedal is depressed again.

Bug #5

Title: Dropped NOTE OFF events in MIX mode when using external sequencer Description: Notes stick on a midi sequencer with the A6 in mix mode logic or cubase.

Bug #6

Title: No polyphonic aftertouch from MIDI input Description: Described as working in the manual, but not implemented.

Bug #7

Title: "Klicky" envelopes Description: It is almost impossible to create fast and deep bass sounds without an audible "klick" sound. Can be reproduced:when minimum attacktime of 6ms, no problem, therefore to my opinion,"maybe" bug!, sunny -

Bug #8

Title: Corrupt patch in edit buffer requires a soft reset. Description: Inadverently loading a bad patch into the edit buffed causes the synth to crash. Power cycle causes an endless booting loop. Power cycle after a 10 second wait will sometimes clear the problem. At other times a soft reset is required.

Bug #9

Title: Audible artifacts in PWM Description: The status of this as a bug is arguable. Using PWM of any sort creates audible quantization noise or low freqency digital hash in the output. Easily heard on the factory preset patch PULSE STRINGS or most patches with PWM enabled. This problem renders all PWM capabilities of the synth unuseable IMO. Sounds like a crappy VA. Problem exists whether PWM is being modded from an LFO, a looping envelope or an external pedal. Problem can be somewhat worked around using external HPF. Or using another synth altogether. Can be reproduced:checked,for this reason a verysmooth lfo/pwm engine setting has been developped with hardly noticable difference,fm of pw seems to work better, should get a renewed attention, sunny

Bug #10

Title: Screen redraws getting dropped Description: Under certain circumstances, the display does not refresh when switching to another page. I will try to find a scenario when this can be consistently reproduced. Low priority. Can be reproduced:too little info provided therefore couldn't be (checked, maybe its a result of high processor usage whereby the screen rightfully doesn't get prioriy, sunny)

Bug #11

Title: Fast filter settings noise on key release Description: the midrange "grating" or "metallic" noise that can be heard on key release using bass patches with fast filter settings, e.g. the Venus Bass patch. the same noise is also apparent in many high-pitched string patches. Comments: is this not the PWM problem? - mschultz. perhaps, but it happens even with PWM disabled - chris.pickett Can be reproduced:checked, wonder if i mean the same noise/ sound as you, in my case it dissapeared when the release times where set to a value of 10ms or bigger(which is a bit long i admit), sunny

Bug #12

Title:AUTOTUNE Description:autotune doesn't work well enough due to hardware/chip quality, differences often are too big, manualadjustment possibility of single oscillators would be neccesary( and spare chip/soundboard replacements)! maybe user definable savable tuningtables would also do the trick.

Bug #13

Title:releasevelocity Description:release velocity depending on attackvelocity, specifically, if struck a note softly, no possibility of release velocity is left, the two should be uncouppled, b.e. by always letting releasevelocity start from a standard(127)value and then react depending on the speed of releasing the key

Bug #14

Title:delay Description:when fiddling around for some minutes with the envelops and especially the delaytimes of them , the following happens: delay of envelope 3 only works propely when also delay on envelop 1 and 2 is set on times that are bigger then that of the delay of envelope 3 , although logical in some ways, it's annoying, limiting and unneccesary in most

Bug #15

Title:up/down buttons when saving Description:when saving a patch in the list, and wanting to select the place where to save to, the up/down buttons act the other way round ( espec.down instead of up and vise versa)

Bug #16

Title:pw reset Description: the the wavelevel of the pulse is reset to 50 when changing the button from on to out and on again, this is inconvenient

Bug #17

Title:Cannot send program data via sysex to edit buffer Description:When sending a sysex message with opcode 2 (i.e. F0 00 00 0E 1D 02 <editbuf#> <data> F7) the A6 should place the received program in it's edit buffer. The A6Helper application, written for Alesis, requires this and the program author's documentation written on behalf of Alesis suggest this function should work. It does not.

Bug #18__

Title: diverse / 2. objects selected from previous lists Description: 1 NORM2 envelope mode that's referred to in the manual but has never functioned differently from NORM1..... number 2. Envelope Re-triggering/ Implementation of envelope re-triggering in mod-t/g mode

(wishlist)

1) Polyphonic aftertouch response from MIDI Input

2) Random Patch generator (maybe with limitations on VOL. etc)

3) Knob "fine tune" option to have more gradual parameter changes

4) Sequencer "Latch" mode

5) Random Arpeggiator mode

6) When in MONO mode (high/low/last) "note priority" setting

7) Keyboard HOLD function

Cool Send MIDI notes from ARP or SEQ

9) Sync delays to Tempo

10) "Step Entry" on SEQ

11) Portamento time knob should respond to changes while a note is held down (right now a note retains the original portamento time from when the key was first pressed, ignoring knob input until the next keypress)

12) Polyphonic FM

13) modulation of the effectparameters, like on" the wedge"

14) split hold for the ribboncontroller

15) being able to adress the mod's of the envelopes and lfo-mod's as controlroutedestination

16) possibility to retune the 12 keys of an octave to different scales

17) to mark the steps of the sequenzer as it's playing, to know where it is

1Cool Auto-sync to midi clock. (Having the internal clock automatically sync to

MIDI without having to set it to sync or manual)

19) handling of 4 MB SRAM card

20) Random Patch Generator

21) LED Knobs as Sequencer Use the 8 multi led/knobs as a TR-style sequencer (the hardware is there!) 16-64 steps

22)Zero Reference Point Option for Ribbon

wherever you first touch it is "zero" and you can modulate up or down from there

23) Ribbon Controller as Trigger Ability for programs to use ribbon controller (any value > 0) as trigger, instead of keyboard

24) LFO Speed Up LFO speed up, the silly mode for fast lfo mods and halving the voice numbers for speed issues

25) Mod Page One page where you could see all modulations at work in one patch

26) Knobs Range Knobs range can be shifted or when you select a button you can use the ribbon for fine adjustment

27) Change Default Presets ( make custom default patch and save it)

2Cool Toggling Between( se;ected) Pages

29) Pot Values Also helpful for live would be a function where I could set the value when the pots react. Now it's just when you go through the original value or otherwise when you "breathe" at the pot

30) FineTune? Mode A fine tune mode while changing values with whatever knob (like shift-turn a knob will give smaller steps)

31) Sostenuto Pedal Sostenuto pedal (pedal does not affect notes turned on *after* sustain pedal is pressed, only ones being held when pedal is pressed)

32) increase sequencer steps number

33)increase arp programmability

34) Correctly save/load Mix + associated patches via sysex

35) more curves selectionable for aftertouch and velocity responds

36) real time record for sequencer

37) filter FM to be set separately .. so no offset of FM on filter 2 but a real OSC FM amount to filter

38)Operate at all even divisions of BPM, only within a reasonable range of course (40bpm-200bpm) but everything from 1 to max would be nice

39) a "Vegas mode" - where all the lights flash randomly on the front Exclamation

sounds like the matrix 1000 to me, mushy, un snappy, oogy, boring, and low fi. owned it for a year, programmed many sounds, never liked it..

Bought a jupiter 8, sh2, and micromoog to replace it. all these synths smash the a6 in the face. not to mention i got all three for about what i paid for a lame a6..

I'm sick of seeing the hype surrounding this over hyped and grossly exagerated synth. The modulations are vast, sure, but if you make the osc sound good (by turnign on high quality mode), and envs snappier (yeah right) the modulations bogg, slow down, and zipper, sounds horrid. Its a mickey mouse hack of a synth. they tried to make it do to much and the sound quality suffers because of it. Should of been 8 voices, with a much faster cpu for modulations.. but no. it has an under powered cpu in it. it cannot even remotly pull off its modulations with any accuracy and percision..

get the heck out of here with the hype of this thing.. i'm so sick of reading people sing its praises, but never paid attention to its short commings...

Some of the presetes in the A6 are very nice but most are unusable. But given all that knobs, just grab a knob and give it a twist. You will be glad you did.

The effects are OK - not much but usable.

The A6 has some annoying bugs but I don't think any of these can make someone to decide against bying it. It is an extremely deep synthesizer so that means coaxing good sounds might take some time. Indeed the more you delve into this the more you realize the sheer quality of this synth. I have created unbelievable sounds - it just takes time - the secret here is to be obsessive:-)

And please stop comparing it to other synths and talking for ages whether it can emulate a Moog or whatever because this is getting ridiculous - if you want a Moog buy a Moog :-) And stop blaming the instrument if you think it can't produce certain sounds - rather blame yourself for not programming some individuality into it believing that you can have amazing sounds just by lazily tweaking a knob...

The bugs issue wont effect most synth heads. Work with an old modular and you end up with an electric shock or a small fire. No, it all works and is designed for experimenting with.

Alesis have a good customer support team. Very efficient and quick. Nice guys.

What a great synth this is. I love the simple sequencer and blue pilot light. I love the 'organic' look to it. I love the depth of features that it offers you. What a synth!

I bought 'used' but perfect. An Alesis dealer said he could get me a new one, then didn't. Some other guy says the same below. Very frustrating.

Buy and instantly fall in love with. The greatest synth ever!

The second frustrating thing is it's sometimes buggy, especially in mix mode, which makes it all that more irritating when you realize how powererful the synth is. You want to say to Alesis, "You finally did something right. Why didn't you work the bugs out of it?" I think you shouldn't count anytime soon on much support for this synth from Alesis. They clearly are backing away from this synth and moving onto the Ion and Micron.

All that aside, I love this synth. It's like having a room size synthesizer in a small cabinet. It is capable of really deep and fat analog sounds, and it does everything any other analog modular synth can do, but without the patch cords and size. It's also so deep that I think I'll be learning the in's and out's of it for years to come. It's so much fun to play with that you start tweaking knobs and hours later you're still busy tweaking knobs.

If you want to have a real modular analog synth without taking up half your studio, whith real analog sounds, go out and buy this before Alesis discontinues it. I think it will be a new classic.

This is a fat sounding synth with all the power of a twin oscillator moog. The effects beef it up even more. It has external signal in for processing of other sound sources. It looks great and I, too, love the blue pilot light. Very funky. It is not as difficult to work with as some have said. The sheer number of features mean that it will never be as easy as a juno.

It is a very rewarding synth to own. Good touch and aftertouch responsive keyboard. This is a big mo' phat mother! Forget unreliable jupiters, prophets and obies. This is the one classic you should own.

Lots of Mix mode bugs when creating or editing patches, save your work often!

I don’t think I would buy one of these used or recommend to someone to buy a NFS one or a used one, from what I have seen first hand and read in the A6 mailing list it would be like winning the lottery to get one in perfect working order. That said,. after getting one that works perfectly I have to give it a 5 dispite the unfinished OS and high fallout rate for perfect voice chips and other problems, hopefully the OS will one day become open source

The sound is digital hybrid---to classic analogue. It can do all sounds. The envelopes, though digital, are super quick and smooth. Old ideas about software based logic don't apply. The processor is very fast. Light years faster than a 1980's Z80 running at 6mhz! It can process sounds faster and smoother than my rev3 prophet and that's good enough for me. The look is very futuristic. It is clear and logical when you start programming, though initially it may appear cluttered.

I tried to buy one new after Alesis had announced that it was discontinued. Sites claiming to have cut price bargains didn't and tried to flog me something else. It's synth seller kudos, apparently. Look better stocked than you really are. A bit frustrating to me. Especially when they told me to, 'Wait and we'll get back to you', then didn't. I got a used example in a swap/cash deal. My beloved Jupiter6 was part of the deal...sob! Saying that, it looked and sounded very ordinary when compared to the A6 as the deal progressed. Old analogues just can't compare. It's a sad fact. My prophet sounds plain, predictable and unimaginative up against it. I'd like to say the opposite. Thw A6 is just so well designed and specified. It stays in tune and is reliable. The modulation possibilities are endless. Who in their right mind would pay 2 grand for a memorymoog when you ban buy one of these so much cheaper?

Back then, I had no idea how the A6's mod matrix was implemented. But a few years later I just happened to be tinkering with the knobs at Chuck Levin's and discovered what the fuss was about. It was love at second sight. Now that an A6 sits less than a yard from me churning out endless non-repeating Synthi-like burble-scapes, I can safely state that Andromeda = bliss, truly a hard-wired modular and worthy Xpander successor. Seized up on me exactly once in the eight months I've owned it, so I don't know why some moan about reliability issues.

In a word...aaaaaaaaaaah!

If you have a love for simulated analog then good for you. If you prefer the tone of real analog then go for an A6. Yep, its certainly not the best sounding true analog...but in my opinion its a damn site better than simulated.

Its clear to me from reading all these reviews...that alot of peep here aint uesed an A6.

True, it sounds unlike any "vintage" analog I've ever owned. The Andromeda's a million times deeper, and despite only having 2 oscillators, is capable of making sounds so outrageous and bizarre that they'd scare the pants off a mannequin or the sense into Tom Finegan.

Route whatever to whatever else & revel in the mayhem.

At this point I find the OS to be solid, as is the construction, and everything works as it is supposed to. The manual is clear and well written.

As for the instrument itself it is a work of art as well as a technical marvel. The sonic possibilities are awesome, and there is virtually unlimited modulation clearly layed out with easy control of everything. Others have tried to describe what it sounds like; I'm not going to bother because I'm not interested in a synth that sounds like something else, but that has a unique voice and sonic palette of its own. This one has it and more.

As more and more investment goes into virtual instruments you are unlikely to see anything like this again. If you want a device that has nearly unlimited analog synthesis possibilites this is the one; the one and only. Consider old analogs and what a dozen years of technical improvements could add up to and you have the Andromeda.

As with most synths these days the presets don't do it justice, but the only synths that presets really matter on are romplers and this baby is built for programming and tweaking. However, unlike many synths where you can just play with knobs and get some nice sounds, with this one you have to know what is going on to realize its potential. It requires some investment of time, but if you've invested this kind of money you know that.

Note that all recent reviews are nearly 100% on this; the only bad reviews are earlier from people who don't own one so the average is skewed lower than it should be.

It is a synthesist's dream in terms of sounds and possibilities; if your idea of making music consists of loops and Reason it probably isn't for you, but in all likelihood is the basis for a lot of original material that went into those "loops."

If you want something that will give you your own sound and won't sound like everything else out there this is the dream machine. The more original and creative you are the more this device will serve you. It is the perfect board for realizing new sounds and it would take years to exhaust its possibilities. In years to come it will be a sought-after classic as nothing else can deliver what it can.

I think most of the reviewers below me understand that when u play on a true fat warm analog polysynth...its one of those ciggarett and wine moments. Enjoy.

THe andromeda really is a fine sounding synth. I dont use the onbaord effects (makes it sound a little digital for my likeing). I use this synth for alot of sounds, mostly pads and leads and fx. I dont use it for bass.....i just cant resist the mono/poly basss yeeha.

If your looking for a very versatile analog poly then this is the only one really. Its not the absolute best sounding synth ive ever owned...but it does have the WOW factor that no current softsynth or VA has imho. There is something in the sound of true analog that just sounds 'better' than software. Subjective i know but....

I hope we see continued support for this great synth.

Superb synth.

Regards

SK

Manual is crap!...mine came with pages 146-176 missing!!!!....great!.....

Why-oh-why can't individual (polyphonic) programs be routed to the 16 outputs?.....this would have been greatly preferable to each voice having its own output...

Lot's of crashes!....'specialy when messing with the arp'/FX.....save regularly!

Sounds are amazing!....route this thing thru a Manley massive passive and you WILL require new trousers!....

Envelopes are interesting but not quite right.....i'd have like to have had more control in this area a la Absynth, but i know i'm prolly dreaming.....still, the envelopes knock the socks off any other analogue i'm aware of....

.....this thing definately sounds analogue.....it's an organic quality sadly missing from soft-synths...

laterz!

Whats up with all these kiddies and the negative vibe towards this well crafted analog monster.Yes this goes out to all you grooveboxers and wannabe modelers.Nothing in the past 15 years has even come close to the capabilities it has to offer.(Oh wait, SE's Omega 8 is heaven sent as well) With so many modulation options it is literally not very funny at all.This is the one you'll want to get stranded with on a remote island.Music is sure to take a turn very soon.G'day fellow Analogians!!

Some people claim the envelopes are slow and oogy. I think they didn't program enough on the A6 to truly learn how to get a good sound from it, because it's one of my best sounding synths. In a day in age that people are paying close to $1000 for a vintage analog with less than half of the potential of this monster, I fail to see how it's overpriced.

I give it a strong 5!

The A6 is one hell of a satisfying analogue synth...i love it.

And ALESIS is a modern day miracle for my goa drug parties :) It sounds so deliciously analog, yet so powerful enough to integrate with a midi sequencer, the best of both worlds...

i have access virus, yamaha an1x, nord lead, though these synths have some good fm routing etc, nothing comes to the power of andromeda for pure pure analog heaven, maybe an1x comes a bit close. The dsp-analog synths sound more thin, clinical, and less raw than the sound of electricity flowing through your head when you listen to andromeda...

andromeda lets you take current from the wall and tune it to your hearts content, not like those pre-programmed synths with sounds that i have no use for.

ANDROMEDA has 16 multitimbre! what a magic. and it has 16 polyphony (which is awesome for analog synth), trust me, i doubt you need much more than that..i use a yamaha rs7000 to sequence, and using the two is just an explosive combination (hell yeah!) the first 8 channels of rs7000 can be assigned to drums, or machines like waldorf rack attack and 2 channels for rs7k sampler, and you will have 6 channels for analog sounds...one for pad, one for bass, one for lead, one for sfx, etc.

simple math: pads take 4 notes of polyphony, bass takes 1 note polyphony, lead, sfxs can totally take maybe 5 notes polyphony, which means you will still have 6 additional notes...remember 1 note in an analog synth can sound incredibly better than 3 notes from a dsp-analog!!!

I hated alesis before for their cheesy qs series synths, but after andromeda came out, i am giving them a 2nd chance.

only thing with andromeda, is because its oscillators are original analog, you need to warm up the device for around 5 minutes for the oscillators to be warm and the motorola coldfire processor to autotune it...however, since the signal path is analog, and its digitally controlled by motorola processors, you have the REAL ANALOG SOUND coupled with DIGITAL STABILITY (no tuning etc)...

the alesis technology is amazing, and far superior to any virtual analog synth can offer...

I give the synth a 100000000000/5 if i could! GOOD JOB ALESIS!

Well ok if you want to compare how well the a6 can do a piano or string or organ or guitars to a sampler/rompler synth then yeah the A6 sucks for that. Actually IMHO the A6 does a good job at emulating acoustic sounds. But that is not what the A6 was built for. If you want edgy,unpridictable,upfront,crunchy,fat,smooth,lush,alive sounds. this is were you will find them. right on the A6.

If my Virus KB can generate every nalogue based waveform plus 62 unique digital waveforms than why dod I buy the A6?

Simply have you heard the A6's sinewave or square wave compare to the VA. They sound different. The Square wave on the A6 just sound all the round fuller,louder,upfront,alias free(Digital sound artifacts at high frequencies)than the Virus. The Virus sounds more simple,narrower,thinner. Same thing with the Sine wave. The triangle and the saw wave sound more simular but the A6's is more alive and alias free.

You see there is a certain quality that real analogs have that the VA's are not able to do yet. Atleast not in my knowladge. And what is wrong with some of us who still prefer a bit of retro sounds. If Digital future sounds your cup of tea then go for it. I too am for the digital push my self. But whether you know it or not care or not or like it or not. There is still a place for analog sounds. And they sound great together with the new wavetable,granular,sampler,rompler sounds of Digital Technology. I believe the reason why VA exists is becuase it is very expensive to build a synth based off real analog circuit and or chips. Plus if you notice with most VA's as they being done all in a digital chip! manufactuares are able to add digital inherent features like uniqe waveforms or features. So VA's are nice to have if you cant afford the real thing. But no VA can quite match the real thing in many ways yet.

That said I do not see the real analog being better than the VA or Vice versa. They are all unique and have there own characters.

The fact that people are writing such emotional and defensive comments is the proof.

And thank goodness! If every single synth ever made sounded exactly like a Moog or a Prophet then electronic music would be dead would it not?

Alesis should be seriously congratulated.

Anyway, I have had my a6 for a few days now. I got it as a open box from the local GC. I can definitly say two things about it:

1. its one of the most unique sounds ive ever heard on a synth, and Ive played hundreds of them. The analog oscillators sound good, the filter (while a bit strange at first) is very nice to work with, and the control surface, while overwhelmingly complex, is also very inspiring. These are mostly subjective opinions, but then again music is a very subjective thing.

2. the digital envelopes are kind of weird to get your head around, but they work great. I like the combination of digital control + analog sound sources. I think you get the best of both worlds with this approach.

3. to both the bashers: why do you take this synths existance so personaly? You would think that when alesis announced it, the press release contained foul information about your mothers.

I think you should have to own or had owned one before you can post comments here. No way to validate it, but in all honesty, a 10 minute test drive in a guitar center with the shit poor monitors they provide is NOT going to give you an accurate picture of a synth. I usually buy it, play with it in my own studio, and then if I dont like it I use that 30 day return policy...

anyway, dont forget to take your blood preasure medication

bob

I have just to say that, having bought an A6 as my first analogue synth, I'm totally blown away.

I've had a Nord Lead 2, Oberheim OB12, Supernova II and Virus C (now only the Supernova II), and the "analogue" part of their "VA" tag is a joke. They are all great synths, they sound incredible on their own, but they can't even start to sound like the Andromeda. It is a world apart, on a totally different league.

Bash this synth all you want, it will still be one of the best pieces of gear you can put your hands on, period.

Can't believe the amount of bashing I've seen on this thing. Out of jealousy, perhaps.

We've got one in our studio here, and many an established producer in the area has come by wanting to peek and tweak what they've been unable to. And have had their minds blown. There is so much packed into this thing, so much that can happen with each sound, plus the fact that it's 16 voice analogue... that it is jaw dropping.

So bash or no, it's a solid piece of kit that many of the bashers haven't yet touched. Or gotten under the hood of.

Oh, and the LFO was upgraded to be as fast as you want it in the latest OS. The benefit of digital LFOs and envelopes is the fact that they're upgradeable via software.

This is utterly idiotic. Except for a Buchla I can't name a single analog envelope that's more than an ADSR. So if you want anything remotely versitile or interesting, digital is the only way to go. And about every "analog" synth since the early 80's has digital envelopes and LFOs (including the MKS70 which you reccomended), most of those being 8-bit. I'm not absolutely certain but I'd imagine the modulation on the Andromeda is calculated to at least 16-bits, alleviating the stepping problem present on older analogs (which strangely enough seem to be perfectly useable despite being terribly crippled by digital modulation). I have serious doubts as to whether an analog envelope would sound any different (nevermind any better) than a well-coded digital envelope. Envelopes and LFOs only affect a sound indirectly, so the affects are much less audible than the difference between analog and digital oscillators, etc. I think any difference in sound would only be detected by careful analysis, and even then I doubt one would sound any better than the other.

Step off your stupid analog elitist platform and look at the whole synth, not the individual parts. One could just as easily say that the SH-09, OB8, and MKS70 are awful and useless awful because they don't use integrated circuits in the signal path, or because they're not Minimoogs or TR-909s or because they don't have holographic paint jobs. And their opinion wouldn't be any more justified.

And this bit just kills me:

"just traded it for a triton cause the triton soudns sat better in my mix, and i hate digital."

has the irony of this sunk in yet? Surprise! The Triton has digital envelopes and LFOs! In fact, it's ALL DIGITAL. So it must be the worst synth in the world!

Before we discuss the relative merits as a musical instrument, let's talk tech for a moment. The architecure employed by Alesis in this machine is a rare combination of a revolutionary utilization of technology that remains accessable to the targeted user base. The design team for this product should be awarded the Noble Peace prize for fianlly harmonizing the desires of Analog Jihadists and those of the virtuous virtual variety. To put it succintly - All the tones with none of the guilt. Consumers that are put off by the "high price" of this unit would be wise to realize that even at these prices Alesis is probably effectively shipping several C-Notes in each carton - The quality of the componentry and level of workmanship truly transcend ANYTHING else currently spewing out of the major manufacturers. Perhaps the most essential element of the A6 is that it is truly upgradable, something that has heretofore been unknown in the analog realm. This alone may be worth the price of admission as the box will continue to grow and the inevitable cult that develops will probably produce some amazing aftermarket innovations for years to come.

As an instrument the A6 has fewer limitations than almost anything out there - Although it is a requirement of any interview on this board to bash the presets (Manufactures Note: Save some money - DON'T BOTHER) those on the A6 are far more useful than anything else on the market. Not convinced? See how many of the MIX sets are finding there ways onto Loop CDs...Not that there's anything wrong with that! But with a beast of this caliber the joy is programming and mother what a RIDE! The only MINOR quibble I have with Alesis is that they continued to use the ridiculously over-priced SRAM PCMCIA cards for patch memory - I'm going to experiment with 10X Compact Flash and an adapter and see how it goes...

A few of you lucky souls had the foresight to go out anf get one of these beauties. It is my belief that you will be amply rewarded, for as soon as the all too limited supply dries up, they will be recognized for the modern classisc that they are. Then will see how you enjoy paying $5,000 for a refurbed road unit...You have been warned!

Most people that also knock the A6, don't seem to realize that very few keyboards can rival the A6 in modulation capabilities. The A6 allows extensive modulation that are topped only by modulars in some instances. When I first heard the A6, it wasn't first love. I thought it also sounded muddy and sluggish, but I've learned that the presets and first impressions don't do this keyboard justice. Once you actually spend time with the A6, you'll be surprised how many good results you can get. If you're not into programming, I'd suggest sticking with a lower end synth... But if you like synth programming and would like a "modular in a box" the A6 does it's job quite well.

-=proto=-

Cheers

John

I think that many people judge too fast on any synths... they just "tried" for 30Mins or a Hour !? You can try Vintage stuffs like this... but not A6... it has so many possibilities !!! (it's not a mono analog synth with not effects... presets... etc...

If you know how to "exploit" (use...) any keyboard properly, you can ***always*** find something (sound or musical approach...) interesting to be used in music creation.

With all the parameters capable of modulation, and with the analog and digital effects, the temptation can be to make insane and complex set-ups that do seperate the A6's sound from its vanilla analog bretheren, but let me assure you, under all the optional make-up, a very warm, capable and unique analog heart beats. The filters are great for making analog drums noises. Pads are a synch, as mentioned, but not just watery Juno-types (although it can do this too) but vibrant Oberheim type pads. I also have a Big-Briar MIDI'd, Lintronic advanced MiniMoog, and side-by-side with my A6, have nailed to a T, some of my favourite Mini-Moog sounds with the A6. I will say that the Moogs can go places the A6 cannot, something in the low-mid Oomph dept., but the A6 is her own beast, and very capable of white-hot shearing synth leads that I've heard from no other analog from ARP to SCI. A unique and diminishing modern classic, take one up and treasure it before they are gone forever, all things said and done, this is argueably the best analog synth ever. One gripe - While the A6 features a metal body, I would have paid extra for wooden end cheeks, and heavier controls.

it is true that ist is just not the same to program some software run on a DSP which calculates some waveform, then converted to audio and to design complex analog circuits, control them through a microprocessor an a comprehensive user-interface. the latter is a much much more complicated task and definitely worth it!!

CRAFTMANSHIP Well, it certainly is of the same subjective quality as the Vas. At least. The knobs don’t feel as solid as on the old moogs, i have to admit. But there again, the synth is much cheaper in real terms than the old analogs when they came out. let’s be fair. And there are a lot more knobs an buttons… would you be prepared to pay more than 4000 US for an A6 with better buttons… ?

2) POSIIBILITIES the A6 is truely made with love by people who must have been absolutely enthousiastic for what they did. the amount of parametres and the control you have over the sound is truely stunning. it comes very close to a analog modular in termes of flexibility and on some respects goes much further.as an example you can control all the elements of the bandpass and notch filters and modify it's characteristics and route it parralel or in series to the 24db filter. Apply FM to all you want, use SYNC and RING-MOD… incredible. this yields stunning sonic diversity even with only one OSC on. vintage synths can't compete. they might sound different but are NOT as versatile. The only thing that might come close ist the oberheim MATRIX 12 but its envelopes are slow in comparison to the A6’s.

3) SOUND i own a lot of stuff. I personnally find that the sound IS very powerful and really has nothing to do with VA’s. i tested the NORD II, III, Q etc. and i really think you connot compare them to the A6 which stands way above them.( The virus sounds well, too.) It can sound very fat, thin or anything between. And its sound is not agressive to your ears ! ! the filters sound very good, especially the 12db mutimode. The 24db is not like the minimoogs but you can produce quite convincing bass drums with it. The only thing on my wish list would be the auto-calibration of the VCA’s to allow high VCO FM without sound differences between the voices. But this is a minor point because high FM sounds are very rarely indeed used in poly.

CONCLUSION This synth is the most powerful analog ever produced. If you don’t know analog or don’t need an instrument with a soul, that is alive pass on to VA. But all the others who appreciate the difference, it makes a great addition to your samplers, and digital stuff ! it is the real thing ! and, beleive me, it IS EXCELLENT VALUE FOR MONEY.

Don't waste your time with the analog "wannabes"...get this one. The only thing that comes close is the Waldorf stuff...

All those who are talking shit about the A6 need to get your hands on one and truly explore the range of possibilites availible on this synth. you really need to experience the Andromeda to truly be able to fathom its depth and creative potential.

its an arp, a moog, a sequential... you name a sound, it can do it...

this thing is just mind boggling... anyone who rates this anything lower than a 5 has no clue in sound synthesis what-so-ever.

if you are remotely serious about music, buy it in a heartbeat.

First off, I can fucking levitate my rackmount H&K bass amp from my bass cabinet, which it sits on top of, using "Wolf Bass" playing the quintessentially80's "I Can't Wait." As rad as this is, I about fucking died one night doing this when it almost landed on me. Thus, the questions I had about it's "low end" capabilities before I bought were answered a long time ago. I'm not sweating the purchase of a Minimoog anymore.The pads and strings are magnificent, though I've never played a Prophet, Jupiter, Oberheim, or Memormoog and can't make a comparison. I'm not a huge brass kind of guy, but that shit is definitely covered. Really and truly, the Andy does everything, with more power, possibilities, and pure aestheticism than anything I've ever heard or used. Pound for pound, probably only a modular, which the Andy essentially is with all of its modulation capabilities, could overtake this thing. The effects are fine, the TI-82 graphing calculator like display and layout in general are fucking beautiful, and the ribbon controller rocks ass. I'm not Johnny Sequencer-Arpeggiator, but hey, when I need that shit it's there. I don't really know what else to say. I play this thing alongside a Nord II and Triton almost daily, which are owned by the other keyboard player in my band, and that shit just can't hang in my book. It's hard to compare the Andy to the Triton, as they're way-different beasts, but the Nord, as cool, proven, and practical as it, just feels like a pink plastic toy to me. I'm not trying to disrespect it, because I dig it in a big way as well, but the Andy just kind of seems on a different level. As subtle as the differences are, I can personally and pretty easily tell a difference between VA and analog because of our set-up. Really, the only downside, which is also it's greatest attribute, is its complexity. That's obviously more of a problem with the user than with the board, and hey, I look forward to growing old and crusty with this bi-itch!

It's like comparing apples and oranges. But dig this, man... You can take any digital shit on the market as I did and do a blow-by-blow sound test side-by-side with these machines and hear and feel what happens; You can make a beat on a digital unit like an E-MU Command Station or Roland MC505 or Yamaha RM1X. Or a Bassline. Then plug in the Alesis Andromeda, the 777, and the Jomox stuff and duplicate the pattern to the BPM and dig this. The Analogue stuff will send a vibration that goes through Your body at low volumes.It will be physical and You will feel it. Then the digtal stuff even with Subs will have to be at higher volume and it will NOT vibrate through Your body... As a Dance music guy, I want stuff that does this to the dancers who groove to my stuff. Dig. Analogue is NOT an emulation but a generated sound.

Personally, every excursion I have made into digital synths has met with bad fortune. I think many sound cool. But for me, I stay now to Analogue. I love the organic warmth and unpredictability of Analogue. No digital glitches, either. Smooothness with Analogue.

The Andromeda was a personal revelation to me. I only want another one. Like I want another 777 or any Jomox stuff, too. I can't say enough good about these machines or the makers of them.

Draconis

Before I took delivery of the Andromeda, I only had a brief play with on at a seminar. I remeber the synth sounding rather harsh, but the single sound I programmed on it was promising. I liked the specs and what was offer and in blind leap of faith, I sold my Minimoog, Juno106, mks80 and Ax-73 analogs to fund my purchase of the unit.

After bringing it home and playing it - I wasn't quite sure what to make of the sound. I guess I was slighlty disappointed, it just sounded so clean and hardly vintage like. The next day I started programming some sounds, turning off the backgroundtuning to let the sound drift like the good old boys. Then I started to like and began to see the depths of the synth. So began the "honeymoon" period :)

After a few weeks I began to hate it, I guess the Honeymoon was over. At this point most people would sell it. I stuck with it, and now I love it! I think the attitude and the purpose of what you think the Andromeda is all about will greatly effect your judgement of the synth. I guess I intitally expected the Andromeda to be all and end of analogs. It can't, but it comes darn close!

The basic architecture - is a 2VCO+2sub-oscillator and 2 filters per voice. Add 3 LFOs, 3 envelopes, a Sample and hold, portamento (which can act as a 4th simple envelope for the VCO and/or Filters) and a modulation structure.

The VCOs are nicely featured and can be independantly modulated! A big plus for me. They feature Saw (positive or negative) Square (with pulsewidth control and modulation), Triangle and SIne. All waveforms can be selected, and the Square waveform has variable volume. Each VCO also has a sub-oscillator, which can be used to add that octave below or to create new waveforms. The Andromeda's oscillator mixer (pre-filter mixer) uses a ratio system for the sub-oscllilator, so it can be set to create a waveform, which will not be disturbed by the actually VCO level. Mixing the sub-oscillator at level 34.7 with a Sawtooth creates a nicely rounded sawtooth type waveform, great for thick sounds. You also have the usual, linear and expononetial FM, hard and soft-sync, 3 shapes of noise, VCO to filter FM, noise to VCO fm etc.

The 2 filters also have different character - the multimode 12db filter based on the Oberheim SEM filter, is a bit more aggressive, and will overdrive at high resonance settings, but will not self-oscillate. You can always back down the oscillator volumes to reduce the saturation. This filter offers Low pass, High pass, Band pass and Band reject. The 24db filter is based on the Moog Modular low pass filter, and subjectively is the weaker of the 2 filters on hand. The volume drops as resonance increase , as does the bass, just like the Moog Modular's. But it does sound much warmer and the resonance is very soft and organic, unlike the strong resonance in the Roland analog synths. This filter will self-oscillate.

Both filters can be used at the same time, with outputs from all filters up at the mixer - 12db LPF, BPF, HPF and the 24db LPF. Or they can be run in several serial configuarions. This allows for some nice vocal and formant type sounds. there is also a filter feedback button which re-routs the audio back into the Pre-filter mixer. This changes the sound depending on the filter configurations. Sometimes you get a thicker sound, sometimes overdrive. Other times it will spike the resonance of the filters . This is actually how one can emulate the sound of Roland filters, and it will also send the 12db Multimode filter into self-oscillation.

The envelopes and LFOs are very flexible! The envelopes have 2 decays and 2 releases, plus each stage can have a different slope. You can emulate a lot of the character from various vintage analog synths by fiddling around here. They can also be looped, and bounty of triggering options, such as triggering by LFOs. LFOs are nicely slow - 0.07 hertz or so, but not too fast on the fast end 25hertz. You can substitue a looping enevlope for faster modulation :) Unlike LFOs in other synths, you have 10 times the flexibility on offer here! LFOs can be, be delayed, offset, uni-polar or bi-polar, their levels determined, their phase changed, modulated plus a slew of triggering and syncing options

Tonally - the A6 has a smooth, chorusy sound, soft and watery like. It can also get mighty harsh if you so wish. The 2 mixers on the A6 , the Pre-filter mixer and the Post-filter mixer greatly effect the sound and tone of the Andromeda. 90% of the presets overload these 2 mixers for that gritty sound many have commented on. These mixers are analog and will clip. The levels of these mixers will also determine how hard you drive the filters.

Soundwise it can definitely get those Moog sounds down. Moog modular and especially the Mini. A few others say it can do MemoryMoog nicely, I have never heard one so I can't vouch for that. It can also do some Oberheim and some other American synths if you are familiar with those synths in question and know the A6 inside out. It can do some Japanese synth sounds, but the responce of the filters are nothing like the 24db Roland filters which have a more agressive sounding resonance.

Personally I find the sounds the Andromeda can make to be quite powerful. OK discrete analogs will sound better, but given the tools and sound capabilities on offer that is acceptable trade off. I've also found a tonal difference betwen the main outs and the Aux/voice outs. The main outs sound muddy and a bit soft vs the Aux and voice outs - I would use the Aux and voice outs for bass and drums, because of the better high frequency and attack characteristics

The Andromeda features a lot for the money. With the help of the extensive but somehwat fiddly modulation capabilities, the A6 can enter the world of modular analogs as far as the types of sounds one would normally hear from them, but in the Andromeda's case you can play them polyphonicly. Unlike the modulars however the modulation speed is a tad slower. That is the drawbacks of software generation, but the hardwired modulations such as the filter envelopes are nice and responsive.

Because of the flexible architecture, the Andromeda can certainly do sounds that many analog synths would be hard pressed to do likewise, such as complex analog drums, Wavestation style pads and vocal/formant/choir sounds. And even analog pianos! Add modern midi specs where every knobs will send and receive controller data (in the latest OS). Add a fully assignable ribbon controller, nice keyboard, 3 filter inputs (which also function as audio triggers that can be routed as a modulation source), CV inputs, 16 16x3 step sequencers and arpeggiator, and you have one of the deepest and most complete analog polyphonics that can give many an analog mono-synth a big fright!

I have plenty of new mp3s here with many more new ones coming every so often

http://members.optushome.com.au/coolcolj/SoundBites/

On a final note I have discovered many cool things about the A6's architecture, please check the A6 mailing list archives if you wish to learn more. http://www.code404.com/a6/

The bad stuff first..

I don't want people to get the wrong impression on the A6, it is no walk in the park - its is no beginner synth. Unless you have dabbled with soft-synths like VAZ Modular, Reaktor or analog modulars, I would not recommend this synth to you. You do have to dig deep into the menus to get all the good stuff. But unlike the software, you are rewarded with nice organic analog sonics :) In many ways it reminds me of using soft-synths but with real analog sound.

It can be rather daunting at times. You do have to plan ahead in your mind if you want to program some complex stuff.

I sometimes find the A6 behaving rather erratic at times. Sometimes a mod will work not work immediately when you plug it in, and the next day it does in the same circumstance. Odd - must be a OS bugs. Nothing major but it can be frustrating when your just trying things to see what it does. For example the other day I modulated the VCA env with an LFO - nothing happened until I adjusted the decay slighty and then it started working. I posted this as a bug to the mailing list. Then the next day, it works straight away! Makes me look like a fool...

The sensitivity of the edit knobs under the display is pure frustration! You have to use these knobs a lot to adjust the parameters, and your always flip flopping around a value you want as the things just take off!!! The up/down buttons can get smaller increments, but who wants to hit em 10-20 times?! I hope this gets fixed.

Worst of all is that there is no button to jump from parameter to parameter in the display without actually editing it... unbelievable!

For some reason the OS just feels like its made by programmers who don't write lots of music themselves and who don't use music making gear a lot. A lot of stuff the should be together is spread all over the place. It feels like tip toeing around sometimes. As a result programming some sounds can take 3 times longer on the A6, compared to an old skool analog synth. Off course you can speed things up a bit once you make a few template patches.

more to come

Colin

but i'll be more than happy if people sell theirs off...in fact, i might buy another one if the price is right.

The power is in the envs, yes the osc is phat moog, the filters are ober and moog, but the envs are what allows you to really shape the sound into anything you can think ov.. I think this is the best synth i have ever played. i made extensive pads that are in unison, and dont cancel out due to the poly count beign so high, even odl analgos cannot do this. and VAs,, dont make me laugh. this thing is the GOD of all synths! you jsut have to spend some time behind it and learn, and the curve is not big, the envs seem confusing at first, but a run through the manual and hands on, i was flying in no less than 3 minutes. the screen rocks, and allows you to see everything and edit things to the extreme.. its great for seeing your matrix and seeing what is doing what.. etc..

it is worth 3 grand.. paying less is a steal..

Yes, the envelopes, LFOs and other modulators are digitally generated, but this is also the case with the Studio Electronics Omega-8 and the classic and most certainly vintage Oberheim Xpander/Matrix 12. The general practise seems to be that if the signal path is analog then the synth is considered to be an analog synth. Thus, as the Andromeda's voice generation is analog, the Andromeda is an analog synth. If one does not consider that to be the case, then one should not consider any of the synths I mentioned to be analog synths.

Whoever designed the color and graphics must have been watching too many Jetsons cartoons. I'm sure it's a fine synth but I think the price is a lot about the "Analog" hype. Big deal! If you like the sound buy it, but don't get it because it's "analog".

Plenty of people paid a lot more than that and you don't see them complaining.

Truth is at $2200 or $2800 its one hell of a synth and worth every penny.

BTW don't expect a price drop in the future. If anything there will be an increase as they are back in production soon and there will be no incentive to lower the price further in order to clear inventory.

I see the price stabilizing around $2399, same as the Q, and if you want mainly analogue then there isn't a better product value than the Andromeda.

The synth is worth its weight in gold.

smooth,fat,dark,cold you name the sound you want and you got it out of this beast!

i give it a straight A+ (A=Alesis A=A6 A=Andromeda)

the only problems that i have with it are fairly annoying, but still don't detract from its SOUND...the A6 does not Beat Synch to incoming MIDI clock, and currently does not send MIDI clock...big bummer, as i can only use it playing live for strings, pads, manual bass lines and special fx that don't need clocked LFO's or sequencers/arpegiattors...but they all clock perfectly internally (16 seq and/ or 16 arps), so if you have a drummer that can play along with a click track, then it works.

oh well, maybe Alesis will add these features to the OS some day... ~r~

Then I turned one of the knobs, and I couldn't believe my fingers. Most of the pots feel as if they are held to the circuit board by a single piece of thread. I mean cloth thread. They wiggle, they jiggle, they suck!!!! I can't believe the knobs are this flimsy on a 2850.00 board.

When I came online and looked at this site and a few others most reviews didn't say much about the knob flimsiness, but considering all of the hoo-ha going on at alesis, I took the board back the next day and got my money back. I realize that this piece of gear is a great value, but I didn't think it was well built at all, and that explains the low price. I have played a Matrix 12 before at a friends house and even though it has one tenth of the knobs, the board is built like a tank... I am trying to pry it from his fingers, but 2850.00 wont be enough. If you travel or gig a lot and look at the A6 be weary...

Features: 10 It's 16 voice polyphonic beating anything analogue out there. Put it this way, this synth has more features than any analog synth ever made, even the Oberheim Expander! The keyboard action is so good to me that now it's my main controller. Just go to Alesis website and check out all the features. Too many to list them all.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 10 OK, this was my main consideration before buying this synth. I had many classics analog synths in my arsenal and I was very skeptical about it until I played it first hand in a store. Let me tell you, this is where this synth SHINES!!! I drove all the way from AZ to CA just to pick one up! Great filters! Not exactly an OBXa and Minimoog but close enough to sell all my other analog synths (well, perhaps not a couple of Rolands...). The FXs are more than adequate. The pallete of sounds for this synth seems endless. Who said subtractive synthesis was boring? Anyway, I would buy this synth just for its sound quality. If someone says the contrary, they must be deaf (or they're one of those Alesis haters...)

Reliability: N/A I only had it for two weeks...

Customer Support: N/A Haven't had to call them...

Overall Rating: 10 This was my wish come true synth. I had many analogue classics that are all gone now. My live setup is a very stable old Mac Classic running Cubase Lite and the Andromeda. Nothing else! At home, even though I have a few other synths, the Andromeda is the backbone of my studio. The other synths are there just to complement it (mostly on the digital side of the spectrum). Just to let you know, the store I bought it from had my two other candidates for purchase side by side along with the Andromeda, the Waldorf Q and the Nord Lead 3. When I walked out of the store, I was very assured of my purchase.

My own relative opinion on the Andromeda comes from my experience with personal ownership of a rotating list of 20 plus synths over the past 20 years including cutting my teeth on my brother's Prophet 5 and Arp Omni when I was but a wee lad. Also for the past 4 years I have spent 40 hours a week advising customers at a major music store on what is the best synth for their needs. I have the luxury of a roomful of all the current instruments on the market at my disposal to A & B for hours on end everyday at work. We have all our instruments hooked up to the same amps with the same speakers attached. What a great test bed!

...but enough about me.

I'll keep this simple and I will direct it toward the buying public that may be reading this review list to make a decision about an Andromeda purchase.

If you need the "analog sound" and you have the money or can get together the money for an Andromeda without causing great harm to your life then by all means buy it. It is nothing short of inspirational. I have been playing it five days a week for at least an hour a day for 2 months now and I have to tell you the more I play it the more I dream of the day that I can start saving my own creations to it's user banks.

I'll break it down for you.

Sound: Absolutely amazing! Not an issue in the least. I have been working with the digital synths for so long that I forgot how a real synth feels when you are playing it. It vibrates in your chest. You can feel it coming up through the floor into your feet. The A6 does this just like all the genuine analogs that I have worked with in the past. It makes everything else in the Keyboard room at the store sound like A.M. Radios. I have done the A/B test with the A6 against Waldorfs, Nords, Korgs, Rolands, Emu's and a myriad of software synths. While all of these have qualities that I like (I even own a few of them) and some hold up better than others against the A6 (Waldorf & Nord)they all sound like they are whining in my ears. The louder I turn them up to try to match the A6 the more it hurts. I can crank the A6 up and push the amps nearly to the max and it's loud, but it feels good. My whole body is taking the pressure instead of just my eardrums.

Cost: If you have to ask then maybe you shouldn't be looking. This is a board for Pro's or anyone who cares more about great sound than their ever dwindling bank account. The music technology game is not one for the timid. The truth is that quite frankly we are all spoiled! Anyone that complains about the cost of this instrument relative to what it does doesn't know enough about genuine analog synthesis or it's history. Try dropping 5G's of 70's dollars on a 5 voice synth that wouldn't stay in tune and broke down every month. That is expensive! (My poor brother.) In all fairness we need to point out that I work in music store and I will get mine for substantially less than the average buyer. It's a good thing too, because we don't make that much money in retail and I would have to sell a whole bunch of my current gear to get this bad boy....and I definetly would.

Dependability: This is a concern. However a little perspective is called for. If you want an instrument that will never give you a single hiccup Casio has some wonderful instruments in the 400 dollar price range. If you want to play with the big boys then you have to put up with some goofiness. I see hundreds of synths go out the door and a sizeable percentage come back with problems every year at the store. They all have problems in varying degrees and could have used a few more months of tweaking. This is normal. Due to it's relative complexity an analog synth by nature is going to be a little more quirky. They all have been. That's the great thing about digital synths. They are more dependable, but at the price of rich tonal quality. The reality is that companies have to get these things out as soon as they can. You can fix it until you go broke. Yamaha is probably the only company that can afford to sit on something until it is perfect and they don't even do it. As an example: Every year the defense industry uses billions of our tax dollars to develop weapons systems that aren't truly finished until they have been in service for a few years. It's the best and most cost effective way to sort out the bugs. The big difference here of course is that if your A6 screen crashes - Marines don't die! User updateable OS. That's all that I needed to know to rest my fears in this matter. Personally I haven't come across anything with our floor model in the past two months that couldn't be corrected with a Global reset or simple tuning. Keep in mind these things are very complex and they are going to have "personality." As far as the A6 as a "road board" goes. I wouldn't take my first one out, but I will take my second one out. Only one would be too precious to risk.

The Health of Alesis: Another one to consider, but I will tell you that I have every inside indication that Alesis will come out of their current difficulties a stronger and more vital company. If anything this is the best reason to go out and buy one of these now! In a worst case scenario an A6 would only be more valuable. As an example: You can get a Prophet 5 fixed or upgraded if you want to. Has anyone tried to call or write a letter to Sequential Circuits lately? I'll say it again. Not a game for the timid.

Missing Features: Give 'em time. They will get it worked out. Though even at it's current state it can't be beat by any currently produced synth for tonal quality. Until then Marines...keep your Kevlar helmet pulled down tight.

I am giving the A6 a 5 because it excites me like no synth has in years and the sound inspires me like no other instument that I own or could purchase at this time.

I hope this inspires you to go out and listen to the A6 with fresh ears or for the first time and form your own opinion.

If you like it get it! You will not be sorry.

Thanks Alesis for giving this sound back to me. I had no idea how much I had missed it.

What a great time to be making music!

add to this all the mod cons that some VAs and digitals have - step sequencers, Arpeggiators, fancy screens, graphical readouts, MIDI controllability(soon) etc, 20 outputs, CV and filter inputs, 16-part multitimbrality with dynamic allocation the ability to store 384 patches on board (more on PCMCIA Cards - 2Mb gives you 1024!) and 256 multis. Tack on an Alesis Wedge on the sidechain inside and a big blue LED on the back and you have the Andromeda.

there are a lot of niggles and corners cut with vintage machines, even the best of them like the JP8, Matrix-12, Memorymoog, OB-Xa, Chroma etc so nothing is perfect.

Right off the bat, this thing sounds right...it has that organic wetness with a round bottom, it even gets that "dirt" in the sound like my old Jupiter 6. Although it didn't seem to have the same "mean, angry" sound my Jupiter would get, it may be because of the speakers it was set up to.

The panel is layed out nicely - you follow the signal route from left to right, it all makes sense. The screen is hella cool, but I found myself not even using it for the envelopes and such - it's real use is for scrolling through menu's.

The ribbon is weird - different than I thought (it feels like the material they make shoestings with, like a tight herringbone braided swatch of material) - but I found myself LOVING IT. I eneded up tapping it, scratching it, plucking it...it is really, really cool. There is also a HOLD button on each side to HOLD the effect where you take your finger off. My only question is "Does it send Midi CC info???"

Basically, the store had to drag me away from it each time I played it (the closed on me). This synth is just hands down FUN.

Too expensive for me I'm afraid, for the money you could get a MS-20, a Jupiter 6, a Micro Q, and a Sherman Filterbank

A great synth.

*over and out*

And it's the Mix Banks that are set up to make people think that they're instant musicians ;-) Note that there are "bread and butter" splits and layers near the end of the Mix Bank too.

There might be something wrong with the unit you tried out, in terms of the screen refresh rate. It shouldn't be a problem on a good unit!

Best regards, A

Basic stuff: Keys feel great. Tied with the K5000, probably nearly the same Fatar brand. Knobs feel fairly solid. Panel is flashy but quite functional; it blends in with my studio, but may not with yours. Build quality is much more solid than typical Alesis.

Programmability: The thing does not shine until you command it to do otherwise. And unlike many synths, the presets are a bad point to start with, because a lot of them are heavily modulated (leading to unpredictable results). I find the best sounds often come from an initialized patch gone simple, adding as you go. Ranks up with the Matrix 12 in terms of possibilities, but different sounding.

Sound: Think of a Memorymoog, than replace the oscillators with something brighter (ala ARP), and add a bit of Matrix 12 weirdness. Not quite the presence, but can get there with judicious use of Unison X and panning. Perhaps additional features later in OS life will add more presence with more features. All knobs are very sensitive; makes finite programming a bugger but makes sweeps real easy. Ribbon control adds to expressiveness as well. Digital effects merely enhance the synth over the PA. This synth is best experienced over a PA cranked loud. :)

Likes: The sound is great. The interface is a joy to program for such a complex synth. It's real easy to bring up a modulation and

Dislikes: A bit on the bright side, ala the Waldorf Q (or ARPs for that matter), for an analog. In fact useful range of pot is a bit low (first 1/4 is the best sweep).

Also, really, the OS is still in a state of unkemptness, which is typical for an initial-released product these days. In one year you'll be singing the praises of the OS just like the (initially buggy and so much more incomplete) Waldorf Q, I bet.

Best features: Pads, some basslines, brightly agressive sounds, weirdness, "classic" analog sounds. Keep a monosynth for "snappier" basslines but this is a stage replacement for (Prophet 5 / Memomrymoog / Oberheim OB-?) IMHO. Programmed correctly only the sound-picky will notice the difference.

OVERALL: Some people need complex analog, some people do not. This is the first complex analog since the Matrix 12 (the OBMX does not count), and already it beats it feature for feature. Programmed right, the bass kills virtuals out of the water; the "Unison X" produces stacked pads and stabs that sound WAY thicker than a VA as well.

Recommended if you are an "early adapter" now. Wait until the OS is solidified for the rest of us, and you'll be much happier. :)

Also: Only recommended if you enjoy analog. People hype analog a lot, but few have experienced a massive polysynth. So try before you buy. I personally love the unpredictability and the added harmonics but some will desire some other sound.

Great job by Alesis on many of the features that make sound programming fun.

Solid build, knobs feels great (I still can't believe this is from Alesis), sounds incredible, it is a true labor of love from a bunch of analog synth fanatics, and it shows! It incorporates much of the best of the golden age of analog, while also taking it further than it ever went before. I am truly thrilled with it (couldn't ya tell?)!

However, I really like the playability and the 16 outputs are teriffic for running through my effects systems. I agree that the keyboard could be better. I'm stupid, so I'd pay an extra grand for a complete lack of knob-wobble and some kind of cast-iron case hehe.

I have a lot of modeling synths (Triton, MS2000R, An1x, the electribes) and of course, pure analog is rather rich. I think there are definately people who don't really appreciate the nuances between sounds. My only other peice of pure analog gear is the Juno 60, which I find I play a lot more than make sense, so I went with the Andromeda. Now that I have the andromeda, I'm quite happy. It does what it claims, and my expectaions are quite satisfied. Worth the money. I'm probably gonna sell the MS2000R (okay vocoder tho) and a bit of other kit (some Electrix stuff). I'm giving the andromeda a 4/5 because a 5 to me gives me more "innovation" in the mutilation or chaos-based-reasoning kind of scale. I remember things like the old buchla's and other modulars that were extremely experimental and had a lot of goofy ideas (Source of Uncertainty, etc...). It seems that everyone requires apple-apple and orange-orange comparables to war over. The andromeda makes a very good sound (good dynamics, not too compressed), and as far as interface goes, it's very sweet and workable. Could use some more insanity tho ;)

to use the both tell it mix. and the post mix determins what comes through. notch uses both, andbp uses both too. its so cool once i figured it out, amazing. i get hard extreme sounds, or soft bubbly.. i am in heaven.

It sounded great in the store, and even better in my arsenal. Are you sure you didn't try it with decent headphones or a good set of speakers? Some stores only plug their keyboards into a small practice amp, that's no way to judge any keyboard bucko. Ask for good headphones (or bring your own) or ask for a decent amp/speaker to play the Andro through. Small combo amps hide so much.

This thing is like a modular with its extensive modulation capabilities... the filters are fat and the VCOs are so beefy, it's obvious that this thing was designed as a labor of love by real synth geeks... and I'm learning so much about patches by studying them with the VIEW buttons... now I know how to get great analog drums and percussion and fat pads and shimmery FM sounds. NO MORE NAVIGATING THROUGH MENUS! I can tweak to delight with knobs and buttons!! YEAH!!!!

THANK YOU ALESIS FOR BRINGING BACK REAL ANALOG WITH KNOBS!!!

Hybrid synthesizers like the Prophet-5, OBX/Xa/8, Memorymoog, or Andromeda use ADCs to convert analog signals such as knobs, pitch wheels, and foot control pedals into a digital signal that can be read by the CPU. The keyboard is a diode matrix who data is not an analog signal but can be directly read by the CPU to detect a pressed key. All these signals are summed by the CPU and the control data is sent to a DAC which converts digital bits to an analog signal.

Because there are many analog devices to be controlled and DAC chips are expensive, the digital signals coming from the CPU are multiplexed. This allows the system to use only one DAC chip and to save $$. If you look at the output of the DAC, it is a periodic waveform of random voltage levels. All the control voltages for each analog device are "mixed" in this waveform. To separate the analog signal for each separate analog device, a demultiplexer is combined with the CPU address lines to isolate the DAC's analog signal only for that addressed device.

There may be hundreds of analog signals to demultiplex (DEMUX), and while each DEMUX'd output is unselected and turned off from the DAC, we need a way to hold each DEMUX'd output level while the rest are being serviced, otherwise the analog signal would immediately go away. That is the purpose of the S&H. When a DEMUX'd output is selected, the S&H is in "Sample" mode and it "records" the voltage; when the output is not selected, the S&H is in "Hold" mode and it "freezes" the output at its previous "Sample", no matter what the input of the S&H is. It is far cheaper to build a hundred S&H circuits than it is to buy a hundred DAC chips. The DAC->DEMUX->S&H has been standard design convention since the first hybrid synthesizer.

A VCO has a voltage control input that is converted to an exponential current which controls the rate of charge on a capacitor which is discharged near instantaneously when it reaches a preset level, and the cap charges again. This cap charge/discharge cycle repeats over & over, and the voltage across the cap is a ramp waveform from which all the other VCO waveforms are derived from, and faster cap charge time=higher VCO frequency. It doesn't matter the input voltage originates from a keyboard, a pitch wheel, a ribbon, an LFO, or a DAC->DEMUX->S&H as is the Andromeda, Prophet-5, Memorymoog, JP8, and OBX/Xa/8, it is *still* a VCO. This has been established convention in the industry and in the music press for over twenty years.

A DCO replaces the charged cap and the exponential current converter with a waveform generator that is directly generated by the CPU. There is no analog voltage control input at all on a DCO. Any traditional analog controller, whether it is a keyboard, pitch wheel, LFO, or otherwise must have its data in the digital domain to be utilized by the DCO.

In a DCO synth, the CPU generates the waveforms for all the DCOs and thus can directly control the frequency of all DCOs. And if you put them in unison, the waveforms from all the DCOs will be in phase. While DCOs have excellent stability and are perfectly in tune between each other, they tend to sound cold and sterile especially when you put the voices in unison mode. And DCOs are only turned on when a key is pressed, so every time you press a key the waveform starts at the same phase.

In contrast, VCOs in a polyphonic synth are free-running at all times and the phase is never synchronized between VCO waveforms. Unlike DCOs, no two VCOs are ever dead on tune with each other, they can be real close but not perfect. And everytime you play a different voice, the detuning between VCOs is never exactly the same and the phase is always different. VCO synths tend to have more life in their sound for these reasons. The Andromeda lets you disable background tuning and temperature tuning if you want real vintage analog drift like the vintage synths of the 70s, and if the options are enabled the tuning stability is excellent by today's standards. Analog VCO design has progressed a long way since the days of the Minimoog, Prophet-5, et al and the Andromeda has taken advantage of this progress.

When you modulate a VCO with a pitch wheel, LFO, the waveform is always consistent. When you modulate a DCO, the CPU has to interrupt the current waveform and start another one at the new frequency, and the waveform is never consistent. The CPU in a DCO synth isn't fast enough to emulate the VCO behavior, it has too many other things to do. That's why VCOs sound "smoother" when you modulate them.

Aside from the fact that it has a moog like osc, sem and moog filters, it has an amazing modulation matrix, almost as versitly if not more than the arp2600. But i think what really gives it its own charachter is the addsrr. You can shape the envelopes like no other synth can, giving it the power to makes sounds that have been made before by moogs, obers, and arps, but also sounds that you can shape like no other because of the addsrr(atack, decay 1, decay 2, sustain, release 1, release 2). And with the display, fine tuning, and editing is so precise, that it goes beyone older analog gear. People who really are into sound creation like i am really love this synth because of these features, THAT NO OTHER SYNTH ON THE MARKET HAS.

And I would like to mention, That alesis hired a lot of very good analog people to make this synth, it is not designed by the same people who made the quadraverb, the qsr6, and things like that. Alesis makes it, but it really sounds nothing like an alesis product except for the fx of course.

I love the ribbon, And i think it makes a great controller, I love the keys as well, no analog has a feel like this. Its pretty, i don't care what people say, the pictures don't do it justice. I love the complex mod routings, and how you can use the filters together (not many synths offer this even in digital form, let alone analog). You can even modulate the FX! I think you can modulate just about everything in this thing. 3 lfos! not as many as the matrix, but who cares. The step sequencer is cool (havent played with it much) as is the arpeggiator. The portomento modes are great, you can set the slopes (no other synth does this). The presets still don't do it justice. I mean, so much can be done, the presets tend to try and sell this to techno kids. I think the people who did the presets could have done more to show off how this synth is very modular in design, The crazy sound fx, and evolving atmospheres that you can create with this thing is amazing, the pads and strings can evolve so amazingly and still be beefy like real analog, the matrix just doesnt have the beef of these oscs.

I like all analog synths for the most part, but this thing is so thought out and powerful. It gives you the power of a nord modular, with the fatness of analog, with a ton of knobs, a screen, and a nice keyboard, ribbon controler, and fx.

Don't argue any more. It sounds like these KIDS that get on here, are not into sound design, have not really looked at all the details this thing has to offer. If they only knew how to make sounds decently, or to use a modular, they would see how wonderful this synth really is.

IT really is not that expensive. I bought mine for $2700 US. I think it is perfectly priced for what it offers. If you buy this, you only need to buy a roland and a korg to complete your vintage sound. This alone paired with a sampler would be enough to make a lot of records! + its new, under warrenty, and will last a long time without probelms i bet. Hassle free analog is here!

I thank alesis for this blessing. The synth gods are now smiling.

I have no idea why people think this thing feels cheap. I thought it felt solid, and I liked the action on the keyboard. The pots were smooth and seemed pretty solid as well. I may not want to dance a waltz on top of them, but they felt like they would hold up as long as any other synth I've played. To comment on a user comment earlier... try pressing down on the Q (waldorf) synth's front panel at around center key... notice the big bend? I saw this the other day at a music store. It was amazing...looked totally cheap. Don't get me wrong... I LOVE WALDORF products... they are generally built like a tank, but as my above comment points out, sometimes things just can't be perfect. The andromeda does not bend like this. =]

The sounds on the andromeda are just unbelievable, but still barely hint at what you can do with the synthesis behind them. Venturing into all the modulation routings on this thing is an amazing experience. I have never seen a synth layout so well designed. Anything that isn't on the front panel is only one button away. The filters sound amazing, and the additional effects sound great. The analog distortion circuit on this thing kicks ass.

I think many alesis products have seemed a little cheap in the past, and in all fairness, their prices were in line with that quality. This synth is in no way shape or form what I would consider a cheap alesis product.

This synth was built with love...you can tell just by looking at what it does. It has analog synth geek written all over it =]. You can also tell by looking at the sheer joy on mike peake's face when he shows it to you =].

I love this thing. It is the coolest thing alesis has ever built...and possibly that it ever will. It has completely changed the way I look at their products.

Now if my red A6 would finally arrive....I can hardly wait =]

-prophei www.dropmix.com www.mp3.com/annodalleb www.mp3.com/prophei www.mp3.com/dropmix

It sounds great, and the use of aftertouch on a lot of patches is cool.. The drums,bass,leads,pads,effects are excellent to say the least.

It's built like an Alesis, knobs are wobbly, It's made of 50% plastic and already had a crack from shipping. The whole keyboard felt cheap and I would not spend $2,500 on a Keyboard built this way(like a toy). This is definitly not a gigging keyboard, leave it in the studio.

The felt ribbon is a good idea, But I can see it wearing out after a couple years.

C'mon Alesis, Take a hint. Let Clavia or Waldorf build your cases.. This is crap.

http://www.stucki.com/krhen/downloads/myredandy.jpg

But PLEASE don't review it until you have played it - not just once, but enough to know how DEEP and flexible this thing is...

It definitely SOUNDS analog, not a good fake. It can also do MUCH that old analogs can't even if you had Hans Zimmer's modular Moog. I have collected synths since 1978 and sold some of my old stuff off when I got this. It IS a programmer's dream - if you like the concept/design of the old modulars, Matrix 12, Expander, rophet T8, OB-Mx or other very routable synths. Note: NO synth that has memories can compete directly against a hardwired one for pure audio punch, but this Andromeda is quite close to a Minimoog (I have owned 4, I do know) and clearly fatter, basier and punchier that Jupiters, Nords, Oberheims, Prophets or anything else that ha had memories. No, it doesn't sound "Alesis" and it has power you have never seen or played before.

If you have not, then how does that qualify you as an informed reviewer?

Having said that, I'll submit my unbiased testimony because I *have* played an Andromeda for a few hours.

Mike Peake graciously brought one over while I was in LA for winter NAMM 2000. Alesis has an analog monster on their hands, and that is coming from a faithful Memorymoog owner of twelve years. Think about that.

I loved the filters in this thing, especially the 12dB SEM filter. You can configure that and the 24dB filter in series or parallel, and you can change one of them to a highpass to create just about every filter configuration under the sun; bandpass, notch, highpass, lowpass. The SEM filter is especially creamy. A mixer allows you to balance between the two, a nice touch. The analog brasses in this thing will punch you in the face, very Oberheim-like.

The entire audio chain is 100% analog; real VCOs, VCFs, and VCAs. The VCOs were apparently modeled after the Moog 921 oscillator module, and although I have not heard a 921 in person I was impressed by the Andromeda VCOs. There are two of them, along with a suboscillator on VCO#2. When you sync the oscillators, it screams. My memory is vague on the feature set of the VCOs since it's been six months since I played with it, but it was nonetheless impressive and complete. There's a real live honest-to-goodness MIXER for controller the levels of the source signals, THANK YOU for not using a balance control.

The EGs are nice and snappy, and there are two sets of decay/sustain controls to expand beyond the standard four stage EG. When you dig deeper, you can do cool things like change the slope of the EG from linear to logarithmic. There are three of them, each with their own set of knobs. And speaking of knobs, this thing is absolutely loaded with them. The VCOs, VCFs, EGs, Mixers, LFOs, and VCAs all have their dedicated knobs right on the front panel for tweaking glory. There's an LCD and a set of eight 'soft' knobs for getting deeper into the synth engine, but the most important ones are laid out right in front of you. Beautiful.

The 61 note keyboard is velocity and pressure sensitive. In addition to the mandatory pitch bend and mod wheels, there's a ribbon controller. You also get a ring modulator with configurable input options. You can do all the cross modulation tricks that the Memorymoog and Prophet-5 are famous for, and the LFOs are very flexible. It is sixteen voice polyphonic and is multitimbral across all sixteen MIDI channels. Not only can you put it in mono mode, you can specify the number of voices for mono mode - a feature I haven't seen since the Memorymoog and a very important feature for those times when you don't need all 32 VCOs slamming against each other. You can also route external signals to the filters, and the voices can be panned across the stereo field or you can use the individual audio outputs for each voice from the rear panel. It even has the Quadra FX engine in this thing!

I have never seen this much flexibility in an analog polyphonic synthesizer before. I loved it and I'm buying one when it is released.

Usual disclaimer applies.