Alesis Andromeda A6

Good day all, 

My name is Bob I am a new member to A6-ION. I have had my A6 for
nearly a year and use if live and in the studio, in fact it gets a
right hammering, pressures of playing live etc... so I invested in a
nice flight case and that's helped keep it looking ship-shape. So I
have some general observations about the A6 and was wondering if
anyone else found the same. 

To start with the sound I want is a Rick Wakeman Moog sound, the fat
one of Journey to the centre to the earth! A few years ago I bought a
Novation Supernova II and found it a right bugger to get the sound
right especially if you came back to it. So many menu layers. It was
nearly there but I was constantly fighting with distortion and
although it had a 24db filter it just couldn't cut the mustard! I was
going to buy a Omega 8 then by chance I caught some chap playing on a
Yes DVD and after probing about (as he taped the Andromeda Logo out) I
found it was the A6 so I bought one.

What I have found is the filters are a bit weak (well on mine they
are) There are some fantastic sounds but my 24db filter is very hard
to get a decent variation. I examined the manual until it's almost
worn out and tried various permeations but the second filter is not as
strong as the 12db. 

If I use the "Init Prog" feature and set Env2 to Little Delay and 50%
Positive sustain, with the res turned to self oscillate and Env2 know
set I should get a nice fat moog sound. Nope. It's very quiet. Is this
the Init Prog routing the signal away from Filter2 ? I have taken a
few of the inbuilt patches and changed them and found the 24db filter
works a treat with a nice cut-off and I would say I'm nearly (95% there). 

The routing through Filter 2 is much quieter then Filter 1. I even
found a F1 Mix knob on a menu which is not mentioned in the manual.
Normally it's 50% scale Setting this to 0 there is very little sound
setting it to fully scale routes it to F1 only. 

The only other thing I don't like about the A6 is the saw wave is
weedy, my 25 Year old Korg MS20 is much better. In fact I would say if
I could have a Poly MS20 I would be in heaven. However, the ability to
combine all the waves and route the sine to post filter is wonderful. 

Please don't get me wrong with all this negative feelings I love my A6
it's very playable and the keyboard action is as good as a DX7 which I
vote as the best ever. I just have a problem with the 24db filter,
poor Saw wave and The knobs are loose and wobble from side to side
Looks like they are going to fall off! Arrgh

I do tend to go through kit but the A6 will stay for as long as I can
play. It's a wonderful beast. 


Bob

This post brings up some interesting questions.  

First, have any of you guys experimented with using an external
Moogerfooger MF-101 Low Pass Filter?  I have often thought about
getting one of those to achieve an exact Moog filter sound.  It would
even be cool to route the audio to the external filter, and then back
into the Andromeda.  For that matter, you could also apply the
Andromeda' built-in filter feedback for somewhat of a double filter
feedback.

Do you think using the external Moog filter would accomplish the goal,
or would the oscillators still not be 100% dead-on?  I have often
thought about this, and I realy don't know the answer, as I have never
had the opportunity to do a side-by-side comparison.  However, I will
say that the oscillators on my ARP Solus do sound inherently more
beefy that the Andromeda.  But, again, the Andromeda's polyphony more
than makes up for this issue.

-Dex
www.arrogants.com


--- In Andromeda_A6-ION@yahoogroups.com, "Bob Weeks" <bob.weeks@...>
wrote:
>
> Good day all, 
> 
> My name is Bob I am a new member to A6-ION. I have had my A6 for
> nearly a year and use if live and in the studio, in fact it gets a
> right hammering, pressures of playing live etc... so I invested in a
> nice flight case and that's helped keep it looking ship-shape. So I
> have some general observations about the A6 and was wondering if
> anyone else found the same. 
> 
> To start with the sound I want is a Rick Wakeman Moog sound, the fat
> one of Journey to the centre to the earth! A few years ago I bought a
> Novation Supernova II and found it a right bugger to get the sound
> right especially if you came back to it. So many menu layers. It was
> nearly there but I was constantly fighting with distortion and
> although it had a 24db filter it just couldn't cut the mustard! I was
> going to buy a Omega 8 then by chance I caught some chap playing on a
> Yes DVD and after probing about (as he taped the Andromeda Logo out) I
> found it was the A6 so I bought one.
> 
> What I have found is the filters are a bit weak (well on mine they
> are) There are some fantastic sounds but my 24db filter is very hard
> to get a decent variation. I examined the manual until it's almost
> worn out and tried various permeations but the second filter is not as
> strong as the 12db. 
> 
> If I use the "Init Prog" feature and set Env2 to Little Delay and 50%
> Positive sustain, with the res turned to self oscillate and Env2 know
> set I should get a nice fat moog sound. Nope. It's very quiet. Is this
> the Init Prog routing the signal away from Filter2 ? I have taken a
> few of the inbuilt patches and changed them and found the 24db filter
> works a treat with a nice cut-off and I would say I'm nearly (95%
there). 

> 
> The routing through Filter 2 is much quieter then Filter 1. I even
> found a F1 Mix knob on a menu which is not mentioned in the manual.
> Normally it's 50% scale Setting this to 0 there is very little sound
> setting it to fully scale routes it to F1 only. 
> 
> The only other thing I don't like about the A6 is the saw wave is
> weedy, my 25 Year old Korg MS20 is much better. In fact I would say if
> I could have a Poly MS20 I would be in heaven. However, the ability to
> combine all the waves and route the sine to post filter is wonderful. 
> 
> Please don't get me wrong with all this negative feelings I love my A6
> it's very playable and the keyboard action is as good as a DX7 which I
> vote as the best ever. I just have a problem with the 24db filter,
> poor Saw wave and The knobs are loose and wobble from side to side
> Looks like they are going to fall off! Arrgh
> 
> I do tend to go through kit but the A6 will stay for as long as I can
> play. It's a wonderful beast. 
> 
> 
> Bob
>

I feed my A6 through external filters this way:

Either MIDI out to an Encore Expressionist, which converts MIDI to CV.
The CV sets the filter cut-off, and also a gate.
The modular can trigger an envelope from the gate, or I can use the
envelope follower, or a combination of both.

I actually really like it when I mix a moog low pass AND the A6
filters at the same time.

I sometimes take an individual out from the back and feed that to the
envelope follower.

I use a Modcan envelope follower, which also has a gate extractor and
an ASR envelope all in one module, which works great.

I really wish Alesis would have allowed for a CV expander tho. Oh well.


--- In Andromeda_A6-ION@yahoogroups.com, "Bob Weeks" <bob.weeks@...>
wrote:
>
> I have one of these Moog Low pass filters. I use it on my DX7/TX7/TX802
> Stack now that's Nice. I have never thought of using it on the A6,
is there
> a way to feed CV out from the env? as the Moog filter has ENV CV in and
> Filter CV in. I not a fan of the Moog Env folower sown into the
Fooger so if
> I can route env out of the A6 then I'll have a play.
> 
> Going back throught the message archive I see somone else posted
about the
> 24db filter and it being quiet, and the reply was that's what it was
> designed to do use the sine wave filter bypass to bolster up the
sound and
> "don't overdirve the res!". The other was to route Filter 2 through
Filter 1
> and set the F1 to full open with no res and no ENV2 Control. I stil
find the
> ossilators a little thin, The origional Moog ocilators have a very warm
> sound. If memory servs me well they are old High Gain BC109c or
ACxxx Sorry
> forgotten that one.
> 
> The closest I heard to a Moog D occilators was the McBeth a few
years ago
> sorry the A6 native occilators don't come close they are too
clyinical, too
> clean. Now saying that little detune dosn't go a miss and pow you have a
> first rate synth.
> 
> Bob
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Andromeda_A6-ION@yahoogroups.com
> [mailto:Andromeda_A6-ION@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf Of nanobotdex
> Sent: 15 April 2006 23:20
> To: Andromeda_A6-ION@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [Andromeda_A6-ION] Re: General Observations
> 
> 
> This post brings up some interesting questions.
> 
> First, have any of you guys experimented with using an external
> Moogerfooger MF-101 Low Pass Filter?  I have often thought about
> getting one of those to achieve an exact Moog filter sound.  It would
> even be cool to route the audio to the external filter, and then back
> into the Andromeda.  For that matter, you could also apply the
> Andromeda' built-in filter feedback for somewhat of a double filter
> feedback.
> 
> Do you think using the external Moog filter would accomplish the goal,
> or would the oscillators still not be 100% dead-on?  I have often
> thought about this, and I realy don't know the answer, as I have never
> had the opportunity to do a side-by-side comparison.  However, I will
> say that the oscillators on my ARP Solus do sound inherently more
> beefy that the Andromeda.  But, again, the Andromeda's polyphony more
> than makes up for this issue.
> 
> -Dex
> www.arrogants.com
> 
> 
> --- In Andromeda_A6-ION@yahoogroups.com, "Bob Weeks" <bob.weeks@>
> wrote:
> >
> > Good day all,
> >
> > My name is Bob I am a new member to A6-ION. I have had my A6 for
> > nearly a year and use if live and in the studio, in fact it gets a
> > right hammering, pressures of playing live etc... so I invested in a
> > nice flight case and that's helped keep it looking ship-shape. So I
> > have some general observations about the A6 and was wondering if
> > anyone else found the same.
> >
> > To start with the sound I want is a Rick Wakeman Moog sound, the fat
> > one of Journey to the centre to the earth! A few years ago I bought a
> > Novation Supernova II and found it a right bugger to get the sound
> > right especially if you came back to it. So many menu layers. It was
> > nearly there but I was constantly fighting with distortion and
> > although it had a 24db filter it just couldn't cut the mustard! I was
> > going to buy a Omega 8 then by chance I caught some chap playing on a
> > Yes DVD and after probing about (as he taped the Andromeda Logo out) I
> > found it was the A6 so I bought one.
> >
> > What I have found is the filters are a bit weak (well on mine they
> > are) There are some fantastic sounds but my 24db filter is very hard
> > to get a decent variation. I examined the manual until it's almost
> > worn out and tried various permeations but the second filter is not as
> > strong as the 12db.
> >
> > If I use the "Init Prog" feature and set Env2 to Little Delay and 50%
> > Positive sustain, with the res turned to self oscillate and Env2 know
> > set I should get a nice fat moog sound. Nope. It's very quiet. Is this
> > the Init Prog routing the signal away from Filter2 ? I have taken a
> > few of the inbuilt patches and changed them and found the 24db filter
> > works a treat with a nice cut-off and I would say I'm nearly (95%
> there).
> >
> > The routing through Filter 2 is much quieter then Filter 1. I even
> > found a F1 Mix knob on a menu which is not mentioned in the manual.
> > Normally it's 50% scale Setting this to 0 there is very little sound
> > setting it to fully scale routes it to F1 only.
> >
> > The only other thing I don't like about the A6 is the saw wave is
> > weedy, my 25 Year old Korg MS20 is much better. In fact I would say if
> > I could have a Poly MS20 I would be in heaven. However, the ability to
> > combine all the waves and route the sine to post filter is wonderful.
> >
> > Please don't get me wrong with all this negative feelings I love my A6
> > it's very playable and the keyboard action is as good as a DX7 which I
> > vote as the best ever. I just have a problem with the 24db filter,
> > poor Saw wave and The knobs are loose and wobble from side to side
> > Looks like they are going to fall off! Arrgh
> >
> > I do tend to go through kit but the A6 will stay for as long as I can
> > play. It's a wonderful beast.
> >
> >
> > Bob
> >
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>
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