Alesis Andromeda A6

Hi, 

New member here - I just recently acquired an Andromeda. At the moment I have mixed feelings about it. For such an expensive synth, I'm fairly appalled at the obvious cost-cutting that went into the hardware design - cheap, wobbly pcb mounted pots/knobs (also the silver finish is different on the different sized knobs, very strange, anyone else have this?), cheap laminated control panel, cheap and fragile end cheeks etc. But the one thing I find most annoying is the screen - it is very low contrast, with poor backlight and poor angle of visibility. I want to replace this with a nice blue/white or black/white LED screen. Has anyone done this? does it use a standard T6963C controller screen, or something more exotic?

Another thing that bothers me greatly is the amount of digital noise/hash that is present in the audio signal, it is very obvious on some bass sounds - a kind of halo of noise that surrounds the signal. I've heard this type of noise before on other equipment and it is very noticable to me (though I find some people are totally oblivious to it) I believe it is caused by low resolution digital processing used in some areas (envelopes, lfos, modulation etc) It is nothing to do with the effects (and don't get me started on that bloody awful reverb - its on every preset practically, including the bass sounds, why!). What bothers me most about this is that I know it will never be fixed, even if it was fixable in an os update this will never happen now.

On the plus side though, I do like the basic sound of this synth, very solid, very American, very different from everything else I own. Also the complexity of the voice architecture, the individual outputs for each voice, The possibilities are obvious. The keyboard and ribbon controller are very good. I have heard some demos on youtube and elsewhere that showcase some fantastic sounds, world-class pads, an amazing theremin sound etc. Does anyone know if these sounds are available anywhere, as the sounds in my A6 are very poor in general (I think they are the original factory sounds, lots of utterly crap arpeggios and 'tekno' sounds all drowning in reverb).

Anyway, sorry for the first post rant! I'm sure that once I learn a bit more about this synth I will hopefully grow to like it a bit more and overlook its deficiencies. I'm just wondering if anyone else had the same feelings when they first got their Andromeda.

cheers, vout

--- In Andromeda_A6-ION@yahoogroups.com, "fireballxl27" <vout@...>
wrote:
>
> Another thing that bothers me greatly is the amount of digital
noise/hash that is present in the audio signal, it is very obvious on
some bass sounds - a kind of halo of noise that surrounds the signal.

Just a dumb question here.... have you tried playing your A6 all by
itself; in other words, not hooked up to ANYTHING except a power outlet?
For purposes of this test, the only cable coming off your A6 should be a
power cord and your headphone cable. Unplug all other cables.

I am suspecting a ground loop here -- especially if you have a computer
in the studio. *Disconnect* your audio in/out cables from your
mixer/monitor (this breaks the ground path), and listen over headphones
and see if the problem goes away. If it does, you need to find the
ground loop in your system.

Alternately, try using the Auxiliary Outputs (individual channel outs)
instead of the main outs. The main outs go thru the digital effects, but
the Aux outs are 100% analog signal path.

Yes, there is some artifacting from the digital LFOs and envelopes, but
on most patches I don't notice this.

Russ

On Wed, 15 Jul 2009, fireballxl27 wrote:

> - cheap, wobbly pcb mounted pots/knobs (also the silver finish is 
> different on the different sized knobs, very strange, anyone else have 
> this?),

Interesting.  No, in fact I have always felt the knobs were the most solid 
I've had compared to any of my other synths.  Mine don't wobble at ALL.

>cheap laminated control panel, cheap and fragile end cheeks etc.

The control panel always seemed quite professional looking and feeling in 
quality.  The end panels are not fragile feeling either.

> But the one thing I find most annoying is the screen - it is very low 
> contrast, with poor backlight and poor angle of visibility. I want to 
> replace this with a nice blue/white or black/white LED screen. Has

I'm beginning to think you've got a bum unit. My screen has great contrast 
and just the right brightness.

> Another thing that bothers me greatly is the amount of digital 
> noise/hash that is present in the audio signal, it is very obvious on

Only with the digital effects turned on do I ever feel like there's ever a 
"digital" tonal character in the sound.  There is some noise / hiss 
invoved int he signal path depending on your various amp volumes so check 
those out - and this is normal.

> areas (envelopes, lfos, modulation etc) It is nothing to do with the 
> effects (and don't get me started on that bloody awful reverb - its on 
> every preset practically, including the bass sounds, why!). What bothers

The reverb is not my favorite, but I've heard worse.

> Anyway, sorry for the first post rant! I'm sure that once I learn a bit 
> more about this synth I will hopefully grow to like it a bit more and

It's reasonable considering what you're experiencing.  I think you may 
have a problematic unit though if you have as much noise as you say and 
the knobs are wobbly.

I actually received a bad unit myself (it was sold to me as "new) through 
an online retgailer but was clearly used) it had a lot of problems.  I 
ended up buying a used one manufactured in 2002 and it's a gem.

Good luck!

J.
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http://www.numinamusic.com  |  http://www.myspace.com/numina
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I think the point with the multiple outs is for use in multi-mode and 
having different sounds routed to respective outs... sync up an outboard 
sequencer and have yourself a Berlin School festival!

J.
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http://www.numinamusic.com  |  http://www.myspace.com/numina
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

On Wed, 15 Jul 2009, equity 7 wrote:

>
>> To: Andromeda_A6-ION@yahoogroups.com
>> From: vout@...
>> Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:55:42 +0000
>> Subject: [Andromeda_A6-ION] Andromeda screen replacement and a bit of a rant...
>>
>
>> On the plus side though, I do like the basic sound of this synth, very solid, very American, very different from everything else I own. Also the complexity of the voice architecture, the individual outputs for each voice, The possibilities are obvious.
>
> This reminds me of something I've been meaning to ask the list for awhile - what are some good uses for the individual outputs? I made room for them on my patch bay and can send each out to its own channel on my console, but I haven't figured out how to do much more with the individual outputs besides having them output sequential voices of the synth based on sequential voice allocation. To me, this doesn't offer a great deal of control. What I'd love to do is force the A6 to limit output of voices in mixer mode by instrument. For example, my monophonic instruments would be limited and have exclusive use of one of the 16 voice outs. Polyphonic instruments could be limited to and have exclusive use of a small range of voice outs.
>
> Is there any way to do this?
>
> Thanks
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Internet explorer 8 lets you browse the web faster.
> http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9655582

IMHO, the individual outputs are only relevant in MIX mode.

This way you can record and apply external effects to each patch 
individually.

It's also only useful with monophonic instruments.

For Polyphonic patches, you should use the Main or Aux outs where all 
voices are mixed together.

You could run all 16 voice outs to a mixer and use a polyphonic patch, 
but there would be very little purpose to this since you get this from 
the Main and aux outs.

I hope this helps,

Guillaume



equity 7 wrote:

>  
>
> > To: Andromeda_A6-ION@yahoogroups.com
> > From: vout@...
> > Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:55:42 +0000
> > Subject: [Andromeda_A6-ION] Andromeda screen replacement and a bit 
> of a rant...
> >
>
> > On the plus side though, I do like the basic sound of this synth, 
> very solid, very American, very different from everything else I own. 
> Also the complexity of the voice architecture, the individual outputs 
> for each voice, The possibilities are obvious.
>
> This reminds me of something I've been meaning to ask the list for 
> awhile - what are some good uses for the individual outputs? I made 
> room for them on my patch bay and can send each out to its own channel 
> on my console, but I haven't figured out how to do much more with the 
> individual outputs besides having them output sequential voices of the 
> synth based on sequential voice allocation. To me, this doesn't offer 
> a great deal of control. What I'd love to do is force the A6 to limit 
> output of voices in mixer mode by instrument. For example, my 
> monophonic instruments would be limited and have exclusive use of one 
> of the 16 voice outs. Polyphonic instruments could be limited to and 
> have exclusive use of a small range of voice outs.
>
> Is there any way to do this?
>
> Thanks
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Internet Explorer 8 makes surfing easier. Get it now! 
> <http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9655264>
>

Each mix channel uses the corresponding voice output, like mix channel 1 
uses out 1 and so on, they are hard wired and there's no way to get 
channel 1 to be routed to channel 2.  The only control you have is to 
enable or disable the dedicated voice output.  I don't see this as a 
limitation.

The only way to route polyphonic instruments is through the Main and Aux 
output, would you really need a third output pair?

To understand why they did not include the ability to route poly 
instruments to dedicated outputs, you have to understand how this synth 
was built, and specifically understand analog and ideally modular synths.

Basically there are 16 analog mono synths that can work together and 
each synth can be repatched on the fly by the processor.  Each of these 
16 synths have their own analog output, which are the ones you get in 
the back.  Additionally, they included 2 16-channel mixer modules, one 
for Main out and one for Aux out. Each voice is hard wired to its 
dedicated output and to both mixers, they included switches to 
enable/disable each voice's connection to all 3 patch points.

One funny thing with this synth is when you do use the dedicated voice 
outputs, all going to a mixer and you play a polyphonic patch, you see 
notes get triggered on seemingly random voices.  This can get annoying 
when you think you're using a monophonic patch with a dedicated output 
but it's erroneously set to poly, you hear the first note on the right 
voice channel, then other notes play on other channels and you don't 
hear it.  It can be quite scary the first time this happens, but you get 
used to it.

One of the best reasons to use the dedicated outputs is that they are 
very hot, and good sounding. If you think this synth does not sound 
analog or fat enough, it's surely because you're listening to the main 
output, try the dedicated outputs, and make sure to strap your seatbelt 
on. :)

I hope this makes sense.

Guillaume


equity 7 wrote:

>  
> 
> That's exactly what I meant - where is the setting to route monophonic 
> instruments to specific voice outputs?
> 
> I also think it would have been nice to include a feature for polyphonic 
> instruments to be allocated to a pair of voice outputs (for stereo), but 
> that might have been a bit complicated to do while keeping the cost as 
> low as it was.
> 
> Thanks
> 
>  > To: Andromeda_A6-ION@yahoogroups.com
>  > From: guillaume.marier@...
>  > Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:48:31 -0400
>  > Subject: Re: [Andromeda_A6-ION] Andromeda screen replacement and a 
> bit of a rant...
>  >
>  > IMHO, the individual outputs are only relevant in MIX mode.
>  >
>  > This way you can record and apply external effects to each patch
>  > individually.
>  >
>  > It's also only useful with monophonic instruments.
>  >
>  > For Polyphonic patches, you should use the Main or Aux outs where all
>  > voices are mixed together.
>  >
>  > You could run all 16 voice outs to a mixer and use a polyphonic patch,
>  > but there would be very little purpose to this since you get this from
>  > the Main and aux outs.
>  >
>  > I hope this helps,
>  >
>  > Guillaume
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  > equity 7 wrote:
>  > >
>  > >
>  > > > To: Andromeda_A6-ION@yahoogroups.com
>  > > > From: vout@...
>  > > > Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:55:42 +0000
>  > > > Subject: [Andromeda_A6-ION] Andromeda screen replacement and a bit
>  > > of a rant...
>  > > >
>  > >
>  > > > On the plus side though, I do like the basic sound of this synth,
>  > > very solid, very American, very different from everything else I own.
>  > > Also the complexity of the voice architecture, the individual outputs
>  > > for each voice, The possibilities are obvious.
>  > >
>  > > This reminds me of something I've been meaning to ask the list for
>  > > awhile - what are some good uses for the individual outputs? I made
>  > > room for them on my patch bay and can send each out to its own channel
>  > > on my console, but I haven't figured out how to do much more with the
>  > > individual outputs besides having them output sequential voices of the
>  > > synth based on sequential voice allocation. To me, this doesn't offer
>  > > a great deal of control. What I'd love to do is force the A6 to limit
>  > > output of voices in mixer mode by instrument. For example, my
>  > > monophonic instruments would be limited and have exclusive use of one
>  > > of the 16 voice outs. Polyphonic instruments could be limited to and
>  > > have exclusive use of a small range of voice outs.
>  > >
>  > > Is there any way to do this?
>  > >
>  > > Thanks
>  > >
>  > > 
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>  > > Internet Explorer 8 makes surfing easier. Get it now!
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