Alesis A6 Andromeda - Exploring the Filters

[@aarcvault908]

The Alesis Andromeda is nothing short of a masterpiece of engineering, design, tonal manipulation and operability; the digital interface was an extremely intelligent, if simple design choice. I paid a small fortune for mine and have never regretted it, nor had some of the technical issues I hear about from time to time. You couldn't ask for a more responsive and well laid-out polyphonic dissonance/noise generator; "unearthly" doesn't begin to describe the unsettling, if not outright malignant tones this machine is capable of producing. -I fairly fucking love it.

[@ProckGnosis]

It's frustrating that somebody hasn't risen to the challenge of producing something on par or better than this, since it was introduced some 20 years ago. It really is unequaled in a lot of ways.

[@aarcvault908]

@@ProckGnosis: I'm not exactly on top of synth development, but I think you're right; I notice that when I see or read reviews of some of the newer models that I never see them compared to the A-6, though there are some interesting new machines out there, no doubt. But I noticed something else, too, with regard to the latest iteration stand alone drum machine/groove-boxes; they don't have a workable time signature variation beyond 2s, 4s and 6s (with caveats). For some unknown reason, odd numbers are out, which seems strange because even the 1st generation machines all had this very basic function. I've had to go backwards in this regard and just recently ordered a Roland MC-909 (as opposed to a newer model) for this reason alone. Anyway, just thinking out loud. -Thanx for reply.

[@bobafruti]

I was very far from having enough money for an Andromeda when it came out, but I was so in love with the huge forrest of knobs and the blobby blue design on the front panel.

[@ProckGnosis]

Yeah, it looks like the control panel of a starship or something. If you love knobs, you can't help but love this!

[@dingbatjack1234]

Very clear and detailed. Please do more on the A6!

[@ProckGnosis]

Thanks...definitely hope to get a little deeper in some programming examples in a future video.

[@dingbatjack1234]

@@ProckGnosis The different "sections" of the A6 explored in detail would be amazing! Just live you've done with the filter section :)

[@gscottbB]

Couldn't help but notice your A6 also still has the LCD screen protector; very nice sir.

[@ProckGnosis]

Thanks! Hilariously I was just playing with some gear last week that's 4 or 5 years old, and I noticed it still has the screen protector on. I guess as long as it's not obstructing the view or utility of something, I don't see a reason to pull it off. Don't think I even realized it's still on the A6.

[@TomBrislin]

Very nice video! Still discovering so much about my A6.

[@ProckGnosis]

Hey, thanks for watching. Caught you on the last Cruise to the Edge outing when they mentioned you landed the Kansas gig. Think I even have some footage of the back of your head some place in a video I made about the "Cruise" (kzbin.info/www/bejne/r5-keJSnnbukras). Also think you're one of the few times I've seen the A6 played live in a video (that I'VE seen anyway) in the Yes Symphonic DVD. It seems in some videos they made you cover up the labeling on the synth...guess they didn't want the big Alesis A6 endorsement in the video. Yeah, the A6 is deeeeeep...and awesome. You initially think it will be like a tough university course, but sometimes it's more like a whole degree. Good luck with the Kansas gig and hopefully "The Sea Within" will give you some more proggy playing opportunities as well. Cheers!

[@SynthsandSounds]

The A6 never stops to amaze me. Made by a company that only did digital things until then, it came out when noone else wanted to make analog synths. Alesis, which is all in all an underrated gear company, went bancrupt a year after the a6 came out and really it was a questionable move economically at that time. But sound-wise alesis did a great thing for the synth world with the andromeda! In hindsight, that synth really was ahead of its time!

[@ProckGnosis]

Es ist echt geil! I was a fairly big fan of Alesis 15 years ago...they were still fairly innovative with what they were creating for synths: the Andromeda, the Ion, and the Micron were all great, and even the Fusion (though buggy as hell) was still a really interesting and capable synth. The A6 is a monster for programmability, but you're right, it just came out a little early, before the renewed interest in real analog. And it because it was also really deep (harder to learn), fairly expensive, and had a few early OS issues, it just didn't survive the market.

[@wayahedia9989]

@@ProckGnosis The main reason it didn't survive was because, just after we released it.. Numark bought Alesis and had no interest int he analog ASIC production. I don't think it made a lot of money for Alesis but I did ok! Around 3.5 years as the contract developer. Designed the MPU board and wrote the software. Never liked the display though.. but in 97.. that's pretty much all there was.

[@ProckGnosis]

@@wayahedia9989 Cool back story...thanks for sharing. I appreciate the "behind the scenes" info on things like this a LOT more than I used to...that there were decisions and people behind those decisions that 1) helped the idea and piece of gear ever see the light of day and then 2) how other decisions impacted the life of the product. Sometimes deciding to turn left just gets you going in a different direction. Sometimes it drives you off a cliff, lol...

[@wayahedia9989]

@@ProckGnosis They had a real win with the ADAT in the early 90s. That propelled the company. They waited too long to join the hard disk recorder phase. Sales slumped. When we started on the Andromeda things were good. By the time we finished, I think they were in a cash crunch and it kind of fell apart.

[@MarcWeertsMusic]

Another great demo video! Ah, I'm jealous - always really loved the looks of the Andromeda! 😄

[@ProckGnosis]

Thanks Marc...if only the construction quality were equal to the looks! It is a fabulous sounding synth, no doubt. Hopefully I can get back into programming it some more without the phantom-changing-value issue getting in the way too much, because it is DEEP for programming stuff. It's just frustrating as hell, when you're trying to program something, and some random value changes, and you're not even sure what it was.

[@juno6]

@@ProckGnosis in my Andromeda, ghost knobs can easily be fixed by turning them for 30 seconds. You know which is because you'll see the parameter on screen... So you take that knob and turn it to both extremes for 30/60 seconds. That should fix it. And once in awhile I turn every knob if I didn't use it for some time to avoid this problems.

[@ProckGnosis]

@ juno6 All good suggestions. I do the knob-twisting exercise...and it does help some, but not enough to be a dependable solution. And if I'm working with or near the screen (and NOT turning knobs), then yes, I can catch what the ghost-parameter change was, but frequently I'm just playing, turning knobs, looking at my computer screen while I'm recording, etc., and I'll miss it. Would simply prefer to get it fixed if possible.

[@ElectronicazMusic]

Lovely!

[@astrogerry]

Great job, my friend !!! You deserve a big like !!!

[@ProckGnosis]

Mille grazie!

[@ryankm48]

I forgot about this. Ill have to pick one up someday. I hope it is still arkund 4000g

[@ProckGnosis]

Very worth it!

[@square_methods]

Someone once told me that the jumpy parameters are not a problem of the encoders, but actually a bug in the OS. No idea if that's true, I haven't done any further research. My first A6 was impossible to work with at a given moment. The A6 that I have now has no problem at all and is very stable.

[@ProckGnosis]

Yeah, I've read several different suggested causes behind the encoder problem, but I hadn't read about the OS possibly causing it. After the clean up, mine still has the occasional jump, and it also seems to behave a lot better when it's warmed up. You're massively lucky to have found a stable A6 though.

[@JedShura]

@@ProckGnosis Here's a video on some repairs to the jumping knob issue, including the note of caution to NOT spray cleaner into the knob's shafts (but rather in the access points on the base of the potentiometers). kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z4HGq32Ne5qKp7M

[@ProckGnosis]

@@JedShura Ah...thanks much. Familiar with Markus' channel, but wasn't aware he'd done this. And he wonderfully highlights the problem as well as trying to fix it.

[@d33psp33d]

nice 1 !!!

[@ProckGnosis]

Thank-you much! It is an awesome synth worthy of a good explanation how it works.

[@robertsyrett1992]

The A6 is like the CS-80 of the 1990s.

[@ProckGnosis]

Yeah, definitely capable of some beautiful, synthy sounds, but with twice the polyphony and a quarter of the weight of the CS-80 (though it's still fairly heavy).

[@SyncdAlien]

Very cool and quite interesting, thank you. 😍 Subscribing now!

[@ProckGnosis]

Thanks much. Hope it explained some cool capabilities on a cool synth...

[@thelightcommeth]

The best keyboard ever made alongside the Waldorf Wave

[@ProckGnosis]

I was never a big "wavetable" synth fan, but I did drool over the Wave. Just a fantastic looking synth that compelled you to push buttons and turn knobs.

[@SomeDud-lm1mi]

Can you explain why they discontinued A6 Andromeda? And if there are any VST alternatives (functional or/and soundwise)?

[@ProckGnosis]

Well, I'm just guessing, but it usually comes down to the fact a company isn't making enough money manufacturing and selling a synth. Also sometimes people are slow to appreciate something (so it doesn't sell well), and by the time they realize something is really cool (like this synth), it's too late...the company stops making them. Alesis had several really good ideas for synths, but they slowly moved out of the synth business unfortunately.

[@SomeDud-lm1mi]

@@ProckGnosis they could start making an improved version, like RME did with their RME Babyface Pro FS. Would be cool if they started making it in 2020, like 10 years break after 2000 - 2010.

[@SomeDud-lm1mi]

Or they just could do a cool collab with RME to implement cool PC synthesiser editor like in Nord Modular G2; their colours and quality of products were pretty similar, by the way)

[@ProckGnosis]

@@SomeDud-lm1mi I'm sort of surprised Behringer hasn't decided to clone this. Maybe there are still copyright issues. I do like RME as a company though. They make some great stuff.

[@krider7296]

Here is a link to a video showing how to clean the pots in order to remedy the encoder issue. kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z4HGq32Ne5qKp7M