Andromeda

[Greg_KPX]

OK Andromeda owners, lets hear it :D

Do any of you have links to good demos or your own music that shows what the A6 can REALLY do?

I'm having a bit of a love/hate relationship with my Virus KC, which I really only bought to use as a nice master keyboard (price was right), the synth part is a bonus as I couldn't justify buying a keyboard with no sound and wasting all that valuable space :D

My main goal is to keep all outboard gear analogue and all digital stuff as vst... so that sort of leaves the virus competing for space in my studio and I've got the feeling it needs to go...

So basically I need an analogue polysynth that doubles as a master keyboard and the only choices seem to be either the Andromeda or Prophet 8...

What are your thoughts guys?

[Jazzpunk]

There's info here and a ton of demos;

http://www.wohmart.com/a6/

[amino]

Originally Posted by Greg_KPX

My main goal is to keep all outboard gear analogue and all digital stuff as vst... so that sort of leaves the virus competing for space in my studio and I've got the feeling it needs to go...

So basically I need an analogue polysynth that doubles as a master keyboard and the only choices seem to be either the Andromeda or Prophet 8...

What are your thoughts guys?

My thought is that you're having a very strange goal. How about concentrating on stuff that sounds good, is fun to play with and inspires you to make good music instead of focusing on how they are constructed on the inside?

[Greg_KPX]

Thanks jazzpunk! Downloading now

Amino: Not strange at all. Digital synths can be nicely replicated with plugins, analogue ones cannot! And studio space is quite small so I'm focusing on what gets the job done AND sounds good with minimal amount of clutter...

edit: I've just been jamming the Virus C and running it through my analogue filters rack, and getting quite a good sound to my ears. so chances are I won't get the Andromeda unless it can really amaze me to the point that I cream my pants if you know what I mean...

[Beermaster]

I've was lucky enough to pick up the second Andromeda to ship to the UK and whilst I don't use on everything I produce I must say that this is one great sounding keyboard. It has a totally different sound to the virus tho and I think the two together give you a big sound palate.

It has a real 'Presense' to its sound - now don't get me wrong I love the virus for its sounds but the Andromeda just seems to be more real when you compare them side by side. Remembering that as well as sound fuller and more organic true analogue have another trick that simply cannot be faked with Virtual synths .... UNISON Mode - Yep, you have that sequenced bass pattern bubbling away.. but you want MORE - ... hit the Unison button and start stacking the voices on that sound... 4 .. 6 8 or 16 VCOs - Enough Raw shredding power to blow holes through reinforced concrete... then if you need it more evil then just tweak the Detune knob and raw up the tuning from perfect to subtle to demonic. Virus and every other Virtual I've ever owned simply cannont do this in any form.

Beer

[SonOfSteven]

greetings,

I have my A6 for about a year now and still use it on every thing i do. its 1 of mt favorite synths for sure, has a mutch thicker fuller sound than any virus i have used. Realy nice and tweakable and fun to use (witch is very important if u ask me) u can get realy good bass, leads, pads, Fx. from this 1 synth. there was a good demo online for it some where. i will post the link here when i find it again.

regards,
SonOfSteven

[GYang]

One of rare analogue pieces I sold.
Dunno, didn't work for me.
Might be because of main working horses as Omega, Sunsyn, some older stuff from Roland and Korg, as well as, Polyevolvers simply sound better to my ears.
On the other hands, 16 voices at relatively affordable price (2nd hand) might be good entrance to analogue synth world.
BTW I would pick Virus TI (although not analogue) any day of the week over Andromeda.

[crufty]

Is sunysn still being made/sold? How is its reliability/os?

At one point I was trying to figure out which to get for 2008, but looks like sunsyn is mia these days? Leaves the p08 v andromeda (or mks-80, which is a little unapproachable from the ui perspective). If p08 comes out in rack form, then i think the slutty response is both.

agree that the virus ti is the second best piece of gear I own. If you don't like the TI, my recommendation is don't sell it--put it in the closet. Thats what I did. Put it away. Almost a year later, I really needed a 8 part VA, I dragged it out, upgraded the OS and woah--all is forgiven.

[kingofswing]

Originally Posted by Greg_KPX

OK Andromeda owners, lets hear it :D

Do any of you have links to good demos or your own music that shows what the A6 can REALLY do?

I'm having a bit of a love/hate relationship with my Virus KC, which I really only bought to use as a nice master keyboard (price was right), the synth part is a bonus as I couldn't justify buying a keyboard with no sound and wasting all that valuable space :D

My main goal is to keep all outboard gear analogue and all digital stuff as vst... so that sort of leaves the virus competing for space in my studio and I've got the feeling it needs to go...

So basically I need an analogue polysynth that doubles as a master keyboard and the only choices seem to be either the Andromeda or Prophet 8...

What are your thoughts guys?

IMHO the A6 is not something you would want to use as a daily controller / and synth. The VCO's, VCF's, etc, need atleast 15-20 minutes warm up (being analog). I know that i would just pick up a small midi controller instead for everyday work.

The Andromeda itself is the best sounding synth i own (and it happens to be an analog with 16 voices). I also own a Virus Ti Polar, Supernova II ProX (since yesterday), Moog Little Phatty, Alesis ION (and a Micron), Oberheim Matrix 1000, Motif Es6, Triton Ex61, and XV5050.

Imo the Andromeda sounds much more like a 'real' in your face kind of synth. It has a rich solid sound, none of those VA swooshes with loads of white noise thrown in. The sound is pure and fat. The FX bypass is the best button. The fine tune knobs allow for amazing VCO beating.

I do enjoy my VA's for different things, like new sounds, background textures, fx, etc. But when i need a deep retro bass or a fat analog pad, the A6 just kills my Virus.

If you can, try and demo the A6 and P'08, so you get a real idea of the two synths, the sound, layout, etc.

here you go:

Index of /a6/audio

Enjoy!!!

[devious]

I actually just sold a MKS80+MPG80 as the start of modernizing my setup first by incorporating an A6 into the mix. Got a pretty good penny for it too. I think $2,375 for the combo! Highest yet I've seen on ebay. It was a revision five.

Now, I have one question regarding the A6. Are the knobs nice and tight? I played with the prophet 08 yesterday for like 3 hours and I am surprised I did not snap a knob off, well, sarcasm applied. The knobs have way too much wobble and feel nothing like I'd want to bring on the road gigging. I loved it otherwise aside too from the value skipping I seemed to have experienced. Meaning, dial rotation selecting value but always getting 1, 2, or even 3 values higher or lower than I wanted?!@ Maybe it's just my hands?

I have not had the chance to sit down on an A6 in person as I never thought about "modernizing" my setup until about 2 weeks ago and haven't found anywhere with an A6 to play with, ugh.

I am more worried about build quality as I read a 50/50 love-hate with the A6 it seems. But the people who like it seem more justified in saying so and rant and rave about it in long lengths that just make me lust! Nothing on craigslist yet, anybody from the Minneapolis or surrounding area where I can come over and play with it for an hour or so?

Anyways, yeah, heads up on quality of the knobs is what I'm asking. I understand the chassis is pretty well intact. All opinions will be taken into consideration. Thank you!

[cl516]

http://homepages.nyu.edu/~cl516/synth/guessme.mp3

y'all don't have to guess, cuz this is an A6 thread. the filename was for something else.

no processing, just kept levels low A6 straight into logic.

[Greg_KPX]

Hey thanks guys! You've certainly helped make up my mind...

There were about 3 demos that I really liked, but most of them weren't wild enough to really make me cream my pants... However I did have a play with an A6 in the store last year and it was something I'd like to re-visit at some stage to get deeper into... so I'll wait till I find a good second hand one somewhere and slut on! But it won't be replacing the Virus as master keyboard.

At this stage, for mono stuff and bass sounds, the Pro-One does a real good job compared to the A6 and it also takes the Prophet 8 out pretty much straight away (especially since I have an Evolver too)...

For chords and pads, I'll keep doing my analogue filter tricks on the Virus and Nord Modular thumbsup

One thing I really like about the Virus is its ability to do very atmospheric pads and really weird noises, which the A6 didn't really seem to come close to... but as I said I'd like to get deeper into it, to see what it CAN do that the demos don't show...

[F5D]

Originally Posted by Greg_KPX

OK Andromeda owners, lets hear it :D

Ok, I guess some people have already heard this clip but here goes:

f5d a6 demo v3 (Some of my A6 patches + external fx, mostly unquantized, unofficial and played for my own fun)

I use andromeda as a master keyboard and it has a very good touch. Virus keyboards also have a very good touch but imo andromeda is about as good. I don't like the presets at all. The synth can be quite complex in the beginning and I didn't like it much at first but when I started programming my own sounds I decided that I will never sell it. It is and will be my number 1 synth. If you know how to edit sounds, A6 is the synth programmer's heaven.

[Greg_KPX]

Originally Posted by F5D

If you know how to edit sounds, A6 is the synth programmer's heaven.

see, these are the sorts of comments that get me in trouble

[devious]

When were the ones made in the usa manufactured and about how many and for how long during that period? I ask because somebody has one made in 2001 for sale for 1800 dollars and it's in excellent condition and I really don't want to buy it with a made in taiwan stamp on it for obvious reasons.

Does anybody have any sort of information regarding the manufacturing of A6's and point of origins?

Thank you,

Aaron

[soultrane]

Originally Posted by GYang

One of rare analogue pieces I sold.
Dunno, didn't work for me.
Might be because of main working horses as Omega, Sunsyn, some older stuff from Roland and Korg, as well as, Polyevolvers simply sound better to my ears.
On the other hands, 16 voices at relatively affordable price (2nd hand) might be good entrance to analogue synth world.
BTW I would pick Virus TI (although not analogue) any day of the week over Andromeda.

love the andromeda and i will not sell it...

it's a beast... the presets etc. do not show what the instrument can do, and of course, the fx are really bad alesis mid 90's fx...

but it is a raw sounding analog synth that can cover cs80, oberheim, and even some moog territory...

use the aux outs and DON'T use the fx...

btw, it is a daunting synth... unless you treat it like any other analog synth and start turning knobs....

i would love a t.i as well...

[kingofswing]

Originally Posted by devious

When were the ones made in the usa manufactured and about how many and for how long during that period? I ask because somebody has one made in 2001 for sale for 1800 dollars and it's in excellent condition and I really don't want to buy it with a made in taiwan stamp on it for obvious reasons.

Does anybody have any sort of information regarding the manufacturing of A6's and point of origins?

Thank you,

Aaron

I had similar thought to you when i bought my Andromeda A6 (made in Taiwan). I was lucky in that i had a chance to fiddle with an older USA made A6 at a festival this summer.

The build was pretty much the same, apart from the main filter knobs feeling alot more tighter on my unit.

Regarding the rest of the A6 knobs (72 of them), they are well made imo. Bear in mind the A6 knobs are surface mounted (Just like the DSI Polyevolver and Prophet 08) and not panel fitted. This means that the knobs have a slight give to them (but not to a point that they slant around). On daily use they are perfectly fine. The filter knobs are very solid, and the main volume knob seems panel mounted to me (also solid). The rest are of good quality. The best part about the A6 are the smaller knobs below the LCD, which acts as a central hub for the entire synth. Also the 'View' buttons (on every part of the A6) are complete heaven. They show a quick overview of settings, etc, before even moving any knobs, Talk about a no compormise analog synth.

i have come across far worse units (Korg Radias comes to mind - those pots are really cheap and feel cheap imho).

[ten]

Owned a TI for about a year. Very well built, nice features, pretty cool vsti front end. However, typical hollow virus sound with no high end. Was great at first, then I cleaned my ears out and everything that it made just sounded like vomit. Digital alliasing excriment...went up on ebay shortly after.

Played with a friends Andy and bought one instantly. Just something raw and ballsy about the sound that is a joy to produce with. Presets are bollocks which is good because it makes you sit down and learn the thing, unlike sifting through 1000 ram/rom presets on the TI.

tom

[F5D]

My andromeda is made in taiwan. I bought it maybe in 2003. I have had no other problems than once the autotune got stuck and lost a couple of voices. I had to run the master reset which calibrates the chips. After that I managed to run the autotune and it found all voices. I have not run the autotune since. In fact it is not needed because the synth gets into the right tune after about 15 minutes. My advice: Run the autotune only if the synth doesn't get to right tune.

I agree what has been said about the knobs. The most rigid ones are the knobs below the lcd screen and the filter knobs. Many other knobs can move slightly. Imo this is not a problem in a studio. Of course it depends on how you take care of your synths. I don't like people who abuse their synths, drop them or scratch the surface and pour drinks on them.

[devious]

Originally Posted by F5D

My andromeda is made in taiwan. I bought it maybe in 2003. I have had no other problems than once the autotune got stuck and lost a couple of voices. I had to run the master reset which calibrates the chips. After that I managed to run the autotune and it found all voices. I have not run the autotune since. In fact it is not needed because the synth gets into the right tune after about 15 minutes. My advice: Run the autotune only if the synth doesn't get to right tune.

That is very reassuring actually. Thank you for that. Speaking of knobs, I bet they're nothing like the prophet 08? Boy, I played with that for 3 hours in the shop the other day and I'm a gentle person, yet, I was amazed that one did not break off the synth while using it.

What we need now are knob upgrades for synthesizers released on the market today, as it would seem. I am modernizing from mainly all Roland vintage gear and I'll tell you from all the MKS series to the controllers, the knobs as well as the faders were pretty darn sturdy. Wonder what happened with sturdiness designed within a synth these days?!

Aaron

[devious]

Hey, a question....

How does one locate the manufacturing origin of a particular Andromeda synth? In other words, how do I know it's made in Taiwan or Canada?

Aaron

[kingofswing]

Originally Posted by devious

Hey, a question....

How does one locate the manufacturing origin of a particular Andromeda synth? In other words, how do I know it's made in Taiwan or Canada?

Aaron

Something called a 'sticker' on the back - but take it with a pinch of salt

[devious]

Originally Posted by kingofswing

Something called a 'sticker' on the back - but take it with a pinch of salt

I am being serious only to the point that somebody I am talking to about acquiring one had no idea where to look and I have no idea where to look either since I do not have one in my possession yet. Tis all, but thank you assuming the sticker is really there [taken with a pinch of salt indeed]

-Aaron

[Phaidon]

Originally Posted by crufty

Is sunysn still being made/sold? How is its reliability/os?

At one point I was trying to figure out which to get for 2008, but looks like sunsyn is mia these days?

Nope,no longer made!
Funny enough a few months back Thomann @ Germany had one leftover stock and was ready to go for it but after contacting JoMox to find out about the status of this thing he advised me NOT to get it because they had so many problems with the Sunsyn!!The word came from no other than Herr Michaelis!!! It takes a brave man...

[Phaidon]

Too bad because the Sunsyn to me sounds incredible!!!!


Cheers
Phaidon

[Jazzpunk]

Originally Posted by Phaidon

Too bad because the Sunsyn to me sounds incredible!!!!


Cheers
Phaidon

It's a damn shame there wasn't a big enough market to keep these in production.

[devious]

Originally Posted by Jazzpunk

It's a damn shame there wasn't a big enough market to keep these in production.

Probably because they released a more than faulty product from the very beginning. I know 3 people of which purchased this immediately on launch and they've had nothing but issues and moved away from ever purchasing a Jomox product again.

I however still want a Jomox 999

Aaron

[rokuez]

Originally Posted by Jazzpunk

It's a damn shame there wasn't a big enough market to keep these in production.

My thoughts exactly on youtube.com there is an excellent video where some dude is showing off the sunsyn

[Jazzpunk]

Originally Posted by devious

Probably because they released a more than faulty product from the very beginning. I know 3 people of which purchased this immediately on launch and they've had nothing but issues and moved away from ever purchasing a Jomox product again.
Aaron

That's too bad. Another reason I am glad I went with Studio Electronics for a modern analog. I hope he has offered to repair the units instead of just simply shrugging his shoulders and saying, 'Oops, that $3200 synth I just sold you is pretty f'd up!'

Speaking of which, has Alesis ever publicly acknowledged the bad batch of Andromedas they produced that don't stay in tune? If not, I hope they have at least made reparations with those unlucky enough to have purchased one.

[kingofswing]

Originally Posted by Jazzpunk

Speaking of which, has Alesis ever publicly acknowledged the bad batch of Andromedas they produced that don't stay in tune? If not, I hope they have at least made reparations with those unlucky enough to have purchased one.

I'm sure Alesis took care of the bad batch units for those customers involved. I don't see any recent complaints on the A6 forum. The 2007 batch seem to be healthy.

I am just happy that the A6 does not normally have to go back to the factory for re calibrations, like with the Voyagers, etc. The A6 software routine is ingenious.