See you there, superd2112.
I really appreciate that analysis of the A6, Organist.
My cousin used to have one, now he has the ION. He was impressed with the Voyager.
Id love to get a polysynth but im not a keyboardist primarily. Id rather have a renewed polymoog should Moog build one.
Eric
I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing to call a Prophet, Little Phatty, Voyager, or anything a beginner synth in one respect; I think those synths are all great because of their accessibility, and in that way, make a great jumping off point for learning about subtractive synthesis. You could also include a Nord Lead in with that group. Or an OB-Xa or a Jupiter really. And of course, anything that makes synthesis more accessible and easy to use for people - and to inspire new players - is a good thing.
However, if it’s coming from the idea that it’s a limited and poor quality instrument, THAT I would resent.
As far as the A6 design goes… I don’t know if any of the smaller companies could foot the bill to do it. It’d have to probably be one of the big three… I wonder what they could come up with if they really wanted to do an analog machine like back in the day…
The specific example I was thinking of was from a person who claimed the Prophet '08, compared with the Andromeda A6, was merely a beginner’s synthesizer. It was definitely a put down of the P08.
That’s a fair summation but it shouldn’t be a slam against the P08.
I read of many people who sold their A6s because they couldn’t comprehend such a deep synth. The P08 would had been a better choice.
Both are good synths, it’s a case of how complicated you want to get in sound design.
That’s great! The one I tried at the music store got stuck on one note as I was sweeping the filter cutoff, and the manager came by, turned it off, turned it back on and said, “Yeah, it does that sometimes. It just needs rebooting every now and again.” I said to myself, “Self, never buy one of these.” 
If you do opt for p 08 I woulkd recommend you getting the PE version over the encoder vers. I have one with encoders and will be giving it the 2nd shot of deoxit since last August. It is an excellent synth just remember that unlike the A6 it has no built in fx. I am looking at buying a Tetra to add to it.
The PE version ROCKS! 
And Voltor, +1 about your experience with the A6. I had one, and it was amazing, but it got more and more buggy over time and became the most expensive paperweight I ever owned… next to my '94 Voyager Minivan 
If people are having reliable experiences with the Andromeda, that’s really cool. I would consider you to be a very fortunate person indeed. Keep making beautiful music with it!!
i’m sorry to disagree with the bad press the a6 gets :
i started the electromusic.com a6 topic , so might have some knowledge on the a6.
1 the bugs are very minor things compared to the whole picture
2 most a6’s function perfectly , and so for long time. that also includes the tuning and other issues.
3 they are way cheaper then the 3000$ , that is , if you can find one
4 they look much better than the small /cheap looking prophet
5 their soundpallet is way bigger then that of the p8, afcourse you’ll need understanding of analogsynthprogramming ( more then with a p8 which stays more to the surface of analog synthesis )
i followed the a6 for years now, including most , if not all of the topics on the net about the a6, and i have one for years now, i took her on roadtour and; i never had any problem with it( that is after the first buy period/ 3 month’s in which i indeed had to let do some servicing ), wouldn’t sell it , know how to use and tweak it , and NO , never felt the urge to sell her or even buy a prophet 8.
and i’m sure lot’s of a6 users feel exact the same way.
so.. that’s my 5 cents
Sunny,
I won’t buy an A6 because of the continuous reports of glitchy behaviour. I’ve got or have had machines that were ‘Glitchy’ and could never use them out. They always went weird at the worst possible times. I always allow for SOME problems with any device, but when it is rampant I avoid paying for the priveledge. If you have had no or little problems, congratulations. But that doesn’t make it a good investment for me.
(It only took a few hours with a soldering iron to fix my VFX-SD. There was no cure for the MemoryMoog going into edit mode all the time and drifting tuning. My PPG Wave would lock up and require rebooting randomly. As my 2600 aged it started to drift and required semi-annual service, etc.) I no longer use any but the VFX of those machines. I hope yours stays working. (Oh yeah, I never bought the Korg Radius because every one I ever saw in a store was locked up and not working.)
i don’t know where you find the continues reports of…
as stated i 've been using the a6 for years already, and have been active member of most , if not all userfora .
there is a difference between gossip and facts.
the a6 is a good synth, and reliable.
oke the plastic sidecaps can break off if handled uncarefully, swap them with wood and never have a problem anymore.
yes sometimes a new one has problems with one of the voices: use the warranty if you’re the unlucky guy to have one like that and they’ll stay oke for years to come
oke there are bugs: by example: the pulsewide has to be set on 52 instead of 50( default) to get a real square wave.
i’m sorry that’s about the scale of problems and bugs you’ll have to suspect.
i know what i’m talking about, i actually started the list to gathered all bugs and wishes to try to get an os update.
the a6 is a real great synth, great also on stage where i used it for years.
if you want to go for …, do it. i just wanted to make the difference between facts and gossip a bit more clear. the a6 deserves it.
My A6, which I owned for over a year before selling, was fairly trouble free. I had one voice go bad, but never bothered having it repaired because it was never a problem for me. I actually prefer the OS of the Andy - better arpeggiator, more knobs and less menu diving, but my Prophet '08 does about 90% of what I asked for out of my Andy, and it is far more portable and gig-worthy (no waiting to tune, and zero tuning drift - unless you want it to drift by upping the “slop” setting. I also like the far-better customer support from DSI - none of my emails to Alesis were ever answered. Both are great synths, but in the end the Prophet worked better for me.
Hopefully I’ll eventually own an A6, I hear they really are incredible machines. If not an A6 I’d settle for really huge sounding DSI.
There is a cure but it is a major resolder job. I’m not talking about LAMM either.
I hot-rodded my Memorymoog to get rid of the tuning drift problem. Basically the drift is caused by oxidizing contacts on the internal connectors, and you have to replace the factory installed tin plated connector headers with gold plated ones. That’s the major resolder job.
I did this back in 1994, and have gigged with it with no problems since.
Sigh…The P’08/A6 wars continue. I started a Prophet '08 thread on the above-mentioned web site, and immediately the pro-A6 maniacs jumped all over me…for praising the Prophet!
http://electro-music.com/forum/viewtopic.php?highlight=prophet&t=33893
I happily admit - since I nearly bought one twice - that the A6 is an analog masterpiece, and that its capabilities far surpass those of the Prophet '08. And I truly wish that some reputable company would buy its design and fix the problems. But those of you who try to belittle or even deny its problems would need to convince an awful lot of A6 owners and former owners that the instrument’s problems are minor and a rarity. I, too, did my research on-line, and I found more complaints about the A6 than for any other synthesizer. Granted, such comments and reviews are not exactly Gospel truth, and there may be some exaggeration involved. But when the same issues keep recurring over and over again, common sense leads a person to admit that something is positively amiss, so that buying the instrument amounts to a gamble.
Yes, you can find many complaints about the Voyager on this forum, but…this is a Moog forum where you would expect to come across all the good and bad that could be said about the instrument. However, you don’t need to go on an Andromeda forum to find complaints about it. You can find them almost everywhere. It seems to me that the design of the A6 was a bit above the ability of Alesis. They had a fabulous idea, but they weren’t up to the challenge of realizing it.
And as for the price of the A6, I consistently find $3,000 to be the bill on the major on-line American music stores. I’d be interested to learn who sells it for substantially less.
Wow! $2,300 would indeed be an excellent price for an Andromeda. Even less expensive than the Poly Evolver Keyboard. Where did you find the price? And what’s the secret to finding an A6 that doesn’t have problems?
They can be found used. I got a good deal on one at a Guitar center.
Regards,
MM