No Moog poly, so what to buy?

[Just Me]

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.)

[sunny pedaal]

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.

[superd2112]

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.

[analoghaze]

[Subtronik]

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.

[MC]

There was no cure for the MemoryMoog going into edit mode all the time and drifting tuning.

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.

[The Analog Organist]

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/viewtopi ... et&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.

[analoghaze]

[The Analog Organist]

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?

[mmp]

They can be found used. I got a good deal on one at a Guitar center.


Regards,

MM

[The Analog Organist]

Where Oh where, on-line, are brand new Andromedas sold for $2,300? That's the question of the hour. Anybody?

[superd2112]

Where Oh where, on-line, are brand new Andromedas sold for $2,300? That's the information I'm looking for.

AO, you can get an Andromeda for $2499 from Nova Musik, and thats just their listed price - there may be some wiggle room. They have a NE Voyager in whitewash w/indigo lighting that I'm drooling over, but I just bought the P-08, and ordered a Phatty Stage II and a Peavey Tour TNT-115 (for the Taurus) this morning, so it may be awhile... Still waiting to talk to you on the Prophet forum - they still have not activated my account.

[The Analog Organist]

Superd2112 -

My wallet is still smoking from a newly purchased Poly Evolver Keyboard PE, but I will look into your information on the Andromeda. Thanks very much. I'm also hoping "Analoghaze" will tell me where he found an Andromeda for $2,300.

Don't hold your breath on the Dave Smith Instruments forum

http://www.ex5tech.com/ex5ubb_cgi/ultim ... forum&f=23

because there's been only minimal activity there for months. I've been posting questions on that site in vain. Perhaps you could help to liven it up a bit. The Prophet'08/Mopho/Tetra forum

http://prophet5.org/viewforum.php?f=15

is much better, although that too is far less active than the Moog forum. Amazingly, it's more interesting chatting about DSI equipment here than on the other forums!

[The Analog Organist]

If the latest rumors about the discontinuing of the Andromeda A6 are true, then what polyphonic analog synthesizer would you consider the next best? I say the Prophet '08 coupled with a P'08 Desktop would somewhat fill the vacancy. Dress it up with a phaser, chorus, and delay, and you have one mighty instrument for both solo and chordal playing.

[peterkadar]

I'm glad that sunny is having and has had a great experience with his A6.

There are manythings about it that I like over the Prophet:

-keyboard action
-display
-dedicated program buttons
-multimode filters that sound GREAT!
-mega flexibility (though the P'08 is pretty deep in this regard too)
-ribbon controller
-fx... even though they were digital, they were on a side chain.
-knobs felt really good on my unit

I also really liked the way it looks; it has that 'bridge of the enterprise' feel to it. I like the Prophet's appearance for diffrent reasons.

I saw an A6 for sale in Montreal, brand new. The salesperson told me that Alesis had gone through and made sure they were working well before they shipped them out. I almost jumped on it, but didn't have enough $$.

The A6 is great. The Prophet is great. I wish I didn't have to get rid of my A6. I'm glad I own a Prophet.

I hope Moog comes out with some serious polysynth someday...

The end.