All I see from them now is crappy MIDI controller keyboards. I had one briefly. Extremely cheap feeling keybed. My old Quadrasynth had a nicer keybed than anything they've done recently.
I have been wanting A6 for about 10 years and it is - The Most powerfull Analog Synth ever made indeed. Thank You for the video and and pro-level piano skills
people are saying what I dreaded, telling me the filters suck and stuff like that...but studying the front panel and reading the specs, this thing really does appear to be the best polysynth ever made
so many things to mention, post filter control, pitch envelope, everything laid out in classic analog style from left to right, that beautiful big ribbon control in the middle, idk why people ever stopped doing that, probably cause it looks stupid but it's nice to have a big one at quick reach.
For me the most interesting soud in this demo, but I think it is mostly a very deep and strong reverb fx mix. Since the synth have fx onboard, most wicked and paddy sounds come from their part of the teamwork. Funny that they are 100 % digital ;-) except for distortion, which is analog.
Returning here some years later now that they show metrics on parts of the video most played. Of course it would be for this patch. I think about it once every 2 months at least.
I wonder how much this would go for today if Alesis was still making synths. I never really appreciated the Andromeda when it was being made, but now I definitely want one.
Alesis went bankrupt (largely because of the Andromeda) and their name was bought out by InMusic brands, the same people who bought out Akai professional, Denon and several other brands. So the Alesis that made the Andromeda and Ion haven’t existed since then. It’s weird to think about now but when the Andromeda came out there wasn’t much of a market for large analog synths, the synth community was much much smaller at the time and vintage analogs were still affordable. It’s a shame because the andromeda really is an amazing synth
@@Matthewsavant I remember lusting after this right after college but couldn’t afford it. Im now 42 and can afford it but they don’t make it...bummer! I could get moog or dsi or even Roland Jupiter x (sounds almost analog like to me though digital) but none of them have the 16 part multitimbrality of the andromeda. What a beast of a synth.
Check out Kebu and his cover of Blade Runer using this, then make your mind up. if the horns don't sound like the Yamaha CS80. I'll eat my hat. So lush and powerful. Love the strings and things. I doubt this is the best synth ever though, has a lot to live up to
Nice! Shows the A6 has analog liveliness and "fragility" in its sound. Are the digital effects external or is it the built in FX-unit in this demo? Would be interesting to hear it through top notch reverb and delay.
It sounds like the onboard fx to me...I've not opened mine up to look for it, but I've read that it has the Wedge's DSP chip in the A6 to handle it's digital fx in parallel.
+quarkyzarky Which DSI synth? The evolver line is dreadful IMO, only good for lo-fi, sounds distorted no matter the patch settings. Anything Prophet isn't my cup of tea either as it also uses the anemic Curtis chip filter but sound quality is much better and makes it at least usable. I think we can skip Mopho... That leaves the OB-6 which is actually *good* because it really is an Oberheim synth (SEM still beat it).
The filters still sound trash, that's why I had to sell mine. The one saving grace is that you have an individual output for each osc allowing you to route them via out board filters. The dude who bought mine did that and hooked it up to his modular set up. It most likely sounded like it was meant to at that point.
Yup, completely over-rated based on the 'monster spec' , size and price. It's one of the worst sounding synths in history. Fact. The VCOs and spec mean nothing in this case. A Prophet REV2 completely outclasses it on tone, musicality, fun of programming, price and reliability... and is 1/3 the price and is "only" DCO.
@@topofthemornintoya quark's seems to be a DSI agent sent to troll anything that competes with DSI. It's sad really as you see him all over the place trolling other gear and boosting DSI. If he isn't getting paid then it's really sad. He's moved on from the REV2 now and is boosting the Prophet-6 as the shortcomings of the sound on the REV2 compared to some other synths must have had his arse kicked. At the end of the day no synth is perfect. They all have strengths and weaknesses. Having a varied palette to create from is what should be desirable and not from just one manufacturer. Build your own combinations and create your own signature sound. That's my philosophy anyhow
it seems this 3:28 preset did impressed everyone here in the comments section :) how that preset is called? i know where to get the samples from it.. :3
Remember reading the specs on this synth before it’s release & being like wow real analog with all that control, finally go to demo one for a few how’s & just couldn’t love it, should be the fattest modern analog, but alesis failed to deliver on sound imo, was in the money for one also & walked away
I have a JP-8, OB-Xa and CS=60 next to mine and It _can_ sound plenty fat. Too fat to play nice in a mix at times. BUT A6 is furthest thing from 'instant command' gratification in any fixed architecture synth made. It takes most expert sound design vets many sessions to get to grips with it's quirks, specific terminology (in some aspects) and architecture. The synth is eccentric and idiosyncratic, while it didn't help it that the factory presets were drenched in digital fx while setting the VCOs default to background tuning-on, resulting in a stiff, overdriven and over-processed sound.
@@shaft9000 exactly. I compared mine to vintage Minimoogs, SEMs.. even Emu Modular, System 100M... It can sound as good as any of then. The thing is it can sound bad of not in the right hands... Oscillator levels have to be extremely low, the sound engine have to be adjusted, etc.
Nice video, but the sound is mediocre, the DACs in this synth are cheap, it doesn't sound better than a good VST synth like the Avenger... which costs less than $200, they have made it bigger than it really sounds.
The A6 doesn't sound bad, but it certainly does not sound good either. Some people tend to start misjudge simply because they read the word analog. Jeezes. Quit the bullshit. Analog is not better. Thats like saying film is better than video. That was 20 years ago the case. 2018, some digital synths simply sound way fatter, bigger, brighter and more dynamic than any analog. Wake up please, wake up. I played so many synths passed 40 years and owned all 'exotics' most people can only dream about. That includes a PPG with Wavetherm. And an M12. And P5 and Solaris, Chroma... It's the biggest bullshit talk in history of synths that analog sounds better... maybe if you talk CS80, M12, OB8 or P5. And even then. Compressed and with lot's of FX. Maybe... In special the industry and brands that do produce analogs want people who have no clue but pretend they do, to believe analog sounds 'better' Check my Soundcloud sK3LeTvm. If any one can tell on which tracks analog, digital synths or when real or sampled instruments were used...Good luck. See you in 1000 years.
Go fuck yourself. Digital replications will NEVER have the chaos in the sound that makes them stand out in a mix or pull the listener into the sound. I've gotten rid of all my digital crap and replaced with both modern and vintage analog hardware, and it is BLISS that you will never know from playing with ones and zeros.
This is not about the video - good vid, but the A6 sounds so generic and lacking in character it sounds almost like a VA fgs!!! And this was meant to be a VCO monster analog. I hate the sound, it's so static and controlled, I've heard better DCO synths than this. Bring on the Prophet 6 - a real VCO synth that actually sounds like one!
prophet 6 is digitally controlled like the A6 exactly the same techno on both that why you have preset ! pure VCO synth doesn't have preset ! keep that in mind ! prophet 5 is digitally controlled ! ect...
vortex222 sorry but go on Web site and check them Yeah P6 and p5 and A6 have VCO but digitally controlled ! For exemple, moog D is pure 100% VCO (no preset) 😉 But I do not say they are bad synthesizer, on the contrary I find great
Any analog synth that has programmable presets is going to be digitally controlled. The Andromeda VCO's are analog as is the audio signal path but the control surface itself is digitally controlled. Anyone who says the Andromeda isn't analog must not have used one. It is definitely analog and requires warm up for the oscillators to stabilize. 16 VCO's don't just magically tune on power up. The internal effects are digital and aren't very good. I suggest you bypass the internal effects, utilize the auxiliary outputs, then run the Andromeda through a nice outboard effects device.
The Andromeda can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be. If you aren't well versed in synthesis, the Andromeda can be a bit daunting to operate. Learn the inner workings of the A6 and you will be greatly rewarded. The dual filters can produce amazing sounds. Bypass the internal effects and use the auxiliary outputs to obtain the purest sound. The Andromeda is far more capable than any DSI synth offering. My suggestion, delve deeper into the A6 before deciding against it.
Dude the filters on the Andy are trash. It's well known that they designed them wrong and Alesis wouldn't fit the bill of the cost of going back to the drawing board. It's been discussed by many of the original design team on the net. Try patching your Andy's outputs into a different filter and turning the A6's off and you will hear the difference. I sold mine, it's simply sounded flat as a pancake and couldn't hold my attention for very long due to the filters sounding nothing like they were intended to.
How am I supposed to know if I want a synth when the dude demoing it is playing the corniest melodies ever. This isn’t the runescape soundtrack. This is the equivalent of a dude demoing a reverb pedal by playing blues licks.
