Alesis Andromeda

I just want to extend sort of an olive branch to all the Andromeda owners and the folks at Alesis here. What was once a simple matter has now simply gotten out of hand, and I'd just like to clear some things up:

1. The Andromeda Sounds Great.
2. The MIDI implementation and OS are not complete.
3. I bought mine at a store that does not normally accept any returns.
4. All I ever wanted was Alesis to call the store and ask them to take the board back because it was not usable for me.
5. I do not play live, I only sequence in a midistudio, and the missing functions were essential to me.
6. Some of the venom I've spit here is a result of the fact that Mike Nicoletti never called me back even though I left several messages with him. I still have never talked to him. I had to pursue Alesis to get them to call the store for me.
7. None of the salespeople at the store where I bought my board told me anything about the functionality, they didn't know. There was one review on this board when I purchased it, focusing mainly on the sound, which again, is great. I did read the manual BEFORE I bought it. That was a mistake because it was misleading.
8. Alesis did eventually do what I asked them to, and I am thankful for that, but like I said, they never called me back. I had to keep calling and calling and calling to get them to call the store.

I think this board has great potential, but for midi setups, as a controller, it is not there yet, and was not usable for me. As the centerpiece of my studio, it was not working. You cannot get piano expressiveness out of an EX5R with all of your velocities below 80, and you can't use the knobs on this thing to record sweeps, etc. When you can, it might be better for midi setups. As far as live use is concerned, I'm sure it is very usable in its current state, although I still think the board sounded even better when I used my Novation keys to play it, just because of the velocity info(the action on the Andromeda is better). I don't see why everyone thinks these comments and feelings are so unreasonable...

Again I apologize to all I've offended, this has gone too far and hopefully we can all be happy with the gear we love.

This is a response to The Clueless Whiner. First off, you don't know the first thing about me or what I know about synths. Secondly, where in my reviews do I say that much about analog synthesis? I never said that Andromeda wasn't the phattest synth on the market, quite the contrary. I loved the sounds I could make with Andromeda, and I had gotten so deep into programming the synth in one week that I had to purchase a RAM card. I still have it if you need one! My reviews have little to do with sound quality or analog synthesis.

You say that the Andromeda MIDI implementation is complete, then your next sentence says that MIDI CC data from knobs is forthcoming. Well, which is it, complete, or parts still forthcoming? We'll see what's in the next software release and when it comes out, until then I'd rather have my money in the bank. When the OS is finally finished and debugged, if I want another Andromeda, I doubt I'll have to pay more than 2K for it. If I can't really use it now, and it'll cost less later, why hold on to it?
You mention internet resources as if I could have looked hard enough to find something to make the knobs send controllers or the keyboard send higher velocity numbers. I don't think that is the case.
I'd also like to say. When I sequence a filter sweep with my Novation keyboard I just turn the filter knob. Wow! With the Andromeda, I had to create an additional patch with the same sound as a preset, route a realtime controller (mod wheel or ribbon segment) to the knob I want to adjust, etc. Now what if I want to twiddle more than three knobs on a patch? Well, on the Novation, no problem, on the Andromeda, I need to use two patch slots for the same sound, then one patch for each set of dials I need mapped to realtime controllers. Sounds like a workable solution until you realize that even if I have six potential "dials" to use, only three are on each sound, so I can't really sweep an LFO, add ring mod, increase attack on a sound and then change the osc frequency... That's problem solving, not making music. My Novation keyboard never presents me with issues like this, every button and knob sends controller data. When the Alesis OS comes out with knob CC data, what about the buttons? Will you be able to record turning the arpeggiator on and off? I don't know yet. You can with the Novation. As a matter of fact, even things that don't have knobs or buttons on the novation will send MIDI CC's. For instance, the Novation has an exhausting number of arpeggio patterns. Changing them, or the clock sync (eigth notes, etc.) requires using a menu. When you enter the menu system the parameters are changed by two "global" knobs to the right of the display. Well, depending on what menu page you are on, these global knobs send the appropriate controllers for beat divisions, patterns, whether the ARP pattern is mono/poly/user... I haven't found any adjustment on the Novation that can't be recorded. When Andromeda has reached this point, it will be a finished product.

I do not own the Andromeda. Maybe some day I will once there is a more complete OS. The presets were typical of any synthesizer, some were impressive and some were bland. Somewhere beneath the knobs and, to me unintuitive interface, there is a very powerful synth. That said, as it is right now I can't see paying $3k for it.

The 16 note polyphony is reasonable for a fully analog synth. Effects are decent but probably are less important as it's the sound of analog that you'll want from the Andromeda. The sound is there once you get around to programming and why wouldn't you program an analog synth?
Too many people are used to hundreds of presets. If I based my thoughts on the Andromeda presets they would be fairly negative. But if you understand analog signal flow you can get good sounds out of the Andromeda.
Maybe more attention should be spent by Alesis on getting the Andromeda up to speed. Waldorf did a similar stunt with the "Q" keyboard and has yet to live it down even though the "Q" is a deep and interesting synthesizer a year after what could best be described a fiasco of a synth.
The Andromeda will reach it's stride but Alesis needs to be willing to take it's lumps and users need to know that they are getting an incomplete implementation of the Andromeda.
That said, it has much potential.

Very expressive. I'll be checking back on this synthesizer in half a year or so. It should be in it's stride providing Alesis continues developing the featuers promised.
The keyboard has a nice feel. I remember someone saying similar to the K5000. It's nice but the one I played was not quite as good as the K5000, still quite playable, a big plus for the Andromeda.
Easily useful for any kind of music beyond emulative sounds. If that's what your are looking for don't bother with the Andromeda or any current VAs.

no idea, I had problems with the Quadrasynth and QS6 although build qulity seems much better on the Andromeda.

email never seems to get answered, waiting on the phone is like a brief eternity, some of the service staff are very helpful, some are jerks

as is, the Andromeda is about a 7, where it will get to, probably a 9, it can sound very impressive and you can hear how it would sit well in a mix, other people have brought up their frustrations and some justification of purchase, somewhere between these two different views of the Andromeda lies the state of this synth, it is close but just too much money to spend to purchase without a complete OS, I like this synth and hoped to purchase it but would not do so after the reviews I've seen and the time I was fortunate to spend with it.

A note to the previous reviewer. Have you ever worked with the Karma? By work I mean, did you put any time into understanding what the synth does? It doesn't seem so.

Nothing personal but I can't stand when people dismiss instruments (much like some do with the Andromeda) especially when there are extrodinary features and ideas behind it.

I don't own a Andromeda. I explained why I don't and why I will consider it at a later date. My thoughts were based on extended use and only after I had a reasonable understanding of how the Andromeda works and what is left to be finished.

Your aside about the Karma was annoying because you do not base your comments on any factual information. Also, why drag other synths into a review when they are nothing like the one you are discussing? The Andromeda is a analog synth, the Karma a algorithmic rompler.

Here's to the future of the Andromeda. There is a lot of synthesizer already there but not at it's current OS and price point. Once finished the price is reasonable for this interesting synthesizer.

Oh one more thing. Why should the Andromeda sound like other synthesizers? Wouldn't it be better to have it's own siganture sound while maintaining the qualities of analog that many of us have grown to be fond of?

Used it in the store for two hours. Presests sounds were awesome, in my opinion putting my nord lead 2's presets to shame. How easy is editing the patches? I can't imagine it getting much easier; its got more buttons and knobs than NASA. Plus a screen that updates depending on which knob you turn and basically will teach you about programming because of its incredible intuitiveness. Mine is currently on order so I can not comment on the manual.

Lets face it, this keyboard has all the features. Check out Alesis websites for specs. As mentioned below, velocity and midi controller data are not supported by software yet but will be soon I trust. In fact, if Peake is correct they'll probably be working before I get mine delivered.

I know understand why people in their posts make such a big deal about the superiority of analog sound. The sound is alive. Love the feel of the mod wheels and the ribbon kicks ass. Obviously, the Andromeda won't replicate a piano for instance but I'll probably use a rack module or a sampler for those kinds of things.

Haven't gotten mine yet so i can't comment. But it definetly feels good.

Haven't dealt with them yet, but from reading Mr. Peake's posts I can tell his heart is in it. Incredibly kind and helpful!

I've been a musician for about 11 years now. Have relatively recently gotten into dance music, keyboards and computer recording (3 years). I will use the Andromeda as my controller keyboard and will sell my Nord Lead 2 as soon as the software supports sending controller data and velocity. I personally love the way the synth looks and when I looked up "Andromeda" in the dictionary the design came to life for me. BTW it must be seen in person because the photos don't do it justice. Sometimes the pictures look better than the real thing; not in this case. In my opinion this synth is the bomb! If you are thinking about checking it out then you must check it out. This synth was obviously a labor of love and it is awesome to see a company deliver exactly what a lot of musicians were dying for. I will probably post another review once I have had it for some time and know a little more about it.

If you want to pretend it's a simple synthesizer, you can. The knobs work intuitively. If you want to treat it as a more complex machine, the menu system is as good as any other that exists at this time.

I became interested in it as a keyboard rather than as a midi module, so my comments should be taken in that light. Unlike the grumpy fellow who has been posting, I have to say this is the first really expressive synthesizer since maybe the Arp Chroma. The envelopes are lovely and the portamento is sculptable.

My main problem with digital synths is that the high end sometimes sounds crummy and harsh because you run into the resolution limits of the internal digital representation. Even on the best digital synthesizers you have to design patches around this problem. On the other hand, analog keyboard instruments tend to be a little out of tune up in the high end, and tend to get a little wobbly and screechy as well. Andormeda might be the first keyboard that doesn't have either of these problems.

This synth is designed to spit out "classic" analog sounds easily, but I've been pushing it in other directions- the envelopes, random settings on the LFOs, good sounding notch filter, and audio frequency modulations are all fresh and don't sound like other synthesizers.

The factory sound set is not great. Wish the LFO's went faster. Would KILL to have an analog delay line built into the signal path, say before the filter feedback... The wish list is long, but that's because what's there is provocative.

The case is heavy and tough. The keyboard seems well made. My worry is the knobs and buttons. They seem a little wimpy.

Haven't had any problems or reasons to call.

I very much wanted to counter the angry poster below. At first I was nervous that I had spent so much on yet another keyboard, but I had a feeling I could play this thing more musically than other synths. It's still a bit early to say, but I think that hope will be fulfilled. I usually think of synthesizers these days as midi sound boxes, but at heart I'm an acoustic piano player, and what I really want is a keyboard instrument, and that's what this fundamentally is.

A lot of the synth world is trending away from keyboard skills and the keyboard worldview. Karma is supposed to play itself, for instance.

When the pendulum swings back, the Andromeda will probably be at the top of the heap for players who want listeners to be able to hear what their hands were doing.

Version 1.30.83

The presets are awesome. You get a panel full of knobs if you want to change them, which is far better than a menu and a pair of up/down buttons.

The manual is great. I have no problem reading it and learning about the machine. I think Mr. Anonymous prefers Roland manuals written in engrish.

It's about time someone made a real analog synthesizer with knobs.

I don't know what Mr Anonymous' problem is.

The Andromeda has real analog VCOs, VCFs, and VCAs and the most vast modulation system you've ever seen on an analog synth, it is THAT close to a programmable polyphonic analog synthesizer.

The two VCOs are modeled after the Moog 921 modular VCO and they sound awesome! You get variable pulse, falling ramp, rising ramp, triangle, sine, and suboscillator on each VCO and all the waveforms can be enabled simultaneously. The mixer has separate controls for each VCO and their respective suboscillator, and you get a great ring modulator with its own mix control.

Anybody who complains about the stepping of the tuning knobs is clueless about how a synthesizer works - the big one is for semitone (half-step), and you have TWO MORE knobs for cents and fine tuning. This works great. The VCOs are tunable from -60 to +60 semitones - that's over TEN octaves! I have been using this for months and the tuning stability is great. After ten minutes of turning it on, I can autotune just once and it's fine for hours. It has background tuning which can be disabled if you like the vintage style drifting.

One VCF is modeled after the Oberheim SEM VCF, 12dB with simultaneous low pass, high pass, and band pass outputs, and the other VCF is modeled after the famous Moog 904a 24dB low pass filter. A mixer allows you to blend any of the filter outputs, as well as direct ring modulator outputs and sine waves from either/both VCO for massive sub-basses. The Oberheim filter is nice and creamy and the Moog filter is super fat. I love the sound of these filters. The Oberheim filter sounds better than any of the crap products Oberheim built since the Xpander. It is very easy to get great Minimoog and Memorymoog sounds from the Moog filter. But the real fun starts when you blend the outputs or configure the filters in series.

There are three full-featured seven-stage EGs, in addition to the traditional ADSR you get a delay stage and an extra decay and release stage, each with its own sustain level control. Each transient can have any one of seven shapes, from linear to exponential to log for authentic simulation of your favorite synth or for new or old sounds. Two of the EGs are bi-level, meaning the sustain levels go from +100 to -100. The EGs can be looped at specified stages and can be triggered from any source in the modulation list - awesome!

The LFOs are sweet - three total and also a separate S&H. The waveshape can be varied to get anything you want: bipolar, unipolar (for trills), variable pulse, variable triangle/ramp waveshape, etc.

But the Andromeda's specialty is its modulation flexibility. Almost every knob and every function on the Andromeda can be modulated, very little was left out. This goes way beyond the Matrix Modulation on the Oberheim Matrix 6/12/1K and Xpander synths. When you start to dive into modulations, then you're REALLY starting to get to what synthesizers are all about! Whoever designed this thing has had experience with a modular synthesizer and it was obvious that it was a labor of love. There has never been such a flexible polyphonic synthesizer with programmability. It RULES! Everything is there, VCO cross modulation, pulse width modulation, VCO FM to VCF, reversible EG on the filters, EG to VCO pitch, etc etc.

The keyboard works great on mine and it is semi-weighted, it feels great and is a lot nicer than those light spring keyboard almost everybody elses uses. You get attack AND release velocity, and it's pressure sensitive.

The effects are the guts of an Alesis Wedge and they sound great.

There's a PC card slot on the back for additional sound storage, as if 384 patch memories isn't enough...?

Full MIDI capability is here, knob CC data due in the next release... YAY!!!!

Yup, there's a sequencer and an arpeggiator, both can be synced to MIDI. You don't have to use the sequencer for just notes, you can assign any of its three levels to anything you want. Try this with YOUR workstation se

I own many vintage synths and the Andromeda is the only synth to come along in the last fifteen years where I can finally leave the valuable stuff at home and still sound like the real thing. It is easy to get the classic vintage sounds out of this thing, and I am continually amazed at the new and unusual sounds I get when I explore with the modulation options. Lately I've been emulating samples of acoustic instruments from my ROMplers and the Andromeda is nailing them, thanks to the flexible filter configuration and the vast modulation options. VAs can't hold a candle to real analog - I tried them all and have never found a VA that can bark and growl like a real analog synthesizer. To be able to simulate traditional instruments with the clarity of samplers is the icing on the cake.

I can use this for rock, blues, jazz, classical, dance, ANYTHING. The ribbon is so cool, it's a crying shame that more manuafacturers don't use these. We've been waiting for Yamaha to bring back that cool ribbon on the CS-80 and they're not going to do it, folks. Alesis answered our prayers. Having the wheels are cool enough, but the ribbon is such a great controller.

The effects are useful and good, they are on a buss instead of being inline with the audio so that's a plus. There's also an analog distortion for adding serious grunge to your sounds.

I love my Andromeda. Maybe Mr. Anonymous would be happier with pair of spoons.

Rock solid. Everything works as advertised. I've been gigging with it and haven't had a problem yet.

From all observations it appears that Mr. Anonymous is also terrified to drive a car for fear of running over cute fuzzy little animals.

Alesis is super - Mike Peake is the greatest. He's on several boards and mailing lists and he is prompt with answers, and there are plenty of other users who are quick to answer questions.

Mr. Anonymous is surrounded by all these internet resources yet he never asked any of us. Get a grip, ya spineless whiner.

The golden age of analog has returned in a big way. Alesis and the Europeans are the only people that get it, the Japanese have a lot of catching up to do. I have been playing keyboards since the 70s and have hated the blah blah digital doorbells that have flooded the market in the last twenty years. Analog is where the BEEF is and the Andromeda has it!

Real analog is real analog, and no VA, Ai2, LA synthesis, FM synth, or sampler can touch it. The Andromeda is already destined to be a classic like the Minimoog and the Prophet-5. I have piles of vintage analog keyboards and the Andromeda can stand up to any of them, and I've been playing long enough to know better. The Andromeda has already replaced four of my keyboards on stage, and I'm working on the other sounds to replace more. It is that good. The built-in effects lets me leave racks of mixers and effects at home, I don't need them on stage anymore.

Anything else I'd like to share? Yes, the anonymous whiner's real email is in the contact info. He doesn't have the guts to show his face, so I'll do it for him. Have a nice day.

Mike Peake, from the Andromeda Team, wrote me a message below regarding my furor over the status of Andromeda's OS. Unfortunately, Mr. Peake obviously had never purchased an item that did not funtion as advertised, or experienced the feeling of dissapointment that is a result of such an event. There are many ways to look at this situation, but after a thorough examination there is only one conclusion that can be drawn. Please allow me to elablorate:

Scenario One: Alesis has released Andromeda but it is unfinished...They say they are working on the features that are listed in the FAQ on their website.

Scenario Two: Alesis waits until the OS for the Keyboard is full featured leaving only debugging as an issue, however the keyboard is still not available.

Well, considering when Andromeda was announced it is easy to look at either situation here and draw the obvious conclusion: Alesis does not have the manpower or brainpower to have developed this product in a timely fashion. To make things worse, they have placed themselves in a bad situation by releasing the product incomplete. The only purpose that can be served by this is to upsetting the public by selling an unfinished product, and upsetting Alesis tech folks who have to deal with calls from irate customers.

Did I mention that the folks at the music store where I bought the board told me that he most important member of the Andromeda team, the board's designer has left Alesis? I am not sure if this is true, but it would explain some of the issues.

Most Importantly, I'd like to point out some flaws in Mr. Peake's arguments. First off, I agree that Alesis arranged to have the store where I bought the board take it back. But it is also worth pointing out that there was nothing else that Alesis had to offer. No updates, no ETA for an update. It is irrational to for Mr. Peake to say that returning the board was the only thing that would make me happy. That is not true. The features I need would have made me happy. The fact is returning the board is all they could offer, and they didn't even offer, I had to demand it, over and over again.

Secondly, Mr. Peake, the effort to allow me to return the board does not make me happy, and it is not worth anything. All it does is keep me from pursuing this with a lawyer. Why would I be happy? I had to call Alesis about 50 times, get no calls back and be treated rudely, all so I could end up back at square one. Oh yeah I am real happy, you guys did great!!!! (please insert sarcastic tone)
Continuing, as far as the seven hundred parameters of the board that do work are concerned, I have to agree, it is a marvelous feat considering the incompetence that I have seen demonstrated over the couse of this debacle. On the other hand, I don't think Firestone is touting all of the things they did right in manufacturing SUV tires!

Last, I would like to quote Mr. Peake
"May I add that there may very well be a release of an OS with the MIDI knob feature in two weeks?"

Well, that means there may very well not be one either. Is that correct or not, Mr. Peake?

Not taking this too far, are you? Not mentioning that since we couldn't make you happy that we arranged, at our own expense, for you to be able to return your unit (missing two features; "specifications subject to change") to the dealer you bought it from, who regularly does NOT accept returns, because THAT is the only thing we could do to make you happy. Isn't our effort to make you happy worth anything?

"Customer Support: 1
I will never, ever, as long as I live, buy another Alesis product. They act as if this hardly working board is god's gift to keyboardists."
Hardly working? You specified two features that made all the difference to you, and that without which, you wanted to return your instrument. How do two features equate to a "1" and "hardly-working"?

"This board is in a pre-production state. The features suck." Rating: 1
But you've said that the only features that mattered to you were the Keyboard scaling and MIDI data from the pots. You said that's the only reason you bought the keyboard on another review board. What about the over 700 parameters per Program, not counting MIDI and Mix mode? You're basing your "1" and claims of "pre-production" status upon two features. May I add that there may very well be a release of an OS with the MIDI knob feature in two weeks? Thanks for your patience.

Mike Peake, Andromeda team

This is an update of my earlier anonymous review in which I have blasted Alesis for releasing this keyboard too early. "Mike" Nicoletti from Alesis has still never called me back, even though on April 26th I was assured I would recieve a call back that day. Finally, I called Alesis and they told me that the regional sales rep was going to call the store where I bought the board and ask them to give me a full refund. I explained to "Gary" (the fifth person at Alesis I had spoken to) that I didn't think it was right of Alesis to be so unresponsive about these issues. All he could say was "take the keyboard back". I find it disconcerting that this is the best effort Alesis is willing to make. I gave them several chances to simply tell me when an update would be ready that would provide the features that are advertised for the board. Instead of even just placating me with an answer like "two weeks", Alesis seems to think it is easier to just tell me to go away. Well, it seems as if that is probably the best evidence of where this board is heading. If Alesis can't say when it will be complete, they probably really don't know. If they really don't know when the board will be complete, it is probably a good idea to cut losses now and just get rid of it... Too bad the Alesis rep hasn't talked to the store yet. I just called them, I guess the guys at Alesis don't know what they are talking about there either.

This board is in a pre-production state. The features suck.

The sound is analog, as long as you use an external controller you get reasonable expressiveness. I find it amusing that Alesis' faq says they have no plans for a rack unit. If this thing was 19" wide that is what it would be... The keys are useless.

Well, it doesn't do what you think it'll do right off the bat. It is unreliable like buying a guitar on ebay and just getting the body without the neck!

I will never, ever, as long as I live, buy another Alesis product. They act as if this hardly working board is god's gift to keyboardists.

If it were lost or stolen I would thank god and get my insurance money. Actually, if I couldn't return it to the store I'd arrange to have it "stolen".

first version of software doesn't include many of the features specified by alesis. There is almost too much control, and the controls do not react like analog synths of old.

again the andromeda is a let down for me. the keyboard action is too heavily sprung, and the operating system is far too complex with there being too many hidden parameters; the front panel knobs do not indicate how the sound really is, whereas on say a jupiter eight the positio of the sliders is how the sound is really set up. poor show alesis.

the main problem with the andromeda is its sound. to my ears which have gotten used to jupiter 8, memorymoog, minimoog, korg ms20 etc this synth does not even sound analog, not warm at all- and the sound doesn't seem to sit forward in my dynaudio monitor speakers. portamento is lumpy unlike older analog monsters, there are no octave up and down switches which are an essential feature of the great anolog synths. as for the presets and fx, well, you guessed it- of dubious quality. the reverbs and delays are particularly harsh and metallic sounding, if they are taken off the sound and the raw waves are auditioned you will find how weak the oscillators actually sound.there is also stepping in the oscillators when the pitch is changed. bad news for smooth pitch changes over a wide range. the filters also seem to sound cold and fall apart when dealing with lower frequencies. this keyboard is a major let down, i would even say the nord lead has a richer sound.

a big thumbs down- this was a chance for something special but once more we are presented with brilliant marketing and no substance