Alesis Andromeda

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

I am using 1.30.83. The presets sound okay, but most of them use an arpeggiator or sequence, by themselves they are not too radical. Editing patches is okay except that if you edit a patch during a sequencing performance the changes don't get recorded. They say the knobs send controllers, but I haven't seen any evidence of that. I have not found a patch editor for it. The manual stinks, mainly because half of the manual is for things they keyboard doesn't do. It is infuriating.

The features at this point are hard to comment on. The polyphony is 16... the keyboard action is okay, but the velocities transmitted are low. Playing the Andromeda with an external controller makes the sounds come alive. The global pages velocity sensitivity setting is missing. Expansion capabilities consist of a card slot for a PCMCIA memory card. With it you can store extra mixes or programs. The MIDI capabilities are bad. The keys and mod/pitch/ribbon controllers seem to function with MIDI, but none of the knobs do.

By itself the keyboard sounds horrible. With an external controller it is okay. It would work well for rock, dance, hip-hop or other styles... As far as expressiveness it stinks with the internal keys...

Well, it doesn't work right out of the box. How can you rely on that?

I called and asked about the missing features and got no answer as to when they would be fixed, but they did say they were "working on it"

I'm taking it back and getting a Nord Lead 3

Software version 1.30.183... I am glad that is the first question here, because that is the most important thing about the andromeda currently. The software in the synth stinks, and is lacking most of the features advertised by alesis in their faq. For example, half of the global midi settings adjustments cannot be made, they don't exist in the OS! None of the knobs or buttons send midi controller messages! The list goes on and on. The one I love the most is that you cant even really hear how the synth sounds when keyboard velocities are normal... Why? Well, the keyboard sensitivity controls are missing too, even though the manual has instructions for them. I am seriously considering the possibility of trying to organize a class action lawsuit. The keyboard simply does not function as advertised, and I was not warned in any way by any info on Alesis' site or by my dealer that the keyboard was in a pre-production state of functionality. I have never seen such a slow development combined with such a piss poor product when the release finally arrives. Didn't they show this thing at 2000 NAMM????? You have to ask yourself what has alesis been doing with this thing for the last year...
For me, especially because of the controller velocity problem, and other missing controller type functionality, this keyboard is currently 2500.00 worth of useless junk.

Advertised features or actual features? The keyboard doesn't do half of what it is supposed to.

The sounds are pure analog and good. But the keyboard is as expressive as a pet rock at this point. Maybe when they fix the global settings menus so you can adjust velocities, etc. Some patches lack expressiveness because the keyboard velocity is so low. Plug in an external controller and see for yourself...the patches jump to life when you transmit a good velocity...

It seems stable, but who knows until I've had it for a year or so?

They were horrible. I have called them several times to ask what is going on, when a new OS release will be available. I have been met with rudeness, and when I have left messages with some customer support manager named "Mike" he never calls me back. No one has told me when to expect an update...

What can I say? This product has potential, but after what has happened with development and release, you have to wonder if we would all be better off if a different company made this synth. After comparing this synth with virtual analogs I am not convinced it is worth all of this trouble or money... I might add that I pre-ordered and waited for this product for a long time. I also have a Korg Karma, and the experience with that board has been an interesting comparison to my dealing with Alesis. The Karma was announced about four months before it was released, not a year and four months like the Andromeda. The Karma functions as advertised unlike the Andromeda. The Karma has a noise issue which Korg has been very helpful with. They have kept me informed of developments in a timely fashion, were always polite about the issue with the board, and finally they have gotten it fixed for me. I am sure at some point Alesis will get Andromeda to the point that it is what they advertised, but it is very far away at this point...

This instrument was among first 5 or so in Canada, equipped with so called preliminary, but well written and educational manual, and with very first version - as usual a bit bugged - of operating software. Factory patches are excellent and Andromeda sounds like not much before: fat, fat and fat. Warm and smooth. Clean - no background oscillators noise, no noise at all. Americanish sound rather than japaneese. Editing is greatly improved due to an unique approach: push any button or move any knob and you'll see related page on huge LCD display, with graphic representations of envelopes. Nice!

16 voices of polyphony is a riot! It's a real analog without all the hassle of real analogs (tuning), but with all the bells and whistles of last 25 years technology achievements - MIDI, on-board effects etc. Very basic arpeggiator and step-sequencer, but hey - that's the classic approach! On-board effects are great - all these delays, ping-pongs, reverbs and extra analog distortion on top. Communication with outside world provided by typical Alesis's PCMCIA Type 1 card.

Very convincing sound programing, with all the classic sounds and a lot more. Very responsive keyboard with aftertouch, typically good Alesis's rubberized wheels plus extremely good ribbon controler. All controllers freely assignable. Effects are georgeous (delays and reverbs in particular), plus analog distortion with nice guitarish warmth! However, using Andromeda for strictly dance production may be rather unwise, since out there is plenty of other and better for this task equipped analog emulations.

It's an massive keyboard, rather heavy. Andromeda seems to be very solid in construction.

N/A

Definitely good and solid product. A bit pricey, but... After several days of messing with Andromeda I've found some minor bugs and obvious glitches in OS, i.e. tempo knob in range .5 to 500 BPM (!), displaying tempo with four digits accuracy (i.e. 125.4782), is next to impossible to set manually. Even +/_ buttons does not do any good. External sequencer can control tempo, but without updated display on Andromeda's LCD, so... Also, LCD goes blank sometimes with no apparent reason, and than goes back with no reason as well. Big surprise: there's no digital output! Strange, that having 16 separate analog outputs for every voice Alesis forgot about two ADAT outputs, or at least S/PDIF for digital recording of entire mix! Ooops! I do owe Korg Z1 and used to owe Roland Jupiter 8 (what a wonderful analog was it!), but Andromeda is a class itself, hard to compare to anything. I love most of everything about Andromeda (automatic tuning, effects, sounds and editing capabilities, expressiveness, cool look). Definitive sound source for JMJ/Vangelis/Klaus alikes, but for dance addicts there is mucho other, cheaper and better armed toys on market. Andromeda is for serious synthesis freaks and not a toy! Buying it for look or factory sounds only means driving an Porshe
in no-autobahn country.

Its got a lot of knobs, but all pretty selft explanitory, the screen is very very nice, and teaches you a lot about envs, and fitlers and sounds. so cool. so easy. it is a complex synth though.

16 not poly, real analog tho. very fat! Good built in fx, 16 part multi timber (16 midi channels), can put more ram cards in it. Very good arpeggiator and step sequencer :)

After playing with this synth since i got it yesterday, all i can do is smile. Why? It really does sound like a moog, memorymoog, obx, and an arp 2600. Why is this so wonderful? Because these are the bass, pads, strange noise, string kings of all synths from the 70s. American. And guess what? Those old ones break down a lot, drift horridly, and cost a ton of money to maintain. THIS THING IS FAT! Way fatter than roland synths. And no, the jp8080, the ms2000, supernova and virus do not even come close to the fatness, warmth, and sonic quality of this beast. It has its own sound as well! can do things other synths cannot! brilliant pass, pads, electronic strings! amazing. Analog heaven. With the ribbon controler you can really make it scream!

Only owned it 1 day. but feels very sturdy.

Alesis is pretty good.

Do not listen to these nay sayers. Why, because at stores they use crappy monitors, and you can not hear the full range of the sound, the bass and the highs.

This is an Analog workstation. It is worth every penny, 16 voices, enough for bass, the killer drums, and pads all in the same mix at the same time on multi outs for great outboard fx, and pads do fine with on board fx. If you were to buy a minimoog, memorymoog, obx, and an arp2600, you'd spend way more than this, without fx, without midi, Without the nice semi weighted keyboard, without the cool layout, without the screen. It is as complex as a modular synth. It can sound insanly wacky, or smooth, creamy, warm, fat, bassy, agressive, dark, pretty, noisey and musical.

I recomend this synth over every synth on the market for this one very reason. It teaches you about synthesis. How? you can dial up a preset, and go how do they do that? and you can hit the view buttons on everything and it shows you how the sound looks, how the env's are set, the filter, etc.. I have owned this for one day, and sounds that for years have baffled me, like really good pads, i know how to make now, and feel so stupid at the same time for not knowing how to all these years.

Also, with the advanced EGs (envelope generators) ADDSRR, and the way you can modulate these, it goes way beyond the Matrix 12 and Expander with FAT VCO instead of boring stale osc that those two synths have, i think they are curtis chips dunno. So i must give props, this thing burries most older synths. and the filters can run at the same time. man, the filters are great, arp, moog, ober. You still need a roland sh101, tb303, or juno 106 to do acid filter sounds, because it cannot sound like that. You can get some bass tones that sound a tiny bit roland, but it must be paired with a good roland synth. But it was never made to sound roland. It sounds American, not japanees.

I hope this synth makes alesis a lot of money, and i hope all the people who worked on this wonderful synth make a lot of money too.

Not sure about the software version, but the manual says "preliminary" on the cover... mmmmmmm........ Preliminary. (Simpsons joke!) The presets sound great, and the realtime controller ribbon and mod wheel do wonderful things on some of them. Editing patches seems really easy, this thing has so many knobs and buttons that almost all control a single funtion. Some parameters are controlled with "soft" knobs that change function depending on what you are doing. The screen changes to reflect the knobs and buttons that are currently being pressed, including graphical display of envelopes, etc. I don't think it could be much easier. I'll chop off one point due to the overall complexity of the instrument...This thing is complicated simply because of the flexibility...

16 Voices, 16 Parts, Weighted Synth Action is very good. Built in effects are basically 2 global effects in mix mode. This is somewhat limiting, but you have so many outs you can always route to external effects. Also, it seems that a little delay/phasing/flang/chorus and verb are all this board need... see below... This board is fully MIDI capable, aftertouch, a full and robust MIDI implementation

This is where this keyboard, and any other for that matter, shows its true value. I currently own a Novation Nova II 36 Voice and a Waldorf Micro Q. In the past I had owned both a nord rack and a micro modular. I also have various other syths from Roland/Yamaha/Korg that aren't really for this type of sound. When I first heard or this board I was skeptical. First, I have heard many classic analog synths (Arp, Sequential, Moog) and was never really that impressed. They seemed very hard to maintain, and tuning them after years of use can be difficult. In comparison to my VA gear, I never ever really wanted an analog synth. The guys at my local store were nice enough to let me try the Andromeda in my studio. I only tried it after I heard about the auto-tuning and calibration feature. Initially at the store I was not impressed, but something told me to dig deeper so I took it home...
My first comment would be that you can immediately hear that this synth is Analog... It connot be compared to any of my VA gear in any way. The way the sounds fit into the mix, the utter fatness and warmth of this synth cannot be overlooked. I have access to some Arp and Moog synths still and I gave them another listen to see how they compared. The Andromeda easily overshadowed the vintage synths in its accuracy and sound quality. All of the warmth, none of the noise or fluctuations you might expect. I will never buy an old analog synth, but after listening to this Andromeda I am a convert... Analog is better, fatter, warmer and more musically expressive. This synth seems to breathe...

This synth seems really reliable. The tuning calibration function seems to work flawlessly, and the case seems very durable. There is a little plastic in the case construction... My unit seemed to be a little unbalanced when I set it on the desk... a little rubber foot took care of the problem... I am choosing no opinion because I have only had it a few days. Because it is analog, it may require service at some point...

No contact with them

If it were lost or stolen, I'd have to get another. There is no going back... period.

No opinion i was lost with it for only two hrs

Some complained on the knobs and keys. I have no complains about the knobs. The keyboard is average. It looks better in real than on pics.

I hade about 2 hrs with this monster using headphones only. I wasn't in mode to ask Ricke at Estrad to hook it up. I don't agree with Magnus Ottosson at Ottosonic, who said it wasn't so special and wouldn't beat his Expander. In the headphones i can tell that with this machine you can make Rock-The-Eart-Sounds that blows anybody away with tons of everything including nice non-anlogish type of sounds. Sure, you should be able to, with this price tag. The question i hade was how does it sound? Does it have a nice color or atitude? Some high end synths need to be programmed with tons of mods befor they good. With Andromeda you can dig deep into mod routings but a raw basic 2 osc and a filter does sound very good. It does have "it".(or Estrad use tube headphones) The factory presets are better than average. I did not try different effect settings but some presets are with reverb and was very good as well. I don't claim to know all synths and their effects but for the first time i think a synth should be equipped with effects.(Jeee, they are gonna think i'm getting payed) I give it 10. (with headphones)

No opinion

No opinion

I want it now.