Possible hardware mod to lower filter ranges

[Peake]

The A6 can be characterized as bright-sounding due to restrictions in the LF range of the Filters. It would be possible to lower the Frequency ranges of the filters by replacing the surface-mount capacitors associated with each filter chip, in order to move toward a "darker" sound.

Note that this would take good skills with a soldering iron, and a bit of time. Also, in using the Offset to force the Fcs down, one notes that the pitch wraps at a certain point (see factory program =DEPTH=). I'm also not sure how the Tuning tables would respond to this mod suggestion; the engineers at Alesis would have to check it out and give a thumbs-up if it would work out.

This of course would void any existing warranties, etc.

[sunny pedaal]

hallo mike!
nice idea ( bit like the old multimoog modification), just wished i first could give it a study , but seems nobody gets hold of the scheme's so it's a bit like looking in the dark
so if anyone has hold of any schematic info of the a6 , please share it with us !
just wondered about the idea of increasing the filterabilities: would that mean that the old presets would have to be rewritten?
another question is how it's on the moment with numarks concern for it's consumers, more concrete if a new director/manager has arrived with ears for consumerssatsifaction ? would be the best news for long time if so
so anybody with some inside contacts , please get them working !
fr.gr. sunny

[Peake]

Yes, changing the hardware would equally effect all Program settings. The tuning tables might have to be rewritten to reflect new target frequencies as well.

[sunny pedaal]

problem with this synth is it tickels the imagination so with what can and could do , but on the other hand the upgrading service is so poor. just frustrates me a little.
you think there will ever be an upgrade or freeing of source code and or service manual?
and is there anything users could do to speed it up??

[Peake]

Start a petition to release the code.

Note that last major revision, 1.40, was done in-house through the bankruptcy. There are people at Alesis who really care about what they do, but are still employees and cannot make decisions like releasing the code without official approval.

DIY is the usual solution... There was a large DIY community surrounding the early Ensoniq gear; in fact, one gent from those days did a converter for the Alesis Fusion...

[sunny pedaal]

i tried it , again, with this lettre, this time hopefully some reaction will come back, if anybody wants to copy it and send it to , Or has a more direct adress, join in
sunny
(ps promise this is the last time i'll bite in this subject , just to protect my own teeth)


From:
Subject: to mr m Fredericks , vice president of sales and marketing
Date: July 4, 2007 11:59:58 AM CEST
To: support@alesis.com



dear mr m .Frederick,

after numerous demands for upgrade of the a6 , on behalf of the a6 community, which where sofar not succesfull,
i hereby would like you to take notice of one of the many discussions taking place on the internet on this moment .
hopefully this might result, at least, in a reaction of somebody in charge of the productdevelopment of this product , our beloved a6.
http://electro-music.com/forum/post-127320.html#127320

thank you sofar , your sincerely, dr ##########, the netherlands



(copy of one of the previous sent letters:)

dear sir,
on behalf of the a6 community i was asked to collect , comprehent and test all mentioned bugs and idem dito wishes.
sofar unclear is what has happened after the work was done.
i therefor hereby send you a copy of the definite collecting whereby i'd also would gratefully take the opportunity to state the case of asking for either a software update to repair , at least the bugs, or to give some people in the a6 community ( espec. found on the code404 a6 list) the opportunity and means( sourcecode b.e.) to fullfill this task ourselfs.
i've been an alesis user since the adat appeared. synth's have been my thing since about 1979.
in the past i also used to buy a lot of roland-equipment however this stopped for me after buying an upgradable/ open system w-30 and finding out never an update was released ! holding people a root and thereafter for shortterm economical reasons never fullfilling the expectations is at least in my opinion not a proper thing to do.
i do sincerely hope this will not happen in the case of one of the potentially best synth's made, the alesis /numark A6.
after all almost all bugs are easily repaired , as i know from my experience while working with the software development team of "technica delle art" the same guys that made b.e. the software for philips classics mixers, the behringer digital mixer etc. b.e. changing a "+" to a "-" isn't such a big deal ( as in the case of the pages/up down curser bug whereby sometimes pressing the up value makes the pages scroll down and other times scroll up ) , same for changing a value from 50 to 52 ( as in the case of the squarewaveform bug) . work like this could , i guess, be done by even an stagaire/ student during some spare hour.
i would like to thank you for your time and attention already spend while reading this letter . really hopes the longlasting cry of numerous a6 users in combination with the companies willingness might lead to some constructive action in this respect.
with friendly greetings , yours sincerely,
#############.

( follow buglist and wishlist a6)


Bug #1
Status: OPEN
Submitted by: ?
Title: Square wave duty cycle bug
Description: A setting of 52 is currently the true 50% duty cycle, rather than 50.
Can be reproduced:checked,sunny Y
Reproduced by: mschultz

Bug #2
Status: OPEN
Submitted by: ?
Title: Portamento tracking on unison voices
Description: When using portamento (normal mode) on a mono patch with unison (2) turned on, it seems that only 1 voice is affected - the other seems to jump right up/down to the destination pitch. Switch port mode to 'chord', it works as I expected normal to. Is this a bug?
Can be reproduced:checked, however not found on my A6! -
Reproduced by: -

Bug #3
Status: OPEN
Submitted by: ?
Title: VCO Pitch slide
Description: When a note is triggered, the Osc audibly "slides" up to the new pitch, even with fast engine settings.
Can be reproduced:checked, depends on engine settings and tuningsettings,therefore to me, no real bug, always could get some extra attention though -
Reproduced by: -

Bug #4
Status: OPEN
Submitted by: ?
Title: Sequencer hangs while using the sustain pedal.
Description: Using sustain pedal and sequencer concurrently causes stuck notes until the sustain pedal is depressed again.
Can be reproduced:checked, not found on my A6!sunny Y
Reproduced by: mschultz

Bug #5
Status: OPEN
Submitted by: ?
Title: Dropped NOTE OFF events in MIX mode when using external sequencer
Description: Notes stick on a midi sequencer with the A6 in mix mode logic or cubase.
Can be reproduced:checked, not found on my A6!sunny -
Reproduced by:

Bug #6
Status: OPEN%% Submitted by: ?
Title: No polyphonic aftertouch from MIDI input
Description: Described as working in the manual, but not implemented.
Can be reproduced:checked true, sunny -
Reproduced by: confirmed-Poly Aftertouch NOT responding to Kurz MIDIBoard-Marzzz

Bug #7
Status: FEATURE REQUEST
Submitted by: ?
Title: "Klicky" envelopes
Description: It is almost impossible to create fast and deep bass sounds without an audible "klick" sound.
Can be reproduced:when minimum attacktime of 6ms, no problem, therefore to my opinion,no bug!, sunny -
Reproduced by: -

Bug #8
Status: OPEN Submitted by: mschultz
Title: Corrupt patch in edit buffer requires a soft reset.
Description: Inadverently loading a bad patch into the edit buffed causes the synth to crash. Power cycle causes an endless booting loop. Power cycle after a 10 second wait will sometimes clear the problem. At other times a soft reset is required. I will provide more details shortly.
Can be repoduced:not checked for obvious reasons, probably true,sunny Y
Reproduced by: -

Bug #9
Status:OPEN
Submitted by: mschultz
Title: Audible artifacts in PWM
Description: The status of this as a bug is arguable. Using PWM of any sort creates audible quantization noise or low freqency digital hash in the output. Easily heard on the factory preset patch PULSE STRINGS or most patches with PWM enabled. This problem renders all PWM capabilities of the synth unuseable IMO. Sounds like a crappy VA.
Problem exists whether PWM is being modded from an LFO, a looping envelope or an external pedal.
Problem can be somewhat worked around using external HPF. Or using another synth altogether. Can be reproduced:checked,for this reason a verysmooth lfo/pwm engine setting has been developped with hardly noticable difference,fm of pw seems to work better, should get a renewed attention, sunny
Reproduced by:

Bug #10
Status: OPEN
Submitted by: mschultz
Title: Screen redraws getting dropped
Description: Under certain circumstances, the display does not refresh when switching to another page. I will try to find a scenario when this can be consistently reproduced. Low priority.
Can be reproduced:too little info provided therefore couldn't be checked, maybe its a result of high processor usage whereby the screen rightfully doesn't get prioriy, sunny
Reproduced by:

Bug #11
Status: OPEN
Submitted by: chris.pickett
Title: Fast filter settings noise on key release
Description: the midrange "grating" or "metallic" noise that can be heard on key release using bass patches with fast filter settings, e.g. the Venus Bass patch. the same noise is also apparent in many high-pitched string patches.
Comments: is this not the PWM problem? - mschultz. perhaps, but it happens even with PWM disabled - chris.pickett
Can be reproduced:checked, wonder if i mean the same noise/ sound as you, in my case it dissapeared when the release times where set to a value of 10ms or bigger(which is a bit long i admit), sunny
Reproduced by:chris.pickett

Bug #12
Status: OPEN
Submitted by:
Title:AUTOTUNE
Description:autotune doesn't work well enough due to hardware/chip quality, differences often are too big, manualadjustment possibility of single oscillators would be neccesary( and spare chip/soundboard replacements)! maybe user definable savable tuningtables would also do the trick.
Can be reproduced:checked,sunny
Reproduced by:spedaal

Bug #13
Status: OPEN
Submitted by:
Title:releasevelocity
Description:release velocity depending on attackvelocity, specifically, if struck a note softly, no possibility of release velocity is left, the two should be uncouppled, b.e. by always letting releasevelocity startfrom a standard(127)value and then react depending on the speed of
releasing the key
Can be reproduced:checked, sunny
Reproduced by:spedaal

Bug #14
Status: OPEN
Submitted by:
Title:delay
Description:when fiddling around for some minutes with the envelops and especially the delaytimes of them , the following happens: delay of envelope 3 only works propely when also delay on envelop 1 and 2 is set on times that are bigger then that of the delay of envelope 3 , although logical in some ways, it's annoying, limiting and unneccesary in most
Can be reproduced: rewritten,checked, true, sunny
Reproduced by:spedaal

Bug #15
Status: OPEN
Submitted by:
Title:up/down buttons when saving
Description:when saving a patch in the list, and wanting to select the place where to save to, the up/down buttons act the other way round ( espec.down instead of up and vise versa)
Can be reproduced:checked,true,sunny
Reproduced by:spedaal

Bug #16
Status: OPEN
Submitted by:
Title:pw reset
Description: the the wavelevel of the pulse is reset to 50 when changing the button from on to out and on again, this is inconvenient
Can be reproduced:checked,true, sunny
Reproduced by:spedaal

Bug #17
Status: OPEN
Submitted by:
Title:Cannot send program data via sysex to edit buffer
Description:When sending a sysex message with opcode 2 (i.e. F0 00 00 0E 1D 02 <editbuf> <data> F7) the A6 should place the received program in it's edit buffer. The A6Helper application, written for Alesis, requires this and the program author's documentation written on behalf of Alesis suggest this function should work. It does not.
Can be reproduced:checked, sunny, same result
Reproduced by:Daz

Bug #18__
Status: OPEN
Submitted by: unknown
Title: diverse / 2. objects selected from previous lists
Description: 1 NORM2 envelope mode that's referred to in the manual but has never functioned differently from NORM1..... number 2. Envelope Re-triggering/ Implementation of envelope re-triggering in mod-t/g mode
Can be reproduced:needs checking,
Reproduced by:






(wishlist)



1) Polyphonic aftertouch response from MIDI Input

2) Random Patch generator (maybe with limitations on VOL. etc)

3) Knob "fine tune" option to have more gradual parameter changes

4) Sequencer "Latch" mode

5) Random Arpeggiator mode

6) When in MONO mode (high/low/last) "note priority" setting

7) Keyboard HOLD function

Send MIDI notes from ARP or SEQ

9) Sync delays to Tempo

10) "Step Entry" on SEQ

11) Portamento time knob should respond to changes while a note is held down (right now a note retains the original portamento time from when the key was first pressed, ignoring knob input until the next keypress)

12) Polyphonic FM

13) modulation of the effectparameters, like on" the wedge"

14) split hold for the ribboncontroller

15) being able to adress the mod's of the envelopes and lfo-mod's as controlroutedestination

16) possibility to retune the 12 keys of an octave to different scales

17) to mark the steps of the sequenzer as it's playing, to know where it is

1 Auto-sync to midi clock. (Having the internal clock automatically sync to

MIDI without having to set it to sync or manual)

19) handling of 4 MB SRAM card

20) Random Patch Generator

21) LED Knobs as Sequencer Use the 8 multi led/knobs as a TR-style sequencer (the hardware is there!) 16-64 steps

22)Zero Reference Point Option for Ribbon

wherever you first touch it is "zero" and you can modulate up or down from there

23) Ribbon Controller as Trigger Ability for programs to use ribbon controller (any value > 0) as trigger, instead of keyboard

24) LFO Speed Up LFO speed up, the silly mode for fast lfo mods and halving the voice numbers for speed issues

25) Mod Page One page where you could see all modulations at work in one patch

26) Knobs Range Knobs range can be shifted or when you select a button you can use the ribbon for fine adjustment

27) Change Default Presets ( make custom default patch and save it)

2 Toggling Between( se;ected) Pages

29) Pot Values Also helpful for live would be a function where I could set the value when the pots react. Now it's just when you go through the original value or otherwise when you "breathe" at the pot

30) FineTune? Mode A fine tune mode while changing values with whatever knob (like shift-turn a knob will give smaller steps)

31) Sostenuto Pedal Sostenuto pedal (pedal does not affect notes turned on *after* sustain pedal is pressed, only ones being held when pedal is pressed)

32) increase sequencer steps number

33)increase arp programmability

34) Correctly save/load Mix + associated patches via sysex

35) more curves selectionable for aftertouch and velocity responds

36) real time record for sequencer

37) filter FM to be set separately .. so no offset of FM on filter 2 but a real OSC FM amount to filter

38)Operate at all even divisions of BPM, only within a reasonable range of course (40bpm-200bpm) but everything from 1 to max would be nice

39) a "Vegas mode" - where all the lights flash randomly on the front

[Peake]

The last time I contacted Alesis about the A6 was to alert them that the link on the Product Support Reviews page was broken.

They took it down, without searching out anything to replace it (the Electronic Musician A6 review is still online).

Then again, the A6 doesn't appear in the 2006 Sweetwater catalogue, so who knows if they plan to market it anymore.

I suggest letters to Alesis have the Subject: Please make the A6 code public domain.

From your lips to God's ears.

[jagigli]

have a PDF of the service manual which includes schematics. I'm not really up on what we can/should do here. I wish i could ethically post it. Its about 15 mb, 96 pages, but says on the cover that its not to be distributed in electronic format.(Strange, I think I got the PDF from Alesis) Anybody got any suggestions? Sorry if this post appeared in a couple of different places in the forum I have never posted before. I've been an uber-lurker for far too long and decided I need to get involved.

[sunny pedaal]

you're more than welcome,
fr.gr.sunny



( i sended you a pm/email)

[wildbill]

Peake: if you stop back here - do you have any idea of where to get that beta OS system for the A6?

Also, do you know what it was supposed to change/fix?

[Peake]

OS 1.40.13? It adds a faster setting to the Engine Optimizer, but it has the drawback of proportionally less smoothing, and digital artifacts become more evident in the control signals (zipper, stepping, etc.)

There is a set of release notes that describe the changes. I think it's available at wohmart.com, as well as the OS itself.

[Peake]

One last thing: If anyone wants to try this idea, you might want to only modify one voice and see if it tunes and plays.

That's all.