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 Forum index » Instruments and Equipment » Alesis Andromeda
New Andromeda (Andromeda II?) on the way?
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paugui



Joined: Jun 28, 2008
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 02, 2010 10:57 am    Post subject: New Andromeda (Andromeda II?) on the way? Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Hi

After receiving an email saying the Andromeda is not going to be produced anymore (http://electro-music.com/forum/topic-41934-0.html&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight= Sad) I decided to ask if there is any plans for a new synth like the Andromeda.
The reply is that they don't know anything, but only the future will tell.
What do you guys think the future will tell?

A new Alesis Andromeda II with even nicer features?
Or will Alesis stop producing synths (if they drop the Andromeda they will only be producing the Micron which has the Akai MiniAK as an update...)
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sunny pedaal



Joined: Nov 16, 2004
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 02, 2010 1:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

no , don't think so
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Tim Kleinert



Joined: Mar 12, 2004
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 7:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Both Alesis and Akai are owned by Numark these days, that's why the Micron and MiniAk are related. Basically, these brands only exist on paper.

The whole R&D team of the Andromeda is gone. So even if Numark has the blueprints to continue making ASIC chips (on which the Andromeda is based), probably nobody there has any clue as how to implement them electronically. Building a polyphonic analogue synth on the scale of the Andromeda is a gargantuan task and something on which not many people on the planet have the expertise.

So, no.
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AlexZ



Joined: Aug 01, 2009
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Location: This side of the Big Bang

PostPosted: Tue Jun 08, 2010 9:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

As you probably know, Alesis was bought by Numark, which make DJ equipment. It could be that Numark just don't understand that much about synths and don't really know what to do with the A6.
The hardest part in designing an analog synth is the oscillators and filters.
These are ready. It could be (I have no idea if it's true or not, it would be nice to have an official statement about this) that the ASIC design they have is incompatible with the current equipment of the fab they use, and so before making a new batch they have to update it. If this is true, then the probability of a new Andromeda is VERY low.
If however Alesis (Numark) can order the oscillator/filter ASICs, then 80% of the work is done.
What they need to do is get a team of hardware/software engineers and make a new control circuits for the existing ASICs.
What I would do is this: forget the Coldfire and put a modern fast CPU inside (a Blackfin for example). Replace the black/white LCD + soft pots + soft buttons with a nice big color touch screen.
Make it 32 voices, add "double mode", where you could get 2 voices working as one. This way you have a 32 voice 2 oscillator/2 filter synth, or a 16 voice 4 oscillator/4 filter synth. You could get BIG sounds from such a monster. Also having 4 oscillators would give you much more FM synthesis possibilities.
Make the envelopes more powerful: give the user the ability to add more stages to it. Since the control signals are generated in software, not hardware, it's only a matter of programing and UI design.
A more powerful CPU would allow to update the control ADCs and interface DACs more often, this would for example remove LFO aliasing.
And a huge amount of other little things.
A rack version of this thing would probably sell really well.
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AlexZ



Joined: Aug 01, 2009
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Location: This side of the Big Bang

PostPosted: Tue Jun 08, 2010 9:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

What would be even more interesting is too use and embedded PC for controlling the oscillators/filters and give the users an SDK. This way you would get an EXTREMELY powerful platform: most people would simply use the supplied control software, but the crazier ones could write their own plugins that would allow something absolutely wild to be done. (All the oscillators working together as one big monophonic additive synth?)
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