About to buy Andromeda

nil · Joined: Jan 27, 2006 Posts: 5 Location: USA

Hello im very new to synthesizers and never had an analog synth before. I know the andromeda requires a 5 minute warm up time ,but other than this are there any other known issues with this synth hardware wise?

I have heard about two complaints (from harmony central)

1. There are differences between the USA made model and the chinese models differentiated by serial numbers.

2. Some users were having terrible tuning problems with old OS. (Did the new OS fix all these issues?)

I'm also thinking about picking up this unit blemished or used ,but if it really is that fragile maybe i should just pick up a new one. What do you guys think?

Thanks

mosc · Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2006 8:44 am Post subject:

nil.

I'm not an Andromeda owner, but these are very complex analog machines so you might be wise to expect to provide them with a lot of TLC. They are wonderful. If I were to buy a used one, I'd want to spend a great deal of time checking it out in advance to make sure everything was functional. Since I'm not an expert user, I'd bring along someone who really knows the instrument to help kick the tires. Just my opinion.

sunny pedaal · Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 1:14 pm Post subject:

1 they are all the same , no matter what gosip is around
2 the tuning problems are not due to the os-version but to the bad factory selection of chips put inside the a6's. it might well be that you'll find a good one straight away, however even when it answers all voices tuned there could be a weaker chip inside which might take you more time (the guarantee period ) to find out . therefore my advice : buy one with gaurantee if you can afford it and test it well in that period. when no other option than buying second hand inform yourself well ( there are several topics about in this forum) and best take someone who knows the beast well and is prepared to take sufficient time to test it out completely , b.e. playing it for every voice over all five octaves and keeping a tuner by hand ( +-4cents difference from reference after at least 15 minutes of warming up, for ease leave background and temptuning on for this test).
it's better to be safe .
fr. gr sunny