[A6] potential a6 owner questions

[Tom Moravansky]

> C'mon M. so you haven't noticed the A6's interface and OS? all those LCD
> pages, the way you have to look at a dozen pages to find out what is rooted
> to what? The most complex envelope shaping I've ever seen on a synth. Even
> the portmanto is capable of huge variation... don't remember any of that on
> the old Rolands/Korgs/Moogs, SCs!
> 
> The basic signal path is the same of course but in reality its just plain
> silly to say all analogue synths are the same when the A6  is far more
> complex and capable  than most and has a unique (and not great) digital
> interface and OS
> 
> its a wonderful synth but I certainly wouldn't recommend it to a beginner
> which is why I was trying to get Chris to pause before dropping the cash for
> one
> 

I have gone back and forth on this topic because Chris is not the
first person to ask such a question.

My current position :-), is that if you are going to buy one main
polysynth these days, the A6 is one of your best choices.

Why?  MIDI, separate outs, knobs, etc recordable into your
sequencer, it's supported, decent selection of on-board effects,
sufficient amount of complexity, better than average sound.

In particular, if you are going to be doing MIDI recording and/or
live playing, it packs a lot of good and useful things into a single
package.

As long as you buy it with the understanding that you may not have the
instant ecstasy/head rush of say, a TB-303, MiniMoog, or TR-808 (to
pick 3 random examples).

However, the fact the the A6 is supported (by Alesis and by user groups)
means that your questions can be answered, hardware problems can be
fixed, and you can focus on making music.

The A6 has sufficient complexity so that as your knowledge and skills
grow, you'll find new areas of the A6 to explore and it will reward
your explorations with great sounds.  Being a beta tester forced me to
use/learn every inch of the machine and during that time period, it was
the only synth I had powered up ready to use.  That intense immersion
resulted in going from being confused and overwhelmed to being able to
create patches quickly and easily in the span of about 2 weeks.

If you'd rather spread your cash out over a few different synths and drum
machines, that would end up being a completely different set of issues to
deal with.