[A6] re: some waveform observations III

[cgould11 at tampabay.rr.com]

If its *beating*, I would strongly advise making 
sure that your OS is v1.40.12. Very early revisions 
of the OS had a couple of problems, notably with the
PWM functions, that would make the Andromeda more 
susceptible to beat frequencies. (You could program
around it, but it's nicer not to have to.) 

Heck, it's good to make sure that your OS is 
v1.40.12 at least (or the beta versions above that
floating around). Early OSes didn't have temperature
tuning, didn't have ultra-fast engine optimizer 
settings, had poor CC control, etc. This synth 
literally has come a long way since the early days.
When I design a patch, it's not for any of those
older OSs. :)

> second repair was made when half the outputs (main
> le+aux ri) gave up. (if this had also anything to 
> do with a tip in the tips and tricks under
> looping your out with ext-in w'll never know, i 
> however strongly suggest to remove that tip from 
> the tips and tricks to avoid any futherproblems).

I think you are talking about tip 3.28. :) I can see
a possibility of this tip causing a feedback loop
that *maybe* damages your synth, but *only* if you 
forget to set the outputs of each patch correctly. I
suppose it would be a good idea to preview the aux 
and main output before doing this.

Anyways, feedback loops would damage more than just
two outputs that are next to each other, and the 
power of an Andromeda Aux out probably is something
the filter inputs can handle anyways even in a 
feedback loop. It's far more likely, especially 
given the jack proximity, that some component 
that sits right next to your AuxR+MainL failed. :)

> 1 why doesn't alesis be more open on the 
> technical specifications

Because they are a private company and that's the
way they work. :)

> 3 wouldn't it be a good idea to , also on this 
> side, discussed more openly also the what weaker 
> sides of the A6 design, so that in the end 
> everybody is more able to improve it's instrument 
> and steermanship.

Sure. However the archives have been through a bit
of this already. Anyways, honestly, I have only
minor complaints about the current software. I 
really have no complaints regarding the audio 
hardware, that's where this synth shines for me and
as far as temperment the A6 has been sounding damn
good in bands lately.

Weak points for me actually are the case design -- 
plastic endcaps that I'd love to replace with wood 
or metal ones and Alesis's famous loose screw 
machining. But usable still. 

If the OS upgrades don't help, then to some degree 
it sounds like you got a lemon A6... ack.