[A6] Since we're comparing apples and oranges...

[Dave Scrimenti]

    I agree. The A6 should be judged for what it is, not what it isn't. But
I also understand the desire to make the A6 sound like other synths,
especially ones that aren't available any more.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "F.A.S. Truhan III" <vampeiyre at earthlink.net>
To: <analoguediehard at att.net (Michael E. Caloroso)>; <a6 at code404.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 1:44 PM
Subject: Re: [A6] Since we're comparing apples and oranges...


>
> > > > On paper, the A6 should easily be able to replicate this, but for
the
> > > > most part, I haven't been able to reproduce the magic.  I'm
beginning
> > >
> > > When you say this do you mean the same type of patches or magic in
> general?
> > > Wondering if you mean the whole synth or just these particular sounds.
> Can
> > > you get magic out of your A6?  Try to flip the excersie and ask if the
> M1000
> > > or M6R can match the A6 in it's magic.
>
> That underscores one of the primary points I was trying to get across
> during this whole thing. So many people seem to look at the A6 wholly in
> terms of imitative capability. It can't sound like my Mini, so it's crap
or
> it can't sound like my Juno so it's crap, etc. etc.
> Do you ever hear an A6 owner saying 'oh, this CS-80 can't sound like my
> A6, so it's crap, and this ARP 2600 can't sound like my A6 so it's crap'?
> Back when analogue was the only choice, it was pretty common to see
> artists have a number of synths from different makers. I somehow doubt Tom
> Oberheim's design goals had anything to do with how much he could make an
> OBX sound like a MiniMoog or a Prophet 5. I doubt anyone at the time
> bitched that it couldn't either, I think they'd have owned the synths they
> needed to own to get the sounds they wanted to get. I don't think I've
ever
> read about Gary Numan bitching about how his OB-XA didn't sound like his
> PolyMoog, or how his MiniMoog didn't sound like his Pro-Soloist.
> I'm sure Alesis deserves alot of the blame for the A6 getting evaluated on
> how much it can sound like Moog/Oberheim model X because of how much
> marketing played up what the tonal references for the oscillators and
> filters were when they designed it. But, I think if you look at it as it's
> own thing that can also do passable impressions of some older synths
> (compared to how one might regard a Dave Smith PolyEvolver Keyboard as a
> new fun thing that can do some older Sequential style sounds) you might be
> alot happier when playing with it in a store or studio. Alot of people are
> having fun making good music with their A6, and half the people who tried
> to pick out an A6 from a Mini just now couldn't do it, so I'd think the
> proof is in the pudding.
>
> > I liked the magic of my M6R but sold it when I got the A6.
>
> Admittedly though, much like Michael Caloroso, I liked the magic of my
> Prophet 5 plenty but I sold it after I had my A6 for a while. On the other
> hand there are a few old synths I'd like to have that would coexist well
> with my A6. Different people have different ideas about how much one synth
> overlaps the ground covered by another, and how inimitable others are. I
> don't see why so many want to make this and us-vs-them, black & white
> argument. A war of absolutes is almost by definition idiotic.
>
> >I have an M6R and an M1000 in my rack.  These units produce instant
> > magic on touch, the kind of sounds that strike the nerve that says,
> > 'this is special'.  Some of the horn and liquidy factory patches come
> > to mind.
> > On paper, the A6 should easily be able to replicate this, but for the
> > most part, I haven't been able to reproduce the magic.
>
> It's all relative. There are sounds from old records I dig that from
> reading I know were made with an OB-XA. I got to play one of these a few
> times. When I've used the A6 to get into that universe of sound but put my
> own spin on it (you know, changing that 3-4% to what I think that patch I
> liked should have sounded like) I've been pleased by the results I got.
> I'd say the A6 is more 'textured' than 'liquidy', though I've gotten some
> A6 sounds that sound liquidy to me. Conversely, I'd never have thought to
> call any Oberheim liquidy either, I'd put them more in the gritty/textured
> camp.
> Trying to get one synth to sound like everything is just plain dumb, it
> won't work and it can't happen. In the past I tried that for too long, and
> I think if you ask Mark Pulver about the headaches I probably gave him
five
> or so years back with my ceaseless questions in that area, I'm sure he'd
> say amen. If you have to own a couple of synths to get the sounds you
need,
> you just have to. Only you can be the judge of what's close enough. Shitty
> answer in some ways probably, but I find the truth is often a cruel bitch.
>
>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
> >>FasT>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>           "Hrm i just really don't like the first one lol:-) if it's the
> mini, it's a bad mini!:-D" - Ryan Lunenfeld picking the Andromeda 6 over
> the MiniMoog. DOH!
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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