FW: [A6] A6 sine osc

[Chris Pickett]

I think the A6 is absurdly cheap for the features it offers.  I think of 
it as wanting to be 16 minimoog voyagers for the price of one, with a 
full keyboard to boot.

Put in another light: things that sound too good to be true, probably 
are.  If you were hoping for the A6 to solve all your problems, you 
probably had dollar signs in your eyes as much as anything upon purchase.

Regardless, it has it's place in people's lives.  I hate the sound 
quality problems in particular, but they can mostly be worked around -- 
you just have to tell yourself the A6 isn't that good at making that 
particular kind of sound and then live with it.

Cheers,
Chris

Christopher W Deppe wrote:
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Christopher W Deppe 
> Sent: Monday, March 14, 2005 2:36 PM
> To: 'jammer'
> Subject: RE: [A6] A6 sine osc
> 
> I agree that it's power and unpredictability are what makes it
> attractive for creativity, but what surprises me is that so many people
> jump to defend a piece of equipment that has some serious reliability
> issues and noticeable flaws. It provides lots of bang, but the buck part
> is a bit steep for the quality. Would you feel the same if you bought
> any other piece of equipment for almost three thousand bucks that has so
> many issues? For instance, if I bought a prosumer video camera for the
> same as what the A6 cost me, and it had noise issues, idiosyncratic
> tendencies and reliability problems, I would send it back in a
> heartbeat. You seem to not be able to separate power and quality with
> regards to value. When paying that kind of money for ANYTHING, I expect
> better quality. If this was any other product it would have been
> recalled due to these issues. Don't get me wrong, I still love it. It is
> the most powerful synth I have ever owned. I will be playing with it for
> a very long time, but I have bought many items with a higher usability
> to cost ratio in the past, hence the term value. If you are offended by
> my practicality, I am truly sorry but I refuse to give a pass to
> products that are this "troubled" just to justify a luxurious
> expenditure.
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: jammer [mailto:jammer at jammer.biz] 
> Sent: Monday, March 14, 2005 2:13 PM
> To: Christopher W Deppe
> Subject: Re: [A6] A6 sine osc
> 
> Christopher W Deppe wrote:
> 
>>Yea sure, it's nice to be able to get that harder edge but my problems
>>is that, when I want to color the signal just a bit with sub osc or
>>other subtle effect, I get that unwanted raspiness too. It makes it
> 
> very
> 
>>difficult and time consuming to tweak out the right sound. Sometimes I
>>just give up because I can't get what I want from it. It would have
> 
> been
> 
>>nice if they had given just a bit more headroom before the distortion
>>kills the effect. I see this as a flaw no matter how you try to shine
> 
> it
> 
>>up. Can I live with it? Yes, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.
>>There sure are a lot of problems with the A6 design for what they are
>>charging for it. In terms of value for the money, it does not rank up
>>there with most of my other purchases. I will still keep it, but it
> 
> sure
> 
>>won't displace any of my other gear.
> 
> 
> i'm so surprised to be hearing users saying things like this.
> 
> when i first got my a6 i was a little troubled by a few things.  i'm 
> also not ashamed to admit i was also a little daunted  by the beast. 
> but now, i'm finding it one hell of a useful piece of equipment.
> 
> i'm currently sketching out ideas for my next album, i've sketched out 
> about 6 ideas in the last two weeks and the A6 has already firmly 
> inserted itself into that workflow.  as far as i'm concerned almost 
> everything that falls out of it is useable.  it is a bit of a fecker at 
> times to get things out of it and really feel like your at the heart of 
> the thing, but then who said making music was easy?
> 
> i feel the same way about my juno 60 and waldorf pulse.  they are great 
> sounding and very playable, they just take time.  i still don't feel 
> totally in control of the A6 but then i'm also unsure if i ever want to 
> be, surprise is a great thing in the studio ... who wants things to be 
> 100% predictable?
>