Andromeda A6: Analog, but not backwards

Ball first traces Alesis as a manufacturer of digital effects, recording technology, and sample-based synthesizers. By the late nineties, the market was predominantly digital. It was precisely then that the company developed an analog flagship, which landed in 2000 among workstations, virtual analog synths, and samplers. According to Ball, product manager Eric Norlander pitched the idea of custom analog chips to Keith Barr during a Christmas party in 1996.

But what emerged was not a nostalgic austerity program: Ball describes 16 voices, up to 16 sound parts, two filters per voice, digital control, multi-effects, and deep modulation. Here, analog meant the sound generation, not an obligation to the past. He formulates the historical punchline as a leap ahead of the later renaissance:

How little well-behaved this concept needs to be is shown by synth4ever in his 2022 review. He starts with basic waveforms, stacks them, and works his way up to FM, ring modulation, and filter feedback. Especially with the feedback, his enthusiasm becomes concrete: he demonstrates how feeding the filter signal back breaks up the sound. His explanation:

Ball, in turn, explores the space between an Oberheim-style two-pole multimode filter and a Moog-style four-pole ladder filter. He mixes filter outputs and adds unfiltered sine components or ring modulation. Here, the filter is not just the knob that makes a finished sound darker. Its routing itself becomes a musical decision.

With 71 modulation sources and 92 destinations, you could mistake sound design for filling out a tax return. Ball explicitly acknowledges the intimidating side of these possibilities. More interesting than the number is his own patch: the levels of two oscillators move inversely, different LFOs and looping envelopes bring filters in and out, plus stereo modulation.

His advice is refreshingly unheroic: pursue one idea, start a new patch for the next. Not every available function has to play along. For Ball, using everything at once leads to the sonic equivalent of a mixed color palette:

That Ball then includes the A6 emulation from Isla Instruments fits this undogmatic approach. He transfers factory presets via SysEx and compares them to the hardware, without first tweaking them to match. Some sound practically identical to him, others differ; as a possible explanation, he also cites the quirks of analog instruments. This is his listening impression, not proof of complete identity.

Vulture Culture, in his video published October 22, 2026, compared an explicitly pre-release emulation with his own A6. He finds differences in the ring modulation mixed post-filter and appreciates the extra resonance of his Oberheim-style hardware filter. The overall winner’s crown thus stays in the closet. For the ladder filter, however, he decides based on what he prefers in the bass range: