[A6] Faulty Andromeda Number 2

[Tom Englefield]

Hey Steve,

I wouldn't worry about this osc 'beating' you mention, I think you are 
just referring to analog anomalies which I think personally adds to the 
sound.  The out of tune voice(s) however is obviously a fault.

I have had two from Digital Village, both have been bad.  The first had 
REALLY bad problems as random voices would go in and out of tune all the 
time, no specific voices were just bad alone, very odd.  The second unit 
I got from them only voice 4 and 16 are bad, the rest work fine.  DV are 
getting 3 more in January which I have reserved one and will swap this 
unit out when the time comes.  To be honest I would probably be 
satisfied with 14 voices but of course it would seriously devalue the 
unit if I ever came to sell it.

Some info I picked up over these months from various sources:  The voice 
chips are very hard to source these days and 50% fail at the production 
line.  They are even borging old damaged or faulty units together to 
make "new" referbs, and I think these are the units we are receiving 
now.  I was also told they relocated production plants from Canada to 
Taiwan, obviously without employing anyone to oversee quality control as 
it seems the vast majority of units being sent out are in some way 
faulty.  Only takes like 30 mins to test this synth fully, they really 
need to sort their shit out!

Tom




stevie wrote:
> About a month back I posted about my new Andy having tuning issues and 
> I was not alone as I see from the other users on this list who had the 
> same issue with their new Andy's. I sent the faulty unit back to 
> Digital Village and got a replacement which again has the same issue. 
> This is my first analogue synth and I've had no prior exprience with 
> them so I just want to double check with Andromeda owners that there 
> is actually a problem and its not me doing something stupid.
>
> Firstly, I turn on the Andromeda and leave it to warm up for 20 mins 
> at which point I run autotune. Once complete the Andromeda indicates 
> all voices/bands are in tune and OK. Then, I restore the default 
> program and play 3 or more notes repeatidly and the pitch seems to be 
> different every time. On some presses the sound is ok and sounds in 
> tune, on others it sounds like the osc's are completely out of tune. I 
> noticed there are a few mod routes setup on the default program such 
> as LFOs to filter frequency so I switch all these off. Ring mod is 
> also active so I disable it too.
>
> I've tried running through each voice at a time with the others 
> disabled and on this Andromeda the beating between the osc's is 
> different on each keypress on almost every voice. If I turn sync on it 
> takes away the beating completely (as you would expect) however it 
> still sounds out of tune to my ears. I would expect the osc beating to 
> beat at the same rate on each key press, however the speed of the 
> beating (excuse my poor terminology here) varies from slow to very 
> fast on each consecutive press. Are there any other steps I need to 
> perform on the default program?
>  
> I should also note I have tried hard and soft resets, and reflashing 
> the os with no joy on the first andromeda. I will try the same on Andy 
> number 2 this evening when I get home from work. I'll also post the 
> serial number to prevent this unit from circulating else where.
>
> I know analogue synths 'drift' but my concept of osc's drifting 
> slightly and being out of tune are 2 different things. Can other andy 
> owners please confirm if i'm being stupid or there is in fact problems 
> with the two Andromedas i've received?
>  
> thanks,
> stevie
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