[A6] A6 current status...

[cgould11 at tampabay.rr.com]

> ridiculous).  Most stores seem to be out of stock and
> I've also read about on-going bugs and the Numark
> takeover.
> What's the current status of this keyboard?  Should
> that impact my decision?

Numark cash cow. They are probably manufactured in low
lot quantities right now, but at least some of the big
online stores (Musician's Friend, Sweetwater, etc.) 
seem to have them in stock.

The synthesizer does have bugs, more than many...
but I've owned synthesizers with bugs that are quite
worse. I do perform live with the Alesis Andromeda, 
and its more a matter of getting used to the quirks 
than anything else. I do not expect the bugs to be
fixed anytime soon, but in my opinion no bug the A6
has is very hard to work around.

Like any synth, I think you merely have to play with
it. (Maybe find an online store that allows returns.)
There are tons of parameters and it takes a bit more
to coax a sound out of this synth. Some people really
can't get used to the UI. The sound is brash and 
"American"; some don't like that either. I think the
A6 is a better synth for Moog/OBX/Prophet fans than 
Roland/Korg analog fans. Myself, I find the UI 
intuitive considering the vast amount of parameters,
and I like the harder-edged sound. Go figure.

There isn't really an alternative for a MIDI real
analog workhorse. The competing poly analogs are the
Jomox Sunsyn, Dave Smith Polyevolver, and the Studio
Electronics SE-8. Only one of those comes in keyboard
form, none are more than 8 voices, and all are more
expensive. Not that the above machines aren't 
impressive (in fact they may be sonically superior).
They are just less like a workstation that can handle 
the majority of your analog duties. In other words:
the A6 sort of sits between the boutique analogs (the 
above, plus all the monosynths like the Moog Voyager)
and the virtuals.