[A6] Another Andromeda bites the dust
Steven Wartofsky
s_wartofsky at msn.com
Mon Feb 5 12:01:11 PST 2007
Man, there's just no way this is going to be easy.
Actually, Alesis has been very helpful today, if you're patient on the phone and willing to wait a bit. I've spoken with both tech support (Justin and Dave) and Jack in parts, all good guys, and here's what I've found out so far:
1. T.S.I. in Paramus, NJ (www.tsirepair.com<http://www.tsirepair.com/>) sounds like the best place to send it to get it fixed. They're very thorough on the phone, and sound reliable. They recommended triple-boxing the keyboard (where am I going to find a box that'll go around the outside 2nd box my Andy originally came in?! That box is already 52" long x 22" wide by 12" high! Any tips?) to send it to them, good advice, but at that point I don't think I could even fit it in my car to bring it to Fedex; which goes to....
2. Fedex won't pick up from home unless you send it Express; Express (3-day, the cheapest) is about $300 one-way. If you own an Andy, be sure to get an SUV or pick-up truck along with it, just in case you need to send it in for repair! <g>
3. If the mainboard is dead (which I suspect it is), that's about a $600 part, I am told (possibly a little negotiable, we'll see, if I'm a good boy, maybe).
4. It may not be just a simple question of replacing the main PCB. There may be some special programming involved, I'm trying to get more info on that.
So let's assume I send it in, it needs the $600 part, it's another $200 (easy) in time and labor, shipping anywhere from $63 (roll the dice) to $300, with extra effort to find a humongous unusually-shaped box. Sigh.
Think I'll start saving for a Code4..... will keep you guys posted. It was fun while it lasted, oh well.
Steve (discouraged and sick on top of it all, today)
----- Original Message -----
From: matrix<mailto:matrixsynth at hotmail.com>
To: Steven Wartofsky<mailto:s_wartofsky at msn.com>
Cc: A6 at code404.com<mailto:A6 at code404.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 04, 2007 4:17 PM
Subject: Re: [A6] Another Andromeda bites the dust
Defintely let us know what it ends up being and if there was anything preventative that could have been done.
cheers,
matrix
http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com<http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/>
____________________________
----- Original Message -----
From: Steven Wartofsky<mailto:s_wartofsky at msn.com>
To: matrix<mailto:matrixsynth at hotmail.com>
Cc: A6 at code404.com<mailto:A6 at code404.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 04, 2007 1:41 PM
Subject: Re: [A6] Another Andromeda bites the dust
Yes, have tried all of these now -- still the same problem, unfortunately.
The more I think about it, the more I realize there simply is no replacement for the A6, except another A6. I'm going to sweat through figuring out how to get it repaired, I guess.
I really thought at first maybe it was a cold day and the synth wasn't ready to get up, but it's warmer today and same problem.
There is a fuse in the power supply, but that's fine, and no bulging caps or anything (I've had that joy with PC power supplies in the past, yay).
I recall giving the thing a bit of an electric shock (on the outside, bottom) when I walked over to it and turned it on (it was plugged in, of course, and grounded -- plug is confirmed good for ground), but I've done that before on many synths, with more powerful zaps than this one, and never had a problem, so I'm not sure that's what could've done it. However, if the circuitry is not very well insulated from such static shock (like older PCs used not to be, it's all in the board design, really; these days you can play frisbee with a current video card in very dry air and it'll still be fine, I can remember when looking crosswise at an electronic board while wrist-grounded and sweating killed the things...), that could've been the cause. OTOH I'd imagine we'd have A6's with a reputation for easy zap death by now if that were the case, so I may be reaching for straws.
I normally have the unit on with my Pretec 2mb extra RAM card in, and turned it on without the card in (I normally reset my synth to default patch in User Bank 0, patch 1 when turning off, _just_ to be safe....), could that be a factor? I've tried it with card in, card out, no difference. Normally it confirms the card is good at 2048 RAM during boot-up.
Gah! Thanks again for continued suggestions.
Steve
----- Original Message -----
From: matrix<mailto:matrixsynth at hotmail.com>
To: Steven Wartofsky<mailto:s_wartofsky at msn.com> ; stevie<mailto:stevielaw at gmail.com>
Cc: A6 at code404.com<mailto:A6 at code404.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 04, 2007 3:25 PM
Subject: Re: [A6] Another Andromeda bites the dust
Have you changed anything in the studio? This might sound odd, but for a couple of years my Matrix-6 would act up. I noticed it seemed to act up more when I moved it. I was sure it was internal hardware. One day I was redoing my studio and I went back to using the original power cord it came with as I no longer needed a longer chord for it. The problem went away. The Matrix-6 uses a standard three prong power chord similar to that of a PC and many other synths. I have no idea why it made a difference, but it did. I'm guessing it was a better fit when plugged in. I once had another synth that only seemed to like being plugged directly in the wall. Put it on a power strip and it wasn't happy. I know it's a long shot, but you never know. Try plugging it somewhere else. Unplug everthing from the synth but the power chord when starting it. If you changed absolutely anything in the studio, look there. I hope it's not internal hardware. BTW, does the A6 have any fuses?
cheers,
matrix
http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com<http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/>
____________________________
----- Original Message -----
From: Steven Wartofsky<mailto:s_wartofsky at msn.com>
To: stevie<mailto:stevielaw at gmail.com>
Cc: A6 at code404.com<mailto:A6 at code404.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 04, 2007 9:52 AM
Subject: Re: [A6] Another Andromeda bites the dust
Yep, tried that; they checksummed identically. At this point I suspect it's either hardware, or there needs to be some special way to reset everything to "seriously empty" before flashing anything back to RAM.
I would assume the bootloader's ok, since all its functionality seems to be fine. I can reset with soft-button 2 to enter diagnostics mode, and confirm that all the knobs, buttons, ribbon, everything, is working fine at that level; I can reset with soft-button 3 to do a "hard reset" and wipe the user banks to factory default; I can reset with soft-button 4 to "soft reset"; I can reset with button 1 to try to load "Default Pgm"; I can reset with soft-button 7 to try to load the OS. All of that goes through the procedure.
But the end result each time is that if I try to boot up the synth, from power off and wait ten (or 15, for that matter) seconds, after each of the above, the screen comes up with the Andromeda logo, does its flip to black and then back to normal, and then flashes something and basically "hangs" on the startup screen (all lights never come on, screen doesn't get to anything I can use).
I had this problem with the first Andromeda I tried to buy before I got this one, a day after I got it back from the store. I switched it for a new unit and this one's been fine ever since back then. But now, it appears to have the same problem.
I would guess either that a) the flash RAM is faulty in some way; or b) the memory is corrupted and so won't boot up.
I had the strange experience of being able to upload all 2736 blocks to the synth this morning, over an hour, using a buffer size of 1024 and timeout/delay of 1000 milliseconds between each F0/F7 sysex package, and for once it counted all the way up without any hang. But then when I hit a button to flash it to ram, it went immediately to "Verify Block 5" and the do not interrupt screen, and I waited another half an hour, and it seemed hung there.
Now when I power it up, I'm back to scratch. If I hold soft-reset 7 while powering up, it goes to the screen ready to receive Sysex, but using the same MIDIOX config as mentioned above, it's now doing what it was doing yesterday, getting stuck at receiving Block 1 and not going any further.
I wish I knew what was wrong; this is the kind of fragility in its design that's always worried me about the A6, and has me thinking maybe I've had all my fun with this synth at this point. I'll see what it'll cost to get it repaired, but between the shipping costs, the likely damage or disappearance during shipping, the risk that something else will be messed up during repair...... it may be that I'd be happier just spending 500 bucks on an SH-201 or something and using it to control softsynths on my PC, and leaving the A6 behind. There's just a subtlety to sound designing on it that I'll miss, sigh. Even if the results are not really spectacular, just well-known to me. Dimension Pro and Rapture give me just as much flexibility in envelope control, though, and more, really, along with Reaktor, in terms of sound variety than I can ever get from a subtractive synth.
ARGH.
Thanks for your patience.
Steve
----- Original Message -----
From: stevie<mailto:stevielaw at gmail.com>
To: Steven Wartofsky<mailto:s_wartofsky at msn.com>
Cc: A6 at code404.com<mailto:A6 at code404.com> ; Siro Mateos<mailto:siro_mateos at hotmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 04, 2007 11:33 AM
Subject: Re: [A6] Another Andromeda bites the dust
Dont know if you have tried this already, but maybe you should trying
downloading the OS again in case the OS file you currently have is
corrupted?
stevie
> I'm not sure, but I don't think so.
>
> I managed to upload the entire 2376 blocks this morning with MIDIOX,
> slowly, then hit a switch to store to flash RAM; it seems stuck at
> Block 5, should I reset and start again or wait a long time, or is it
> really messed up?
>
> Steve
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* Siro Mateos <mailto:siro_mateos at hotmail.com<mailto:siro_mateos at hotmail.com>>
> *To:* A6 at code404.com<mailto:A6 at code404.com> <mailto:A6 at code404.com<mailto:A6 at code404.com>>
> *Sent:* Sunday, February 04, 2007 9:38 AM
> *Subject:* Re: [A6] Another Andromeda bites the dust
>
> Steven Wartofsky wrote:
> > Well, my A6 seems to have just up and died this morning. Have
> had it
> > since before 2001, now when I turn it on, it just hangs. Have tried
> > all the reset options, no luck. Have tried reloading OS, just gets
> > stuck at loading block 1.
> > Cheesy Alesis manufacture strikes again, or anything specific I
> can do?
> > It's very strange, I've been _so_ careful with this synth for so
> many
> > years, not a single shake, odd shock or anything.
> > Oh well, on to the world of softsynths and digital, this thing was
> > special once upon a time.
> > Steve
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > A6 mailing list
> > A6 at code404.com<mailto:A6 at code404.com> <mailto:A6 at code404.com<mailto:A6 at code404.com>>
> > http://mailman.code404.com/mailman/listinfo/a6<http://mailman.code404.com/mailman/listinfo/a6>
> >
> I think your A6 is old enough to have problems with its lithium
> battery... have you replaced it? Anyway, can anybody point out
> what can
> be expected from an A6 with an exhausted battery? Just loosing user
> presets or more severe corruptions?
>
> I hope this helps...
>
>
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