New Battery for the Alesis Andromeda

The last period my Andromeda Alesis acted strangely when I switched it on. It was either out of tune, or all the presets sounded very distorted. Every time it started up it also asked to set the mod wheel in the lowest position and press a button. I started to suspect that the battery could be empty. I read on the Internet that the average life span of the battery of the Andromeda is about 4 years and I already have it longer than that. So I decided it was time to open it up.

There are a lot of screws on the back and on the bottom of the synthesizer that you need to remove before you can open it up. After that you have to be careful because there are connection between the upper and lower part of the case. The first thing I did is measure the battery and it gave about 2,9 Volts not that bad, but I decided to change it anyway. the only problem is that it is soldered to the main board. So you can't easily change it. I decided to remove the main PCB to work on it.

I de-soldered the battery and  installed a new battery holder for a CR 2032 battery. In this way I can easily change it in the future. I would not recommend this job for someone that has no electronics experience by the way. Taking the synth apart, removing the board and getting everything back together is not a very easy task. The new battery measured 3.2 Volts by the way after I installed it. So maybe the old one wasn't as good anyway anymore. After this measurement I put the synthesizer together and I switched it on. It still seems to work, but it gave the same problem as before, so I did another factory reset. I hope it will stay OK now.

After that I decided to find a new place for the Alesis Andromeda, since its place was takes yesterday by the Moog Memorymoog. I took the Roland V-Synth GT and Yamaha Motif XS6 from their spot and raised the keyboard stand a bit so that another stand could fit under it. And there was the new spot for the Andromeda :) It is a bit lower than the XS6 used to be, but the result is a way nicer height for me to play on it. Another advantage is that I can also see the display better now. And even though this is a an analog synthesizer, but as you can see on the inside there is way more digital electronics in it and no discrete electronics stuff at all, so for me as of today it qualifies as a digital synthesizer ;) OK enough about this. Mission accomplished.

New Synthesizers in the Apollo Studio

I'm still working on the new studio. Cabling still isn't done. I'm trying to pick the work up again after the holiday. But besides that I also added some new synthesizers to the new studio. Here you see a Yamaha CS-50 that I picked up today. It is the little brother of the famous CS-80 that was heavily used by Vangelis and also the slightly bigger CS-60 that was used by Jarre. But this one sounds just as nice. A bit less powerful, but the sounds I love the most are still coming out. I love it already. It tunes very nicely but lacks midi of course. I'll start looking for a aftermarket midi upgrade for this one, because I'd love to fully integrate it in my setup. The keyboard plays amazingly. I never had the pleasure to play a nicer and smoother after touch ever. You will hear this one on future recordings for sure.

Another synthesizer that I have been looking for a long time is this Yamaha VL-1. It is a virtual acoustic synthesizer which means it uses mathematical models to calculate the behavior of actual acoustic instrument. It comes with a breath controller which really makes you play a flute or saxophone like a real one. I had the very small module version of it (VL-70m), but this one has four times the power and sound much better. And of course the keys are specially fit in combination with the breath controller to get the maximum expression from it. It is a perfect lead synthesizer. I'm actually not so interested in the acoustic sounds, but you can get some very expressive nice leads from it. This one is unfortunately equipped with version 1 ROM's. Version 2 ROM's were sold as an upgrade, but I can't find them yet. They give even more and better sounds. If you can help me with the ROM's or EPROM images that would be highly appreciated.

The last new addition was an Alesis Fusion 6HD. It is a digital workstation like synthesizer with a build in hard disk. It has USB and you can upload your own samples or even Akai format sample CD's to it. It sounds very nice and I love the different look. It even has a mod- and pitch wheel that lights up blue when you turn it. But of course I bought it for the sounds. The standard presets are not so good but mine came with some sounds programmed by the previous owner and they really show it true potential. There is even a sound set in there made by Klaus Schulze especially for this synthesizer. Another nice thing is it has both SPDIF and ADAT out, so I can easily integrate it in my digital setup. You will hear some nice pads and choirs from this one in the future.

I didn't want to keep this last picture from you. Here you see the CS-50 back to back with the Roland Jupiter 8 that also found a nice place now in the new studio. The Jupiter 8 is also a joy to play one. It has so much character while remaining super soft when you want to. Especially layering through sounds and putting them through some nice effects makes you dream away instantly. I have given myself until the end of this month to finish the studio. But I can't wait to start finishing my next album in this studio. It is becoming really a dream come true. I'll update you soon on the progress. And I will ask my friend Chris soon to make some better pictures of the studio and maybe some film. I think it looks good enough by now for that.