really, I guess, it gets down to three interesting keyboards for me.
1) The Alesis A6 Andromeda
2)the Mephisto (Touched by Sound)
3) The Korg MS2000.
The first two are analog, the Korg is analog modeling.
The Korg is interesting in that it aims at satisfying the fans of the old MS series of synths, as well as the fans of the old VC-10 vocoder. THe MS-2000 is available as a four octave keyboard or a rack-mount module.
I didn't mind the sound of the MS-2000. It was a bit like a very "brittle" version of my monopoly. While well laid out, an awful lot of real estate on the front panel is devoted to parameter charts, and all of the control knobs and buttons seem quite small, with the execption of the patch select/arpeggio indicator buttons which seem quite like back lit lozenges.
The Andromeda is a full 16 voice analog 61 key synth. The panel lay out at first looks as if snowballs filled with knobs were tossed at the front panel. This image quickly gives way to the impression of a well laid out "ergonomic" panel that incorporates all the new aspects of digital control with out resorting to massive menu screens, even incorporating a dual-zone ribbon controller. And speaking of screens, the Andromeda screen is a good size and offers up volumes of information for real time editing, again without resorting to cursor/value laborious scenarios.
The envelopes are six stage, offering two decay and two release stages per. I was given a private demo by David Bryce of Alesis, and put him and his colleague Mike Pease through a true workout, requesting they automate funtions, route lfos, etc... and I must say, I was impressed by the comprehensive routings available.
another tweaky feature I enjoyed is the ability to adjust the "duty Cycle" of Non-Square waveforms. As I recall, my Synthi AKS is the last synth I owned that was capable of this. Onboard effects amount to an Alesis Wedge plus a distortion box.
By using both 12dB, 24dB, notch, High pass and low pass filters,the sound of the Andromeda was pleasing and diverse
The Mephisto features a much more orthodox front panel arrangement and half the polyphony of the Andromeda. If nothing else, the Mephisto marks the return of the fabulous keybed used in the K5000.
And finally, the Mehpisto has put to rest the age old debate "should the knob jump to the new vaue as soon as it is touched, or wait until the knob is turned past the current value?" Well, on the Mephisto, all pots are motor driven and dial themselves up to the current programmed value!!
I have to admit, I am a sucker for the sharp chrome knob silver panelled Mephisto, and while I am intruiged by the motor driven knobs, I also view them as a potential service nightmare.
Joseph Rivers of the Audio Playground Synth Museum was also impressed by the New Supernova boards, but I did not have a chance to play them yet....
regards from LA Frostbyte
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