This was a custom mod. I originally put a post up in
August of 05 here. Anyone know the website where more info on this mod is hosted? I accidentally lost the link when mucking around with Blogger's settings a while back.
This image via
Photobucket
Update: I found the original site but it is down. Some info and additional shots pulled from the
Internet Archive Way Back Machine. You can find some thumbnails there, but most give you a 404 if you click on them for the larger shot. I pulled the large pics below before they are gone forever.
"Alesis made Synthesis History when they released their Alesis Andromeda A6, an analog polysynth bred with new technology and classic analog sound! Sixteen awesome voices with two types of filters, a vast modulation system, and enough bells and whistles to make the Andromeda A6 THE most highly featured analog polysynth in existence. If it only had a sloped panel...
SPECS:
* Take one Andromeda, lightly used (but out of warranty - very important!)
* Add one black on blue BETA Panel - because the pre-production beta panels were lacking the Pre- and Post-Filter Mix VIEW buttons, either the buttoncaps must be pulled off of the switches on the PCBs OR two holes need to be carefully drilled through the panel to accomodate. I drilled the holes after measuring about fifteen times each.
* Tilt that panel at approx. the same slope as the Korg MS-20. Requires the extending of a couple of ribbon cables inside, and some pop-rivetted braces. Not too hard.
* Custom wood endcheeks of nice Oak, plus a wood accent over the keyboard. I chose to go with thick, high quality wood to make Aurora more of a beast.
* Replace all green LEDs with red high-intensity ones. This also required changing some resistor values to increase the brightness.
* Replace the LCD with a Hantronix Blue-on-White display. Also, some resistor changes are needed.
* Have a very agreeable Alesis burn a custom Boot EPROM with the custom-designed bootup screen below.
* Build a custom top panel, complete with several additional controls (two joysticks, several switches and knobs) as well as a full 16-channel mixer with level and pan per channel, one for each of the 16 individual outs on the Andromeda.
* Add lots of careful, hard work and time, and PRESTO - you have the Aurora A6!
The Name: I went with Aurora for a couple of reasons.
1. Alliteration - AurorA - AndromedA - get it?
2. There is some legend/lore as to how the Alesis Andromeda got its name. Could be related to the Greek mythos. Could be related to the Andromeda galaxy. Could be darts thrown at dictionary pages :-) In any case, Aurora fits with the mythology bent because in Roman mythology, Aurora was the goddess of the dawn (Andromeda was rescued and married by Perseus in Greek mythos). Aurora also fits the 'celestial' thing as well, as the Aurora Borealis. Either way, it kept with what might have perhaps been Alesis' reasons for naming the Andromeda.
3. I just liked it.
4. The A6 is kept because this fits with Alesis' naming convention (QS8 = 81-key QuadraSynth, A6 = 61-key Analog). There is some rumor that A6 was a play on ASICs, the custom chips within Andromeda, but I'm assured this is just rumor :-) "
