Update: Someone in the comments section called out that the Andromeda uses an ASIC not "the ASIC" as I originally posted. Good catch. I checked the Alesis site to see if they gave it an official name and I found this
nice FAQ. Take a looksie for an intersting assumption at the time. : ) And for the record I love what Alesis is doing with the Andromeda, Ion, and Fusion. Who would have thought they'd be leading the way with new and innovative synths. Post updated.
Retro Thing recently posted on the possibility of a new Poly Moog using Anadigm chips, and
I followed. I did a little poking around on the Anadigm site and I found this shot. Note the Andromeda in the image. The Andromeda uses it's own custom ASICs (Application Specific integrated Circuits)chipset. But does it use any Anadigm chips? If anyone knows feel free to comment. Title link takes you to the Anadigm page.
The A6 was made from custom Alesis silicon, I was there during the development. I use images like that all the time in marketing images. I'll bet the graphic designer just picked a cool-looking synthesizer to use in their web page after a Google search. Looking at their press release section, they don't mention anything about Alesis. The only installation they specify is "Alcorn McBride’s AmpTraXX™ Intelligent Amplifier."
ReplyDeleteNot THE Alcorn McBride?!!?
ReplyDeleteOn a personal site, maybe, but for a professional audio chip manufacturer, it would be an odd choice. It's too bad they do not have a partners page up listing who currently uses their chips. It would be good advertising for them and their partners.
ReplyDeletei wish metasonix wasnt run by the reincarnation of hitler
ReplyDeletewe might be able to get some affordable tube synths up in this peice
I don't know what Metasonix has to do with this chip, but the owner is a grumpy fellow.
ReplyDeletei think it would be 'an asic' not 'the asic'...an asic (a.pplication s.pecific i.ntegrated c.ircuit) describes any custom built chip.
ReplyDeleteAccorsing to this (interesting) page:
http://www.sequencer.de/specials/synthesizer_chip.html
the a6 uses one of these for it's digital junk:
Coldfire processor 90MHz for LFos and ENVs
and probably a handful of asics for the analog stuff.
great weather in new york, eh?
stay warm
Si
Thanks. : ) Post is updated.
ReplyDeleteAnd btw, nice catch.
ReplyDeleteno problem. thank YOU for the great blog. its become my fave music-tech-nerd-site by far. the sheer number of posts is staggering...
ReplyDeletetruly custom silicon is way expensive. can be upwards of 250 grand per chip design. the anadigm chips seem to be fpaas (field programable analog arrays)...sort of a bunch of ready to go building blocks on a chip that you can program to do your custom analog functions.
this guy has some interesting stuff to say on fpaas:
http://www.ee.ualberta.ca/~vgaudet/fpaa/index.html
presumably if someone was savvy enough with assembly language and a bit of hardware design, you could make your own analog synth with one of these...it might even be possible to clone the circuits of some of the classic analog synths onto one of these as well...they could also do a 'truly analog' pci card or breakout box with a few of these...why do virtual analog when you could do the real thing?
thanks again, matrix
S
A close reading of the faq (item 27) shows there are two asics - one for oscillators and one for filters.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering who builds the part is it Wavefront Semi - the old Alesis Semiconductor?