Alesis woes

About a year ago, the screen on my Alesis Andromeda A6 stopped working.  It lights up, but it displays only gibberish.  Other than that, the synth works perfectly, so I procrastinated for a long time.  About 3 months ago I finally took it into a repair shop that specialised in Alesis hardware, who promised they could fix it.  About a month later, they discerned that the screen was faulty (um…) and that a new one was needed, which they ordered from Alesis.  Unfortunately the screen was smashed when it arrived so they had to order another one in October and we’ve been waiting since then.  Apparantly Alesis are quite careless with their packaging and the LCD-screen was treated no differently than if it were a packet of screws. 
My A6 is really a beloved instrument of mine.  The thought of it sitting in a dusty repair shop being probed with screwdrivers really puts my nerves on edge.  Over the last few weeks I’ve been a bit of an annoyance to this repair place, calling regularly, and have said that I need it by December, which they agreed would be fine.  Well I just called them again and asked if I should have any confidence in this part arriving and this matter being resolved.  What they said is that they are at the mercy of the Americans who are in the mercy of the Chinese and their honest answer was no, they didn’t think my synth could be fixed. 

I’m pretty pissed about this and I’m going to march in there this week and take my A6 from them.  They’ll call me if this part ever comes in (in one piece) and we’ll take it from there, but hopes aren’t high. 

The moral of the story I guess is, if you ever want to buy a major, modern flagship synth like the A6, make sure the company that manufactures it is still manufacturing it and that they have a good track record for repairs.  Another arguably good sign is if the company updates their synths with “version 2″ hardware and constant OS updates.  While the A6 was an instant classic when it came out in 2001, it’s in limited production and Alesis have had their share of problems as a company. 
This experience makes me wonder about the upcoming Waldorf Stromberg.  With Waldorf going under and resurfacing numerous times in their history, and given how problem-ridden their recent Blofeld was rumoured to be upon release (at least before the first OS upgrade), I have strong doubts that Waldorf would be able to support their Stromberg if and when they do finally release it.  Not to mention the fact that Waldorf is taking so many years to release the Stromberg, which really doesn’t look good for their financial situation.  Oh, and Waldorf shipping the Blofeld with “secret” RAM and selling a licence to unlock it later on is without doubt a major dick-move IMHO. 
A good looking company is one like Access, who updates their Virus-line every few years, and Moog, with new and alternate versions of their flagships fairly regularly.  So perhaps, unless you’re T Rizzle and can get every new flagship upon release without too much pain, maybe it’s advisable to stick to the big names without getting too esoteric in your investments. 

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