To say that the name was resisted at first would be an understatement. The engineers had all
grown very attached to A6, and didn't want to hear anything else - they really liked the ASICS/A6
word play thing (I thought it was cute, but too obvious, and there was still that Audi thing...).
Other than me, most of sales and marketing didn't really have much of an opinion; and, when they
did come up with suggestions, it was things like "Vogue"...really...the guy said, "It rhymes with
Moog, and it's a Madonna song!!!". I swear he did. I almost killed him where he stood....
So, engineering and I agreed to do a survey. We allowed anyone who wanted to submit names,
then we pared them down to 17 names (including A16, Rezzorection, A6, Andromeda, Prologue,
Janus, Cybrid and a bunch of others - the sales guys insisted on Vogue as well). I took a drawing of
the synth and the list of names to Summer NAMM 1999, and surveyed dealers, reps, press,
distributors, etc. The surveyconcerned festures, pricing, and a bunch pof other questions, too, and I
included other Alesis employees in the process to ensure that there wold be no questions about my
objectivity.
Andromeda won by a landslide. The next runner-up was Prologue (Professional Analog) and I
believe Cybrid came in third. You'll be pleased to know that Vogue came in last - two people gave it
minus points (!). Alesis Vogue - sheesh...
Think we're done? Nope...
The engineers still didn't like it, but they begrudgingly acquiesced after a bit of heated debate. The
president of the company at the time, however, did not dig it - he, too, liked A6. So, he and I, after a
series of...spirited discussions, arrived at the compromise that she would be called A6 and
Andromeda, and that both would both appear on the front panel - the example I cited was the
Jupiter-8, which also says JP-8 right on the front.
That's about it, I think. Most people who have heard the name have seemed to like it.
Did I forget anything, Mike?
22.36 for fun – some factory sound designers:
Mike Peake wrote:
Factory Program sound designers, OS 1.29F and earlier:
Michael Caloroso (Melts in Your Mouth, Frankensteinwhey)
Zon Vern Pyles (Wheeldown=Yeah, Alaska, Choirmorph)
Pim Schilperoort (Brain Activity, Pavarocky, Sol in Andromeda)
Tom Moravansky (TransEuroExpress, Blue Glass)
Arnd Kaiser (Silk Roads, several brass sounds, Andy Bells)
Brian Kehew (Ominosity, Introducing Andy, Prime Mover)
Mike Peake (Male Quire, Nyquist Pad, Tingles, The Tan Monster)
Taiho Yamada (Pluck 1, Renfield, the majority of the Mixes!)
Jay Kho (Syreen, several Mixes such as A Dark Place)
It's early in the morning and I'm sure I'm forgetting important
things so forgive me if I am gents!
Did I mention my extreme flu-like symptoms?
David Bryce (Scythe, Duck Lead, WukkaJaWukka, Sand Bass)
Justin Maxwell (SOCkmonkey, toadSOCulum)
Claudius Bruse with Arnd Kaiser (Cosmic Mantra)
Kevin Lightner (Cacaphony, Apacolypse, Halloween)
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