24 thoughts on “Twisted Electrons AY3 Chiptune Synth Tutorial”

1. I bought one of these from him on eBay, the guy was really nice, but the thing came in a really brittle and very broken case that barely held together. After messaging the guy on facebook (somewhat angrily because I intended on writing a review for the product and it kind of kills it if it’s broken upon arrival), we agreed that I’d return the box after he refunded me some money and sent me an Octopus sequencer in return (I didn’t like the way the case felt in terms of brittle-ness, it really didn’t surprise me that it broke). The reason that I was sending him the AY3 afterward was because the Octopus wasn’t in stock for another month, and I didn’t really feel comfortable leaving an ebay transaction open that long without having either all of my money or part of the product. He never sent me an Octopus (even after reminding him a couple of times), and it appears that now I can’t leave him feedback on eBay because the transaction was open so long, and he convinced me earlier to close my eBay case against him once we had come to the Octopus agreement.

   All in all the guy Alex was really nice in the communication, but overall, it was a really crappy product followed by really crappy service. I would not recommend buying. I bought a Sammich SID MIDIbox right after and it’s waaay cooler. On the AY3, the case is cheap and brittle, some of the buttons on the light matrix barely register in their holes, and it just feels very poorly built altogether.

   1. Sorry,I did not contact him on facebook, I meant we contacted through eBay. I know it doesn’t really matter, I just thought I’d make it as clear as possible.

      1. So you get a full refund, keep the unit, and you still complain? And people are upvoting you while downvoting every positive comments about this thing? Stay classy Synthtopia users….

         1. It seems that your reading comprehension has failed you today.

            You might want to take another look at what he wrote and try again.

            1. Admin: Personal attack deleted. Please keep your comments on topic and constructive.

            2. Now this is funny, I just noticed you are the guy who called out the first positive comment from gridsleep as a paid shill. At least you are consistent in your bashing 😉

            3. Just read the comment below from Alex Smith to really understand the context about this. VisciousViscious got a lemon and got refunded, yet still complains.

               And synthhead, why did you delete my comment which contained no attack and you did not delete the one which contains direct insults to me? why do you support such things?

               1. First off, Alex has now given me a full refund on the product (which I still have), and I realize that may make many of you think I’m a jerk for saying any of this. My point initially was not that I received a broken synth, but rather that i received no communication throughout a very sketchy return process where I was supposed to receive the Octopus sequencer a few months ago (and I would of course return the AY3). Alex has never initiated any conversations with me (except for the most recent one of facebook to defend himself), and as it stands, the Octopus is being marketed as in stock on the website (yet, i still don’t have one). I had an ebay resolution center case against him which he asked me to drop once we came to our agreement, and I dropped it because I trusted him even though hadn’t come through.My point isn’t necessarily that this is a bad synth, but rather that the process has felt terrible, and that there has been no communication on his end until this critique. I get the feeling he did actually forget about me seeing as how it’s being sold to other consumers online. I did not want the AY3 any longer, so people telling me that I’m a dick for keeping something at cost don’t really get that I wasn’t willing to pay 100 for a broken synth and that I was buying an octopus. My initial suggestion was for a much smaller partial refund because I preferred the octopus, he just offered to give me the Octopus at cost (which was also a really nice thing to do).

                  Alex strikes me as a REALLY nice guy, but I hope he realizes that we can’t extract that from him globally as consumers, and that it actually requires a minimum level of communication to successfully run a business online. It should not be the customer’s job to constantly remind a company about return updates. I expect that he will learn from this though, so this will hopefully not be an issue in the future for anyone else.

               2. noone

                  We encourage vigorous discussion on Synthtopia, so you should not expect to be shielded from criticism. If we see comments that clearly cross the line into being personal attacks, though, we will delete them.

                  You have a long history of using the comment section to make personal attacks, spamming the site using multiple identities and complaining when others criticize you or your comments. Because of this, it would be a mistake to expect special allowances to be made for you.

                  1. Alright, Alex has completely won me over in facebook messages. He’s good guys, I honestly don’t think this will ever happen again and I rescind any negativity you might extract from my posts. I’m keeping the AY3 at cost (I actually have a friend in need of a graduation present) and I’ll 3d print a new case for it. Alex has really assured me that I was an anomaly since he has been working hard on this project (i.e. this video). I swear he didn’t bribe me or do any illuminati stuff to get me to this point, he just admitted things could’ve been handled better and acknowledged the need to communicate on his part. This is a reason to buy from smaller manufacturers guys, they actually learn from their customers.

                     1. I’m sorry I didn’t want to lash out on you, Its just that it happened a lot lately where comments were used mainly to attack a featured product, reading the comments on every articles about iMpc or Amazing Machines Volca mod are an exemple of this.

                        I was more annoyed the people blindly upvoting you and downvoting everything else and calling positive comments as shill. You just expressed your opinion and told us about your experience and there is nothing wrong to that, actually I thonk its great how the situation eas handled.

   2. Alex and I are good, I accidentally replied WAAAAY at the bottom, so make sure you read that in conjunction with this so that you know he’s willing to make things better with customers. He’s a nice and honest guy, and it’s very impressive to see someone take accountability in the ways he has.

      1. dang, all of these go to the bottom, upvote you guys, upvote the good stuff!

         1. Too late, people have made their votes and it looks like the general concensus is that this thing sucks. Its a shame because it looked pretty nice.

2. I had a completely different experience than ViciousViscous. The case is not really brittle and would survive proper handling with no problem. My AY3 arrived working completely properly. I love the way it sounds and how much fun it is to just play with the knobs and the compact interface and find new sounds. I would suggest remembering how much influence the gorillas in the shipping companies have over the state of your product. Did ViciousViscous think of filing a complaint with the shipping company or eBay or just instantly level all the blame at Twisted Electrons? The AY3 is a great little synth at a great price particularly if you get the lower price through eBay.

3. Admin: Personal attack deleted. Please keep your comments on topic and constructive.

   1. I resemble that remark. 8) So it’s a crime to be a happy customer with no complaints? No more a nightmare than 99% of the other synths out there over the past fifty years. You got three grand? Go buy a Moog. You want to make chiptunes? Buy one of these. Considering SIDStations are going for Moog prices on eBay these days.

   2. He’s not the only one who didn’t have any issues with their AY3. I am another happy customer.

4. My AY3 arrived on time, very carefully packed and well assembled so I am guessing the issue was with the package handling, not the build quality. Just remember there are two sides to every story. No issues at all with my AY3 and I am a VERY happy camper. Really nice to have a unique synth like this.

5. no ViciousViscous was hurt in the process of this transaction. As it stands, he has a full refund AND the crappy product.

   I stand by my work, and there have been many overhauls since the first model and I have bent backwards to meet my client’s needs.

   I’m here to answer any questions you may have.

   Happy summer to all!

   Alex

   1. Alex and I are good now, check my replies on the initial comment for more detailed feedback.

6. It’d be nice if I could get this in kit form or something similar. I have a couple of the AY3 chips on my work bench waiting for me to put to good use.

7. Nice sounds, I just wish it was a little easier to use and featured it’s own keyboard (Kind of like a chiptune Monotribe/Werkstatt) but that’s just me. I’ll stick with my old Gameboy and LSDJ for now… Cool product though!

8. And ….. another nice product burned by the people here. I feel sorry for the developper and seriously hope my own creations never gets posted here because you guys are way too abrasive.