Alesis...or should I say "Numark"?

[elwoodblues1969]

Ever since Nord has sparked my interest in analogue modeling,my research has gone beyond virtual analogue synthesis,& I have explored "true analogue" synths to get some comparisons between the two.

I have often wondered what the difference is in sound quality is and why the prices vs. virtual & true analogue are so drastically different.

I have listened to various demos of both,& I cannot tell the difference,as far as one being true analogue & the other being virtual.

One thing that is very clear to me-at least in regard to one comparison between Nord & Alesis is this;

The Alesis Andromeda has awfuly cheesy factory sounds and it is not even a true analogue synth-(despite Alesis's claims of being as such),and it is in fact,a analogue/digital hybrid.
What's even worse about this keyboard,is that despite it's shortcomings and the fact that it was released 6 years ago,it still remains at the astronomical price of $3,000(USD)!
In consideration of what 3 grand will buy you these days-this makes the Andromeda the biggest piece of overpriced garbage on the market today(in my opinion).

As far as alot of other products Alesis has..well...at least they're lowering the price on alot of thier stuff-which is a fair deal(at least to a certain degree).

I think the only products I would feel comfortable buying from them,would be the QS 8.2 synthesizer & the M1 520 monitors.

What is really sad about this company,is that alot of thier products that still remain,are products that were designed & built by Alesis years ago and since has been abandoned by them,and now Numark cannot provide any product support whatsoever,on alot of the products & in turn,scores of consumers have suffered great financial losses becuase of this.

Some people are really obsessed with the concept of real analogue synthesizers & I would agree that there are a couple of nice ones out there currently,but I think that people who dismiss virtual keyboards entirely,are really missing out on something extraordinary,as well as missing some serious coin out of thier pockets as a result.

I am really saddened by how far downhill Alesis(Numark) has gone.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr01/articles/alesis.asp

[rharv]

The QS 8.2 has a very small ROM, which translates to very few actual samples to create with.  All of the banks and all of the patches are created with only that small ROM. This means they are all simply variations of each other in the long run.

I got very bored/frustrated when I was in a band and told to use this board to create with.  It was a church band, and we played every week. The keyboard, being a weighted board, was enjoyable enough to play, but sound creation was very limited.
 They get 640 patches out of 16 meg of ROM!  That tells ya something...
IMHO it's day is past

[elwoodblues1969]

Yeah man,the amount of ROM in the QS8.2 is stunningly low,but I was checking it out because Sweetwater sells this board for $699 & I liked the audio demos.

The sounds are very decent & the effects are exceptional.

But again,with the amount of patch memory,I won't buy it until it comes down in price even further,should I choose to one day,buy one.

It's a damn shame that the Fusion is plagued & overun with problems,as otherwise,I would love to have one.

[Moon]

Here in Europe you can't buy the Fusion anymore. A pitty that Alesis couldn't fix the problems on this device. The QS8.2 is perhaps old with a small ROM, but considering it's price, it's still good value for the money.

Moon

[rharv]

As I said- the keyboard itself is enjoyable to play, and an 88 key weighted board for that price isn't bad, actually can be considered a deal, but for programmability your sources are limited. That was my only point.When they updated it a couple years ago they should have thrown more ROM into it. Would have sold a lot better.

I haven't followed the Fusion development, what were the problems?

[elwoodblues1969]

Moon,

My my first priority is of course,the Nord Lead 2X and if the QS8.2 is still available when I am ready,I just may buy one.

The only reservation I really have about the QS8.2,is that I don't know how much the QS's sounds differ from my Korg.

I am looking for a variety of sounds outside of the Korg realm and I don't want to end up buying another brand of keyboard that is just going to give me more of the same of what I already have currently.

I'm really just playing with the idea of getting a QS at this point.

Thom

[Moon]

Thom, make sure to check out the QS8.2 before getting it. My guess is, if you're used to the Korg and Clavia, the sound might come short. Of course,once you have the Nord Lead 2X, you might not need anything more...

Moon

[rharv]

Thom, have you checked out a QS8?  I'd consider it a value as an entry board or for the weighted keyboard itself. It has the basic set of sounds to get you going, but I think you're right in hesitating to make it an 'expansion' purchase.

[elwoodblues1969]

Moon,

The QS8.2 is quite old since it's inception & becuase of it's limitations,there are no stores(certainly not in this state)that carry the keyboard for me to check out.

I did like the sound demos of the QS8,but I do agree with you,that I may not need anything else,but I may WANT it.

Rharv,

As far as the acoustic samples of the board go,no,there's really no neccesity for that obviously,but I thought perhaps that the board might offer some synth sounds that might be useful to me.....it's such a tempting board for the price and the quality of the effects & the quality of the A/D conversion is nice.

As for the Fusion developments?...hmmm...where should I begin...there are a tremendous amount of problems!

There are bugs in the midi sequencer,bugs downloading programs from a pc,bugs when you save info onto the hard drive,electrical problems and problems with the LCD display going haywire.

By far the largest problem with the Fusion,is that Numark is ill-equipped to handle these problems,as they neither can identify & trouble-shoot the problems,nor could they possibly repair them.
All of thier attempts to erradicate the problems OS updates have failed and they ultimately bailed out of the whole deal entirely, by discontinuing the product.

The Fusion 8HD is now $999.00 & the 6HD is now 799.00,but despite this,it's still too much of a gamble with my money & I think it would be a potentially catastrophic purchase.

Thom

[rharv]

Bummer, too bad they couldn't salvage it..