Hi Francis,
I don't own a Fusion as of yet,but I have done an awful lot of research on this keyboard-reading various articles,discussing with seasoned Fusion owners in various forums,speaking with the sales staff of Sweetwater.com & just endless searching for any info I could get my eyes on everyday for the last 6 weeks and I must say that initially,I was not impressed with the original factory presets & the fact that it did not have a pattern sequencer,along with the fact-(as it were 2 years ago,had alot of tech problems due to software issues.
As you may or may not know,now,the Fusion with it's current software operating system,along with the vastly improved sound updates in the HollowSun software
packages-the Fusion is an entirely different keyboard today, then it was 2 years ago.
Once I decided to take the time to really get to know the keyboard from all the research I've done,I realized that the Fusion in my opinion,is the most amazing keyboard on the market for it's price.
The Fusion is the only keyboard that I know of,that can actually save all of it's information on it's 40GB hard drive,such as program sound edits & this info can be downloaded at any time-which is a great way to have all your creations all right there within the keyboard at your disposal.
Kara's link to the Winter Namm show,only shows just a small example of what the Fusion is capable of & because that video is 2 years old,it does not do justice to what the Fusion is like today.
I completely agree with Moon's statement about poeple either loving the Fusion or hating it,largely due to the fact that there are still quite a few people that can't get beyond the Fusion's jaded past.
Unfortunately,there is still alot of negative buzz about the Fusion in other forums,but this is a keyboard that you eventually have to get more familiar with on your own,because it is a very complex,in-depth workstation.
The only tech issue that remains to be a problem is people having to bring thier fusions in for repair,only because of Fusion users haphazardly downloading software programs incorrectly.
The software downloading process is actually very simple from what I've read,but the critical thing is,is that the instructions need to be followed exactly & carefully to avoid any corruption of data.
I think it would be extremely helpful to you to listen to all the user demos you can find on the Fusion,such as Emptysound
,Rich Menga's website that can be found
on the Alesis's website & also checking out HollowSun's website.
HollowSun has a upcoming software release for the Fusion titled "Nebulae" and there is an audio sample of it on HollowSun's website.
I hope this info helps you make a decision,as it did for me.