Blah Blah Cafe, the Jean-Michel Jarre forum

[Jon]

Just wondering, but what are peoples thought's on the Alesis Fusion workstations 61 & 88 keys, anyone demo'd one yet?.






Current 'new' retail prices (£ U.K pound sterling) - 61 key £399.99 & 88 key £599.99

http://www.turnkey.co.uk/product/alesis ... nthesiser/ (61 key)

http://www.turnkey.co.uk/product/alesis ... nthesiser/ (88 key)


Key features and specifications

61 Note Semi Weighted Keyboard Workstation

Four integrated synthesis types: Sample Playback, Virtual Analog, FM, and Physical Modeling

Full synth workstation with 8 track 24-bit hard disk recording

High-definition 24-bit sampler with comprehensive waveform editing with internal memory expandable from 64MB to 192MB

32 Track MIDI sequencer built in with integrated multi-channel digital audio playback

The only workstation of its kind that can save and load programs off of a hard disk (or the removable Compact Flash memory), by storing all your sounds on the internal disk and always having your programs available to you. Youll never have to load samples off a slow CD-ROM or floppy-disk again!

Onboard grand piano based on acclaimed Holy Grail Piano, by Q Up Arts

Storage options include built-in 40 Gig hard disk, USB 2.0, Compact flash, and the optional external Fusion drive CD-R, DVD storage and/or external hard disk*

Multi-channel input and output options in both analog and digital (S/PDIF and ADAT Lightpipe)

Fully assignable buttons and 360 knobs for hands-on control of synth parameters (or control of external gear through MIDI)

Fully programmable arpeggiator with standard, phrase, and drum machine playback

Large 240x128 backlit LCD

[Equinoxe]

Specs certainly sound good,Don't have any knowledge of them whatsoever other than they're a good buy I think the 61 Key base model was selling for around £400 a little while ago for those specs you've listed is damn good value..I've never been bothered with Alesis Gear other than the Andromeda,I've never even given the Fusion a glance..although a lot of people that own them rave about them,so they must stand up to a workstation status,cetainly those specifications sound like its got plenty to keep a user occupied...

[Jon]

The base model (61 keys) is still selling for £400 new and the 88 key for £599.

Check out some of the audio samples on the Alesis site. This synth sounds fantastic for the price http://www.alesis.com/index.php?id=58,88,0,0,1,0

[jarrekid]

The feel of it? AWFUL! It's so so so plastic.

BUT the sound of it? Pretty damn good!

[jeremy]

Great 80's sounds in this one... Dunno if those are the factory presets though (from the Hollow sun collections).

[Jakob BC]

Hopefully it sounds better than it looks

[Jon]

SOUND ON SOUND REVIEW FUSION

April 28th, 2006

Sound On Sound's May issue saw a long-awaited review of Fusion.

In his review, Nicholas Rowlands said of it:

"At the beginning of the year, Alesis's web site featured an animated promo for the Fusion stating: 'Understated sex appeal included'....with its sleek, slick and very silver body, this is a real looker of a keyboard, in a sort of 'future retro' kind of style. My wife's reaction was simply: 'Cor!'."

"One of the plus points of the Fusion's design is that new sounds can be added, and while I was conducting my review Alesis were busy adding new sets of sample-based preset banks to the downloads available from their web site (there were four by the time I was finishing this, and a fifth appeared before this went to press). The majority of these new sounds come from UK sound designer Hollow Sun (the work name of sound designer Steve Howell), whose credits include extensive work with Akai's sampler and sound modules."

"Fusion's presets offer a pretty broad spectrum: from 'real' sounds like pianos and organs, through guitars, basses, orchestral, choral and ethnic instruments, to DX-style tuned percussion and analogue squelch."

"The arpeggiator is an aspect of the Fusion's real-time control that I really liked. Where many keyboards bury the arpeggiator beneath several menu layers, the Fusion puts it very much at the top of the performance agenda, with a separate button to turn it on and off for each patch. Good one! Actually, arpeggiator doesn't really do justice to what's on offer here, as the Fusion offers 1000 preset patterns, plus the wherewithal to fashion your own. The presets go well beyond the up/down, round and round type of bleepy electronica stuff. There are so-called 'Phrase Arpeggiations' that are designed to mimic certain ways of playing such as guitar strumming. These help you get the most out of those kind of sounds and work especially well when you are building arrangements."

"As a general comment, detailed editing on the Fusion is a fairly stress-free experience, thanks to its well-designed user interface, which is consistently applied across all the modes. There are also various shortcuts involving a combination of buttons and the keyboard itself that are worth learning, meaning you don't have to rely entirely on the data wheel."

"There are many aspects of the Fusion that are really good, such as its looks, its interface, and its feature list. Most importantly of all, it has a flexible architecture and a large hard disk, all for a very affordable price. If Alesis continue to give it the kind of development support they have shown so far, with OS upgrades and new sounds, then the only way is up."

[Jon]

I am really starting to warm to this workstation. From watching some of the vids on 'YouTube', reading about this synth and listening to the demo's, this is one fantastic synth for the money.

[Equinoxe]

I am really starting to warm to this workstation. From watching some of the vids on 'YouTube', reading about this synth and listening to the demo's, this is one fantastic synth for the money.

Well for £400 your certainly getting a lot of features for your money,not many workstations fall under the £1300 bracket with that much power unless you go secondhand and even then you'd be hard pressed to find an older W/S with so much under the hood..

[Jarp2600]

Tested it a year ago. It has some nice samples in it, and the HD function is great, but damn, the thing gets hot when you turn it on for more than 2 hours. My testmodel even got too hot, and stopped working for about 15 min's:P
But it certainly has nice sounds!

[plate of chips]

http://www.soundonsound.com/forum/showf ... t=1#559813

[Jon]

Whohaa, that's what I call a review.

[Big time]

Whohaa, that's what I call a review.

Amazing!!

That review must be larger than the Fusion manual itself!!

[Pete]

I am impressed too. I must admit the look of it made me feel it like a homekeyboard wannabe something more.

I read the SOS review at the times and I remember the specs were more than interesting.
This tremendous review shows it is even more, it's a real bargain for that money.
I'd be curious to try it to hear how it really sounds.

I think that if Alesis choose for it a design in the Ion's style (or the Andromeda's one) this gear would have captured the eye of a larger audience.
The look of a synth is anyhow important for its success.

My favourite designs in the synth history are:

- Prophet 5 (for the 70s)
- Korg M1 (for the 80s)
- Waldorf Wave (for the 90s)
- Alesis Andromeda (for the 00s)

[Jon]

The only 2 things I don't like on the Fusion are: the positioning of the mod/pitch wheels (I don't like those positions on keyboards) and the plastic raised section that contains the various buttons and screen. Maybe have these a differant colour, like chrome effect (along with the end checks). But keeping to Alesis's tradition of the past couple of years, this thing lights up like a christmas tree. Found these via 'Google'