anybody have an Alesis Fusion?

Hi Czar. I don't own one but I am intrigued by the specifications. One does have to be concerned on the future of its manufacturer, Alesis. They have apparently bitten the dust once, come back, and seemed to be headed that way again.

There is definitely some frustration among the professional ranks about the availability of this workstation. This has been a big discussion around Keyboard Magazine as well.

Check out this link:

Keyboard Magazine Forum

http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/ubb/get_topic/f/18/t/015264.html

There are some good first impressions by people who have tried it out.

Also you can check out Alesis' website for a great FAQ section about the Fusion:

http://www.fusionsynth.com/askalesis.html

Nowhere near as comprehensive as this site, the do have a small users forum that just started:

http://www.promusicproducts.com/forum/phpBB2/index.php

Harmony Central has user reviews posted for both the 61 and 88 key models: (Don't take these too seriously, though.)

http://www.harmony-central.com/Synth/Data/Alesis/Fusion_6HD-1.html

http://www.harmony-central.com/Synth/Data/Alesis/Fusion_8HD-1.html


Good luck with all the research. If you had to go to one website first, I would try the Keyboard Magazine forum. That way you can get an objective viewpoint.
Remember, it hasn't been out all that long - so you may want to wait a while till some one gets really in depth with it. (Or when you try one out for yourself.)

Best,
Andrew

Hi Czar, I played both the Fusion 8HD and the 6HD at NAMM last January. There is a lot of information at: http://www.fusionsynth.com/. I wasn't all that impressed with the sounds but I did like the many different forms of sound synthesis it is capable of. I must admit that I didn't give them a fair audition, their booth was crowded and noisy when I visited. I will probably spend some time with the 8HD again if it shows up at my local Guitar Center or Sam Ash stores. Check this other Fantomized thread: http://forum.fantomized.info/index.php?action=show_thread&thread=7113&fid=16&page=1

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Learning to play like Sponge Bob !

I played the fusion to days ago at Long and Mcquade, It was alright, My conclusions to a rough 10 min play, which isnt enough time obv haha but nonethe less, I didnt like the knobs, the UI was kinda small and shouldove at least have touch screen or color screen, the VA sec was kind of weak there were minimal waveforms, the piano was pretty good, i think it was onl 3 layer but sounded warm, but its not like the Fantom X's piano, but def better than the Fantom' S', the thing that really sets it apart is 24 bit sampling, and the Harddrive at the price, i just dont like the keyboards interface very much looks kind of like a toy, lots of inputs tho.

Partho- BTD-
" Its not the Fall that kills you..........(thump) its the sudden stop at the end"- Vin Diesel

It's funny - I thought the analog programs were pretty solid. There is one synth bass that sounds exactly like my Roland Juno - 60. Alesis' analog modeling has always been regarded as top notch. This is a new synth engine but everyone seems to be raving about the analog possibilities.

Strangely enough, the FM type sounds were pretty good - even though I dislike Frequency Modulation sounds. Physical Modeling was to be expected.

Best,
Andrew

I played an 8HD for a while at Sam Ash in Cincinnati the other day.

I thought the action was nice, and the board looked cool. Also, it has a very small footprint.

The sounds were good I thought. The piano sound was quite nice and played well - a little electronic in the upper octaves - definitely nicer than the Korg Extreme 88. Organs and EP's sounded good. Most of the sounds were good/decent.

The bad part is there is a delay pretty much every time you change a patch. A screen comes up that says something like 'sample loading' - and you have have to wait for a second or 2. Not good. It was annoying.

Also, when changing patches there was a quite loud clicking sound every time. Scrolling through patches was very noisy.

A couple of times the patch that showed in the screen was not the patch that was playing. I had to reboot it.

My opinion - the board is NOT ready for the market yet. Nice board, nice sound, very buggy.

bb