Alesis Akira

Very simple and easy to configure in fact, too simple. Not many choices - just basically 3 knobs besides the input, output, and FX level.

I am giving this a 5 because I although the quality of the FX are good, there are popping noises when switching to certain presets (approximately 6 to 8 of them do this - possibly defective but have only owned one of these units so not sure) and could definitely cause speaker damage if cranked up. Presets were awful in my opinion and I am not really that picky. Just looking for some simple and basic but quality FX. Spent some time configuring but still nothing I would want to use even out of "50" factory presets. There are a couple of effects that have more than one at a time but most of them are either one or the other. Not very many simultaneous presets, VERY disappointed there. Again, the quality was fine, just pitiful presets and not much room to configure them either, just 3 knobs (X, Y, Z).

Looks pretty solid and built well but I have only had it for 2 days.

First time I emailed alesis due to them having NOTHING but a picture of this unit even though it was out on the market, it took a couple of weeks for them to get back to me and just told me to download the .PDF file which i had alreadyy done before I emailed them. Second time I emailed them with 2 basic technical questions they responded the next day and were kind enough to give me a long distance phone number to contact them if I had any additional questions. Any additionall??? Never answered the first ones I had.o

I play heavy Rock to blues. I have been playing for 27 years and have owned quite a large variety of gear. If this unit were stolen I would only be disappointed in the money part of it and but a good old fashioned Intellifex or Marshall JFX-1. I have never owned a product by Alesis besides the NanoCompressor, which I liked for what I was using it for but was highly disappointed in the Akira. Took me about 10 minutes to figure out all of its capabilities, potential, and limits and decided right then to send it back. I plugged into it the next day to see if perhaps I made a snap judgement on the unit and liked it even less than the day before. Personally for guitar I would NOT recommend this unit, especially for the price (to date: $249) but then again, to each his own.

Very easy to use, only three knobs to edit the effect parimiters. If you want to actually know what parimiter you are editing though you will have to consult the manual, as the knobs are labeled X, Y, Z. This is fine for me thought, i just like to turn knobs and see what happens. The unit does only have a dual digit LED decplay, no fancy LCD menus or text, but that is obvoisly a sacrifice they made to make such a high quality unit so affordable. The manual is pretty good, it explains each effect preset and the parimiters well.

Sound quality is superb. At 24bit audio resolution this unit is well suited for mid level or even pro studios. A digital output would have been nice, but again, this is probably responsible for such an affordable unit. One problem I did notice was with the stereo detune effect i was hearing cliping that was unexplainable, it was obviously occuring in the unit, not from any inputs being overdriven.

As for effects this thing is awesome. Some of the wildest, trippiest sounds iv heard berore. It has all your usuall stuff, some nice reverbs, delays, phaser, flanger, chorus, detune, distortion. But it also has some stuff you usually dont see in effects processors, Like high pass, low pass and band pass sweeping filters, usually used on synths. Some crazy effect that almost makes a guitar or vocal sound like an arpegiated synth, and also some very interesting ring modulation effects and vocoder type effects.

One extreamly cool feature that sets the Akira apart from other effects units I have seen is that all the parimiter knobs, output knob, and wet/dry mix knob as well as program changes are midi compatible. Meaning you can control, automate, or record any parimitor via midi.

My unit came with a defective output knob. It continuosly jumped slightly in value. I can't say this is an unreliable unit thought, even the best stuff has defects sometimes. It seemed well made otherwise.

I emailed Alesis and received no reply(well over a week ago). Also at this time there is absolutly nothing on the Alesis website about the Akira. I find that a bit odd.

Overall it's an amazing unit for the price. It is missing some features, such as a LCD screen, spdif output, chainable effects... but again, these are what make it posible for a unit with these kind of killer effects and high audio quality so affordable. This unit is a good general effects unit. I wouldn't recomend it solely for a guitar processor since you can't chain effects, and the distortions aren't the great for guitar. But if you need a very versitile, high quality effects unit this is a great choice.