Alesis MidiVerb IV

Like many Alesis products, it's well laid out, easy to use, decent feature set, plenty of decent presets.

Sound quality isn't this box's strong suite. I won't use it for recording. So I tried using it in the a parallel FX loop on my electric guitar rig and it found a home. Set to 100% wet and controlled with a midi pedal and tap-tempo pedal, it's not bad for this use (I only use it for echo and verb). I would never use it in the main signal chain between guitar and amp, nor would I use it with an amp that only has a "series" FX loop. But it's pass-able in a parallel loop when set to 100% wet...

Of course the design is quite dated by today's standards using 18 bit I/O and 20 bit processing (probably at 44.1 or 48 KHz).

I've had mine for 5 years, it looses the sysex setting frequently even though the internal memory battery is new. It also has a bad thumbwheel that makes it difficult to dial in values. But it has always fired up and made it thru a gig (even if I have to reprogram some presets in order to play).

I wouldn't buy a new one, it's simply too old of technology. If Alesis does an update like they've recently done for the nanoVerb, and does 24 bit I/O and processing, it may be worthwhile. Might make a decent eBay purchase for the right price if your expectations of it are realistic.

oh my gosh, this thing is friggin easy to use. manual is VERY informative.

I've used it when recording vocals and sometimes as a stompbox with my guitar(because i don't have an effects loop on my fender blues jr). For vocals its pretty cool, a lot of the presets drown your voice in reverb and effects though. but some of them sound really sweet. as a stompbox its really neat. a lot of fun effects to mess around with. nothing you'd really use so much for rhythm playing, but more so for lead (riffs, solos, arpeggios). a lot of the presets seem to have some latencey, even if its ever so slight.

i play blues, jazz, rock, funk, and soul. i love it all except metal. i dont see myself gigging with this any time soon but it'll definitely be used when i record again. aside from a tremolo pedal, distortion pedal, and wah, this is the only other effect unit i have. I got it as a gift from my friend. He used it STRICTLY for vocal effects but then he "upgraded" to a TC Helicon Voiceworks unit and had no use for this and well, i used it more than he did so he just gave it to me. Sweet deal. If it were stolen i'd replace it with something, not sure what. i'd look around at maybe something that is more guitar oriented. iunno. since it was free, i give it an extra point!

Here is a quote with my response for this arrogant person who is so drown in his own stupidity that he believes himself:

"clean great for home studio for those people who uses this equipment for guitar needs a brain sergeon. this piece of equipment is for studio use nothing more and thats the main design for if you use this for guitar set up it's like using using a bass amp on a regular 6 string electric guitar" --Submitted by Robert James at 10/11/2002 12:51

First of all guitars are used in the studio, DUH! It is NOT like using an electric guitar with a bass amp! This thing is for modulations and reverb, NOT GUITAR DISTORTION. And if you had any freaking brain you'd understand how retarded you sound. Jesus, someone get the rubber mallot out! This guy apparently has no experience with rack setups let alone guitar processing signals. Look at all the guitar players using this for effects. Does this guy not understand a damn thing? yep! Go bang on your keyboard or whatever the hell you got it for and shut up about stuff you have no idea about

Reverbs are great, chorus fairly good unless you use it on a mic'd harmonica(just kidding LOL; This was for Mr. Brain Surgeon)

no probs.

Pretty easy to use and edit patches. I have the manual but just went straight to changin the settings. It is dead easy to operate.

My Setup:
Ibanez JEM (w/Duncans)->Digitech XP100->JCM800(2205)->MIDIVERB 4(effects loop)->412m(peavey)
I mainly use it for the delay and reverb but when I want a good clean tone I will add the chorus. The flangers are okay if you mess with them (duh). I play anything from Disturbed to Satriani and its good for all of that.

No problems yet. May have to change the clock battery soon. As for gigging with out a backup, I am not an idiot. Why risk a good show?

This thing kicks ass for the amount of money I paid for it. I just seen it in a music store new for $440.00. I wouldn't pay that much for I would go for an MPX or something. One thing I didn't like is the rotor wheel needs some "debounce" circuitry added (for the engineers in the crowd) fairly simple mod if you know what your doing. It is a bit hard to dial the correct setting but I interface with a midi controller so not a big problem just more that I had to complain about something right! Cheers. stay cool but don't freeze.

It's very easy to use but it's better if you read the manual first.

I use it on a send/return of my Marshall JCM 900 100W Hi Gain Master Volume head amp and my guitar is a Ibanez Jem77fp. This thing is great!! it has very cool delays and reverbs, the choruses and the flangers are ok, flangers are a little noisy (anyway i never use chorus and flanger).
Great for those cool guitar soloing that needs efects and the midiverb is not noisy

It really fits my style, I'm playing kinda Satriani stuff, I've been playing guitar for 3 years and a half so this is my first rack product (i got tired of those fucking little noisy pedals) and I'm happy with it. If it were stolen I definitly would buy another one.

Easy as hell

What I like the most of this unit is the chorus effects for vocals. Then again, I'm also a guitar player, and you can get pretty good effects ( especially delays )out of it as long as you use it on a send/return of an amp. DON'T use it as a stompbox. Furthermore I use it for live reggea dubbing. I've got some cool programmes stored in there, such as reverb-flange effects, although the unit's reverb isn't that great in combination-effects. But, that's what i'm looking for when I'm getting the Marley feeling.

Still, I think it's a good machine for a lot of different purposus.

I've got mine 6/7 years now (new), although now i've got lexicons and yamaha's its still part of my studio, guitar, and live setup. It never broke down.

It's a decent effect unit for home studios and starters, don't expect to have a good pitch shifter, but the delays and chorus are great. Some of the reverbs do well too, but they don't really sit in the fedded input sound. Never worked alot with flangers, so can't tell you about it. But for the (second-hand) pricing of today, get one.

easy very easy

clean great for home studio for those people who uses this equipment for guitar needs a brain sergeon this piece of equipment is for studio
use nothing more and thats the main design for if you use this for guitar set up it's like using using a bass amp on a regular 6 string electric guitar

it's made of metal

The unit comes with a superb manual and only a total idiot would struggle to get a good sound out of it. Editing patches is very easy. It's very easy to use. (Though I doubt I use it properly).

The guitar I use through this is a 1983 Fender Strat, and sometimes on old Japanese Strat copy with a built in phaser. I have 2 Big Muffs (Russian and American) a RAT2, a Mini Q-Tron, a Deluxe Memory Man, a Crybaby and Digitech RDS4000 rack delay. The combination I use them in is a closely guarded secret known only to me. My amp is a Hiwatt Lead 100 going through a 2x12 with one Celestion Vintage 30 and one Celsetion Greenback. I use this unit mainly to create unique and extreme sounds, but used conventionally it works well. The delays are good, as are the reverbs, but the modulation effects seem to be lacking in soul, so I'm going to get some analogue ones. I'm sure if it was used properly (i.e. in a studio on vocals or drums) it would be good as well.

It is reliable in the sense that it doesn't break down. But sometimes all the user patches get deleted inexplicably, which is a bit annoying. I would (and have) gig it without backup.

This is a good unit and allows me to create some very individual sounds, the like of which I have never heard, though I think this is more down to my lack of respect for doing things conventionally. It also has MIDI options (you would never guess from the name), but I don't use these. There are also many other features on it that I have never and probably will never use, but that's only because I'm very happy with what it does to my sound. It's good, and at #200 (which is what the going rate for them is nowadays) I would have no hesitation recommending it.

I didnt read the manual. I actually bought it on the way to a gig, hooked it up to the front of the house vocals and it seemed pretty easy to use right out of the box. As a matter of fact, the default settings (00 on the display and both dials at 12 o'clock) are pretty sufficient if a little bit of reverb is all you need.

I used this unit on my vocals through a subgroup insert on my Mackie console. The unit "clips" at 0db which can make it difficult to keep it from making a distorted sound if you are running several vocals through it. It seems to sound best when used by one or two vocals or on the back side of a compressor (if you want to add an effect to the entire mix). Some of the effects are a bit too noisy, however, the ones that are really important, (delay, reverb, plate & flange) sound pretty clean.

I had it for almost a year before I mounted it in a rack. Because of its lightweight and compact design, I had been inclined to store it in some abusive places.. everywhere from the case with the mic stands to tossing it in the back of the amp racks. After all of the bumping around and dropping it several times, it works as well now as the day I bought it. I eventually mounted it in a rack and it looks horrible but it's still going strong.

I never had to call for tech support. But I didnt see any numbers in the manual either.

This has proven to be a very useful multi-purpose unit for anyone who is not exactly sure what to buy. If you are not sure as to whether you want chorus or delays or reverb its money well spent. Any effect in this box will work well enough to do what you want it to do. I would not reccomend it for anything serious unless you plan on using it for single channel reverb or vocal plating.

This has more effects than you will ever use or ever need. Most of the effects sound so similar to each other that it can be somewhat difficult to differentiate between which hall sounds better than the other. I have heard better units which cost much more and I am able to make wise decisions based on what I learned from owning the Midiverb 4.

I have the manual,which is great WOW it has a cover.so far i cant seem to figure out how to set it on the same channel my pedal and preamp are on.anyway i went on.its real easy to send and save programs.find a program you like hit store put the channel in you want it to go,hit store again and wham its there.

my setup is a triaxis preamp,mesa 50/50 power amp.gibson fender/esp guitars.plus the midi verb4 the effects sound good to me.im also suprised how quiet it is.it doesnt have millions of effects but the reverbs,delays,choruses are good enough for me.

I dont know how reliable it is.Ive only had it a month.so far so good knock on wood...

never had to.

Ive been playing about ten years.if it were stolen ya id buy another one,for the money this thing is worth it.ive tried other pruducts before i bought this one,and when i tried to switch preset programs, theyd take a second or two to switch with nothin but dead air.this unit is instant.I read someone elses review which said if you turn the wheel to fast it tends to jump between other programs,well mine does that too bummer.but all in all for the price its great.