Alesis MidiVerb IV

Relatively easy for a rack multi effects unit. It's of course going to be a little bit more difficult than a stomp box, especially if you start to get into MIDI commands and so forth, but even then the manual is very informative on how to change all that stuff.

Very quiet unit. I have been through the whole thing, and it's very quiet. I love the sounds of this thing. Lushous, thick reverbs, and oh man! I love the leslie simulator, which is a true vibrato (both volume and pitch is varied). It even simulats the sound it makes when you turn it off and the ratation slows down and you can hear it. Absolutely beautiful.

I've only had it a day, so I don't know. It looks well built though. I agree a bit with previous mentions of the selector wheel being flimsy, but once I buy a MIDI foot controller, it won't bother me much I imagine. Plus, if you stuff it into a good rack, you should really need to worry about banging it up. Those ears are on there for a reason you know...

Havne't of course used them.

I kinda dislike the preconfigured groups, but they give you a wide variety to accomidate all of the effects. Also, being only $299, and sounding beautiful, they couldn't put everything on there. For me though, needing it for reverb mainly, it's not a problem. I've used this on my guitar (and have had no problems with clipping), and mics for drums and vocals. It sounds great on everything.

Relatively easy to use; I've only had it a couple of days but I was able to turn it on and make sense out of what was going on. The manual is very well-written and helpful although I find parts of it a bit tedious becuase of the manual's assumption that the user is a novice. Editing is fairly straight forward and quick; it's nice having up to 4 related parameters laid right out in front of you on the display. The presets seem to showcase the reverb; but then again the reverb and the delay are the strongest effects to this machine. All of the effects (chorus, flange, pitch shift, reverb, delay, etc) are quite useable however.

For a budget processor, the Midiverb 4 is surprisingly quiet (I'm glad Alesis omitted EQ becuase I have yet to hear an Alesis processor with EQ onboard that WASN'T noisy). The modulation F/X sometimes have noise depending on the parameter settings, but it's manageable. One thing I didn't like was the nasty distortion that occurs when you clip the input signal - I found this to be a particular hazard on modulation only patches (setting the input level to 75-80 seems to solve 98% of this problem, at least if you're in a studio environment). As stated before the reverbs and the delays are fantastic, the modulation FX are good, and the pitch shifter is fairly decent (good thing they kept it to an octave range; aliasing starts to come in after 7 steps). The Midiverb 4 is by far the best processor in the budget class, all things considered.

As I have had mine for only 2 days I can't comment but I will say that I also have a Quadraverb Plus that's 8 years old that has never given me any problems.

For the money involved - there isn't a better way to go if you're on a budget. It would also be a good choice for a second or third choice processor for a bigger studio. I like the effects, the price and the display. The data entry wheel sucks - it's flimsy and awkward, but it's a minor thing compared to the nice display and the sound. The distortion with the sensitive clip is a bit of a pain, but as long as it's hooked into a mixing console there are ways around that problem and it's obvious that it's not really designed for live applications becuase of this.

Manual is great and informative. Editing is suprisingly easy.

Sounds good on vocals and drums. I haven't had a chance to try it on much else.

No problems yet and I don't expect any.

N/A

Much better than any "Zoom" brand processor I've ever dealt with, and even better than the Alesis Microverb 3 I used to use.

There's no disputing that, if you need studio quality reverb, the Alesis has everything you'll need. The only problem is, it takes a good 3 hours or so to a.) have a little look around at all the presets (256 of them, but they could have left out 125) and b.) to set the unit up according to you're needs. In my opinion, all the presets seem to be nothing but demonstrations of its amazingly HUGE revern sounds.. the only thing is, there's very few musical applications in which one of the 40 or so large hall sounds are needed. Like all effects, it just takes time to tweak it to your needs. Programming could have been easier, as the parameters are a bit confusing.. one would most likely have to spin the knob all the way up, play, and then hear what changed the sound. I don't what the hell low input pass filter is.( hey Alesis.. just say 'springiness'!)

Sound quality is fantastic, once you've tailored it to your guitar sound. It' great for vocals, and just about anything else, however, once using it for another sound source, you've got to reprogram the parameters to suit it. I mainly use 4 user settings, and I still think I've got my money's worth.

I Haven't taken it out of the house yet, but nothing has shown me that the MidiVerb isn't road-ready.

haven't had a reason to call them.. I guess that's pretty damn good.

If you've never used effects before, don't get hyped up and think that this (or any unit) will radically affect your playing style or frequency. It has a great sound, but play with it too much, and all you'll want to do is put the guitar down. If you can find a balance between getting knee deep in effects and simply sweetening your sound, you'll like the Alesis as much as I do.

Pretty easy to use although there are a large number of parameters for each effect and it can take a lot of time and experimentation to get a patch tweaked right. The manual is pretty good and it also comes with a couple of reference cards to remember the patch names/ effect combos.

Sound quality is really high although the input levels require constant attention. You can't really use the unit with a guitar amp fx loop unless it allows for level adjustments because it's really easy to overdrive the processor and get some really awful digital distortion out of it. For guitar use, it's definitely oriented towards studio use, not the stage IMO.

I never had a problem with it but I only kept if for about 6 months, so who knows over the long haul.

Never used them.

A very good value for a studio-type processor. Not much use for live performances, at least for guitar stuff. It does have some cool patches.

It's fairly easy to edit. The manual is very good and easy to understand. When you want to quickly move to another setting, the dial won't work. You have to move it slowly.

I can't stand any of the reberbs for guitar. They seem right at home on a PA or a home recording rig. The reverbs are just to harsh for a guitar and amp combination. The slap back is useful as well as the leslie effect. I can't stand any chorus sound, so I am not able to comment on the quality of the Midiverbs.

It has never given me any problems.

They are hard to call on the phone because it is always so busy. But I was able to talk to a tech, and he answered my question.

I wouldn't buy it again for guitar. For a PA processor, I would.

Am using it live for vocals switching patches via a Ground Control midi foot controller, and everything seems to go A-OK. Editing patches is a since as everything is presented very straight forward. The two cards that came with the manual that list all 125 user and preset settings also helped invaluably. The midi information on it was also set out so even I who had little experience regarding midi prior to the unit could grasp it pretty quick...

The sound quality is absolutely top notch for such a reasonable price. This is a studio quality effects processor with all the top effects a-la; Chorus, Flange, great delays and reverbs, pitch shifting. May prove a tad noisy on the extreme settings... like hardcore flanging but mostly quiet as a mouse...

Skips a bit when running through patches by turning the knob thingy, but otherwise, none of the pops and crackles that I've been reading about.

Only e-mailed the company for some information before I bought it, and they were pretty prompt...otherwise haven't needed to...

Would by it again for sure... Great for home studio mixing with all the delays and verb's etc... Even better for live vocal effects... except the only downfall being that some of the stereo effects need both channels outputting for the effect ie won't run in mono...
Otherwise, an excellent addition to the rack.

Fairly easy to use, except setting the input levels, they required constant attention.

the effects sounded good and the noise level was low, but it popped randomly and changing patches required adjusting input levels and outputs or you get nasty disortion.

no way. the brand new unit I got, the display was missing lines and it would pop, especially when changing patches.

didn't even try, I set the unit back for a refund

Like I said I sent it back and would not buy another Alesis effects product, they cut corners on quality

I returned my unit twice. The first one emitted "pops" and "cracks" on the slightest touch of the buttons or data knob. They gave me second unit but this one had a defective LCD. The backlight conked-out ahter a few hours of use. The dealer offered to replace it, but I refused and just settled for a pair of Monitor Ones.

What customer support? The local dealer (RJ Music Philippines) didn't return calls, didn't meet jod order deadlines, they gave me the runaround. They were more interested in meeting quotas!Once a sale is made, that's it!! Sorry RJ, but you gotta learn to teach your people to respect your customers.

These Midiverb IV's were all made/assembled in Taiwan.

Very easy to use.

Fairly clean, stereo effects are especially good. Some of the pitch effects are a bit noisy.

Never had a problem with it yet.

Recommended for people who are looking for a decent multieffects unit at an absolute killer price.