Product: Alesis Quadraverb Plus
Price Paid: US $400
Submitted
03/20/1998
at
07:50pm
by
Tom
Ease of Use
:
8
To *use* this unit is simple. To adjust any parameters takes some doing. If you are fimiliar with everything that goes into an effect (pre-delay, compression amount, wave type, etc), you will do fine. This unit is very thorough for programing. There are times that I would like to just turn a knob, though.
Sound Quality
:
10
The quality of sound is amazing. I've listened to many effects units, and this one adds nothing to your tone. The reverbs and delays are excelent: very rich, and full, but not overpowering.
Reliability
:
10
I've had no problems with it yet.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Never needed them.
Overall Rating
:
10
I really haven't used anything but the presets! ...and there are a LOT of them! I recomend this unit to anyone looking for recording gear, or "ambiant" effects.
Product: Alesis Quadraverb Plus
Price Paid: US $449
Submitted
03/26/1997
at
07:28pm
by
Anonymous
Ease of Use
:
6
My Quadraverb Plus is actually an original Quadraverb with the upgraded EPROM chip that added some new FX and other things, but essentially both the Plus and the original are one in the same. Fairly easy to use; having a dedicated button for each effect instead of scrolling thru menus is nice. The pressure-sensitive buttons were a neat idea however they can become an irritation when you are trying to fine-tune a parameter for obvious reasons. The display is a bit anemic in size, but is reasonably visible to the naked eye. The manual is pretty useful and well-written; One minor annoyance to me was the size of the manual (it's basically smaller than a paperback book), and it's a real pain to keep the damn thing open when you're using it for reference.
Sound Quality
:
7
As long as you don't use the EQ section in the Quadraverb Plus then it sounds quite good. This box can do just about any standard effect with the exception of pitch-shifting, plus it has some unique effects alongside for good measure. The quality of the individual F/X depends on the algorithm you use, and range from very nice to very crappy. The reverbs and the delays are very nice; the modulation effects (flange, chorus, phaser, detune, etc) are good, the resonators are good (but a tad noisy) the ring modulator is just plain wierd (but useful for strange vocal FX) the EQ section is entirely too noisy (and therefore sucks) and the sampler is just plain useless, and seems only meant to be a novelty. Generally if the EQ is avoided, then you'll get good results out of this machine.
Reliability
:
10
I've dropped this thing several times on marble and concrete floors, hauled it to gigs, beat the hell out of the buttons during editing, and the whole nine yards. It still works and has never even hiccuped. This is the kind of unit you don't have to worry about when you play out.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Beats me, refer to the relability section!!
Overall Rating
:
No Opinion
As with most of the Alesis line of effect processors, the Quadraverb Plus was a reasonably-priced and nice-sounding unit. The fact that it can do up to five simultaneous FX at once and not lose much programmability would make me buy this again (I recently got a Midiverb 4 and am considering getting a Quadraverb 2.0) without any qualms. I personally wish Alesis would have used better DAC's on the I/O's, and this is one reason why the EQ section is so cheesy. I also felt Alesis could have omitted the sampler and expanded on the pitch detuner (make it a pitch shifter perhaps?) instead. All in all, I was and still am very happy with this unit despite the shortcomings I've outlined here.
