Alesis airFX

Most of what I want to say has already been said, but here goes..

Easy to use. One knob. One IR-thingy. That's it.

The manual is very good. Not very long, but it's not required either. It has explanations of all the FX.

Downsides: only RCA-connections. No power switch.

Not EXCELLENT sound, but very good.

There are 50 effects, some very useful to me, some not as useful (but probably more useful to others).

No noise at all.

I've had it for a few months and haven't dropped or anything like that yet. Can't say if it's reliable or not. It looks like it's hard to break.

Haven't dealt with them

A fun unit that sounds good.

Couldn't be easier to use. One knob queues programs, then selects them (by a push) when you're ready. Same knob also holds a given setting of the effect (by a push), so you can move your hand away if you want.

Sound quality seems quite good, with no discernible noise. But, several of the effects are similar, and some of the 50 effects may not seem particularly useful to some folks. Still, many of the effects are virtually guaranteed to be a lot of fun to most people. Too bad there's no tweaking, or loading of one's own programs, possible. Maybe in a Version 2, Alesis (or whoever you are now - NuMark?)?

Can't say at this point. I bought this unit used, and it was broken out of the box. The X axis sensing didn't work at all, so they either have components that can "go out", or it may not have liked being dropped (although advertised as "Like New - Used Once", this unit came in with scratches on the surface - the case is plastic - so it may have been dropped. Others have reported solid performance, so this one *may* be an exception - still, now I have to try to get a refund from an eBay seller - heavy sigh, deep cleansing breath. If you have doubts about one of these units, check out Program 45, which should have clearly different responses from each of the 3 axes. If one of them doesn't seem to respond as it should, guess what?

No interaction with the company at this point.

I play improvisational music only, usually with friends at home, although occasionally "out". The Air FX is way cool for that, particularly since anyone can be musical with it, regardless of their skills with other instruments. I've been playing for more than 40 years, and have *way* too much gear for not making money with it, but hey - oh, well. I also have a Kaoss Pad II, but I do want an Air FX, as well, so yes, if it went away, I'd want to replace it. It's inexpensive enough to be a basic *necessity*. Love the ease of use, hate having the programs be "dead ends", without being able to be tweaked or re-loaded, favorite feature is the Hold function. To summarize - come on, you know you want it!

Very easy to use,with one caveat.I'm surprised no one seems tohave mentioned this,but since it's optical.you need a reasonably steady ligh t source.I used it on a gig where the lighting was turned very low after I'd sound checked-andIcouldn't get very much out of it.
Manual -absurdlysimple,but it's a very simple device.The chart of patches is all I need

I like the modulation fx and the ring mod sounds.Sound fx-scratching ,wind etc too cheesy for me

useful over all for both structured (melodic and or rhythmic music and more free form, experimental ,ambient,textural styles

Operating the unit is very easy: select a preset with the jogdial, push it to load. Use your hand above the IR dome to manipulate the sound. Push and hold the jogdial to hold the current setting. Push again to release.

Getting the best sounds and finding the sweet spots takes some more practice though. Just like any other instrument.

I'm using it in a home-studio setup and the sound is very clear and crisp, and dirty when it has to. I'd liked some more feedback and distortion, but on the whole it has a professional sound quality.

It's sturdy and has a comfortable sense of mass and weight. While I wouldn't advise dropping it, it doesn't seem like the sort of device that breaks down easily.

Haven't dealt with them, but it's nice to see they offer all their manuals and datasheets online.

I mainly produce techno/industrial and progressive dance music by sampling and improvising using hardware sequencers, synths and modules. Because I prefer to play stuff in on the fly, realtime control is essential for me. This device is the ultimate realtime effects unit, so for me it's a dream come true. While most effects can be achieved in the synths themselves in some way, the AirFX enables me to insert it in any stage of the mix (from a single raw track to the final master) and add that little bit extra to it.

As I don't use MIDI much, I don't really miss it that it isn't there. I would like some jack inputs though, those tulips are unreliable and lower quality. And I need adapters to fit it in the rest of my setup. I'd also have liked some reverbs on the machine.

For the price it's a nice piece of kit, and the intuitive, real-time control really works lovely if you're playing live or record samples for your productions. However, if you're the kind of person who prefers to record MIDI data and sequence, quantize and tune it to perfection, this is not the machine for you.

This thing requires very little to run: An index finger accompanied by an opposable thumb for turning the 1 fx selector knob, and a palm. Even if you have no hands, you could still operate this thing with your feet. Try it out. Circus Freak!

With 40 effects, it seems awesome...but quite a few are just not that good. I bought it for the cuts, delays and pretty much fx 19-30. And it does a great job in those channels.

Haven't had a problem with it yet...actually, I have two (one for each turntable). Works when I want it to.

haven't had a problem yet.

Personally, I find these things to be a pretty creative tool. Everyone likes to see the DJ dancing, and when my dancing over the Air FX'es (is that right?) changes the music, I get a better reaction. I AM THE SOUND GOD!!!!!!

Maybe I just got a bum unit, but I couldn't get it to pick up my hand very well. I was very disappointed because I had this image of high-tech thereminizing. A great idea....but perhaps real theremin pickups would work better than infrared.

To my ears, it sounded fine, but I didn't torture test it or anything because I really couldn't get it to respond to me much. A lot of the effects are just "gee-whiz look how we can munge sound" that don't have a lot of practical applications, but the filter sweeps in particular sounded like they had a a lot of promise.

Although I'm a big fan of the company, lately I've had bad luck with Alesis units. The casing on this felt disturbingly light, and I envisioned one or two drops being all it would take to send this to the Celestial Catnip Garden. Like the MMT-8 sequencer, if you're going to play live, I would definitely have a backup.

I've personally never had much trouble with Alesis myself, but there are lots of stories of people having problems, especially during the period when they were in bankruptcy and then subsequently bought out by Numark. Their web site is usually very good for support, and most Alesis units can be repaired by authorized service centers. The reason there *are* authorized service centers is to keep the heat off of the main company, so it doesn't surprise me that Alesis (or any other company without an extensive dealer network) would be slow to respond.

The airFX is a great idea, but unfortunately it just didn't work out for me. I think using IR for pickups is part of the limitation, but if this unit were redesigned and implemented with real theremin-style (i.e. heterodyne) pickup antennas, this would be a real killer unit. Picture an airFX retrofitted with theremin antennas in a metal case (or at least a heavier plastic case) and people would be crawling over each other to buy one. But as it stands, Alesis should definitely consider producing a version 2, because version 1 doesn't fulfill the dream. It's a teaser, but it needs to take the next step.

There's only one knob so that should say something about the ease of use. Then again, it took me a while to figure out how to change programs (i didn't bother to read the manual until messing with the unit for 20 minutes)

Maybe i got a crappy one or i set it up wrong, but i get so much interference and background noise that it sometimes blocks out the sounds of the unit itself. After half an hour it becomes unbearable.

It doesn't always work! When it does work, only some of the programs work. I think i've gotten about 12 to work so far. I wish that it wasn't made out of plastic because it's going to get a few sharp blows from a baseball bat real soon and may not survive the ordeal.

when the dumb thing works, it's pretty cool. But overall the thing is garbage. I'm glad i got such a good price for it, because otherwise i'd be very pissed.

It has one knob. If you can't use this you may as well kill yourself.

It's sort of a new and interesting setup, so there isn't much to compare it too. I run a bass w/loops through it, sounds damn good to me.

It's plastic, and it's supposed to sit on a mic stand. I would use a very heavy duty mic stand. Mine has already teaken a header and survived no problem, so far so good!

N/A

this is a super useful tool for musicans wanting something a little different. i would have paid more for a midi in to edit patches, that would be VERY cool.

Getting good sounds is as easy as Pi with this piece of equipment, smooth flanges, and mincing superimposed old-skool FX just roll out, without having to touch the thing at all. The three-axis system is described quickly and easily in the manual.

mine is currently set up with a Panasonic Amp and speaker system and a Numark CD Dex setup on the input side. With the seperate volume controls on the amps and on the mixer, the FX can be made as prominent as you want. A couple of them I approach with caution, the overdrive one for example gives square waves to the amp non-stop, doing in the speakers.

90% of the FX work extremely well with the style of music im into, Roni Size and LTJ Bukem sounding great when messed with. Because I produce my own stuff, I leave drum breaks and solo basslines etc. open to let a live mix using the FX box happen, giving a good opportunity to exploit the gimick value of it.

Highly Reliable, never had a problem with it and therefore happily use it without backup at a gig (plus, I cant afford backup!)

Never had to use it.

I love this piece of equipment, not only is it ingeniouly gimmicky, but the fact that I dont have to touch anything helps so much with the patter of a gig. Ive only been playing for a few months now, but I wouldn't get rid of this pieceof kit if my life depended on it. It worx great for drum and bass, with FX number 28 (the phazor-flanger combination) being a personal favourite.

It's just great.

Super easy. One knob and the hand-wavey spot. Fun to play.

I like the noise and filter patches best. I did some remote recording where this was the only unit in my suitcase, and all was well. Of course, that was cassette 4-track, I'm not so sure I'd rely on the quality here for full studio work.

I'm not super excited about the plastic case. I'd be careful packing it for gigs.

don't know.

I occasionally bring this out for the "lo-fi" effect and my studio clients are very happy with it. I really dislike the RCA connections on the back... WHY??? I guess DJ gear is mostly that way, like my RED sound DARKSTAR synth. However, it's cheap and fun and everyone should have one!