Alesis airFX

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!

Dead Easy, but it may take some time to get used to moving your hand around slowly in 3-D

Very quiet, nice presets, more would be nice.

The worst case senario happened to me. The day that I bought my Air-FX I was DJing with it on the first night of use in between 2 bands that were playing (Train and Default, two pop rock bands, pretty big show). My and my buddy were freaking out at how cool this little machine was using it for some filter sweeps. Everyone was commenting on how cool it was, then it happened. I switched presets and the thing went dead mid song. No sound comming out of it at all. I was playing a good song which a lot of people were into and suddenly everyone is looking at me with the "You Idiot" stare. A quick re-wireing to by pass the dead Air-Fx and the night went on. It gets worse... see below.

Alesis was bought out by some other comany so I couldn't get a new one from the store I go to(Steve's in Ottawa, which rules) They had none left, and they couldn't order one because the company was not accepting orders. They advised me not to bother sending it for repairs and just gave me my money back. Steve's rules, Alesis sucks.

This thing was awesome for about 3 hours of use. I still want one even though it emarrased the hell out of me. Maybe I got a lemmon?

Alesis has done the right thing to try to break down the walls between "musicians" and "everyone else". For the last month or so, I've just kept the AirFX set up in my video editing suite and clients and friends can't help messing with it. It took less than five minutes to set up, adn because it has several synth patches built in, it was easy to get immediate satisfaction.

The overall design of the instrument is so different that a regular person isn't intimidated to mess around with it. The manual also is more "fun" than lots of technical info that you'll find out there. Since it lacks real "musician" features like MIDI and editable sounds, there is little to clutter the operating surface to potentially confuse anybody.

While I don't think that the list price is cheap enough to make it practical as a consumer product, I thought that for the $149 that I paid for it, there was a chance I was getting a nice entry into the world of effects. Since it's aimed at live monkeying around, it's not fair to think of it as a replacement for a rack with effects that yield repeatable effects.

Then again, that's sort of the charm of this thing... and there are some freaked out effects that I've never seen anywhere else.

I've always been a freak about making sure that everything is in a road case, and the airFX is no exception. I play a number of very odd and fragile instruments- like accordion and Game Boy- that require kid gloves when transporting. Since everything is solid state, I don't think that a few standard knocks would incapactiate the instrument. However, I would've like to have seen better in's and out's than RCA- I've resoldered enough of those to know that they're a bear.

The few times that I've dealt with Alesis, they have been an enthusiastic company. I was oriignally supposed to write a couple of reviews of airFX for magazines, but the changing of the guard at the Alesis offices got in the way of that- yet the folks there were among the most helpful and kind that I've met. In the past whenever I've needed a manual or other help- even if I bought a product secondhand- they always helped out.

There's little that one would need help with on the airFX, so I don't think that they'll be taxed too much- even with "regular" folks potentially using this product.

I have always been interested in unusual instruments, and this certainly qualifies. What really intrigues me is the idea of doing elaborate special effects that are usually reserved for the studio live on stage. I have yet to hook it up to any of my synths, but I found that it gave new life to almost everything I hooked into it- cheap toy keyboards, speak n' spell, Game Boy, even a Sammy Davis junior concert. My primary job is as a video producer, so this together with my vocoder is a great way to get sci-fi scary voices.

Of course with 50 patches, there are bound to be some stinkers. There is nothing here though that couldn't be used for something. In my situation, the stereo patches- while cool- are more suited for the studio than a live performance (which are rarely stereo). I do like the majority of the effects, and there are a few exceptional sounds that make the airFX worth it- especially at the price that I paid.

I wish that it had 1/4" inputs (it wouldn't be that hard to include 1/4" to RCA adaptors for regular folks to use). It woudl also be nice if it had MIDI to use as a controller for other stuff- or better yet I'd love it if you could changes patches on the fly with MIDI. That way you can use both hands to control the AXYZ effects rather than having to dial up the appropriate preset during a performance.

I also think that the AXYZ sphere should have some kind of callibration knob for sensitivity. I'd also like it if it were higher off of the unit. Since this is clearly intended for live performance, let the audience see what your hands are doing! Sometimes you have to play the sounds so close that it looks like you're actually touching the thing... and that's not the point, is it?

I'd also like it if some of the synth sounds were multitambral. Monophonic can be really neat, but there are some tiomes with those synth drones that it would be nice to have more than one thing going on at a time.

The mic stand mounting thing is excellent. It's pretty slick just standing out there on stage. IN general, I am quite happy with airFX. As I said before, I was supposed to review it, but was so intrigued that I just bought it myself. While I think that it's prices a little high for consumers to want to buy it, it seems to be priced right around where musicians and experimenters would enjoy adding something different to their set.

It is really easy to use, but that's it.
No Edits, No really cool FX, No Echo, No Real Vocoder.

I used it for DJ Work. For about a week. Then I sent it back.
Good sound quality. Espetially with High Volume (Open Air).

Cheap Plastik rubbish.
It's best to build it into a Case or something.

Didn't bother

I wouldn't buy it again.

Pathetically simple to operate. There is a spinnable knob for selecting the presets (and holding an effect), and the Alesis Axyz hand-air controller thingie. The only thing you'll need the manual for is the preset listings. I think it's extremely easy to operate. Of course if you don't have hands, then it might be a problem -- but I suspect you could even get by with stumps.

As always the case with a cool instrument/toy, you'll be wishing there was more presets, and more control over those presets. Lack of MIDI knocks a point off, but for the price I can't complain too much. Some of the synth effects are goofy, but it still has a suitable range of effects. I bought this unit solely for the havoc it can wreak on the input you feed it -- if you're not into freaky/distorted/filtered sounds, this might not be for you.

The ins/outs are RCA jacks, which might be a problem for some folks.

So far so good, but then again I don't plan on using it live. One cool thing is that there is a standard screw-hole on the back for instantanious mounting onto a mike stand. That makes mounting it fairly idiot-proof. It's very light, and mostly plastic. I'm not sure if it would survive the rigors of road travel unless packaged correctly.

This is so simple to use that I doubt you'd need to contact tech support unless of a malfunction in the unit. That being said, Alesis hasn't always had the best reputation in this area, so be forewarned.

I played with this unit for about 5 minutes, and I was hooked. It's essentially a musical toy, and built like one as well. If you can afford to spend $150-200 on basically a very simplistic effects processor (with an admittedly cool user interface), then I'd recommend it wholly. Go to your local music shop, bring a CD to tweak and give it a test drive. You'll know after a few minutes if it's for you.

a plug in and go unit
I used the pdf file, and made a list of patches,
highlighting the stand alone ones.
not many controls, and only 1 moving part

In the studio, it's neat as hell.
Live, the through patches tend to get lost,
and the stand alone stuff tend to overwhelm the main signal.
I had the best luck running it into the fx loop
of a 2nd (builtin) preamp (like the PV Mark IV).
In the studio, I usually boot it onto the outputs of a KB,
Live, I get to play it and my bass at the same time.......

Gotta be protective of it,
looks flimsy, and RCAs usually wear out after time
I mount it on the enclosed mic adapter.
It's not a primary piece of gear, so backup isn't really necessary

An impulse buy, and out of the box I wasn't impressed
(RCA plugs???)
But it's clean, and 24 bit.
None of the bands in the studio could keep their hands off it,
and live the musos were lining up to check the thing out.
The guys in my bands say I'll never get rid of it, it's just too much fun.

From a musicians standpoint it's unwieldy to use live
but in the studio it's even more useful than my Line6 for fun stuff
I'll be trying it out for some beat thangs and CD replication.
Wish the standalone patches could be triggered by specific notes,
or the patches were pitch dependant.
Drummers seem to love this unit for some reason......

Could hardly be easier to use. One dial which doubles as a button selector and the central Axyz infra-red controller.

The sound is very clean and crisp. Good for the price and better than ther average mid-priced effects unit.

Hard to say how reliable it is. Certainly I'd be afraid of it getting broken as it's made of cheap plastic material. I always take it with its (rather bulky) packaging. As the central controller is non-contact, I'm hoping it will last quite a while.

Well, I sent Alesis an email about a week ago and they have yet to reply. This is typical of large companies.

Basically, it was an impulse buy, it's looks cool, sounds cool, but it's actually just a toy and pretty useless really: a total waste of money. Why? Because of the unbalanced inputs and outputs, because of the lack of MIDI, because of the lack of input level metering, volume control and on/off switch. The synth patches (which produce sound but do not affect the incoming signal) are no more than a novelty. A lot of the effects are too samey; there could be more overall variety. This thing would be cool if it could be used for ambisonic panning! Since I've bought it, I've spent more time admiring it's curves rather than using it. I think Alesis have made a big mistake as the product is obviously designed for DJ's and non-musicians, yet it's not something a DJ would use live. Conversely, it's not something an aspiring professional would use in the studio. If it had more effects, midi capabilities and a few other basic features this thing would rock. As it is I think Alesis have missed out on the awesome market potential of their Axyz technology.

I bought this console two days ago, and am rather impressed with it... Very easy to use, and relatively easy to set up.

I used this through a Roland MC-303, and was rather pleased with the results... Favourite patches are Orlyfilter, Telephone, and Formented (this sounds GREAT over huge sweeping pads and funky slap basslines)!!

Downsides: RCA cables only, No power button, Short lead on power adaptor.

Very easy to use. Don't really even need to read the manual.

Great sound. No noise very clean effects. Could be more effects but for the price its great

I have dropped my several times and used it at several gigs with no problems or kick to the quality...

Don't know not much to break.

Very fun great for live musicians. A whole other level to mixing records. Can't wait for them to come out with a model with a built in sampler... Can't go wrong for 200 bucks...

The AirFX is using 4 IR sensors aimed in a sort of pyramid shape, tracking hand movements in a roughly blobby/hemispherical space about 6" in radius from the center of the dome. The one phical knob is large and selects between the fifty effects, and can be used to bypass the unit entirely, or set & hold a value for a given effect. It's a very sleek looking box. Being IR-based, the controller's responsiveness can be affected by strong heat sources, big spotlights, cigarette smoke or fog machines.
Roughly half the effects are sound effects (wind effect, record scratching, kick drum, etc.) and roughly half are sound affects/filters (phaser, flange, ring mod, etc. )
All patches are preset, no editing. I'd like to see the patches editable and downloadable, but then I'm probably spoiled by the Nord Micro Modular.
The manual is clear and simple, with some humorous touches: the troubleshooting for "No audio from outputs" ends with "Cause: power is not connected" and the reply "Solution: Time for a coffee break."
There are no preset buttons: to get to an effect, spin the dial.

I haven't been that happy with the actual sounds I get out of it, though. The filters generally don't sound as good to me as the ones in the Korg Kaoss Pad do. Several of the sound effects are pretty good.
The wind sounds are cool, as they actually make use of all three
dimensions (X axis controls the frequency, Y controls the resonance, and Z controls the mix).
It does have a "decimator" digital distortion affect that's interesting, though: I don't remember seeing decimation except in software synths before.

It's plastic, but that's not necessarily a problem, it's pretty sturdy feeling. It's not built to be stepped on. I'd use it on a gig without backup.

No experience with the company directly.

I bought this on impulse after about ten minutes in the store, because I play theremin and am interested in any kind of area-effect/field-effect controllers. I probably wouldn't replace it if it was lost or stolen: the sound effects are cool, but not central to my interests, and the quality of the sound affects or filters is generally not good to my ears. The Axyz controller is a nice idea, pretty cool actually, and I believe Alesis will be using it on other of their upcoming products sort of the way Roland is building everything with a D-Beam.
I'd like the AirFX to have 1/4" jacks, even a single preset button, and maybe a patch editor (but can live without that).

This will be my second review submission. After getting really psyched about this new product, I issued a very critical review mainly against the company, not the product. So, I'm going to rate some of these categories as I think I did the last time.

This is where my rating will change. Although it's been awhile since I last submitted my review, things change over time I guess... like a new year or the stock market.

I just received a message from a Product Specialist from Alesis. He sent me the message in response to my earlier review submission. OK, he got my attention... here's someone who actually gives a damn about his company and its products.

As most of you have experienced, I can't stand some of these musical companies that don't pay enough attention to their customers, the musicians. So anyway, my previous message reflected this frustration after I sent them some ideas/suggestions with no reply although this new product is really exciting. I'm not even a DJ, just a commoner (guitarist).

Well, with the message from the Product Specialist, things are happening now. I resent my original message with the ideas/suggestions and I have received two reply messages within 15 minutes!

I want to note this because Alesis is no small, boutique shop. We'll see how my ideas turn out, but for the drastic improvement in Customer Support, I want to change my rating.

Thanks, Bob.

Alesis has made a cool product. I hope they continue development on this unit... alot of potentials.

Extremely easy to use, though you need to refer to the geometry you learned back in school. You can move your hand (or any body part :)) over the infrared dome... the X-axis is left-right, the Y-axis is forward-backward and the Z-axis is up-down.

Since it's a very spartan, very basic user interface, the manual is pretty brief. You can finish it in less than 5 minutes. All patches are preset, no editing, but then you'd probably pay more for that.

I use it in my home studio (on a Behringer 24-channel mixer) and live (on a Mackie 1202). I use TRS insert cables. I wish they had 1/4" jacks but the RCA jacks are more common and I've heard that Alesis wants to market this to mainstream consumers rather than just musicians, engineers and djs.

The sound quality is supposedly the same 24-bit quality as they use on their multi-effects units, though it sounds amazingly clean and adds basically no noise. All the effects are digital but the analogish ones (i.e. filters) sound like pretty darn accurate emulations.

There are 50 presets -- filters, flange/phasers, special fx (panning, modulation, volume) and tone-generating sounds like aynth sounds, white noise, a turntable "scratch" sound and synthetic percussion.
My favorites are #10 (the price is worth this one alone) -- "telephone" which is a lo-fi filter (Think of that part in the Madonna song "Music" where you hear the filter sweep when she sings, "Hey Mr DJ pu a record on..."). #12 is a hipass filter, and there's real fun effects like #42 (Skratch!)- a corny but too-cool turntable scratching sound, and #49 (Sci-Fi Theatre) a lower-range theremin-like sound (with a sawtooth wave rather than a sine).

Very little moving parts. In fact there's only ONE moving part - the data wheel. I'd definitely use it for gigs, I do live electronic music, and someone moving their arms on this thing is more interesting than someone twiddling knobs or pushing buttons. There's also a hole in the underside of the unit so you can mount it on a standard mic stand.

I've heard of Korg KAOSS pads breaking down, losing their touch sensitivity. This one you don't really have to touch anything. Low maintenance, low wear.

I've had great results with Alesis, but it's not typical of everyone's experience, since I live within a 30-minute driving distance of Alesis' heaquarters and factory facilities. No need to wait 'cos everything's local for me.

This is a MUST for electronic (live PA) musicians, remix producers and DJs (especially house/trance DJs). You can have a repetitive loop or sequence sound no-so repetitive by pumping the singal through this baby.

The price is just right, it can be had for $160-$200.

I wish it did have a power switch. MIDI would be nice but I can live without it for this price. Programmability would have been nice as well, but Alesis seems to cover the bases in filter/flange type effects. I also wish the dome could be rotated so one can position the unit a different way.


Light and extremely portable. Sturdy and simple - only one moving part. Though I'd never drop it over a hard floor.

This is a revolutionary piece of gear. Whoever designed it deserves some product award. It's also a godsend for us live electronica geeks who get accused of putting on boring shows by twiddling knobs. This gives stage presence a whole new purpose and meaning.

Very easy to use. For a DJ it might be hard to use it though, you only have two hands to work with and this thing requires one of them....

Very good sound quality. Not noisy at all, some effects are weak and don't do much. Others do stuff that is supposed to be on all the time, which isn't practical for this type of device. So a 7 for sound quality.

Don't know never giged with it, not sure much could go wrong with it though...

Never dealt with the company.

This is a very interesting device, I use it with my guitar, I was looking for the thermin sound and I can get something close to it with this thing. It is supposed to be for DJ's but it just doesn't seem practicle. Neat noise maker though. I hooked up a CD player to it and it does what it says it does. If it were stolen I would be really mad, and I probably would buy another own because it is just so cool to wave your hand over it and have it go chicka-chicka... This thing really does get in the way of making music, it is a toy not an instrument, it is excellent for live production I think, because of the awe producing effects it has. Overall rating a 7 because it is a cool toy if you have $200 to spare.

The air FX is as basic as it gets. Just turn the knob to change programs and use of hand motion over the AXYZ beam and thats it. Even a 5 year old could understand how to use this. The biggest downfall to this unit is that there are only preset patches and no user. Plus there is no on/off switch. Only the adapter is used. I can definatly see an upgrade of this product sometime within the next 2 years.

The effects are really cool especially the filters. The preset effects are filter, flange, phaser, pitchshifter, tremolo, distortion, panner, rotary speaker, and some bizarre synth oscillator effects. Most of the sounds are clean and are 24 bit. The filters tend to be a bit grainy if the volume levels are close to clipping. I would describe the FX as a combination of the Korg Kaoss and Rolands D-Beam. Alesis made this unit particularly for DJ's and those whole love to add weird textures to their music.

I haven't had it long enough to rate.

At such a low price with a really cool performance its hard not to rate this product excellent. During the 30 minutes I was at Guitar Center there must have been 15 people waiting to fool around with the FX. It definatly caught my eye and my wallet.

Don't know... but I have many ideas on its use

With its interface design, I'd be willing to compromise in this category. The interface blows away the Korg Kaoss Pad, I think.

Don't know

This is where I have an opinion. If you don't what this is, check out Alesis' website.

Anyway, with its user interface, there's many possibilities to imaginative musicians... and even non-musicians. Well, I sent an email to tech support and PR departments about some questions and also ideas/suggestions.

So far, no answer to a potential customer that's practically ready to purchase it. But, not if they don't give a damn about its users.

I'm already planning to buy Electrix FilterQueen so I can wait for someone else to improve on Alesis' design because it's not too hard. But that's what separate good companies from great one... being responsive to customer needs and demands.

WAKE UP, ALESIS!

As far as the product design, I'd give it a 10 for this alone. For sound, it probably be a 7 or 8.

But, for customer service, LOUSY. I'm going to start the rating on this neat little toy very low because Alesis is missing a huge point of being in business.

Alesis, read and respond to my email and I may retract this lousy review.