Alesis Fusion 8HD

The Fusion takes some learning depending on what you are doing. The OS isnt designed in the most thoughtful way. But with a little practice it becomes less of a problem. It is easy to just pick and play programs. Mix mode is simple and useful. Song mode is not as useful as I will explain later. Sampler is somewhat complicated to use but is a very good feature. In the end once you get used to the menus you will have no problem getting the sounds that you want.

Keys-(8hd) Weight feels good for a synth. This is a very personal thing so its not really possible to "rate" it. The Fusion 8hd feels better than most synths or workstations. It isnt a replacement for a real Grand Piano Keybed but for everything else in between it is great. really not much else in the Digital range feels any better to me.

Sounds - The main thing is is that the fusion shouldnt be rated simply on the ROM soundsets. You can load ANYTHING that you want to into this board. Programs are stored on the harddrive. Its what you make it

There are 4 different "Synthesizers" in the Fusion software. The Virtual analog is Great. FM is Great. And the Sample Playback is Great. Physical Modeling on the other hand is not useful really execpty for making really weird sounds. I havent been able to make a convincing woodwind or horn out of it. It would have been nice to have more Physical Modeling options available. such as a drum or string program.

The Song mode is where almost all the flaws of this product lie. Do not buy the fusion simply for the recording ability. It is not well implemented and has too many restrictions and limits to actually allow you to make creative songs on it. I use it as a utility only.

Sampler is great to have but I havent used it yet.

Nice effects and also has 4knobs, 4triggers, and 2 switches that can be used to control any parameter.

Overall the Sample Playback is Fantastic, lots of sample memory and plenty of polyphony. VA is very useful, you can mimic most classic synths and make your own. FM is as useful as the VA.

Sounds however you make it. You can load, record, sample, or import any sound that you can find. This in itself sets the fusion apart from other boards. It is almost limitless in its versitility in this way.

Nice metal case. The ends are plastic but seem to hold up well. As long as you dont throw it or anything its ok. Definately Holds up in the home studio. As for gigs, be careful becuase there is a hard drive in it.

Havent had to deal with them. The Alesis website lists the Fusion as a discontinued "legacy" product. But I still hear of people recieving help from them.

I would buy one again. As I said its what you make it. Therefore the possibilites are high. Unlike some synths that dont have samplers. The only real downside is that the Song mode is pretty much useless.

Basic manual.

Keyboard action is great. It's a great controller. Give it a ten.

ROM Samples suck-the piano especially, and some of the other stuff you go 'that's supposed to be a what? Really?'. Is that the 8 bit Mirage version ???

But, it's also a sampler...so...

OS is crazy to use. What were they thinking?

But here's where it shines: FM. The weird distorted (or clean) FM on this thing is killer. You can do stuff with this thing you can't do with other synths. Period. And that makes it worth it.

I won't sell it for this alone.

Well, I'd have a backup if I needed it live. But I don;t

You can buy parts. For now.

I give it a 9 out of 10, cause what else can you get that can do what it does for the price.

If you want good ROM samples, the others are better, but if you want something unique and a little weird...and something that's going to be totally forgotten in a few years...this is it.

OS 1.24. The presets aren't spectacular by any means, but if that's what you bought it for you were barking up the wrong tree. I got it from sweetwater with all extra sounds available anywhere at the time and those were spectacular and worthy in themselves. I got it because I wanted a workstation and I needed a full scale piano for a theatre company I was working with. We did kabarett style theatre usually only with piano as accompaniment. The piano isn't particularly awesome, but it is unique and I often got compliments on the character of the sound in live performances. To understand the entire operating system is to already have some synth architecture knowledge, i.e. not for beginners. For an entire year I didn't delve into it deeply and only used it for live settings using presets without even looking at the manual. I would experiment with everything and see what happens. When I finally got into it and looking through the manual it all made perfect sense and very easily so. I found the complete architecture to be easy enough. The thing to keep in mind is it's basically like a PC and operates in the same fashion. It's definitely a techies dream. The manual was straight forward with pictures, but didn't offer much example by implementation. I would actually recommend spending time with it without looking at the manual and familiarize yourself with all the menus first. I'm giving this a high rating for ease of use, but if you're not willing to spend time learning the machine or if you are just looking for a keyboard for quick entertainment without much thought I wouldn't recommend this keyboard. Get a casio. The biggest complaints were from people who really wanted a casio so they could sound talented right away.

I've never maxed out the polyphony but I've tried. I love the action. It's perfect. I can play classical and rock and jazz with ease. The keys are weighted but not like an acoustic piano. If I want a rigorous workout, I'll play my acoustic. I think the fusion is unnecessarily expandable. 40GB (or 80) hard disk is more than enough I think. If not you can void the warranty and open it up and put in a larger drive. I've manipulated entire songs in wav. format on the fusion. Mine came with all expandable memory. You can put any sort of audio in it at practically any length so you can make it sound like anything you want it to which is it's greatest strength. I would have bought it without any sounds whatsoever as long as I can put whatever I want on it. I don't mess with MIDI so I can't offer anything there. My impression is that it's not a strong function of the fusion though it is very capable I'm sure. I like the controls and the screen which is large enough for most things. I love the sequencer. The biggest gripe is that it isn't pattern based. I believe that if you can't record it linearly then you shouldn't be doing it. I was thrilled that it has all the functions of what used to be Sonicfoundry's Acid. So it is linear but you can play a phrase then copy and paste it pretty easily. The effects do not sync with the clock but I much prefer this. If I want it to sync I can do it by ear, but sometimes I really want the randomness so it doesn't sound so mechanical. It allows for some really organic compositions. There is some short comings with the effects but those can easily be overcome with the actual synthesis parameters. Like I said before, it's about tweaking a lot of different interconnected things. I'm a recording artist and I use the fusion exclusively for absolutely everything besides recording the finished product. It's the only machine I've used that I could get to sound exactly like I hear the music in my head. Using all the features were very easy for me but I can see how it could be difficult for some people so I'm giving it an 8.

With tweaking you can get very realistic sounds. The presets are a little weak but can easily be tweaked to get realism there are some that are pretty useless and flat, however. The possibilities however surpass any initial limitations. I've used the fusion for every kind of genre and have been pleased. The effects that are there are good and varied. It reacts well to my playing. Everything is adjustable. Not to mention you can assign any function to any button, knob, wheel, pedal, et al. Velocity and aftertouch are good. There are various options for velocity curves. You can pick one that is suitable for your style of playing. I'm giving this a section a 10 because of the possibilities of the machine, i've been impressed with the sound I've gotten out of it, plus you can't beat the 24-bit audio which is remarkable.

I haven't had a problem. I've encountered small hiccups but nothing serious. Definitely operator error. The fusion definitely has some quirks but you learn them and get used to them. I've been gigging with it for over a year and haven't had any problems nor have I bothered to have a back up.

I've never dealt with them. I bought through sweetwater and they've been great any time I've needed anything. Even a random email sent asking for recording advice was promptly answered with the answer without any sort of motive for them trying to sell me anything.

I would definitely get it again. Totally worth what I payed, even before the price cuts. I've been playing since I was 3, I'm 22 now. I own qs7, roland u-20, have had various casios, acoustic piano, studio setup with digidesign pro-tools with various racks, alesis drum machine and work with some DAWs. I love the versatility and virtually unlimited possibilities of the fusion. I don't hate anything about it, perhaps because I'm crafty and inventive so I don't really observe any possible limitations. I compared it to all the others (you know the ones) and for the price it did the most and I wanted to be limitless to what I create. I wanted to be able to mix synthesis and audio together easily which is very possible on the fusion plus the 88 weighted keys. I do wish it had a way to bounce tracks directly in the system. I suppose that was what the external CD burner was going to be for but it never materialized. I'm often inspired when using the fusion. I find it best to just record something, anything and then work on the ideas and then get an idea of the sound you want and just go for it. anything is possible. www.myspace.com/etherealnate is music I've created exclusively on the fusion. I don't know if that's allowed, I'm not trying to promote myself only the fusion.

N/A This is continuation of previous review and will only focus on the sounds (in brackets are rating for sound type)

Organs (4) ??? Not exactly a Hammond B3 and being a Gospel Hammond player, I know. I have heard some reasonable Hammond imitations on various keyboards notably the Yamaha Motif range but I have not heard anything on the Fusion that could even pacify my wish for quality Hammond B3 sounds. I really don???t mind if the Pipe Organ wasn???t the hottest but the B3 has to be that defining sound and the Fusion just can???t cut it. To imitate the Leslie and the subtle tones is hard work but the fusion has enough space on the desktop to have 16 drawbars and some. Why not licence the original Native Instrument B4? Not the new version 2 but the original B4 or even a stripped down version? Surely it can???t have cost that much to licence and then port across should a killer app.
For the rock and pop music it is passable ish and I say that with a large chunk of sarcasm but for blues, soul, jazz and especially gospel this ain???t got an Amen. However no 60???s style White Cliffs of Dover organs and that is a real shock on an instrument in this day and age. Come on Alesis, where is your game

Strings (6) ??? I heard the statement ???Tape Strings??? in relation to the strings on this. The true string ensembles are really weak, the individual string instruments aren???t up to much either but the pad and vintage strings are hot, real hot.

Here is the break down.

Film Scoring (1) ??? Don???t bother, you could make a blockbuster flop if you used an Alesis Fusion.

Live Layering of Sounds for live playing (3) ??? Buy a Kurzweil or Yamaha and if you can afford it buy both and create some killer layers. Leave the Fusion in the studio because it was never made for live playing.

Electronic Euro Dance Production (8) ??? Just the job, not heard much that can compete with it. One day I thought I was playing a Juno, so good are the synth strings.

Brass (6) ??? Sadly not gritty or phat enough, the individual instruments are not realistic enough in fact they are very poorly put toegther, even with the Physical Mod engine. If you play Pop, RnB, Jazz, Blues, Gospel etc, this will not provide the phat rifty brass sounds that you require. Neither smooth for the full brass band. I love brass rifts and falls but the Fusion is nowhere near gritty enough if you are Teddy Riley trying to do a ???Jam??? Look at your Roland gear for this type of phat and cutting, gritty brass sounds. For garage, Alternative (whatever that is), Old School Rock and Evolving this sings sweeter than the honey. Can do a decent impersonation of Jump but could be a little more evolving.

Woodwind (5) ??? A complete waste of time, other than for General Midi type playback. This is never going to be used in production of video or Japanese Martial Arts films and this thing has Physical Modelling. What? What were the programmers and developers thinking when the soundset was being constructed. Physical Modelling and still poor? It could have been one of the market leaders in terms of orchestral sounds because of it Physical Modelling Engine but Alesis has not implemented this properly.

Basses (6) ??? This is tricky.
Acoustic Basses (4) are a waste of time, buy a module or sample a bass player, this ain???t no Bootsy Collins sound a like nor is it the club double bassist. This ain???t no Grunge Rock Bassist, Slap Funk Meister, No Smooth Groover or Reggae Dub man sound a like, the fusion can???t imitate any of them with even a little distinction. Really poor! Why not licence??????????????? the list is too endless! It is not even a reasonable imitator of the session bassist.

Analogue and Modelled Basses (8) are quite good. In fact you get that sense of instant beat making when you hear the Analogue and Modelled Basses, however they could be a little bit phater and some of the moog style basses could be a little warmer. The synth basses overall are great where as the fingered, plucked, slapped and acoustic basses are poor.

Drums (9) ??? Acoustic, Synth or otherwise are all banging hot, hot hot. This is one area where the Fusion embarrasses the big 3. Phil Collins, can feel it in the air tonight. Absolutely the best drums I have heard in year. Some of the 808 drums are a tad thin but this is compensated by the incredible acoustic drums.

Leads (9) ??? Tops stuff, warm and evolving and with a vast variety of sounds. Good for Sci-Fi B movies.

Pads (9) ??? Just like the leads, top draw baby and no complaints, good for 60???s conspiracy TV programmes.

Synths Sounds (9) Very good, warm, evolving and quite interesting. Jarre-esque sounds are right up there and this could definitely be used for a French laser light show production.

Acoustic Pianos (5) ??? Not very good to be honest, I know that the nuances of an acoustic piano is very a subject thing but the Fusion isn???t the silky smooth Kurzweil, or the bright and sparkly Yamaha, nor the full bodied Roland. I will accept that it is different but the Fusion Piano is not defining or cutting edge or the beautifully balanced velocity instrument that a 21st Century Acoustic Piano should be. It is never good enough for my live set for the Jazz Band and I can???t imagine Chick Corea or Herbie Hancock playing their Jazz rifts on this because although the feel of the keys is really good, the sound is pretty weak and I have downloaded all the modified Holy Grail piano and they still sound dreadful. The velocity switching is so poorly implemented for an acoustic piano, you would think that they didn???t know what they were doing. Alesis licensed the sound and for a licensed sound it is really, really poor, when it is well know that Acoustic Piano sounds now are the maker or breaker of an instrument of this standing. Alesis and Holy Grail, shame on you because between you, there was a possibility that you could have come up with a sound that would form the basis of a dedicated stage piano. Could it be that the Holy Grail piano is good enough but the porting to the Fusion has created this very lame excuse for a piano?

Electric Pianos (6) ??? Not the best either, the Rhodes is not smooth enough for the realistic soulful ballads or gritty enough for the banging grooves. Whether it be that 70???s soul sound or The Carpenter???s pop sound, everyone wants a real Rhodes that speak rifts and subtle melody lines but the Fusion falls short in so many ways and the various Rhodes sounds no matter which one still can???t provide the realistic tine based smoother that we have come to love. The DX types EP???s sounds are just not warm and rounded enough, even after all of my programming and this thing has an FM synth engine. Why did Alesis not create an FM engine that can load the Yamaha DX sounds that are available on the internet for download? Alesis have not even tried to imitate the beautiful and much loved D50 EP???s that are a must on any modern instrument. And if Alesis were seeking to create a distinctive sounding EP, it failed because nothing that Alesis created, sounds warm enough, rich enough or balletic enough. Sometimes I think what were the programmers thinking when they conjured up the EP???s. Why didn???t Alesis license Lounge Lizard? I would have given this 4 but I have loaded a couple of my own samples and mixed them with an FM Rhodes from the Fusion and I am surprised at how good it can sound. Internally the sounds are weak but this thing has potential.

Overall

For Live Playing ??? Don???t bother, unless you want a synth sound, otherwise you will get laughed off the stage, even by folks who don???t know a thing about synth engines.

If you play on a cruise ship or you are the wedding singer ??? Look away you are about to be pelted.

If you want to create beat ??? Come to daddy

For home and studio work ??? This baby is yours, will be the standout bit of gear in any studio set up.

For Big Production and Film work ??? Don???t do it, please don???t embarrass yourself, it is not worth your reputation.

The editing is the one thing that saves the Fusion because it is so vast but even that is implemented properly, which is a real shame.

If the manufacturers learn anything from these forums it is that there is such a wide variety of musical tastes and abilities that buy these instruments and for so many different uses, therefore it is critical to have decent pianos (acoustic and electric), organ, drums, basses, acoustic orchestral sounds, synth leads and pads. Yes clavs, guitars, mallets, ethnic, synth brass and vintage strings and performances are all great tools in the arsenal but the core sounds should be the priority but Alesis has failed to recognise this.

This machine could have become a real player in the market but Alesis didn???t spend the time thinking things through and as such have an instrument that is good but not great, when all the ingredients were of an instrument that would make a real mark, even to the point of upsetting the big 3.

As much as I criticise this thing I am beginning to love it, really love it and just when I thought I was going to sell and buy a Motif or Fantom, I have changed my mind, this girl has some virtues that are worth holding onto her for, even if she continues to disappoint me.

If we got divorced, would I marry her again? Probably in 6HD format as second keys to the Rolls Royce of keyboards (Kurzweil) or the Mercedes of workstations (Yamaha Motif) because my Chevy (Alesis Fusion) isn???t quite of the quality.

Quite easy to use but finding and cataloguing the sound is nothing short of a nightmare.

Sampling is good and quite easy to use, when you know what you are doing but the sampler editing tool could have been a little more user friendly.

The sequencer is truly horrible. Alesis who are owned by the same folk who make the Akai MPC series should hold their head down in shame.

The editing is so comprehensive and you should be able to get something near what you want or as close as can imitate what you are seeking to programme but the editing tool could have been so much more user friendly and if Alesis thought out the editing tool, more of the Fusions tweakable characteristics should have been available on the screen together, rather than having to edit one characteristic and then having to drill down to go to the next and then go back and then forwards and then backwards to get the sound that people want. This is the 21st Century software is supposed to be intuitive.

The implementation of the FXs could have been so much more user friendly.

Generally nothing out can really touch this baby (Roland Fantom G may have something to say about that)

However there are some real issues that need addressing.

No USB to DAW connectivity, unless you go back in time a get a midi interface. What is all that about? In the 21 Century? Are you kidding me? Alesis you cannot be serious.

Sound Category Buttons? Is this an old school Casio from the 80???s? The Fusion has so much space on its desktop it could have had 16 sliders to control the mixers as well as organ drawbars and overall tweaking of sounds. Slidders and more knobs for better real time control over the sounds, recording and editing. I know it is easy to be critical after the event but it seems so obvious, especially as we live in a day of hardware synth imitating softsynths. Imagine sliders that worked in tandem with your DAW and that gave the users greater artistic control over the internal operation of the sounds, sequencer and sampler.

The display is bright and reasonable but could be so much bigger, it doesn???t have to be colour as long as it is big enough, minimum 10??? is what is required.

So much is great, including the 8 track audio but why no direct input into audio? Why can???t my vocalist just plug their Sennheisers into the Fusion and sing? Why can???t my guitarist jack right in without additional interfacing? No Phantom Microphone or Guitar input? Not even modelled software for input.
The audio and digital tracks don???t work as seamlessly as they should. When computers now show us the way to create polished production quality product, with a seem-less integration between midi, vocals, samples, other instruments, other inputs, FX, mixing etc, why have Alesis created an instrument that can do bits of each but not all working in concert? This therefore isn???t the all in one instrument that Alesis claimed it would be. Can do better next time Alesis!

The sample loader should in this day and age be able to read Wav and Akai in their native format, without having to convert them and then process the samples.

It would also have been nice to have some sort of wave sequencer in the way that Korg implement it. For such a vast instrument wave sequencing is a must no questions asked.

The Physical Modelling should have had 2 more models, bow and pluck to go with the 2 models already available. These two would have made such a difference to the instrument and the modelling needs to be opened up a little more so that users have greater creative opportunities.

Polyphony is incredible and layering is without parallel.

The sequencer should have real pattern sequencing, even a ripped off, watered down version of reason or logic would have done the trick. The way that the sequencer works suggests it was thought of after other parts of the instrument was designed.

This thing should have had a minimum of 256 MB of Sound ROM if not 512 MB, I know it is not common these days but memory at that level is so cheap, so why are we being ripped off? As a minimum next time (that is if it is on the market before 2010) 24 bit 96 Khz please Alesis with 512MB or 1 GB of Wave ROM with 512MB Sample Ram. And that is not even cutting edge!!!!!!!!
However it is not just having masses of ROM that makes things sound good, it is the programming and the effects, the way Kurzweil have used an old sound engine and made their stock sounds, still have that certain stand out sonic quality.

Effects are OK but no where near good enough or varied enough as what I hear on Yamaha, Roland, Korg or Kurzweil gear. Why no ASP? It is great having loads of DSPs but having a couple of true Acoustic Processor would have made the end results so much better.

I will have to do this in stages as I have so much to say .
There has been much debate about this element of the instrument and I will try to give the most honest view that I can. No one buys their instrument for the presets but even the presets are supposed to speak to you to say ???Buy Me, Buy Me??? Although folks always tweak their sounds but the initial seduction to the ears is what draws people in and this is one of this instruments??? real weak point. Both the Fantom and the Motif drew people by the preset sounds that folks were able to dial into when sound testing this instrument and that got the sales, unit after unit (yes they have great marketing but sounds sell). You couldn???t do that with the Fusion, folks walked away saying the sounds were thin and that the samples slightly lacking. It is not love at first hearing.

Acoustic Pianos (5) ??? Not very good to be honest, I know that the nuances of an acoustic piano is very a subject thing but the Fusion isn???t the silky smooth Kurzweil, or the bright and sparkly Yamaha, nor the full bodied Roland. I will accept that it is different but the Fusion Piano is not defining or cutting edge or the beautifully balanced velocity instrument that a 21st Century Acoustic Piano should be. It is never good enough for my live set for the Jazz Band and I can???t imagine Chick Corea or Herbie Hancock playing their Jazz rifts on this because although the feel of the keys is really good, the sound is pretty weak and I have downloaded all the modified Holy Grail piano and they still sound dreadful. The velocity switching is so poorly implemented for an acoustic piano, you would think that they didn???t know what they were doing. Alesis licensed the sound and for a licensed sound it is really, really poor, when it is well know that Acoustic Piano sounds now are the maker or breaker of an instrument of this standing. Alesis and Holy Grail, shame on you because between you, there was a possibility that you could have come up with a sound that would form the basis of a dedicated stage piano. Could it be that the Holy Grail piano is good enough but the porting to the Fusion has created this very lame excuse for a piano?

Electric Pianos (6) ??? Not the best either, the Rhodes is not smooth enough for the realistic soulful ballads or gritty enough for the banging grooves. Whether it be that 70???s soul sound or The Carpenter???s pop sound, everyone wants a real Rhodes that speak rifts and subtle melody lines but the Fusion falls short in so many ways and the various Rhodes sounds no matter which one still can???t provide the realistic tine based smoother that we have come to love. The DX types EP???s sounds are just not warm and rounded enough, even after all of my programming and this thing has an FM synth engine. Why did Alesis not create an FM engine that can load the Yamaha DX sounds that are available on the internet for download? Alesis have not even tried to imitate the beautiful and much loved D50 EP???s that are a must on any modern instrument. And if Alesis were seeking to create a distinctive sounding EP, it failed because nothing that Alesis created, sounds warm enough, rich enough or balletic enough. Sometimes I think what were the programmers thinking when they conjured up the EP???s. Why didn???t Alesis license Lounge Lizard? I would have given this 4 but I have loaded a couple of my own samples and mixed them with an FM Rhodes from the Fusion and I am surprised at how good it can sound. Internally the sounds are weak but this thing has potential.

I haven't had it that long but it crashes once too often for my liking. Although the OS is now stable (apparently) she still has a mind of her own and if you don???t have loads of Sample Ram, don???t load all of the Hollow Sun sound sets because it creates crashes that will annoy you.

Alesis have stopped supporting this machine when potentially they could have released at least 3 more versions of the OS to take into account some of the obvious failings.

I don???t think Alesis are that bothered about the end users, hence their lack of concern and commitment to an instrument that cost some of the early adopters a load of money to buy. Luckily I managed to get my at a ridiculously low price and that was because I bought it from a dealer who had it in his store for over a year and no one showed any real interest in buying it, so practically gave it away and I am grateful.

Sadly, if Alesis had thought more about what the musicians want, they would have a popular selling bit of gear that could have become an icon in the industry. Yamaha took a calculated risk with the DX7, using all of the latest technology and electronic and see what results were achieved by thinking about the direction the market was going and looking at how the music industry was changing.

Overall soundwise,

For Live Playing ??? Don???t bother, unless you want a synth sound, otherwise you will get laughed off the stage, even by folks who don???t know a thing about synth engines.

If you play on a cruise ship or you are the wedding singer ??? Look away you are about to be pelted.

If you want to create beat ??? Come to daddy

For home and studio work ??? This baby is yours, will be the standout bit of gear in any studio set up.

For Big Production and Film work ??? Don???t do it, please don???t embarrass yourself, it is not worth your reputation.

The editing is the one thing that saves the Fusion because it is so vast but even that is implemented properly, which is a real shame.

If the manufacturers learn anything from these forums it is that there is such a wide variety of musical tastes and abilities that buy these instruments and for so many different uses, therefore it is critical to have decent pianos (acoustic and electric), organ, drums, basses, acoustic orchestral sounds, synth leads and pads. Yes clavs, guitars, mallets, ethnic, synth brass and vintage strings and performances are all great tools in the arsenal but the core sounds should be the priority but Alesis has failed to recognise this.
This machine could have become a real player in the market but Alesis didn???t spend the time thinking things through and as such have an instrument that is good but not great, when all the ingredients were of an instrument that would make a real mark, even to the point of upsetting the big 3.

As much as I criticise this thing I am beginning to love it, really love it and just when I thought I was going to sell and buy a Motif or Fantom, I have changed my mind, this girl has some virtues that are worth holding onto her for, even if she continues to disappoint me.

If we got divorced, would I marry her again? Probably in 6HD format as second keys to the Rolls Royce of keyboards (Kurzweil) or the Mercedes of workstations (Yamaha Motif) because my Chevy (Alesis Fusion) isn???t quite of the quality.

complicated

awseome features, everyone should know that this has a built in sampler, 8 track 24 bit aduio recorder, 32 track midi sequencer.

The sounds are great. This one came from Sweetwater and they put in their own samples.

Well, I did have to send the first unit back. But the next has gave me no trouble.

Sweetwater. YOU KNOW they are good.

The drum kits from Sweetwater are fantastic, just like a real drum set in the room. The guitars, pianos all sound very good. The Stand up bass is tops. I'm not really into synth sounds I prefer good samples standard instruments and this does a great job on them. I'm just beginning to sample myself and have found it a little tough but have learned enough to sample some excellent guitars of mine into the unit. I enjoy this part even in the learning stage. This keyboard is really geared for live playing, because it gives you the opportunity to record audio tracks along with the sequence, vocal harmnonies, lead guitar, steell guitar etc. for the price it cant be beat. I have an ensonique MR 76 keyboard, and bought it new in 96. THe Alesis is light years better. The Alesis fusion is no longer in production, so , if you can grab one of these before they are all gone, you will save a ton of money, and still have a great workstation.

I have just had this and it is not too bad but finding the sounds could have been arranged better.

Loads of features but is the Fusion an Sample pretending to be a synth? Or is it a sythn with a very average sampler? The hard disk is a beautiful thing but no mintor support shows the lack of insight

I have read and heard loads about the sounds. My first thoughts are.

Generally, they are Hollow (no pun intended), old school and slightly lacking. Sound Ok in a mix or a band but I want sounds 'where every sound is an idea'(Alesis this could be your next slogan if you get it right). Put it this way, the Fusion has 128 MB of wave Rom, the same as the Fantom X and there is no comparison, Roland runs away with it. The 128 MB is double the Triton but yet the Triton does a better job. I would not even compare it to the Kurzweil 2661 which also has 64 MB, because the Kurzweil makes the Fusion sound like a Tomy Toy. To be fair to the Fusion it has the various synth engines which does it credit but the programmers have not been clever enough or inventive enough. My question to Alesis, "Is the Fusion a Technics WSA in disguise?" Or a WSA on steroids, because that is what the Fusion appears to be.

I have OS 1.24 and it seems OK. I have seen the plastic arms and they scare me, generally it seems well built bu those large bits of plastic.......................... oh the plastic

Alesis appear to no longer support this, when the OS could do with at least 2 more iterations

I got this so cheap I can't complain really (shop had it for months no one showed any interest so invited people to make an offer so I offerd $600 against sale price of $850) but when it was over two grand, I was a rip off. I have tended to go against the Japanese big 3 and bought Ensoniqs, Gems, Kurzweil and now Alesis. The big 3 run the market and as a consequence the niche market struggles against the apocolyptic 3. I like the more Americanised sounds but the companies don't support or build on their product. For all what I have written I like my new baby but I get the feeling our affair won't last long because she doesn't have the might of the big 3. And when last did anyone ever see a Fusion on TV? Name one major musician that uses a Fusion? When last was a Fusion heard on a hit record? I can pick out a Fantom, Motif, Triton or Kurz at the drop of a hat, can a Fusion be so distinctive?

Bought this to update my Korg X2 that I bought in 1994 and consolidate my studio. (uQ,dx200,xl7,X2,MPX-1) Most everything in the use interface makes sense to me. I have not had any trouble with wierdness or. Seems like a very well thought out interface.

The patch surfing by category doesn't work so well due to the load times and the MASSIVE number of patches you can put on this thing. (comes out of the box with over 1000). There is an easy workaround for this using the media explorere.

Manual seems good and pretty thourough, although there is no index. If you are new to synthesizer you might want to look at some of the tutorials and stuff on their site.

Come on for the $!, blow me away!. Alesis has gotten a bad rap for this board for some reason, but the synthesis engines are top notch. I am an FM freak and even the sample player allows FM of all the oscillators!. I could go on and on, but this board has the features I've been looking for years and years. Just not impressed with Korg/Yamaha/Rolands offerings which offer little else than what I had on my X2 a 15 year old design.

Sounds are good to excellent, although some of the presets are pretty dull. Just when did people start buying keyboards for the presets anyway? Usually throw those away the first week. Tired of trying to use a mouse to make music.

Hollow Sun has a bunch of freebee banks. Found some good trombone samples that were unprogrammed in the ROM. Very few of the patches use the FM engine so I've got some work to do. You can load your own samples on here also so it is infinitely expandable.

This thing can make some massive sounds by combineing the synthesis engines in a mix.

Love the modwheel and pitchbend, great for vibrato. The Korg joystick just never worked for me. Aftertouch and keyboard action are good.

Don't know on this one, I have heard it has broken down on some people but there is a 1 year warranty. Presently being "burned in" on my coffeetable at home.

My XL-7 software was horrible for the first 9-12months after I bought that machine. E-mu did fix a lot of stuff but that machine's interface still makes no sense at all to me and it has been discontinued. The Fusion however makes sense, however a few of the features remain incomplete or rudimentary but mainly with regard to the sequencer.

They seem to have been supportive early on in the developement of this board but were forced to stop developement due to it not selling so well. I just do not understand the market these days.

Two things that are missing for me are archiving multi samples to compact flash (so the entire project can run in flash) and audio mixdown which has to be done externally or by loopback mode.

This was pretty much exactly what I was looking for, although I did my research before buying it. People complain about the features for a workstation (sequencer and hard disk recorder) which are probably not used much anyway. People that NEED pattern sequencers to make music should just practice more:) This thing stands by itself as a keyboard and real synthesizer without those features, especially for the price. Aside from software synthesizers (and only a few of those) I don't know of many others that allow combined FM/Sampling/VA synthesis. Oh this one has a wind instrument physical modeling synthesizer also.

If you are considering buying this though get it at Sweetwater as they offer a free memory upgrade.

I do not like to read big manuals and because of that I've only read the 'quick reference guide' and that was enough to get me started.
The main manual is rubbish.
If this is your first synth you will get overwhelemd but I can assure use this is also with Korgs and Rolands but I will explain this later under 'features'.
I find this synth user friendly not the easiest but because of it's big screen well ordered.

This synth is a sampler, rompler,Virtual analog, FM-synth and has reed and wind models.
At this very moment (September 2007) new fusions are being sold for 800 Euro (6HD) and 1000 Euro (8HD) and that's a bargain!
You will need a PC with sample editor if you want to get into sampling but that's with every sampler. I can recommend Zero-X seamless
looper to automatically find loop points. It has a sequencer, is an audio workstation but i can't give you a honest opinion as I use
my laptop for audio recording and my fantomx7 for sequencing.
The VA is fantastic but not the easiest to program. The FM was difficult and very hard to understand in the yamaha DX7 days and that's
the same with the fusion. Don't like reed sounds so no opinion here.
It has an internal 40 or 80 Gb IDE hard disk for storing audio, programs, mixes,... and that is huge!
Remember 650 Mb is about 74 minutes of sound in 16 bit. Figure out yourself how much samples you can store!
There is also no need to buy expensive RAM, Rom cards.
You can only use the USB connector for swapping samples, sounds and not for midi.
The 'chickens' fusion converter software to convert waves into fusions format does what it does but I find this software
terrible in looks and features. OK, it's free but chickensys can do better. Compared to YASE (for Roland and not free) this is a toy.
You cannot assign the key zones to create a multisample, you have to do this is on the fusion itself.
There is no sysex editor has the fusion doesn't support it.

Compared to my Roland FantomX7 this synths sounds different. The standard sounds are OK and the free hollowsounds are fantastic.
The VA section is superb so there is no need to buy a 6 note polyphonic old analog synth as this synth can produce some fat sounds.
What's even better is that you can combine VA sounds with sampled programs in a mix (a combination of two or more sounds).
Because of the hard disk sound possibilities are endless! You just need to get started with sampling learning how to loop and create multi samples
and of you go. I started sampling my Korg M1, JD800 and other synths and that's just fantastic. No need for several synths live.
Just my fantom x7 and fusion 6hd.
I only find the effects a bit noisy compared to Rolands. The chorus doesn't sound to well. Sorry Alesis, your Quadrasynth scored better here.

9/10 for VA and 9/10 for FM

Don't know yet as I only have it for a month. It looks well build. Only the pitch bend is a kind of dud as there is little margin
in the middle so with bog pich bends (1 octave) you have to be sure that you put it in the middle.

I once needed alesis for help with my firewire mixer and mails were replied within 24 hours!

I bought this because it was very cheap. I would do it again.
If you want this as your only workstation this is a great workstation but it has it's weaknesses.
As an extra keyboard the 6HD is a BARGAIN as you can sample everything you dream of and easily create patches.
Don't forget you need a PC and software to create loops with no clicks.
It's sounds great,looks great, has great sound possibilities and don't forget you would need a rompler, FM synth, analog, sampler
if you wan't to replace all fusion sound

1.2x?? OS. Can get a bit jumpy if not booted up properly, but a reboot fixes this. I hear the latest OS version is great. Panel controls look like something out of a sci-fi movie but its not hard to get used to. I wish it had a proper numeric keypad to call up performance patches/mixes but alas... All manuals suck, even for this keyboard, however the User Interface and LARGE screen helps tremendously.

Polyphony depends on synth method. Max is 270 (270!!!) Effects are nice, multi-timbral mixes are sweet - Love to layer and split, and control via other keyboard controllers at the same time (add a MIDI switchbox/thrubox and some lightweight controllers for an instant multi-keyboard rig!) HD is stock 40GB Maxtor... haven't tried to replace with a larger HD, but I hear its possible.

Hollow Sun is the bomb - over 17 sound libraries FREE!! There are over 24 downloadable sound libraries FOR FREE on both Alesis and HS sites. Onboard sounds are amazing and the FREE HS and Alesis downloadable libraries expand on that brilliance with some really beautiful sounds! Keyboard is not full weighted but still very playable. Personally I HATE the Holy Grail piano as I feel its velocity curves seem to play in only three volume ranges and the transitions between them are very sudden and non-musical. Sampling is icing on the cake!!

VERY GOOD! Before it went back to private ownership and it was owned by Numark, Alesis support and parts department was the WORST... almost as bad as Roland's. Now privatized, they are considerably more user friendly and don't hassle customers who want to order spare parts.

HEAVY!!! Keybed is solid steel. Shell is rolled steel. Damn thing weighs a ton! Had to sell. Using the money to buy the Fusion 6HD!! Can't separate myself from this odd piece of sonic technology!! Wish it was 20 pounds lighter... so giving it an 8 on that basis only.