Alesis Fusion 8HD

I'm at OS version 1.24. This fixed a number of MIDI time issues but they still ahve a ways to go. The manual is factually correct but don't expect to learn how to do anything from it. The online Fusion forums are a better source.

The sequencer is almost useless. If oyu have already created your sequences elsewhere and import them into the device you'll be fine. But don't expect to build a profesional sequnce on this unit alone.

sounds are acceptable for studio use. I don't know how it would be in a live situation yet.

Ask me again in five years.

I got what I paid for - Jack of all trades. master of none.

While not near as hard to edit as say an old D50, M1 or the likes its not exactly a breeze. The manual is well thought out but could use some more screen snap shots to follow. The viewing screen is nice and big and very bright which is nice for a darkly lit stage!

Loaded with features to the hilt! One of the best keyboard actions around for all types of music. The stroke is not as deep as a really piano but that actually makes it much faster to play on sweeping arpeggios. Loads of built in effets at your finger tips! A great sound library is available FREE from the Alesis web site. Just plug your stick memory in to your computer and download until your heart is content and transfer it to your Fusion. I bought this board not only if its great sounds but its HUGE sequencer for my Who tribute band. Its a little hard to get used to but the capabilities are endless!

Whom ever the retard was that said it sounded like shit must be deaf dumb and blind! Didnt you play it in the store before you bought it? This beast sounds HUGE!! I use it in my Who tribute band and have no problems making Love Rain O'er Me, Baba O', Eminence Front, or Wont get Fooled again sounding as good as the origional! I also love the VA sounds for prog music. Tons of organs, strings, Mellotrons, woodwinds, bass, brass, and like I said a fantastic VA selection!!! To me the pianos are a little weak but totally tweakable!! just layer them until your hearts content

So far 100% reliable- seems to be rock steady with a solid metal housing

Fantastic!!!!!Alesis is comming around after a few rocky years. Sooooooo easy to upgrade the sounds!!

If it were lost or stolen I would get another one ASAP!!I have tons of gear, Moog Voyager, Moog Taurus, Roland U20, JD-800, Juno 106, Korg M1 and I could almost get away with just this one board!! Yup its that good. I tested the MO8 and it didnt have the expandabliity of the Fusion(hope you yamaha guys like the sounds your stuck with) and it was a fraction of the cost of a Roland Fantom. I gave this synth a 9 because I wish alesis would have made the sequencer a little easer to use but then again ive only had it a few weeks. The arpeggiator is a breeze to edit and has endless combinations. Try one you love it

I traded my Yamaha Motif 7 classic because the sounds were stale and it was very difficult/impossible to program and had a small abbreviated screen. I am programming with the larger screen on the Fusion without having to read the manual. Very intuitive. The modulation matrix in the VA synth is like adding lines to a spreadsheet. I have the lastest OS 1.22 and all Hollowsun wav upgrades as of Aug 2006. Id say as of July the Fusion is finally ready. An external control surface for the VA synth would be nice.

The effects are pretty good, Im still trying to get it to be a better hammond b3 emulator. To me the main feature is the hard disk. Its the core of the instrument and not an afterthought. You are in controll of the wav rom and no longer have to rely on what Yamaha Roland and Korg think you should have. You no longer have to buy a new Korg M1 every 2 years to stay current. (I own a Korg t-2, great board). The dedicated keyboard has no latency delay like a PC based sampletank or VST system would introduce.

The wav rom is 24bit and compressed with no data loss(like pkzip and not like mp3). Its very crisp all thru the range. Many sounds are sampled at multiple velocity levels. You can adjust the velocity curves to suit your touch. I own these Akai cdroms and plan to convert and add to my hard disk: Geytsounds best of, xxlarge string machines, Steve Stevens Guitar, Quantum Leap Guitars, Ultimate Strings, Acoustic Choirs. Those libraries deserve their own reviews.
the winows/mac conversion program is free.

Ive had it 3 weeks I bought it July 15th 2006. It still works.
The best part of the reliabillity is the wav rom won't go stale as you can replace it or add to it. I rate this board very high. I wouldn't have bought it if I didn't. I rated the Yamaha Motif very high back in 2002 when it came out and I bought it also. It might be possible to damage the harddrive by dropping it repeatedly.

I emailed alesis a question asking if the VA synth had pulse width modulation and never received a response.(yes it does, OSC shape)
They upgraded the OS and invited HollowSun to ongoingly release a Free (180MB so far) rom block of sounds (like a free Triton Extreem). Nice. This alone is the reason to get one.
http://www.promusicproducts.com/forum/phpBB2/index.php has a bbs with over 500 users that post issues questions demos and free sample/presets.

Roland Korg and Yamaha better get their act together as the Fusion makes the other workstations obsolite. Hollowsun releases new wav rom every month like a magazine subscription but for free. Just drop them on the harddisk. If you don't like the factory wav rom you can delete it and just have what u want. The VA synth is crisp and doesn't alias in the high end. It gives my Prophet600 and Moog Prodigy a run for the money. Ive been playing 26 years. I give it 2 thums up, listen to it with good headphones and ignore ignorant salesman. If it were lost I'd buy 2 more.

ver 1.22 is the only version to bother with - the "new" alesis factory sounds are pure junk. pianos on any of my older modules are better and there are no usable horn patches whatsoever. one of my bands is a top forty - heavy on horns. i had to continue using my qsr in conjunction.

third party "hollow sun" is the only apparent hope for a functional fusion and still not yet. i specifically asked those at "new" alesis when we might have some functional, gigable horns and they had no idea... i might want to check with hollow sun!

it has amazing features - in theory. four different types of interactive sythesis, an eight channel hard disc recorder, sample, sequence, wav, midi, mp3(if i recall correctly)player and i believe a dvd player and margarita blender interface are in the works.... this is the perfect physical example of "jack of all trades, master of none"

if only they had followed in the real alesis footsteps and offered a killer keyboard with some cool extra features instead of killer extra features and no base - much like getting a great stereo/dvd, leather power seats, $4,000 rims and a talking gps in a new car with only three cylinders and four donuts for tires.

i have owned everything from a polymoog, prphet 5, yamaha tx816, synergy, d50, d70, akai mx80, kawai k4, korg wavestation, kurzweil pc88,x and 2500r roland jv/xv racks and more. everyone had better sounds for their time that this.

it reacts fine to velocity and aftertouch
some cool sounds, not much on realistic - easy to use

what types of music does it work well for? most likely any, in the studio if you are a programming wizard or have a friend who hangs out behind the curtain

if you like down time between songs and are basically playing cheezy piano and organ songs sure, you can gig it. i had to use it as a controller for my rack to have the sounds and speed needed to play for real. just a note - do not take for granted that a sustain pedal will work with it straight out of the box, mine (the same one i have used with my last two and current qs8's) didn't.

customer support is the only thing really worth raving about here. while the board itself has its pluses and minuses, customer support busts their humps for you.

this was my seventh (and eighth) alesis - and by far the worst. let me start by saying this is your fathers alesis - its not even your older brothers alesis. the great minds that brought us the qs series and other such toys is no longer. as a matter of fact, i was told by the new alesis (think george clooney as the new batman) that they are offering no further updates, etc for the qs - even though they have been selling them up until the past few months.

i have had a qs 7.1, 8, 8.1 and three r's - all wonderful pieces. the first fusion they sent me was a physically broken board that was sent accidentally. a week later the real fusion arrived. first complaint - you have to go to an office supply store and buy a flash memory card before you can update the os.

you cannot use the board live as it takes much too long to change between patches - and if you happen to pass a particularly beefy patch on the way to the one you want, you have to let it load first. very cumbersome.

had i kept it, i would have preferred it stolen so i could buy a real board with the insurance. i would never own one again. i sent mine back for a full refund and went out and bought another qs 8.1 and roland xv-88, and four roland cards for have the price and am infinitely more happy.

they are very proud in discussing the genesis of this project and how they kept adding features and getting giddy about. if only they were working musicians and had a discernable clue.

OS version 1.22. Finding the interface very intuitive when I can actually stop playing through the sounds and mixes.

Unbelievable polyphony, lovely keyboard action-prefer it to my Yamaha P-150. Usual excellent Alesis effects quality. I am considering the RAM upgrade for #79 but I don't really need it yet.
Feature list is very impressive for the price-hell, it is unbelievable for this price.

Great range of sounds as of latest Hollow Sun update. I have ben playing with soundfonts just lately-loads them no problem. A synth with real potential.

Very reliable so far but not considering gigging it as it is 'fitted' into my studio.

Emailed Alesies-got response same day. Got a number for an Alesis guy in UK. The Fusion forum is an amazing treasure trove of goodies and advice.

I used to have racks of gear to put Rick Wakeman to shame, slowly it was shrunk to a stage piano and a workstation. I now have a Fusion and nothing else and don't miss a thing-enough said methinks. I would not be without it and the open architecture of the OS means it has a real future.

Software Version 1.01

This is tough keyboard because everyone thought it would be tweeked out on the presets. Well it was shipped way early and it is up to you and I to carry that out. Editing is easy some functions that should be on the same page are split on multiple pages?
The manual is a 300 page manual with a quick reference 36 page.
They might have tried to make it too easy and I wish it was more granular. The architecture is pretty deep and supports the abilities pretty much. Not to mention anything can be added or changed with the updates.

Polyphony? Who really knows over 200 I guess. The variables are the synth engines you choose and any layering done. One thing is for sure from my tests ...It is high and has horsepower. Effects are unique and not just "Bread and Butter" types. Some have complained of limited effects but I want the synthesizer to be great without relying on effects and I think so far it shows that. 32 track sequencer with analog inputs for external audio. Limited only by hard drive space 40 gig.
Easy to use from my experience with Korg and Roland.

This is subjective to me some are and some are not realistic. I have certainly heard WORSE piano's than these I can say. And with the MEGA adjustments you can trim the patches. This is NOT a board to buy just for preset playing, what a waste that would be. Effects are good and some are really unique with the use of the Matrix patch bay. Keyboard is not the clunky wooden keyboard Keys but a mix of full/medium weighted action I like and does not slow me down. Great velocity abilities and aftertouch.

This is a software synth that can be anything as the updates roll out.
And as such need agressive updating to show the unique attributes of a software machine. Would I buy again having this just a week and owning a lot of huge machines? Yes, people are premature because Alesis was forced to push out too early and the thing was more "Raw" than expected on it's presets. The future updates are the key and I personally can tell how powerful the synth is by the programming I have doe so far.
This is a programmers synth and you have to want to get under the hood of it. Rewards will be heard for those who do this. I took it apart due to a B-Flat key making a mechanical noise. I was happy to see that this was just a wire and mylar that was bent touching the top of the key. The rest of the synth looked very tough on construction compared to my other instruments.

Well they had a "Ask Alesis" e-mail and I sent three and none came back? I did send to the official support@alesis.com and withing 24hrs they responded. It is not the "Original Hollywood" Alesis i used to work with but hopefully this big corporate entity will be good on support for all.

It is too early to give it a major rating due to being out just a week and only one software update so far. But the ability to grow with no limits on so many areas from polyphony to program storage to features not yet released I vote that it will be a major win for any buyers of it. I would replace it, it is made really great on the outside as well as the inside. They streamlined a lot of the programming so you can compose faster and program less but still get the sounds you want. I looked and played the yamaha motif and it was too cheesy on the construction even with a great pallet of sounds. My triton is way better made and Fantom also. Yamaha has to improve on this in my view. I own a Triton with a 5gig drive I added, a fantom, P-2500, P-2000, Original Quadrasynth, TG-55, U-110, FB-01, Alesis Drum Machine, Kurzweil K2000v.
They need documentation on the Samples on-board? That I think is lame.
Only the outside of the box said 120 meg of all new samples? whatever.