Alesis Micron

some presets sound OK
takes a bit to figure out

keyboard is far better than the Korg
very cool looping/sequencing action for a low priced instrument
very powerful for its compact size - that's why we have 2. a lot easier than carrying around a rhodes and B3

presets are pretty crappy... but the isnt. is versitle and flexable

the main nob is TOTAL CRAP... my band has 2, and both nobs have broken off... we eaven put them in flight cases to protect, but the design is too shoddy... the thing is... that nob controls just about everything in the instrument
we played a show recently with another band, and the nob was missing on that one as well

?

very powerful for the size and cost... but they cheaped out on a couple of key features

With the new OS (1.10) the long scroll times have vanished, and I haven't managed to crash it yet.
The presets are nice, but who cares about presets?
Patch editing takes longer than it would if everything was on the front, but there are a couple of PC micron patch editors out there, and I don't think that the extra cash for an ion which does less is worth it just to get more knobs on the front.
Editing itself is a breeze if you're willing to spend a few days getting used to the shortcuts.
The sequencer is really well thought out, it gives very instant results.

The manual is aimed at people who don't know much about synths/menu systems/synthesis in general, which means that it's easier to learn by just playing with the unit unless you're new to the game.

8 part polyphony seems to be about enough, even running the sequencer (drum part, bass, lead, keys, pads), it's not hard to keep within the limit. It has full MIDI implementation, the only thing missing is aftertouch, which would have been nice. Considering the price of the unit it's not surprising tho.

The effects on this are pretty good, nothing amazing, but they do the job nicely when you're playing live and don't have dedicated FX units.

As said, the sequencer is fantastic, as long as you remember that this is a synth, and not a workstation. It's possible to throw together drum kits, ensembles, what have you, very quickly and easily. It's a little basic, but as I say, this is a synth.

This is an analog synth, which means that it's not going to do 'real' instrument sounds. It doesn't sample.
What it does have is 3 oscillators, 6 types of FM, 4 types of sync, a whole lot of filters modelled after classical ones, a nice big mod matrix (which for me makes the unit), 2 LFOs.....

In short, if you know how to program a synth, this is going to do everything you want it to and more. I don't think it's any exaggeration to say that I'm pretty sure you could fake something like Autechre's Tri Repetae or LP5 with only this machine. It is great for any sort of synth sound you want.

It also lets you put any external input through its filters/mod matrix, which is an immensely powerful and useful property. There is a vocoder onboard, which I am just starting to use the full potential of.

Alesis cheaped out on the main knob. It's wobbly. I'm not worried about breaking it, but I do take care when using this guy. Everything else is solid.

What does this mean? Well, the micron is going to fall apart (everything else is solid), but if you can't take care of your gear, you will quite possibly come to grief.

I would gig with it without a backup, as I say, the OS seems pretty robust, and when you're playing it, you don't use the main knob that much.

As yet, I don't know, but I have my doubts about getting a lot of help with the cheapest product a large company sells...

This is a fantastic synth, and I get something new out of it each time I use it.
I would absolutely get another one if mine was lost/stolen. I've owned an MC307 and the microKorg and they don't compare. I sold my uKorg shortly after getting the micron, as it was getting dusty from lack of use.
I use the Micron in tandem with an ESX and an Evolver (or I will when the Evolver gets here...), and it is amazingly flexible in that setup. If I need a synth, it's a synth, if I need a midi controller, it's a midi controller, if I need a sequencer or drum machine, it's does that. The ability to modify external signals is fantastic, hook it up with midi to a basic sampler, and you have an expensive sampler.

There is a great deal to love about this machine. It's maybe not that surprising that Alesis managed to make such a powerful VA for so little, after all, chips have gotten a lot cheaper since the days of the Nord Lead.
There are 2 things people won't like about it. Firstly, the main knob. Perhaps it's possible to mod it up, get something sturdier put in.
Secondly, if you don't like menus, you're going to not like this guy. However, as I have said, for me, it's not worth the extra money to get the Ion.

I bought my Micron last week, early December and have really only spent a few hours with it.In that time, I have delved into individual programs and put together a few setups of my own, which sound amaziing.
I am a guitarist, and bought a synth to add substance to my home recordings/songwriting. As my only keyboard, I took a chance that it would offer enough variety in terms of sounds, in spit of it not having a decent piano ( I have since modified the sitar setting to produce something usable, if not perfect.The 3 octave keyboard is just about ok, even for me,a non-pianist.
I don't understand all of the criticisms above, perhaps they are being a bit picky?I actually find the editing process fairly painless - all the parameters can be adjusted, listened to and tweaked, though the scrolling through with the control knob can take time with so many presets ( not complaining!)
I would be interested to know more about the downloads and how to get them into the Micron.
Overall I am fairly pleased, and hope that with a little more time I can get to understand its architecture more thoroughly, particularly with regard to the use of the oscilators and filters.

I would like to know how to store the sounds I have created. Can they be lost at all if something crashes?
I give the Micron an 8 as the features are easy to use.

The virtual piano is not realistic - mine is better!!
For my taste there are too many industrial/dance style in-your-face sounds,though I am working on this!
The sounds are truly phat however.
I find the keys ok, it reacts well to velocity and release.

Way too soon to say.
On one of my own setups, the upper keys seemed to aquire some grunge which I had not put on there. Switching the unit of and on cured it - is this a fault?

I was considering a second hand Korg M1; however, I have limited space in my study so the compactness of the Micron appealed.
Plusses are the sound quality and ease of use ( if laborious at times in practice and construction.
Minuses the lack of a decent piano preset, the bias towards Dance music.
Overall though I am pleased so far, especially considering the price.

I just got the Micron & was very skeptical due to it's size. I was shocked to find out that under the hood of the Micron is one Powerhouse of a machine. I believe I have version 1.01 & am about to upgrade to 1.02. If you just like the presets and you only tweek a little you'll have no problems but if your a tweeker or a professional who likes to create and manipulate new sounds then the ease of use may be just a bit hectic but now that Im on my 3rd day using it it's much easier.

Sound Engine
_Eight voices of industry-leading analog-modeled sound (8 voice polyphony)
_Three oscillators per voice, with continuously variable wave shapes, sync and FM
_Two multimode filters per voice, with 20 classic and unique filter types
_Three envelopes, two LFOs, and sample and hold per voice
_Twelve-route modulation matrix, with 114 sources and 78 destinations
_One insert drive effect per voice
_Two master effects processors, with reverb and delay
_Full-featured 40-band vocoder

Sequencing
_Programmable pattern sequencer and arpeggiator
_Programmable drum rhythm sequencer
_Realtime or step recording, with controller motion
_Live realtime phrase capture -- one-button record and loop

Setups
_32-part multitimbral -- up to 32 programs per setup
_Up to 26 simultaneous patterns or drum rhythms per setup
_Quick splitting and layering

Presets
_Over 500 preset programs, with space for 400 more
_Over 200 preset pattern sequences and 250 preset drum rhythms, with space for hundreds more
_Fully compatible with Ion programs.

The sounds are really good. Some are cheezy but great for tweeking and some are super amazing Powerhouse Sounds. My style is Ambient and General Electronica and it's totally amazing for my style. I have a Korg MS2000 and it's much better than the MS2000 shockingly.

It seems very solid and very dependable.

Never had to deal with em so I can't really say?

Not so easy. So many parameters under the control of essentially a single knob means you'll be spending lots of time navigating instead of programming. Presets do a great job of showing off the synthesis engine, but limiting yourself to presets would be like buying a farrari for trips down the street to the grocery store.

8-voice polyphony is OK, not fantastic. Keyboard action feels flimsy--it's easy to make the keys wobble too much from side to side, and they're too plasticy and insubstantial. Effects are pretty good, actually, as are the sequencer and arpeggiator. Evil wall wart, but I guess that's no surprise in a keyboard this small. The tiny size is a great feature, but the non-traditional pitch/mod setup is a high price to pay for it. Unlike the keyboard, the knobs and sliders feel nice.

My wish list for the micron: a better-feeling keyboard (like that on the Novation X-station), more knobs and traditional wheel placement (I'd put up with a small size increase for this), battery power and a USB port so I could use this as a MIDI controller. Basically, I'd like this sound engine grafted into an X-Station. The X-Station sounds pretty good, but can't hold a candle to this sound engine. I need a MIDI controller, and I've only got room for one tiny keyboard on my desk. Alternatively, a rack-mounted version would be good, too.

F*ck yeah. Wow. This thing sounds incredible. Everything that annoys me a little and that I love dearly about analog synths is here in all its fat, smooth, bulbous, tweezy glory. This little box is a total monster. Let me choose between a real analog polysynth and this, and I'd choose this. It would work for any type of music that called for a synthesizer.

Ask me in 10 years. Alesis has a decent reputation, I think.

I've never dealt with them.

I played it in the store for almost three hours, but I didn't buy it. I need a tiny keyboard that can double as a MIDI controller, and I only have room for one. I also don't have a free space for a larger synth, so the Ion is out. I would LOVE to own this synth engine, though, so if Alesis makes a Micron-Photon hybrid, or if they release it as a rack-mount synth, I'll pay full retail.

Probably the least attractive feature of this synth is it's ease of use. That said it's a relative thing. You have this very impressive synth available to you and can only use a knob with some combination keystrokes. My version was purchased in November 2005 and as such, whatever problems there might have been have been resolved. That includes programming.

A patch editor should be made for this synth. It probably won't to promote the purchase of the slightly more expensive ION which does the same things as the Micron.

Even with the improvements to the OS the worst aspect of the Micron is it's programability. It's not horrible, and if you bought the Micron without considering challenges to editing then you didn't try it first or you decided you'd live with a ton-of-presets type synth.

The manual is not as clear as it could be but is still useful to learn with.

Because you know what you are getting going into it I give this catagory a "8".

The Micron is 8 note polyphonic with 4 channels of polyphony. One nice feature is creating large scale, groove patches, melodies, arpeggiations, drum beats and the ability to make a patch using all these elements.

The action is quite good for this 37 note keyboard. The size of the synth it minimal yet feels like a good controller, which I wouldn't recommend it for. It is well suited for making dynamic sounds with. With a pitch wheel and two sliders set up for modulation purposes (assignable by the user) along with the x/y/z controllers there's enough to work with as a performance synth.

The synthesis system is quite complete. 3 oscillators, FM, many oscillator waveforms along with two resonant filters, again with many types of waveforms, a modest but capable modulation matrx and substantial LFO capabilities.

The Micron has step sequencing along with arpeggiation. The sequencing can be played or step entered and as said, they can be combined in performances and/or midi.

Though not aftertouch enabled it's easy to assign such data to one of the controllers. The key situation is how well you grasp the classic synth system with some very nice additions not found on sub $1000 synths.

As nearly everyone mentions, it's a synth, not a sample playback device. Hopefully you can read, and if you can't figure it out by the time you play this unit....sorry, I'm not all that sympathetic.

If you put the time in you can make peace with the synth engine. You have to learn and get used to using menus. In you don't like this, seriously consider spending $200 more and getting the ION which is much more knob and button enabled along with an additional octave of keys on the keyboard.

For $399 there is no hardware even close to the Micron. Even the Korg MS2000 engine isn't as powerful, and with its ability to sequence, the Micron can do a lot of things you'd expect from the MS2000. And as for the microKorg; it's a toy that isn't a fully programmable synth as the Micron is.

With PWM, FM, arp and/or step sequencing capabilities I can't imagine how anyone couldn't get great sound out of the Micron. I base this on studio and live use of vastly more expensive synths that do not sound better, perhaps different, but not "better".

All things are relative and while you may hate the sounds of the Micron, I'd hope you'd figure that it's a programmable synth and that any single person will find the presets to be so horrible as to be terrible or junk. They aren't, and if they are, you have a powerful synth engine that could easily change sound quality with a few changes. To those who don't like the presets, I'm willing to bet you don't program much, or if you do, it's in a very specific type of music which years from now you will come to realize is the problem, not the synth in front of you.

The effects are good, nothing spectacular, but I'm very happy to have it that way. Turn off the effects on the Micron and you have good quality sound. Do this with a Novation synth - and I like Novations - but fact is the synths really benefit from the effects engine.

If I sound like I'm a bit of a fanatic, I'm not. I like things for what they are and often like synths that are very specific and far from the general analog sounds found in Micron. In fact, I like synths that combine 6 Operator FM and samples with analog-style filters. I like soft synths, especially for their value and inspired design.

So when I say buy this $399 synth that doesn't have lots of obvious features there's a reason for it.

I don't think the Novation K/A/V-Station stacks up. I think the Nova did, but that was a $1200 minimum synth. Even in the world of virtual synths the Micron stacks up well. It sounds as good as lots of synths close to it's price range. It has a good system of limited controls and reasonably easy to learn synthesis.

If you can't get a good sound check out what you consider a "good" synth. I suspect it's going to be a groove box. Ironically, the drums, which are great for electronic and some kinds of modern pop/rock, are complex and capable of doing useful things all the way down to making more patch space for percussive sounds. They are of good quality although possibly not to some people's cup of tea.

I'm amazed at the lack of creativity users can have. Just because it says "drums" doesn't mean they have to be the presets! If I'd wanted the larger ION and it's easier to use GUI I'd have bought it. I wanted the Micron because it was small and got the job done using good quality parts.

I've had reliability problems with Alesis problems before. I liked the sound and concept of the Micron to take a chance. I note prior problems as they seemed endemic of the company before they were bought by Numark.

I have no history with this edition of Alesis although they still seem to be a bit of a problem for some. It's too soon to tell but I want to be honest in case a history of reliability issues on another product matter.

See above.

One thing I can say is that support initially stunk but when the right people were found they'd get things taken care of.

I don't know if the same personnel are around, but that could be positive as well. Some of the support staff were horrible in the late '90s. Things may well have changed for the better, but I can't honestly comment.

Fantastic value, good, solid synth engine and reasonable programming execution on the Micron...much better with the $200 more ION.

It is the best product of it's type at it's price point, and I suspect gigging artists will like being able to slip one or two of them around various musicians.

With it's ability to build complex patterns it can be triggered by people who aren't keyboardists. Although no longer gigging, it's what I'd do. This is an easy to use synth with the ability to do complex, high quality sound.

Don't get caught up on the Micron being your one stop synth solution. It might do the trick for you. In a pinch it would be acceptable as mine and as mentioned earlier, I'm picky.

Don't take my or any other person's thoughts as a replacement for trying the synth. You may be into a style of music that isn't represented in the presets and might seem less useful to you. I don't see things that way. I see synths as things to learn and make my own but that may not be what you want.

There are many presets, but they've been made to write over.

If $399 is your budget this is a great buy. If you can stretch it to $599 and want a more responsive engine I'd suggest the ION. If you wanted a small synth, I'd still suggest the Micron as it's synth engine isn't that hard to learn using it's menu based system.

You'll have to spend a lot more to get anything remotely better. And do keep in mind, this is a $399 fully functional, well built synth. That makes it worth investigation for serious users along with new users.

I'm not sure what software version mine has, although I purchased it in August of 2005, if that helps.

The presets sound okay, I'm sure that with some time and effort, any use could make sounds that are better than the presets.

Editing patches is the reason I'm trading this in and paying the extra for an ion. It sounds great, but I just can't deal with the one knob.

The manual is very helpful.

Polyphony - 8. Absolutely fine for anything I'll be doing.

It has built in effects, but no reverb and the delay is a joke. The distortion isn't bad, and the compressor isn't either, I had trouble with the phaser. The effects are easy to route through, but i had trouble setting them the way I liked, again this was all due to the one knob, had I not had to use that one knob to scroll through all the screen, back and forth, I probably could have acheieved some nice sounding effects.

The keyboard can recieve software updates, but as far as hardware upgrades, I don't really know.

Midi implementation is good, but I don't use midi, so I'm not the best person to be talking about it.

The sequencer is alright, it's okay for very simple things, but there are probably hundreds of sequencers that are better than the micron's.

The sounds on this are absolutely incredible. You won't get terrific sounding piano models, since this wasn't made for that, but for synths, with a little time and effort, anyone can have this thing sounding great.

The Micron is probably best for dance / electronica, and maybe for ambient. It could be used for rock, but definitely not for blues.

Again, the effects can sound great, it was just too much effort with the one knob.

The keyboard definitely reacts to the player, it will do anything you want it to.

The velocity sensitivity is good, and there's no aftertouch.

In the 2 months I've had it, it's frozen twice. Turning it off and turning it back on fixed the problem, but had I been working on a sound, it would have been lost.

I would gig without a backup, but I'd make sure that almost everything was set up pre-gig.

I have no experience with alesis.

If it were lost or stolen, I'd get an ion, well, actually I'm trading this in and getting an ion when i get my next paycheck.

I've been playing for a few years.

I own:

- Nord Lead 2
- Novation X station 49.
- Korg Electribe ESX-1
- Korg Kaoss pad kp-2

and a variety of guitar effects that i run all of my synths through.

I love the sounds on this synth, it definitely has a place with the nord and the novation. I hate how anti-intuitive this synth is, if you plan on just using the presets, then buy the micron. If you want to edit the sounds and fully appreciate this synth, get the ion.

I compared it to the microKORG and i chose this for sound quality alone.

The sound helps me to create music, but the oone knob, again, gets in the way.

OS 1.1 which was released just recently, has improved the ease of use considerably now that the phrase record mode is hands free, and the main data entry knob responds much better than it did before. Some people say it's difficult to use, but I found that once you're used to its system of shortcuts using keys on the keyboard it becomes quite easy to navigate through the vast array of parameters. Also you can easily assign the 3 black knobs to basically any parameters you want while editing, and then just tweak those parameters through the knobs instead of finding the particular menu again. It also has a great 'drag and drop' method for locating and assigning patches, phrases, and beats. Also has categories for your patches, including a 'Faves' category.

8 voices polyphony is usually enough to get a really nice pad or sweep out of this thing, and easily enough when you just want a rhythm, bass, and lead playing together, and the voices themselves are spectacular if you program them to be so. Effects are of good quality, but a bit limited in selection and there is only 1 effects bus, coupled with only one stereo output it can limit multitimbral work. Keyboard responds to velocity and release velocity which is interesting. Onboard sequencer is designed for looped phrases and drum sequences, which has vastly improved in the new OS update. The phrases can be converted into arpeggiators which is cool, and they can be played out through midi. The drum sequencer is quite powerful, especially since the OS update!

Instruments are not realistic, more your synth kind of stuff. With its 3 continuously waveshaped oscillators, sync modes, FM modes, ring mod, noise, dual resonant filters per voice (each selectable from twenty different and quite crisp modes of operation), modifiable send amount from filter 1 to filter 2, drive section per voice, loopable envelopes with exponential and linear segments, tempo syncable LFO's, smooth portamento or rough glissando, and various other treats topped by the mod-matrix to connect it all together, it is capable of being very expressive indeed. With programming and tweaking around for what you want, I would venture that it is superb for electronica of any variety.

I have never gigged before, but I imagine that I could not rely 100% on it for such a purpose. I'm more of a home sequencer kind of guy, at least for now, and it actually starts to freeze up after a while of playing certain patches I've made (maybe I'm pushing that mod-matrix just a little too hard :-). Watch out for the main controller knob whatever you do, it's a bit rickety. The assignable knobs have poor response, but apparently there is a new revision which improves this, and with a solid data-entry knob too.

Support was very, very bad but then in the end, was acceptable. Many micron enthusiasts were waiting for around a year for some serious bugs to be fixed in the OS, with no meaningful response from alesis. But in the end, there was an OS update, and it seems to have fixed almost everything that was badly broken with it. There are still a couple of things which some people are probably disappointed weren't fixed, and that will most likely never be fixed. It is a much better machine after the OS update anyway, it just took them an absolute ice-age to get around to it.

If stolen, I would definitely buy it again, partly because I already have many sounds backed up as sysex dumps and I do not want to have to recreate them on another synth, and partly because I don't think I actually could recreate some of these sounds on another synth, and partly because it just kicks butt. It's a fantastic musical notepad, and I annoy my friends every week with it when they come around, playing it on my lap. Then I can use the sounds I create sequenced through midi, and use it as my midi controller at the same time! My greatest wish-list items for it are: double the polyphony, quadruple the effects processing, and aftertouch. I would pay handsomely for a device like that. At the price though, it's an absolute steal!

I got a micron v1.2 keyboard on the 27 of july.
I make my presets by song name.
editing is pretty easy tho it takes a while, software would be helpful but not really needed, the manual is very clear and thorough.

Not the best action in the world but it's good!
yer great built in effects. no expansion capabilities as i am aware.
Though you can save your patches/songs etc to pc by midi cable!

great on-board sequencer!

instruments not at all realistic... it's not ment to be!
good for experimental music!
velocity is configeable

it gets abit warm, but i use it all the time!

it's a hard unit to get in brisbane, australia!
never needed support

Over all it's a great keyboard that works very hard!

First of all the about 70% of the presets suck. Mostly dumb ass sounds. I cant stand them. Very easy to use and simple enought to edit if you worked with synths before.

Its 8 polyphony just like the days of old. The effects can get you by, but they could have been better. Now here is where the good stuff begins. The phrase catcher as I call it is just so damm good, edit a bass or a keyboard pad and create your own sounds. Great feature bar none. Sequencer. arpeggiator, and layering is where this little box begins to shine.

If you bought this and use the presets only then I pity you. Dig in edit, edit, edit, and edit some more untill you hear the real sounds and possabilities that the Micron is capeable of giving. Beneith those circut boards is a vast dark world that needs to be released.I bought it because I needed a good sounding bass synth. I use cubase SE and the bass patches that I have edited gave me the great sounds that I was looking for.

It seems well built.

I heard they had there problems.

Built small but with alot of heart. Has tons of features but only if you use them. The trick here is to edit and I do mean edit. If you cant see yourself doing that then this synth is not for you. The guys who gave this synth low scores are the guys who what instint gradafication and thats not what the Micron is about. Take the time and you will find.