Alesis NanoBass

i bought the nanobass about two years ago ago, & i can only praise it.
the sounds are really great. the only thing that nerves a bit is the
unitimbral feature. its really a pity that this little superb piece of
hardware can`t do multitimbral. nevertheless, i wouldnt want to do
without it. its worth every penny of its very modest price.

its as hard as a rock. tough to crack reliability.

The Nano bass is a very useful module, especially at the current fire sale prices - I only wish that more manufacturers would realize the market niche for a dedicated bass unit. (Did anyone else buy the 360 Systems bass when it came out?)

Since others have reviewed the Nano bass, I have three comments as a long time user. I hope that these will be of help if you are trying to make the "to buy or not to buy" decision.

1. The patches are meant to be heard in a mix. Listen to them solo being played from a keyboard, and they sound lame. Flip through them while listening to a midi bass line being played back from a sequencer and you will inevitably find one that works. The electric basses especially are surprising - something that sounds bland played from the keyboard sounds quite realistic when mixed with drums.

2. It is unitimbral... but.. there is a second bank of sounds... Alot of people I know were surprised to learn that there is a second lot of 128 patches beyond the dials on the front of the panel.

3. I have had a number of friends into "techno" music complain about the quality of the Alesis synth bass patches v. Novation bass-stations etc.

While this is really mixing apples and oranges, try turning the velocity setting on your sequencer / midi keyboard to 127... remembering that the classic analog bass synths were NOT velocity sensitive. Suddenly, the synth bass patches jump out.

Anyways, I like it. Of course, using a sampler gives you a more realistic sound every time, but sometimes a really dull patch sounds surprisingly like a real bass in the mix, while the hi-rez patch sounds "keyboardish".

As simple as it gets- turn the knobs & you're there.

You've probably heard all this before from the other reviews. The only thing I'm going to make a comment about here is something someone else brought up about the fact that it has 64 voice capability but is only monotimbral. If that wasn't enough of a run-on sentence for you, the least Alesis could have done was make it multitimbral. Other than that no complaints.

Sounds are very good in my opinion. Granted that many other tone modules have the same ones, but none that you will find in this price range or this easy to work with right out of the box. In fact the NanoBass is so versatile, it could be used for almost any kind of music, & not just bass sounds. Going into the upper register often yields excellent results as well.

Like a little safe. Uncrackable.

I just got a hold of one of these, & I have to say that I wish I'd done it sooner. The NanoBass has some really great sounds & can be a really good value for anyone needing a good solid bass module either to add to a larger setup or use with guitar, keys, etc. The only reason I'm not giving this a 10 is because of that whole monotimbrality thing. But other than that it's a great bang for your buck.

Need to use it with a MIDI foot pedal to make on-the-fly changes. The numbers and lettering on the dials are way too small to be looking at when you're on stage.

Would be nice if it had an LED digit or three to tell you what bank you're on.

Has some really good sounds. Some others seem too similar.

It does what I need it to--I added a MIDI interface onto my Gibson bass, so can mix regular bass with MIDI output, or only play MIDI. Need some bizarre bass sounds, and the NanoBass has 'em.
I'm getting a Nano Piano too, because I'd really like to play keyboards, umm, while playing the bass. Go figure.

Every nano-whatever(bass,synth,verb,compressor)is the easiest to use.

I bought this unit brand new for $45.00 so I just can't complain about it. It was well worth $45.00.

I must say that most of the instruments sound really good.

This thing is built in a turtle shell, its small but its built very tough.

For $45.00, this is a great deal. I don't know if I would ever want another one, if it were stolen I would probably want to try something new, but that is with any instrument.

I don't think the Nanobass has different software versions... Manual is quite enjoyable (LISTEN UP ROLAND). Editing is a bit limited, so I don't really bother. As a preset box it is very easy to use. Dial a category, a patch, and an effects setting. Even a drummer could do it (ouch!). Only problem: goofy knobs do not line up correctly.

Good polyphony, but not multitimbral. Too bad. 1 effect per patch. The effect isn't desribed in any way, you just have to figure it out by playing. No LCD, just knobs with lines that don't ever line up properly. No expansion. MIDI IN, OUT/THROUGH. No headphone jack. Kind of a cut down little thing.

This litle guy makes some good sounds. Presets are a mixed bag. Some are good, some are not. It has a bunch of good basses, but it's good at other stuff too. Interestingly, I use this thing for pads or weird arpegio type things a lot. I play Industrial/EBM/synthpop (typical goth-scene music), and the nanobass is usefull. It actually has an industrial category of 16 sounds, but they aren't my favorites. I find that the drone/effect/pad type things are very useful.

It's only a third of a rackspace, but it is built better than my XP-10 (as though that means anything). I wouldn't gig wihout a backup, but I can't see it breaking down since it's so simple. Never had a problem.

I haven't dealt with them. However, Roland and Korg both send me their cheesy magazine/advertisement things every so often, and Alesis doesn't. Let's get on the ball, Alesis!!! Where's my goofy magazines?

If it were lost or stolen I wouldn't bother to replace it. I'd sink the money into either an ESI-2000 sampler or a Nord Micro Modular. It isn't that the NanoBass is a bad synth, it's just that my JV-1010 can do (almost) all the same things.
I have a Roland JV-1010, XP-10, Korg Prophecy, and a MOTU MicroExpress connected to my laptop. The Nanobass plays a role in my litle home studio, but I could live without it.

Very easy to use. But you will need a computer. Buy hey, wake up and smell the 90's.

It's a bass module. It doesn't need to do much other that sound good. 256 bass sounds has got to be more than any one songwriter/musician needs. It frees up voices on my other modules.

Very realistic acoustic basses. Excellent Rap and Funk basses. Many, Many sounds, fun for the entire family. (grin) Much quieter than the comparable Roland and Emu units. I don't have to gate it, to make it sound decent. Very cool....

It's in studio use. So I don't knock it around very much. Seems pretty solid but I wouldn't drop it on a concrete floor.

Alesis tech support is notorious. I think they're trying to do better. Hey, I just got an email back from um' (amazing) ;-) I got a free Q-Card from them when I bought my QSR so their stock just raised a few notches in my book.

I guess I'll keep around for awhile. I'll probably get a 2nd QSR and a few more QCards in the future. But for right now the NanoBass does the job well.....

Pretty easy but you need a computer to really work the damn thing. I do not like that at all! I hate using computers in my music!! To me that takes all the fun out of it. I want an instrument, not a mouse.

Features are extremely limited even with a computer!

Sounds are OK, but nothin to write home about. My Peavey Bass Spectrum kicks the NanoBass all over the floor. My Waldorf Pulse makes the NanoBass seem like total garbage. I guess the NanoBass is better than nothin, but hey you wont get too excited.

Seems pretty solid, but the unit is small and the knobs are small, so it could probably fall apart pretty easily if you werent real careful.

Alesis is a pretty cool company. They have been helpful with my other Alesis gear. I sold the NanoBass before I ever needed anything tho.

I would never buy this again. I thought it was an instrument and then found out it was a computer accessory and so I dumped it. It is too small. I dont like half rack gear. The sound was usable, but pretty dead. Ive been playin music for 3 decades and this was one piece that I never got into. Glad I found a buyer for it pretty easy. Thank God for Ebay!! (heheheheheheheh) :-))

Bank Select is very straightforward. Presets sound wonderful. Outboard editor required. Manual (written by Freff) is easy to understand.

Polyphony: 64 (!) A few effects....dedicated wet/dry knob Only one MIDI channel

Instrument emulations are good (Acoustic basses could use some improvement). Synth basses are excellent.

Rock solid. Rating is only marred by the wall wart.

Impossible to contact manufacturer for basic needs.

This little unit is worth every dollar. It really freed up my other synths in the writing stage. However, it was insane of Alesis to provide 64 note polyphony BUT ONLY ONE MIDI CHANNEL!! It just seems like a waste of potential. Since the other nano products are multi timbral, it seems as though the nanobass has actually been prevented from having multi timbrality, as was the case with Emu's Proformance. (The Proformance was actually a Proformance plus with half the sounds disabled.)