Alesis QS6.2

Just staring at this synth it almost looks toyishly simple, like an home organ used by Grandma a few times a year on holidays. The truth is that you can be jamming up a digital sampled wavestorm on this thing in seconds. When you turn it on, it remembers the program you were using. If you're going to back to recording after dinner, just power it up again and you're right where you left off.

Another great plus of this synth is that it makes a highly versatile yet childishly simple MIDI controller. You can flip through MIDI channels on the big "page" buttons with one hand while playing with the other, without losing a beat...and see exactly where you are on the menu while controlling external modules, etc.. MIDI channel info is always presented. It's slightly trickier to turn the LOCAL on or off.

The mod and pitch wheels are nice rounded rubbery things that stick to your fingertips and aren't too stubborn. Perhaps the pitch bend is a little too sensitive sometimes. I use it just like a whammy bar on guitar sometimes by jiggling it for vibratos and glides, and sometimes it's just a little hard to keep it betwene the lines so to speak. On a few rare occassions the wheel doesn't quite return to a perfect "0" and leaves me with my pants down! Only a STUPID audience wouldn't pick up on it. I've heard the same about other Alesis synths. If you practice, you should be able to anticipate the handicap and compensate eventually. I did and I rarely have trouble now. I does restrict how free I feel sometimes though.

At first I thought this synth had horrible menus. Discovering the logic was a litle difficult for me, but once I got it I found out it's pretty simple...just not quite the way I'd lay it out if someone gave me an unprogrammed QS6.2 with no OS to set up MY way. Let's just say that the controls are very intuitive FROM a certain point where you really need the manual to understand the logic. Beyond that it's a cinch and you can find your own way around. A hidden doorway.

Polyphony is 64, I think.
I don't use sequencers for composing the main parts of my pieces, so I don't need a synth with a high polyphony.

Effects are almost too much on the 6.2. You almost can't get rid of them if you wanted to! The programs/patches can use up to four waveforms, and each waveform has its own effect route. There are also master-sliders which control the effects on the whole patch. Sometimes these seem to remove unwanted effects and smoetimes not. I think the secret is that some waveforms were sampled WITH subtle effects. Duh, right? And that is a major key to the stunning sounds on this mediocre-looking keyboard: Great samples with effects already in place.

The QS6.2 takes Qcards and PCM flash cards.
The Qcards supposedly have sounds that even blow away the presets. If that's true, then I'm probably going to keep this baby. Like Roland's exciting JV and XV series expansion boards, the Qcards are themed according to genres, styles and instruments. I've heard they're great.

All the neccesseties seem to be MIDI transmittable, but I think maybe volume is not! Go figure! However, the 4 other sliders ARE assignable to various parameters. I just haven't discovered how. Maybe it's because I'm always so happily transfixed while playing this synth, know what I mean?? So good to hear that there's not enough time to read the manual!

FYI, the QS6.2 can read GM sequences from cards but it can't write them. Playback only.

For me the best thing about this synth is that it's farily compact for a 61-key machine, yet it's own sounds are outstanding while it can also manage a whole battery of other MIDI modules at the same time.

Are some instruments realistic? The pianos aren't bad. Not as rich as Kurzweil of course, or some Yamahas. The electric guitars are really BAD on this synth. My Korg N5ex is 8x better for that. But hey, maybe there's a Qcard out there for this? There are some more vintage guitar sounds which are not perfect, but somehwo they made up for it by admitting this and letting it be what it was meant to be: Such as something that sounds very much LIKE a 12string guitar with a realistic pluck...BUT the imperfections were made up for by subtle synthetic textures which fill in the gaps with a compatible yet synthetic sound.

Overall, I LOVE the pads on this thing...and mallety ad metallic sounds. There must some FM wave samples in there, maybe. Not many good standard drum kit not much, but what it does have are fairly interesting and fat sounding even if synthetic.

Texture.
Resolution.
Richness.
It's all there. Who'd ever know?

I just barely give this synth a 9 in this catagory.

It's heavy! Like 30 lbs, I think? The chassis and frame are aluminum. I'd HATE to drop it on my toe. As long as the software and OS hold up, I think this could be one of those synths people are selling in good playing condition in 20 years even if slightly scratched up. I'd gig with it without a doubt. At first I said no, but now I look forward to it. Thsi synth si also very easy to reboot if it freezes. That's never happened to me.

I had an Alesis Ion which had the same solid heavyweight feel to it.

Never had to deal with Alesis.

If stolen I'd just buy a QSR rackmount version for the sounds but try a different keyboard just for fun.

I've played for about 25 years, and at a professional live performance level for about 8 years. I've been recording in the studio about 4 or 5 years.

I love the sounds of this keyboard. Very unique, some of them. There is nothing much that I hate...except the non-resonant filter and how little the filter and LFO's seem to really effect the mix. But with patching and effects you can still create awesome sounds.

The QS software is version 1.00a (June 28, 2002).
The presets sound pretty clean and diverse although there is way too much reverb on almost all of the sounds.

Editing patches is relatively easy with the help of the manual. After a while, the basic editing becomes something you can do without the manual. I downloaded some patch editors for the QS family, but I never use them because editing isn't that hard and the abbreviations such as AMP, MOD, etc are the same in the programs too.

The FreeLoader patch librarian makes a big difference to this synth. With it, you can load up patches from previous QuadraSynths and expand your soundbase quite a bit. The files are system exclusive banks and each one holds 128 programs and also mixes and global data such as tuning. Definately use this feature and you won't be sorry. There are free patch banks online that can be downloaded.

The manual is very easy to read and can be read entirely in a few days.

One complaint is that the LFO speeds are not rated in units. So you can't sync LFO's to BPM unless you first assign LFO speed to a fader. It would have been nicer to be able to set the LFO speed according to period.

The polyphony is 64 notes which is plenty. It's also appropriate since multitimbral mixes need a lot. The built in effects are nice, but certain configurations are difficult to understand. Even with charts in the manual of effect configurations a few configurations are difficult. Luckily, editing specific parameters of effects is not difficult.

The QS is expandable with a slot for SRAM and Flash cards and Qcards. Qcards are specialized factory sounds. SRAM and Flash cards are used for storing user-customizeable programs, mixes, and waveforms. However, the QS 6.2 only accepts cards with an access time of 120 nanoseconds or faster. This is worrisome because they are hard to find if they exist at all.
People report that the Qcards work. But I did not have any luck getting my supposedly-compatible flash card to work. I was extremely disappointed.

Using the SoundBridge software and flash cards you can supposedly import .WAV files to use as waveforms. Unfortunately, this process takes at least 40 minutes to transfer (assuming that 120 nanosecond cards exist). A workaround is to use sampling VST instruments and simply use the QS 6.2 as a controller.

As a controller, the QS 6.2 works quite well with selectable velocity curves and 4 continuous controller faders. There is aftertouch and the mod and pitchbend wheels work just fine and are stable. The mod wheel and 4 faders are assignable to multiple sources and destinations.

There is no onboard sequencer, but the QS 6.2 can play sequences stored on cards.

This keyboard reacts quite naturally to velocity if you set it to "PLASTIC" and set the sensitivity to 99. This makes it 100% velocity sensitive as long as the programs are set up for velocity. Velocity sensitivity can be turned off for each voice in a program in order to accommodate organ and organ-like instruments.

The instrument sounds are not realistic, but I have not heard any ROMpler with realistic sounds. Realism seems more often to come from high-end samplers. However, the pianos sound very piano-like, and the organs sound very organ-like. The distorted guitar sounds were totally unrealistic, but the acoustic guitar sounds were somewhat convincing. The drum sounds were the most disappointing and I don't use them at all. Most drum sounds sound like something from Nintendo Mario Brothers.

It seems like this keyboard would be good for ambient music as the pads are very good. It would also be good as a synth for someone doing sound for commercials as there is wide variety of sounds. It is usable for other styles. It's capabilities are much better if you use system exclusive banks from sites such as MIDIworld.

The onboard effects are ok. Nothing too fancy, but nothing too shabby either.

Overall, the sounds are responsive but had to be programmed to be responsive. It's a little bit static in terms of dynamic filters. It would have been much much better if it had resonant lowpass and bandpass filters. The synth bass sounds were very dissappointing in this regard.

It's a dependable synth for the most part. However, during system exclusive transfers it occasionally loses some data. It seems to occur only with system exclusive transfers and not with MIDI sequence data. Saving the same bank multiple times yielded different file sizes every time. Also, as stated above, the SoundBridge .WAV file importing function did not work for me with a card that supposedly matched the compatibility checklist.

The synth has a reset function where you turn it on holding down the 0 and 3 buttons. This comes in handy if it ever freezes up from a MIDI feedback loop. During resets the user bank is left unharmed.

If I gigged I would use the QS 6.2 without a backup. It seems sturdy and dependable enough.

Alesis did respond to my emails promptly. However, I knew more about the QS 6.2's flash card incompatibility than they did. They tried to steer me toward reliable vendors, but they were the same vendors that sold incompatible flash cards. So ultimately, I was not able to use the flash card feature since no 120 nanosecond flash cards seem to exist for the QS 6.2. Older QuadraSynths don't seem to have this problem.

It this synth was lost or stolen, I'd probably get something else. What I might get is an older QuadraSynth so I could still use my system exclusive files and also use the flash cards. Or, I might get something with better synth bass sounds.

I chose this synth mainly for its price.
This synth helps me make music and does not get in the way.

I have been playing synths for about 20 years.

This is my first synth and the manual worked great for me. In a week I was able to edit almost everything I needed.

Editing is a bit unconfortable as the function keys are hard to press. I prefer to use a software editor.

The presets are good, but there's too much SFX on most of them. The pianos are amazing. Some great prog-like leads like "Screamer" and "Fuzzbox". Don't like the default Brasses or string ensembles.

Most of the where inherited from the older QSs.

- You can import up to 8MB of WAV samples into US$60 PCMCIA cards, build an instrument with them and then play them back into the QS. You can also import sequences into those cards and play them back. (requires MIDI connection to computer).

- Great SFX: reverb, overdrive, leslie, chorus, delay, EQ.

- Keyboard action fells a bit ... plastic (??) ... compared to my DX7IID, but it's best than other synths I've tried in the same price range.

- 64-note poliphony

- Voices can be layered around the keyboard as you wish (in "mix" mode).

- lowpass filter, controllable by its own LFO and envelope. Could be a little more versatile IMO.

- Basic synth stuff like portamento, poly/mono mode, voices/performances mode (here called "program"/"mix"). LFOs to control

Love the pianos, organs ("Grit organ" is great for some Deep Purple), and most leads.

There are lots of good "moody" effects, like sounds that evolve over time, etc.

Analogic sounds are mostly good but sometimes I sense a little digital cheesyness, depending on how much the original sample is being stretched (Which is why I bought a DX7)

Solo brass and strings will do the trick, but the ensembles are terrible. Since I don't use them much I still haven't looked for a way to tweak them.

I've had it for 10 months and it feels quite solid and trustworthy. I haven't gigged as a keyboard player yet. (I'm primarily a guitar player).

Never had to.

I tried lots of synth/keyboards in the same price range. This one was cheaper than most of them and the only one that stood a chance against it was a used Yamaha QS300 for US$ 700. The X5D, XP30 and others were far behind it IMO.

It seems to be a great choice for intermediate players. I might get something better if I ever go pro.

I wish it had a better filter and resonance.
I love playing Deep Purple tunes using the grit organ and turning the Leslie motor emulator on and off =D
I love the possibilities it offers me.
I hate the dance-oriented presets that sound like chipmunks. =)

2004 QS6.2. Used to have a QS6.1 which helped influence my decisionto get the 6.2. When I decided to add a Romper synth back into my collection. The new output stage on the 6.2 does improvethe sound esp for in mixes with other instruments. Prev version was mostly good. This versions better imo. Editing patches is pretty easy once you learn how. New owner manual is not as good as the 6.1's Had to call Alesis to refigure out how to change programs for performances. New owner manula leaves out some basic things that where in the earlier version. Not as easy to program as my Va's. But menu scrolling is to be expected with romplers.

No need to repeat what others have noted. Effects are pretty good. One Qcard slot instead of two like the 6.1 had. Thats a dissapointment, but is ok with that. I got the Eurodance Qcard with mine.

Not into pianos. But has some nice ones. Several very good organ voices. Synths, Fx, ect are very good. Useful flute type voices. Mainly got it for synths, layered pads, fx, flutes, organs, sounds in rompler style. Very good choice for new age, electronica, ambient stuff, general bread & butter synth. Would also work well in a death metal band where wanted good layered strings ect.

They fixed the ac powersupplyum that was frequently foud in the 6.1 version. Dont got to use ebtech hum eliminator with this one. Well made. No problems with.

Helpful. Mailed instructions for performance questions/help I asked for just minutes after hung up phone to them.

Except for woud have been nice to retain 2 Qcard slots, finds the 6.2 an improvement over the 6.1. Which was a nice synth too overall. Loves the greater keyboard splits & layering ability of the QS series. Up to 16 splits, up to 16 layers, spread as desired across keyboard. Very nice when wanting a leadvoice that morphs n2 pads for example, on part of board. And Fx or whatever on oter parts of keyboard. Overall a fantastic value for the money. And a rompler synth I like better then ost of the competition.

Manual is good.

64-voice polyphony is enough for me. Keyboard action is good.
It has expansion capabilities (PCMCIA memory cards).
It has great MIDI capabilities. Keyboard supports velocity, release velocity and aftertouch. All settings and parameters can be controlled by MIDI.
It doesn't have sequencer, but it's a synthesizer, but not a virtual arranger or workstation.

Almost all sounds are very good! The exclusion is GM, but even GM sounds are better then in YAMAHA CS2x, by example.
I think it is good for any type of music. I will use it for electronic music 70s like Jean-Michel Jarre.

If it were lost, I would buy anouther one. I like this synth.
I'm not a musician, it's just a hobby. I owned a Casio WK-1600 before ALESIS and I have heard YAMAHA CS2x before buying it.

It's about as straight forward as you'll find in a synth. Since it doesn't have a sequencer, that just adds to the ease of use. Also, unlike some other synths, MIDI in/out works excellent and you don't have to set parameters to just get it working.

You probably won't be editing without the manual as the LCD has words so big most everything is abbreviated. It's still pretty good ease of use if you just want to plug it in and get to all the sounds.

Since the GM sound set isn't very good I don't know how hard it is to compose with MIDI sequencers and using the presets. They sound 5x as good as the GM set, so I can't mark for or against it. Beware though, it could be tough.

64 note polyphony, which is plenty. The keyboard action is way above other 'budget synths.' I was surprised at how good the thing feels. The keys aren't weighted but there's something about it that just feels good. You won't glide over keys and maybe press the wrong key by mistake like on other keyboards. Blows away the Korg X5/X5D on keyboard quality.

The sounds as a whole are excellent. Now, the GM sound set (as in ANY synth) seems to be lacking. However, as long as you stay away from it you'll find some incredible sounds. There are several preset banks each with its own sound set of GM style categories. You get lots of great brass ensembles and pianos out of these. As I said, if you stay away from the GM sound set you'll hear some top-notch sounds.

The only complaint I really have are a lot of the pianos sound like guitars. Particularly in the upper register of the keyboard where the high keys almost sounds like a harp. Not all of the pianos suffer from this, but most of the realistic ones do. You have to find the very harsh 'crunchy' pianos to get away from it. However, there are a LOT of pianos and you can edit them so I'm sure there's a way to get rid of some of that weird string sound on the pianos. The pianos are good though, you have to have a really sensitive ear to pick up the guitar sound in them.

Only got it today but I trust Alesis products. I've had a lot of other Alesis items and I took them to hell and back and they always worked. I'd certainly gig without a backup.

haven't crossed it yet...hope I don't have to

The last keyboard I had was the Korg X5/X5D (lets be honest, they're the same damn thing) and this completely blows it away. The X5D is $50 cheaper, but it's using synth sounds from the early 90's.

Every single sound on this synth is about 200% better than its counterpart on the X5D. The Korg synth just sounds flat although it has a few neat effects style programs. However, the QS has a couple hundreds of those, if that's what you're looking for.

Keep in mind that Alesis really only makes 1 synth. They definately put the work in. The sound set is fantastic. Also, its an expandable synth and probably the cheapest one you can find. It sells for $599 new and believe me, I'd go back and pay full price had I not bought it used and saved almost $200.

It blows away everything else anywhere in its price range. The Yamaha S03 and the Roland RS-5, the only other synths that can give it a run, are still not quite as good. Alesis isn't really a 'trusted name' in synths, but more of a 'hidden jewel.'

In my opinion it looks a little goofy. Slap some cheasy speakers on it and it might look like a Yamaha PSR model. The LCD screen size is good but it has text so big it can't really fit much on there so almost everything is abbreviated. Doesn't really hurt the ease of use. I gave it high marks but the fact is you have to read the manual to know how to edit.

I wrote this review to help people that might be deciding on buying this synth. From experience of working with a LOT of synths I can tell you that no synth that's less than $900 will sound better than this. The only other thing I can compare it to is the Edirol SD-20 Studio Canvas (which has the same sounds as the SD-80 and SD-90 too). I had it for a few weeks then sold it off. It had good strings and a wonderful french horn but a real bland piano and other sounds. The QS 6.2 is much better than it. The SD-20 was better than the X5D but not as good as the S03. It was neck-and-neck with the RS-5 since they are both Roland sound sets for the most part.

The various pianos are ok for playing with a lot of other instruments, but by themselves don't really sound that authentic. The reed instruments are very very good. Everything else sounds pretty good.
Keyboard touch is a bit stiffer than I like, but then I like it dedidedly on the soft side. But on the whole, it is very "piano-like," very good.

Seems like it's built sturdily. About 55 lbs, not really easy to carry around, but then, more portable than an acoustic piano.
Have had mine a few years, and it's working as well as the day I bought it. No problems.

Never had to contact the company for anything. No opinion . . .

If I was going to replace it, I'd probably get a Roland, because their pianos seem more authentic to me. But I bought this one a couple years ago because I was short of $$$ and it was cheaper. For what I use it for (playing with Band In A Box, and midi files) it does the job.
I'd be much happier with it if the pianos sounded better; I'm giving the overall an 8 instead of a 10 because of the pianos.

THE SOUNDS ON THIS THING ARE THE BOMB. THE FACT THAT IT IS EXPANDABLE MAKES IT EVEN BETTER. THE SOUNDS THAT IT COMES WITH ALONE THOUGH ARE ENOUGH TO KEEP YOURSELF CREATIVE. ITS VERY EASY TO EDIT PATCHES AND GIVES YOU ROOM TO CREATE EVEN NEW SOUND. I DIDN'T READ THE MANUAL BECAUSE IT WAS THAT EASY.

THE AFTERTOUCH ON THIS BOARD IS PRETTY GOOD IV'E SEEN BETTER.
THERE ARE BUILT IN EFFECTS AND ARE RELLY EASY TO USE SOUND GREAT. THERE ARE Q-CARDS MADE BY ALESIS THAT ARE AVALIBLE THEY INCLUDE ALL KINDS OF GENRES AND ARE A GREAT EXPANSION. NO SEQUENCER WHICH SUCKS BUT I PLAY WITH A BAND AND DO ALL THE SEQUENCES IN REAL TIME.

ALL THE SOUNDS TO ME ARE REALISTIC AND THE ONES THAT DON'T SOUND REALISTIC I USE FOR SOUND EFFECTS OR INTROS. THIS BOARD IS GOOD FOR ANYTHING IF YOU USE IT THE RIGHT WAY. I USE IT FOR MAINLY INDUSTRIAL AND IF YOU GET THE Q-CARDS SUCH AS EURO-DANCE/HIP-HOP/VINTAGE-SYNTH THIS IS THE BEST BOARD FOR THE MONEY. NO MATTER WHAT YOU PLAY IF YOUR LOKING FOR A QUALITY BOARD LOOK NO FURTER.

THIS IS MY ONLY SYNTH AND IT'S THE ONLY ONE I GIG WITH. MY BACKUP WOULD BE MY GUITAR WITH A WHOLE LOT OF PEDALS. THIS BOARD IS LIKE A GOOD FRIEND YOU CAN TRUST. WELL!

I COULDN'T FIND THE Q-CARDS ANY WHERE SO I CONTACTED ALESIS AND THEY TOLD ME WHERE TO GET THEM AND I BOUGHT TWO AND GOT ONE FREE.

IF IT WHERE STOLEN OR LOST I'D BE MAD AND I WOULD GET IT AGAIN OVER ANY OTHER. I'M MAINLY A GUITARIST BUT I PLAY BOTH LIVE FOR DIFFERENT PARTS OF SONGS. I OWN THE ALESIS QS6-2>KORG KP1 KAOSS PAD>PEAVEY KB50 AND NOT THAT ANYONE IN THE SYNTH WORLD UNLESS YOUR LIKE ME CARE WHAT KIND OF GUITAR SETUP I HAVE WELL SCHECTER 006>MORLEY WAH>DIGITECH MMX DISTORTION>DIGITECH DDX DELAY>LINE 6 MM4>LINE 6 FM4>PEAVEY XXL>PEAVEY M/S CAB. THE SYNTH GIVES ME IDEAS ON THE GUITAR AND VISEVERSA.BUY THE ALESIS QS6-2 OR GET LEFT BEHIND!!!!!!!!HAHAHAH