Alesis QS6

Original Software Version.
Pre-sets: Acoustic Pianos all weeeeeek!!!! Electric and Rhodes not the best but can be tweeked. Strings, Woodwins, Drums all good except for crash cymbals, they splash too quickly.

Editing presets a breeze.

There is a manual, never used it.

Poly is 62
Lots of effects
Use expansion cards, too expensive. I'll program within the ROM.
GM
No sequencer =(

Cool after touch can be programmed to taste.
Like I said woodwins, French Horns, and precussion sound good.
Works for what ever you need it for.
Semi weighted keys, I LUV it.

Built like a brick. I would never use any keyboard without backup. Too many sorry sound men out there.

Never dealt with company. =)

Dopn't need to upgrade it.

If it were lost or stolen, oh well...It is worth what I paid for though.
I own too much gear to list.

OS version 2.0. No later version available.
The presets are ok, especially organs with lezlie effects. There are a lot of sounds there - 650 in programs & a lot in a mix mode. The patch editing is awful :(
the manual is clear only on first 30-35 pages, but the further material is a bit heave so u need some time to dig around

The polyphony 64 is more than enough. Buit-in effects - reverb, delay, eq (no cut), overdrive/lezlie/resonator (~40). Accepts PCMCIA Ram flash-cards. On them u can burn your own samples & Sample Cell *.ins files via SoundBridge & other software (I own all images of original Alesis Q-cards, which i can burn via pcmcia card-reader or laptop or via midi cable direct to my QS6 (~45min. to burn 8 mb of data). u can burn samples on pcmcia flash cards of more capacity, but OS of synth see only 8mb of data :(
no sequencer, but u can play midi smf files on it - just burn'em on pcm card via soundbridge.
There are midi in and out/thru. The aftertouch is a bit hard but velocity & semi-weighted keys are ok! the keys are really very good!
"10" for keys & sampler! :)

the organs with lezlie effects are wonderful. on-board effects are so-so. not very bad, good for live-sessions when u don't need to take all your rack dsp with u.
good velocity and a bit hard aftertouch reaction.
there is no resonant filter! only lp filter cutoff... otherwise u can play with effects such as resonator or else..
i think this synth goes more for rock music. personally I play electronic music so built-in presets are not very important for me. i use preferably it for sample-expansion pcmcia cards (the original alesis Q-cards are so-so, even eurodance). but in general the sound is very tight. but hey!! with my QS6-mini-sampler i can get sounds of many sample,akai-cd's !!!

well, the synth is a bit haevy - at least 10-15kg. But it is in metal case (the front panel with buttons made from aluminium).
I can't depend on the wheels and controler, which i have to repair myself (the pitchbend did not stayed in center position, so it sent midi commands than vary in time & Controller A sent some useless comands in zero-position).

never had a deal. some software u can download from alesis website 4 free, but for some other soft (e.g, Unisyn or other patch editors) u should pay money (all editors are nearly $30-35 in price)

if it were stolen would buy another (i think about alesis ION - it is very convinient in price & looks like Nord a bit :)).
would buy keys roland xp-30-50 or jv-series with expansion boards.
I bought it with some broken lines in the LCD display, but all numbers & names are readable, so i fell in love with it! %)
So, in general, QS6 is the best synth for price that I paid for it!

Sofware version on synth: 1.10 (Oct 25 1999, yup it's old)
Preset sounds:
Before I start, there are Banks, Mixes and Programs. On the default QS6 - that is, one without an expansion QCard - here's what there are:
5 banks. Each Bank has 100 Mixes and 128 Programs. The banks are Preset1, 2, and 3, GenMidi (where the sounds represent GM sounds), and a User bank. You can edit the User bank.
If you add a QCard you'll get another Bank.
A Mix is made up of up to 16 Program presets.
A Program preset is made up of between 1 and 4 basic sounds.


OK lesson over. Some of the presets are cheesy, some are not. But using the User Bank you can edit them and tweak them into what you prefer, or something new.

Sounds set up to resemble actual instruments are lacking in one or more ways (e.g. grand piano seems too bright), but they are still acceptable. There are some magnificent synth and other sounds in the presets, though.
You can edit, of course, and with some built-in effects.

Editing:
If you really love to peer at a small LCD screen and go through pages of strange messages not knowing what the hell you are doing, you will love the QS6. In that it's no different than most other synths, though.

Alesis know this, and for those with PC or MAC, there's a version of Unisyn on the accompanying CD (or you can download it for free at Alesis).
So of course I Unisyn. It's a breeze, and even if you start off by experimenting you can easily find out what each function does. There are loads, absolutely shedloads.

The manual is good. It doesn't go too deep, but it does explain most of the editing issues. The rest is really up to you, roll your sleeves up and do it.

For this ease of use, given that there's Unisyn as a free piece of software, it gets a 9 in my book. If it wasn't for Unisyn, I'd give it a 6 or 7 - but I'd give more expensive and newer synths that too. This is a great piece of gear to use.

Polyphony: Good enough for me. 64 voices, and obviously the more in the mix, the less polyphony. I use Cool Edit Pro (multitrack digital audio) so it's not an issue for me. I don't make a habit of multi-sequencing, although I have Sonar for that.

Keyboard action: Adequate. It's a plastic unweighted keyboard, so it's not at all a piano. It does what it's supposed to and I've never had problems. Keyboard aftertouch includes Amp/Filter/Pitch. On to ...

Built-in FX: There are four effects sends.
Effects include Pitch, Delay, Reverb, and a group of EQ and Overdrive.
Each one has a few types, such as, for Pitch, Chorus, Flange, Resonator, and they can be routed to right/left stereo. They can all be programmed in the editing process, and managed/effected by the controls on the synth itself.
Controls include Pitch Wheel, Mod, Controller A slider, and pedals (note: not only a sustain pedal)
They are fairly good, if limited.

Expansion: Where this synth scores heavily. A range of QCards are available, such as Latin, Classical, HipHop, etc. They are all PC cards that fit into a slot on the back of the synth. Some of the sounds you get on these cards are phenomenal. They are all made of original waves (digital samples).
BUT the big thing, the really BIG thing, is that you can also use a Flash RAM PC card to store your own samples and use them to make programs and mixes.
The software is provided on the CD, or you can download it from Alesis for free. This puts the synth into a different category completely. It's a sampler, too. So if your buddy has a Moog Mini and you love the sounds, sample them, and put them on a RAM Qcard, and you'll have them available to play on your QS6. You could do the same with any sound you like..... a didgeridoo, a truck engine, a mouse farting, and you've got'em. OK, you have to use the software, get a RAM card, and store them. But that's not too bad. Oh, yeah, you can also store sequences... and the samples can be as long as you like as long as they fit on the card.

MIDI: bearing in mind this is an old synth, there are some hifaluting MIDI functions that don't come with it that are on today's synths. But that's not a problem, really. Pressure sensitive keys, etc. are there.

No on board sequencer. But why ever want one? Most folk now have a PC, and sequencers, even basic ones, are common. Let the synth concentrate on the sounds, I say.

Some are not so realistic, some are cheesy. Most are not, and all are very usable.

I think any kind of music could be produced on this. For Dance, though, it would be hard work as there are no big knobs and sliders to continually tweak and so on. No ring modulator. But push it through an effects box and you have it. Some of the sounds, though, need careful tweaking in a sequencer program or once recorded, just to make sure that such things as attack etc. are accurate - if that's what you want.
I have the Classical qcard and the sounds on it are amazing, bowed strings, flute vibrato depending on pitch, etc. Wow. The classical types of instruments on the basic synth are less so. But you can expand it.

It reacts very well to velocity and aftertouch, and both of these are editable. But, as I said before, it's not a weighted keyboard.

I bought it used, it's never given me any problems, and I am really impressed by the case which is steel. I reckon it would gig well provided that you weren't Keith Emerson and inclined to use a bowie knife on it.

Note that I give it a 7 because I don't gig it and can't be sure how it would hold up, but it does have a steel case.

There is upgraded software and other stuff available at Alesis. Never had to have it repaired, so I don't know.
Software support is there, although it's old. But this is an old synth, with many children (such as the QS8, etc)

If it was stolen, I'd get another. If I could, though, I'd go for a newer QS, like an 8 or such. But the cost to me for this was cheap considering what the synth is capable of. I hate the plastic keys, love how easy it is to play despite them, and I love the sounds.
It doesn't get in the way of my making music. It sometimes pushes me in other directions, but that's not a bad thing.

I also have a Yamaha TX7 and TG33 (modules) which work fine from the QS6 and give a different kind of sound. A Roland SH-32 for more analog sounds, also very playable from the keyboard of the QS6.

The only thing I wish I could have as well is a seriously good sampling keyboard. I guess I'm not alone in that. But the QS6 plays my sampling software as well as can be expected, and it cost a fraction of the price.

This was a classic synth of its day, and as old as it is today, it's shown itself to be a classic synth in the true sense. It will continue to be one to get if you can.

Very easy to use.
The keys aren't so soft like those children' keyboards. It's great. The keys have a good response. I tried a few times to edit patches, but OK. The manual isn't all that, but u can use it and enjoy.

I think this is a grat keyboard because of this. Great and manuseable sounds. Accept xpansions, many FXs, and the better: SENSITIVE KEYS REALLY SENSITIVE!! I played a Yamaha and, between touching and punching the keys are the same sound.

think about this:
you can play: JAZZ(ORGANS, PIANO), ROCK, CLASSICAL, TECHNO(BONK, WAVE PIANO), DANCE, ETC. I play heavy metal. IT HAVE SO MANY STRINGS THAT I USE 1/10 OF THEM!!!
The instruments are realistic, yes, they are.
REACT A LOT. great reaction of velocity, only needs a little strenght to push the keys in velocity

YES. I CAN DEPEND ON IT. It uset to fall a lot on the ground, because of my dog... but it look like never touched!! a litlle scratch on the left... Realy good.

Never dealt wth the company. Had to fix it once, because the upper revestiment was loose, and, in 15 minutes of screwdrivers, it was new.

I play since 2000. Thisis the best keyboard i ever saw. I saw a lot. I love his sounds variety and i hate only one thing: The Pitch isn't at the left of the keys, it's upper. It's hard wen u have to play fast and pitch moving your hand so far.
I wish it had a floppy driver, for midi and recording.

I love this keyboard. Please, if anyone has any kind of manual or tutorial of any kind for this keyboard, contact me by e-mail or MSN:

angelo_dubas@hotail.com

Very easy to use. Presets are all grouped.Pianos, organs, guitars, etc...Editing is a breeze. Manual...better than most.

Poly 64 I think. Lots of effects. Only expansion is with sound cards...expensive. Semi weighted keys, nice. No sequencer.

Drums are great except for cymbals. I use it mainly for background sounds and pads.

I've had this board for 10+ years and no problems...knock on wood. I play multiple keyboards so back up is always necessary.

Never had to deal with them.

If it were lost or stolen, the updated versions are out so I would probably get one of them.

There's lots of presets and not many knobs. The presets sound like pianos, organs, guitars, and other non-synthesizer type instruments.
It requires a custom wall-wart.
Editing requires 2-3 hours with a manual, by which time, you've forgotten what you want to acheive.
Software does not help much either - if you can't get the terminology from the manual, you won't get it from an editor.

If you want a master keyboard, it's OK, but you'd do better with a Yamaha SY22 or SY35. It does MIDI OK. It has built-in effects, and they match up to the sounds.
It features a distinct lack of knobs and sliders.

It has a pile of sounds that real synths shouldn't make. Getting a decent screaming lead or thumping bass is nigh on impossible. And programming a sound is about as intuitive as filling in your tax return.

Yes, it's reliable. Yes I would gig with it.
It could do with a proper power-chord instead of the wall-wart.

Nope.

If you like good presets, and expect a synth not to sound too much like a synth, then this could be the synth for you.

If you want a beast that you are master of, and that actually has some sort of sound and character of it's own, forget it.

rite out the box,.i bought it used, highly useable sounds,..the sounds are labelled in bank buttons ,.pianos brass,..etc....display is small,.but....color of it (green is nice to look at)makes it worth while,..nise nice synth

64 notes of poly. nice for 96. fx is ok i wanted one to say tremolo ,...didnt see it maybe i overlooked it ,..it is xpandable though very nice by alesis ,.i also have a korg n364,....cost much more but is not xpandable ,..only through floppies.....an the alesis sound to me sound more organic and warm...it has vello .sensitive....very xpressive,no sequencer......nice keyboard

sounds are nice very useable sounds out the bozx,..very organic sounds,.nice analog ,.sytle......sounds very inspiring....fx are ghood since alesis ,.strong point is fx ,they made sure the fx on this baby was sweet as well,......

oter case is steel ,.alesis made it gig and road ready,.front of synth is layed out nicely ,.easy on the mind nice on the fingers...pads are nice and soft...

never called them ,.since i bought the synth used ,.i downloade the manual from,.american musical,....very nice.....i bought it with the mod wheel not working and a slider knob missing ,but i was in it for the sounds,..

if it was lost ,.or stolen i would get another ,..believe me this is a sleeper keyboard ,.a secret weapon ,.by alesis ,...dont let the prices fool you ,..they have a lot to offer,...also ..think about this ,....in the used adds ,.do you seee more korgs ,.roland s ,.or yamaha,...?or these ...in my xperience ,.i rarely see these keys for sale .....i like them ,and many others as well...playing for about 5 yrs. it gives u good sounds and gets out of the way ,.keys are semi weighed,.nice feel,......also have an roland jv 1080 xpanded ,.nice piece as well,...did not compare it to other keys ,.i was looking for some alesis sounds ,.lso this keyboard is vintage now ,.since i believe this is their first key board ,....find one.....

I have this pretty old QS6 which must be original software but I'm not sure what software it is. The presets are pretty good, at least to my un-expert guitar player's ears. I mostly bought it for the organ and electric piano sounds. Editing is very multi-level and not too easy. Saving edits can only be done in the user bank. I downloaded the manual from the website and I think the download must've changed some of the symbols ore something because some of the diagrams of the display have weird characters in them. I don't think I'll spend a lot of time editing except for simple things like level and effects.

64 not polyphony. Action good enough. It has built in effects, most important a creditable leslie and overdrive, though a good analog pedal for overdrive will have a bit more character. It has an expansion card slot and I bought a card off e-bay for $55.00 that had an additional 8 editable banks. Has in/out midi, no on-board sequencer tho.

organs, elec. pianos good. acoustic pianos a little limited tho the expansion card contained some good stuff downloaded from the Alesis website. Some vintage synth stuff was interesting if dated. It's good for Rock, though I could see it being used for atmospheric or soundtrack work.

It's a metal case. I think it's probasbly fine, but I just got it. One of the bank buttons doesn't work too good and sometimes there's a crackling noise in changing patches.

nice that they still have the manual on the website.

I might get somthing else, but for the price this is pretty good. I've played piano on and off casually for 30+ years, but I'm really a guitar player forced into playing a keyboard when I broke my left elbow (ouch!) Hopefully it won't get lost or stolen until I can play guitar again, and then I'd just go back to playing guitar. I have a bunch of guitars, banjoes etc. I used to have a Roland SH-101 that I sold at a yard sale, and I have a baby grand piano. This is light enough and I don't really hate anything about it. I compared it to Korgs and in particular Yamaha S30, but this was cheaper looked more durable and stll sounded good. Right now it's the best way for me to make music.

I was able to plug it in and start playing with this keyboard. The preset sounds are okay, but the piano really sucks. I have had to brighten it up quite a lot to get it to punch through a mix, and it is still a little dull. The sustain on the higher ranges of the piano sound are pretty low. Fortunately, you can layer strings or something else on it and that does help. The manual is okay and fairly easy to read through. Editing patches is pretty straightforward. The only drawback is the display. Two Line display is just not enough when trying to edit patches. Get an editor. The

This thing has 64 Note polyphony. The keyboard action is standard plastic keyboard for me. There are four effects busses that you can route your sounds thru. You can also control them real time (most other synths can do that too nowadays). You can expand the keyboard by PCMCIA card in the back (personally, I might go get the Piano card and see if the piano sounds are any better), and you can create your own samples and burn them with the program they include on the CD-Rom. There are other product demos and sounds on the CD-Rom as well.
The MIDI on it is okay as well, but it only has MIDI IN and a MIDI Out/Thru connection.

Some of the instrument sounds on this thing are great and other are really bad. The piano sounds are really bad, unless you layer them with something. The distorted guitar sounds are utterly terrible and I cannot even use them for making bad noises. The acoustic guitars are really good, as are the bass sounds. The strings are too big and bright for my tastes, and I rarely use the strings on this unit for anything. The solo woodwind sounds are generally ok, but the Tenor Sax is really cool. Mated up with a sax patch on my Korg, you would be pretty hard pressed to notice it was digital. The trumper sounds are good and most brass like that are okay. The lead sounds are good too and the loops are even fun to play with.
I think where this unit shines though, is with the Mix sounds. There are three modes on this unit:

1. Program Mode - use of single programs to play on.
2. GM Mode - General Midi Compatibility
3. Mix Mode - where you combine up to 16 single program to make a layer or 'Mix'

I love most of the Mix sounds that this thing has. The MIDI Grand Mix is a combi of piano (which I customized to sound brighter, strings(had to lower the cutoff freq, and electric piano). I love this patch and when run in Stereo. sounds rally good. The guitar Mixes are good too and expressive. The Pad sounds are good too and the Synth Effects Mixes are quite good. There is one Mix, Shaman, that is just great. There is another mix called Intro, that has 4 sounds running in it and makes a great opening sound. I really think the mixes on this thing is where it does its best.

I have owned this thing for 3-4 years, and it has been to every gig I hve ever played. I have beat the piss out of this thing on some gigs (not hard to do when you have a great Rhodes sound to spank, like this keyboard does). It nas been dropped off the keyboard stand during a couple solos at one point, but it seemed to be fine after I turned it off and on during the solo. The keys are pretty loose (probably from my playing hard on them for years), but the aftertouch is cool. I do like the metal case and it is not scratched up too bad after all the years of road use. The display has one vertical line thru it now and it sometimes goes out of tune (not sure why, maybe it thinks that it is analog or something). OVerall, considering the roads this thing has travelled with me, it has been a great board, and I have totally gotten my money out of it. I hve gigged with just that board where the stage was small and I could depend on it 100%.

I have not dealt with Alesis for support.

If it were lost or stolen, I would try to get another one. In fact, I bought a QS6.1 sox months ago and ended up trading it for a VG8, becuase I like the original QS better than the upgrade. The piano sounds were better, but I think that was about it. I think the QS is a cool board that anyone could use in their setup. I have been playing for over 25 years and was classically trained. I own Roland, Yamaha, Ensoniq, Korg and (of course) Alesis gear and I have noticed they all have their area of expertise. I do not try to venture too far away from what they keyboard does best and maybe that is why I have so many. This keyboard has helped make music and is very musical when it is played in its element. I have noticed a lot of reviews where they buy some piece of gear and I guess have not researched their purchase fully. Keyboards are basically like computers; you have to ask yourself what you really want the keyboard to perform for you. If you really get educated with your unit, you should get many years of music and creativity out of it.

Presets are nice, expecially those on the CD. Editing is quite uncomfortable. Manual is bad.

Average features. No sync to midi, no resonance filters, awful fx (only but doubled one per perfomance), may accept sample card (sound bridge included). Nice keyboard action (just got used to it). Soft, a little bit bouncey, but nice, nice aftertouch (much better than on my Trinity). No sequencer. Shared midi out/through port. Quite poor synth engine. The only nice feature is dedictaed buttons for 12 sound categories - very easy to select.

Acoustic are pathetic and plastic, too compressed sounding (except rhodes, e.p. and organs). Synths are good as well, although sound all in the same mood. In multi mode you lose all effects. The most usefull multi effect is eq+reverb I think. Forget about others. Pads are bad. Drums are SoundBlaster like. Fx are good. the only sound I like is 1st contact, which has a bery cool aftertouch fx - aliens screams - wow! Others are so-so...

Pitch wheel are working bad. Somtime I bad a random pitch waving. I have to PRESS DOWN the wheel itself to stop it. Also with the time something wrong happened to lez-overdr effect. When I bought the QS it sounded cool, now it sounds like a cheap electro distortion, almost clipping, but not quite. I reported to the forum, and there was a guy who confirmed this problem (he has QS8.1). It looks like it's getting worse and worse with the time. So beware...

Sent emails them - never ever received a reply.

Bought in 1996 for 1000$. Sold a week ago for around 400. Was celebrating that! Actually I traded it (plus 1000$) for a new Trinity, which costed in the store about 1400. Very unproffesional synth. Avoid those if you're serious about your music. Again, I have E4XTUltra with 128 RAM (if that matters), XV3080, Trinity keyboard (unexpanded) and Wavestation SR.

Easy to find the many sounds which are BETTER THAN ROLAND

I dig Keith Emerson and this has many of his sounds which are
BETTER THAN ROLAND

I'm selling my roland rd 500 the roland piano sounds like a midrange
nightmare I love the Alesis the sounds are much BETTER THAN ROLAND

who knows

what?

Everything sounds natural. Roland sounds like they sample in a hall
way with a mike around the corner compared to this.
Hey if you love distorted Hammonds, ELP synths and clear pianos
this is all you need.

I have no idea what software version. . . The presets are a very mixed bag; the acoustic pianos are thin, reedy, and too bright. The electric pianos are very good overall, the organs are very good and make good use of the leslie effect. The guitars are usable, particularly "Rock Lead," although the overdrive effect on the QS is much too weak. The string presets are absolutely ATROCIOUS and are completely useless without heavy editing--the attacks are never realistic, and split points are blatant. The brass sounds are poor overall, although the flugelhorn might be passable in a mix. The bass sounds appear decent, but fit poorly in a mix and rely VERY heavily on a low EQ boost for any punch. The synth leads and pads are great OTOH, but are a little heavy on the effects for my taste. The lead sounds that use the J Pad voice (presumably a Jupiter-8 sample) are particularly good. . .The drums are terrible and are virtually useless. In order to give the kick drum sounds any semblance of low-end, the EQ effect is required!

The user interface is an exercise in frustration; I've own many other synths/samplers (Virus keyboard, Wavestation A/D, Juno-106, XP-30, Yamaha A3000, Yamaha FS1R, etc.) and used many others extensively, and the QS6 has without a doubt the clumsiest OS I've ever seen, particularly considering it is not at all a powerful synth.

The manual is about average, which means it's lousy.

-64 note polyphony, 61-key velocity + pressure sensitive keyboard
-8 MB of uncompressed samples
-1 expansion card slot

The polyphony is fine, but when the QS6 was my only synth long ago I used to max it frequently (most programs use 4 voices, which reduces the polyphony to 16 note). The effects are of the global send/return variety, but can be very confusing and clumsy to use in multi/mix mode. The quality of the effects is below average to poor; the reverbs are particularly bad (they're grainy, metallic, and color the sound drastically), and the 2 band parametric EQ can boost, but cannot cut!!

Similarly, only a non-lowpass lowpass filter is provided, which produces surprisingly obvious stepping artifacts. Although the QS series claim to feature 3 independent LFOs / voice, each LFO is restricted to a specific function (e.g. LFO1 modulates pitch exclusively, LFO2 modulates filter, LFO3 modulates amplitude), which results in reduced flexibility for designing sounds.

No synthesis functions are provided (e.g. oscillator sync, ring mod, FM).

Keyboard action is a subjective quality of course; I liked the action on the QS6, but it exhibited far too much mechanical noise. . .

The power supply is an external lump-in-the-line adapter.

Some "acoustic" sounds, as I indicated above are great, like the electric pianos and organs are great, and the woodwinds as a group are decent, but most of the acoustic programs are marred by unnatural attacks, nasality, sloppy loop points, and poor response to velocity changes. The sounds usually are dull and not very expressive. The electronic sounds are very good, particularly the synth pads, but the lack of resonant filter and more realtime controls limits their usefulness.

This is the paradox of the QS series--great sounding electronic waveforms, but not enough synthesis tools to do anything with them. Besides, at least a megabyte most likely was squandered sampling resonant filter sweeps, so why didn't Alesis provide a resonant filter, so better acoustic samples could be included? Anyone who wants to do dance music is better off with something else, even though the synth's best sounds are geared for this purpose. The only people who could seriously use the QS6 are rock musicians who need good electric piano and organ sounds.

I personally think the QS series effects are terrible. The only usable effects IMHO are the delays, leslie, chorus/flanger, and resonator. The EQ cannot cut, period, the reverbs muddy the sound excessively, and the 4-bus structure was poorly implemented, inflexible, and confusing.

I've had a number of problems with my QS6. A few months after I bought mine in 1997, the power supply failed. Fortuantely it was under warranty, and the problem was resolved quickly. A year later, the pitch bender broke and some of the keys started to stick. I managed to fix these problems without any real trouble, but the QS6 became increasingly erratic. Sometimes it would stall while playing back a sequence for no apparent reason, and sometimes it would not power up. Finally I sold it last year.

I gigged twice with the QS6 without a backup, without any problems, but this was before it started to go beserk.

The more experience I get with synths and audio equipment, the more I realize that Alesis products are truly inferior devices that are designed from the ground up to cut corners. Hopefully the Andromeda proves me wrong.

I emailed tech support about my problems, and they responded fairly quickly each time, which is a lot better than Roland or Yamaha. Of course Roland and Yamaha gear doesn't break down like Alesis "equipment" does. This was the last Alesis product I owned, until I happily sold it last year.

At the time I bought it (Jan. 1997), there really wasn't anything else on the market that could touch the QS6's price. Things have changed quite a bit since then, and if you're in the market for a new synth for less than $1000, buy a Roland XP-30. You will not regret it for an instant. That said, I got a lot of mileage out of my QS6 and wrote some great music with it, and some of the pad sounds you can get out of it are world-class.

I'm not a Keyboard player, I play Bass guitar. I bought the QS6 as a creative sound tool to work some music ideas out on. I never really read the manual, the buttons for all the preset sounds are right on top, just push a button and go. I find it fairly easy to use but I don't use any patches or editing features. Wish it was easyer to program I could do more with it.

It's got a lot of sounds most are very good quality. I like the pitch bend wheel, and the way they group like sounds near each other.
My only other Keyboard is a Yamaha CP20 Electric Piano (vint. 1975) so this is a big step up. I bought it because it had a lot of sounds, it was very small and lightweight, and it was cheap.(under $500 new)

When I bought this keyboard I needed something more portable and my other options in this price range were Electric painos with five or six sounds. The QS6 has hunderds of sounds and a better feel than most
other instruments. It just seemed like a better quality set of keys for the money.

Seems very well built, full metal jacket. But i have not giged with it heavy, only a few times. Never had any problems.

No idea, never needed any.

I bought this right before the 6.1 came out because the dealer was blowing out the old models. I knew this and didn't need what ever the new one had so I think I got a great deal. Checking the prices paid on H-C I think I got it for less than anyone new. Compared to Roland & Korg stuff before I bought it seemed like a better value for what I needed.

The manual is not complete, I miss explanations for some functions (e.g. the resonancy effect).
The presets start with too much delay (in my opinion as a rock keyboarder). So, I have to store the patches as user patches and remove the delay.
Before I bought a Hammond-piece, I was enjoyed playing them (and even now).
Most synth-sounds, I have to edit. After I shortened the startup delay, they are very usefull. I combine patches in the mix mode - sounds very well.
Editing is hard - but after some time of practising, possible. Alternativly, I use the Unicorn-Editor from the cdrom.
The piece is very programmable, but to get really good sounds, you have to work a lot of time with it - experience is all...

64 voices, never broken the frontier. Playing live, I use only my two hands, so I've never reached the limit.
I like the keyboard action, I come from the piano and it feels like a piano.
The effects section is ok concerning the quality. But the quantity lacks. For a live keyboarder, it's important to use more than one patch at a time. But with the Alesis, you have to decide, which patch selects the effect-mode. Either you play strings and organ with lezlie or you play them with flanger. I think, a second or even third effect unit could make my life easier.
The QS6 should have a second card adapter. I use a flash ram for backup of my user presets and for additional wave's (very good, if you need thunder, you load a thunder.wav with the PC on the card and create a drumset patch: voila). So, I cannot use a ALESIS Q-Card or a S-RAM card (flash ram has only one user preset bank while S-RAM cards can have multiple).
I use sequencing only at home. You can load midi-files to the flash card and play it either external (on the midi-out) or internal (Alesis plays).

Organs are very good. Synths very "esoteric", but simple to reprogam, so I could use the pads in rock (hard'n'heavy).
Strings are a bit strange but useable for me.
I miss a list with the modulation functions. When you search for a particular sound, use the modwheel and the "controler A": some sounds change from "crap" to "surprise".
The Rhodes, Wurlis and other e-pianos are very realistic, especially with the mod wheel on half: they react to your velocity but in a randomly way, very good.
Lead synth sounds have to be reprogrammed to get the old "Europe" or "VanHalen" Sound.
I like the piano sounds, but thats based on my humble opinion. But a hint: try to route a piano over a slow lezlie instead of the icecream-like reverb - absolutely ear-pervasive.

Never got a problem - don't talk about inserting the flashram into the running synth (oops: nothing damaged ;-).
The box seems to be very stable - metal case.

Don't know and don't want to know.
Some time before, I wrote an e-mail to Alesis but never got a response. I tried to ask them, if they could deliver the sounds of the Q-Cards on a CD, so one could burn them on a flash-card (very hard to get multi-samples in SoundDesigner format).

I would buy the QS-7, it has more keys, two slots for flash-cards and, as I've heard, better piano sounds (stereo).
I love the flexible programming, the extendability (with .wav) and I hate to play mixes (multi-patches) with only one effect unit.
I hate to have effects and parameters with an unusable description in the manual.
I hate that its not possible to edit a flash-ram-patch directly.

Presets sound adequate. More on the sounds below. GM bank nearly unusable, really thin compared to rest of presets. Many good patches available for free on the Internet, however. Editing patches on the synth itself is an exercise in navigating submenus. Buttons are clearly labeled with submenu section names, but each submenu has more submenus. They make up for it with the free Unisyn computer editor - very clear layout in the Unisyn template makes tweaking the parameters much easier. (On a side note - QS editor in Emagic's SoundDiver is equally useful.) Manual is competent, has a good section on the basics of synthesis for those new to electronic music. Could have been better indexed, but still far superior to Roland manuals. Screen could have been bigger (2 x 40 characters) but this was addressed in the QS6.1 model.

64 voices - actually oscillators - with up to 4 per voice. Keyboard action and build quality are great, really solid synth action and metal construction. Built in effects are quality Quadraverb effects but the bussing is somewhat convoluted. Again, the computer editor helps. Can accept new samples through PCCard slot - 8mb per card at 48KHz. Nifty feature to add samples you create to empty PC card through MIDI - takes forever to do, though. True strenghth of the QS series is the incredible amount of MIDI control over just about everything - uses Matrix-like synth structure with loads of modulators and loads of modulation destinations. More in the sounds section on that. One of the first under $1,000 synths with both velicity and pressure sensitivity - good response as well. No built in sequencer, but can play back Type 1 standard MIDI sequences that have been saved to PC Card.

Pianos are weak - there's an 8mb Piano QCard expansion card that has the Bosendorfer samples that people rave about - people wanting good piano sounds should spring for that (or get one of the .1 series - they have the Piano expansion built in). Strings are quite nice, I think, as are the synth sounds. Modulation possibilities not really exploited by the presets, which are very generic. Capable of complete shifts of sound with properly programmed patches. Patch programming is very deep - Matrix-like patching system between modulation sources and destinations, allows creation of sounds not possible on other ROMplers. Effects sound good but are not very flexible. Filter is non-resonant lowpass only. Sounds better than Korg synths for pads, but similarly limited by non-resonant filter. Not for acid filter sweeps. Modulation structure allows crafty workarounds to get some convincing analog-ish sounds of out it, but the QS series is designed more toward the general comp and new-age pad folks.

Solid metal construction without weighing a ton. Doesn't crash. Doesn't freak out in summer heat. Very dependable. I use it as a master keyboard on stage.

Never had to deal with Alesis.

I would probably get the newer version (QS 6.1) or the larger keyboard (QS 7.1) which have a bigger display, the 8mb Piano expansion, two PCCard slots instead of 1, and 4 control sliders instead of 1. I would definitely get another QS synth, though - I have too many wicked custom sounds for it that I cannot get on other synths. Alesis would do well to make a new line of QS synths that have resonant filters but are otherwise compatible with the older QS synths. The QS line represents a toning down of the original QuadraSynth line, which in my opinion were better synths - huge displays, massive alpha dial controllers - but they are a good value for the money. Less common in dance music circles, I suppose, but that is probably a strength given how everyone sounds like everyone else these days.

BIOS v2.00, September 6, 1996. As far as I know, that was the last
software update written for the QS6, which allowed for independent
MIDI sequence playback, and sample burn/playback to/from flashcards.
Preset sounds, expansion ability and overall capablity were the
reasons, at the time (Spring '97), that I bought this keyboard. They
were, in my opinion, far superior to the equivalent competing keyboards
(Korg X5D, Roland XP-10). This, and the price was virtually identical.
Patch editing is complete, though somewhat obscure. Keep in mind,
however, that this was my first "professional" keyboard, and I had to
learn all about ADSR envelopes, samples, etc. while I was trying to
decipher the menu-based patch editing. When bought, the pack-in
CD-ROM included a "lite" version of MOTU's Unisyn, which allows PC-based
editing of patches, significantly easing patch editing.
Editing mixes (multi-timbral mode) is extremely easy, and the
64-note polyphony allows impossibly lush symphonies with nary a dropped
note.
The manual is good to get you started, but near worthless when it
comes to the nuts and bolts.

64-note polyphony, with a semi-weighted keyboard. I believe that
the mechanism is made by Fatar for Alesis. Keys send aftertouch data
(a bonus!). MIDI in and out/thru, as well as a serial interface are
all provided for interfacing. A single, assignable control slider is
provided.
Built-in effects are more than adequate (or were, by the standards
of the day), with delay, overdrive, reverb, lezlie and more fairly easily
implemented and adjusted.
Expansion is through a single PCMCIA slot in the back, which accepts
standard Flash RAM cards (up to 8MB, for sample burning and subsequent
playback (viola, it's a sampler!), MIDI sequence storage or patch and mix
data storage) and Alesis Q-Card expansion cards. I've personally
bought the Vintage Synths Q-Card, which has proven to be well worth
the (very fair) zZounds purchase price.

With only 8MB (as opposed to the 16MB QS7, 8 and all the x.1 series),
the piano sound is really lacking. However, Alesis does a wonderful
job of leveraging what available samples there are, to make for an
extremely usable array of presets. I can't say the orchestral (string,
brass, etc.) sounds are all that convincing, but the pad and synth
sounds are pure gold. That having been said, the keyboard is well-suited
to virtually all types of music. I personally use it for trance/ambient,
for which, with the previously mentioned Q-Card expansion, it has
served me admirably. One complaint: drum sounds are utterly useless
for electronic style music -- plan to buy an appropriate expansion card
if this type of music is your interest.
Onboard effects are good (see above for more), and definitely add
to the creative potential of the keyboard.
Keyboard dynamics are adequate.
The slider tends to "crackle" occasionally when used, and the MIDI
timing tends to be a little sloppy under heavy load, so it loses the
perfect 10 rating.

The keyboard is built like a tank. I've never had a problem (touch
wood) with it, and would readily gig without a backup.

Customer support, by telephone, is adequate. By e-mail, support
is abysmal.

If it were lost or stolen, I would replace it with a QS6.1 as soon as
possible. I find it is more than worth what I paid for it. The old
QS6's can be had for minimal cost used now, so if you're interested,
give one a listen for yourself and see what you think.
One caveat -- I *wish* it had an arpeggiator, but I guess that's
nothing that can't be cured by a decent sequencer.

Most of the presets are very good. Organs and electric pianos are excellent. Alot of good analog synth sounds, especially 3oh3 SqrMW. Drums are pretty good. If you use alot of symbals, you might want to make your own set and set the symbal levels higher, otherwise not bad.
Onboard patch editing is tedious, as on most synths. But it comes with a bundled copy of Unisyn (if you're using a Mac) which is nice. Mine seems to be flawed though. If I don't move the window to the middle of the screen, none of the sliders work, but I can live with it. Actually I've started doing more onboard editing. It's actually kind of fun. Sort of like solving a puzzle.
The manual sucks. It's basically a crash course in synthesizer terminology. It tells you what the parameters mean (in hard-to-fathom techie-speak) but don't really say much about how to use them. I think Alesis considers the QS6 an entry level synth but I sure most beginners would have to spend at least six months, alone in a small room, with one to figure it out. Setting up multi-timbral mixes can be somewhat confusing. Especially when you start fiddling around with the effects. The software version is 2.0.

The 64 voice polyphony is excellent. I can't imagine ever running into problems with dropping notes because of it. The keyboard action is also excellent and once you try aftertouch, you'll never go back.
The effects are nothing short of perfect. Somewhat confusing at first, especially if you haven't worked with effects processors before. But they're extremely good. You can have up to four individual effect settings running at the same time in a multi-timbral mix.
The reason I chose the QS6 over the Korg N5 (for instance) is because it accepts pcmcia expansion cards which enable you to import your own samples from your computer. So, if you have a computer and some empty flash ram pcmcia cards, your QS6 is suddenly a sampler.
Midi capabilities are very good. It has a built in serial port so you don't need a midi translator between the QS6 and your computer. The serial port can be set to PC or Mac. It also has MIDI in and the MIDI out is also the MIDI through. Multi-timbral mixes can have up to 16 channels. Everything can be sent to MIDI, wheels, controller, velocity, aftertouch. You name it. Program changes can also control changes in effects settings.
No onboard sequencer. Who cares? They always suck anyway.

The expresiveness of the QS6 is excellent. Even though alot of the sounds aren't all that realistic. If you want something that sounds like a real piano, go out and buy a real piano. The wheels and controllers can be set to control almost any parameters you want. Even the effects. Velocity and aftertouch are excellent. If you're playing keyboards in a band, this synth will suit pretty much any musical style. If you're playing on your own with a sequencer, then it depends on how picky you are. But you're going to have a tough time finding any other synth in the QS's price range that does better.

I've had it for three months and haven't had any problems yet. Another reason I decided to buy the QS is because it looks like it would take a steam roller to dent it. It's the only synth I saw in it's price range with a metal casing.

Well, the first one they gave me had a problem with the display. It lit up but nothing was displayed. I called up the dealer and they told me to bring it in and gave me another one right away.
I tried e-mailing Alesis about the problem with Unisyn. They never responded.

If lost, I would buy it again. If stolen, I would have my insurance company buy me a new one. It's worth more than what I paid. The dealer was clearing out the QS6's so he could ship in some QS6.1's, so I got it with a 30% discount.
The only thing that bothers me about it is that it's somewhat difficult to fiddle your way through a multi-timbral, solo jam session. You pretty much have to decide beforehand how you want your mix setup. Once you incorporate a sound program into a mix you lose that programs effects settings and the mixes settings take over. In some cases it can make the program sound very different.
I've been playing for 15 years and have owned a number of low-end keyboards. But I've had steady access to some pretty good equipment, like the Roland W-30 and the Kurzweil K-2000. When I was shopping for a new synth, I was looking for something I could afford, but something that reminded me somewhat of the K-2000.
I looked at the Yamaha CSX-1 and the Korg N5. When I saw the QS6, there was no comparison. The CSX-1 and the N5 are toys, the QS6 is a tool.

This is an update to a previous review of this instrument. It failed once and had to go into the shop for repair -- the main soundboard failed and needed to be replaced.

Fortunately, the unit was still covered under warrantee at the time of failure and was repaired in a reasonable amount of time with no cost to me. Alesis has authorized repair centers, which allowed me to bring my synth to a shop about 15 minutes away, as opposed to shipping the item out. The synth failing turned out to be a blessing in disguise, for when I returned home with the repaired synth, it sounded musch better than it ever had -- the piano is now like the 6.1 as well as the output level. Apparently, they simply supplied me with a 6.1 soundboard -- they probably have no qs6 sound boards available. So the synth is better than new.

Overall, I have been quite happy with this board. Itis always irritating when something fails, but it is bound to happen sooner or later -- that's what warrantees are for. For more info, see my previous review.

I listed quite a favorable review here a while back and feel that it is my responsibility to update, as the synth has failed on me. As I stated earlier, if a synth is going to fail, it usually will do so within the warrantee period. Mine is, fortunately, still unser warrantee. The problem is in the output stage. The synth powers up and executes fine, but the output is about one-sixth of its norm and is distorted. It seems that most find this to be a reliable synth and I'm hoping my problem is a mere fluke. Also, mine was the on-the-rack model -- the last that Guitar Center had, so perhaps it took some abuse there that caused its demise. Nevertheless, I still expect a quality piece of equipment to be able to take a reasonable beating and still function.

We'll soon see how Alesis customer support is and I will update only if I have a negative experience. If there is no update by the end of June, then all has gone well.

This was my first keyboard, bought for a project studio in January, 1998. The preset sounds are pretty good, and with a Q card and the bundled soundbridge CD you can build a software based library of around 3000 different patches, which in my case I manage through Unisys. Editing patches through the keyboard is pretty ponderous, and much easier through Unisys. The Pianos are so-so, with a couple of good Rhodes and metallic piano patches, but the acoustics aren't that hot. Of course this is a problem that is easy to solve, as all current Alesis keyboards contain the teriffic Bosendorfer phase-accurate stereo grand, which is outstanding (I access this patch through a Q card. I also use a Korg Trinity TR-Rack and a Roland MBD-1, and although most sounds from the Trinity are world class, I still normally layer them with QS6 patches, and Korg cant touch the Alesis stereo grand. The manual is pretty hard to divine any usaeable info from, It tells you what's going on as far as the unit's architecture, but gives no tips on haw to produce a certain sound, etc.

With 64 note polyphony on board this is a very versatile keyboard. My Trinity is only 32 voices, and occasionally steals voices, so I feel 64 should be a minimum. Built-in effects are good and very useful, but hard to program. I've usually used software plugins or outboard units instead just because they're easier. The Keyboard action is pretty good, with aftertouch and velocity sensitivity (a must). This is not a workstation (no sequencer) and doesn't have true resonant sweep capability, but is a great all-around keyboard, especially if you are techno oriented

The patches are pretty good, all are not stellar, but the sheer number of them gives a lot of choices. Lots of nice pads, and even some of the complex/morphed sounds give the Korg a run for its money. This is my main keyboard, and I've never had any remorse about buying it.

Ive never gigged with it, but in general it seems dependable. Lately, though, it's begun a nasty habit of jumping into mix mode everytime you try to change patches.

Like most customer support, they're not Rhodes Scholars (no pun). If they were, they wouldn't be in tech support, would they? My dealings with them have been pretty good. I bought a floor model that had been around for a while, and needed the bundled CD. Comparing patch info to the manual allowed the support guy to deduce that I needed a current E-prom as well, and both were overnighted to me the next day at no charge.

I would buy this unit again, not so much because its outstanding as for the amount of learning time invested. The nerwer units (6.1) supposedly have a larger lcd screen. Ironically the versatility of the onboard effects is what put me over the top, but I hardly use them except as they come programmed with the patches.

Many other reviews of this product describe it as "difficult to program." I find it a snap to program, and could probably train a monkey to do so. In fact, mine was the last that Guitar Center had, so I had to wait about a month to acquire a manual. I didn't even use it, for I had the synth's programming operations down within two or three days.

It has as many features as a performance synth in 1999 should. Many have complained about the lack of an on-board sequencer -- those, people, are called WORKSTATIONS, like the Korg O1. But this is not, nor does it claim to be, a workstation. My Roland A90ex does not have an onboard sequencer either -- it is a controller. If a sequencer is what you want, buy a workstation. I feel that workstations are basically a waste of money unless one travels often and requires portable means. It is much less expensive to buy software and use a computer. Even the cheapest version of Cake Walk is better than any workstation's sequencer. Finally, the LCD window is small, but I would rather have a small window than a large price-tag.

The Piano sound is not average, as some have described. It is god-awful and uninspiring. The drum sounds are average, but in a performance synth, drum sounds are not that important. If you want drum sounds, get the DM5. The organs are great, as well as the electric piano -- especially the rhodes, which sounds great with tremelo from the modulation wheel. Horn and string sounds are good, not the best, but adequate. There is a great sax on there though. The synth sounds are quite versatile, and I have been able to duplicate several "vintage synth" tones. The pads and solo patches (especially "Shine On...") I like as well.

I have used my QS6 onstage many times and have never had a problem. Usually, if a synth is defective, it will fail immediatelty. Also, if for any reason one is experiencing MIDI glitch (locks up) you can turn it off and on and be up and running again quickly, for it remembers what patch you were on and has no lag time from when it is turned on to when it is usable. Plus, if it really acts strange, holding down 0 and 3 while turning the power on will reset the global parameters to stock without changing any programs or mixes.

When I purchased my QS6, it was the absolute last one that any of the Guitar Center stores in Chicagoland had for sale. It was the demo and had no manual and lacked the soundbridge CD-Rom. Guitar Center supplied me with a manual, and I contacted Alesis via email for the CD Rom. They responded quickly and pollitely, and within three or four days, I had the CD Rom in my mail box.

If lost or stolen, I would not buy it again -- I would buy the QS7. It has twice as many wave forms and has a great piano sound on board. However, I do not anticipate losing my QS6 and have purchased a Q Card "Grand Piano" which will remedy the piano sound dilemma, as well as ad several other waveforms to my arsenal. For $499, nothing else could come close to the QS6. The other synths under $1000 are merely toys while this is a professional quality performance synth

This unit only rates a 7 for ease of use. Not because it's *difficult* per se, but because it is very cumbersome having to scroll through thousands of pages to amend the desierd parameters. The manual is quite adequate - better than manuals from other manufacturers I've seen.
Finding sounds is very simple because all sound types are organied together in banks (e.g. pianos in one bank, strings in another, drums in another etc). Preset sounds range from ordinary to excellent - none of them suck, and a few dazzle.
I've only had the synth a few weeks and I'm still shopping around for a PC sound editor. There are a few around (QE Plus, QS Editor32, maybe I'll try Emagic SoundDiver?).

Feauturewise, this synth is excellent value for money. 64 voice polyphony/16 part multi-tabral is great for sequences. They 61 key, semi-weighted keyboard is nice to use and is velocity and aftertouch sensitive. They built in effects are superb and are a derivation of Alesis' excellent Quadraverb 2 fx unit. There is a great deal of porgrammability within the effects - enough to keep the most ardent tweakers satisfied for months! The synth does not have resonance filter, but a number of samples have resonance sweeps so I find I can easily live without one.
The QS6 comes with 8MB of ROM an board, with the provision to add another 8MB via a PC Card (called a 'Q-Card'). There are several Q-Cards available. I demmoed a couple in the store and they sounded fantastic!
The QS6 also comes bundled with a CD rom with a heap of cool software (incldung a copy of Unisyn - yet to get my head 'round it though) and about 8 extra banks of sounds.

I would give this unit a 6 for sound quality compared to what's available in the marketplace, but a 10 out of 10 at it's price point.
The keyboard comes with 640 preset patches (128 user, 128 GM) and 500 mixes (or combinations). Some presets are excellent, others are ordinary. Generally speaking; the pianos are average (but usable - better than a Korg N5), strings are average (there are a couple of good patches) brass sounds are good, drums and percusiion are excellent, ethnic/chromatic instrument sounds are also excellent. The QS6 comes with a variety of drum/rhythm loops which sound quite impressive, but are probably of limited use. The Synth/pad/analog type sounds are generally very good as well.

It's made from aluminium (not plastic) and is built like a tank so I don't envisage any construction problems.

Have emailed Alesis twice on different questions and never received a reply - maybe their replies got lost in cyberspace? Perhaps my questions were too stupid!

9/10 in terms of value for money. Obviously there are better synths out there, but in my opinion this is the best one at it's price point.
I was tossing up between the QS6 and the Korg N5. I chose the QS6 for the following, subjective, reasons:
Better piano sounds (marginally!) Better drum and percussion sounds Logical location of presets Less "ridiculous" presets Expansion ability - PC cards Nicer keyboard and more rugged construction The cool CD rom that comes with it!
However, the Korg has better strings/Orch hits and is easier to use.

Basic usage is quite simple. The QS6 has a very simple interface for entry-level users. The editing is different. It is really a royal pain if you want to do it from the synths. The manual is awful. It is non-consistent, full of grammatical errors and generally chaotic.

Well. The features are excellent. It has 64 voices, four effect-busses, etc, etc..

I am most pleased with the sounds of the QS6. Excellent organs, average pianos, very good guitars, good strings, great synth sounds. The only dissapointment was the General Midi preset.

It is reliable. Yes, I would use it without backup.

I like the QS6. Yes, I would buy it again, or QS7/8.

Note: This is for version 2.00 of the software...
The QS6 is one of the easiest keyboards I've used - at least as far as selecting sounds is concerned. The button layouts are real clear - no wheels to pick your sounds. Just select your bank, pick your sound group, pick your program, and you're there! Editing is a bit of a pain, as I'll explain below, but not so bad that it takes off a lot of marks from the overall score.
The presets overall sound great, though the acoustic piano programs are a little on the weak side coming out of the box. For instance, while I like the tone of the Grand Piano, the default decay rate is way too short so that with even a sustain pedal, the notes come off a bit staccato. But that's not too much of a problem, since I tend to record piano live anyway or use synthesized acoustic piano as a subtle underscore. The rest of presets are really nice. The strings, while not quite rivaling the "realism" of Roland strings, sound real nice, especially those with pad effects attached. The percussion sounds are especially nice on this unit.
With respect to editing patches, there's so much you can do, and so much you have to learn, that it's a bit daunting for the newbie to this synth. It's not that settings are difficult to get at - they're not - it's just that there's so much. In addition, the LCD is pretty small, and you're forced to scroll a lot of pages to get where you want to go. Once you get used to it though, it's not bad. However, I should say that there are shareware programs on the internet that interface with the QS that provide a graphical interface for editing programs that makes the job incredibly easy. What I mentioned as difficult refers to editing patches from the keyboard itself.
As far as the manual is concerned, it's not great, but it is adequate, and will give you a good sense of how to use the synthesizer properly. If you can though, make sure you get your vendor to include a copy of the QS6 instructional video along with your unit. It saved me a bunch of time!

The QS6 has true 64-voice polyphony - and that's a ton! For a keyboard in the <$1000 range, you just can't beat that. I doubt that I'll ever need to reach this (now that I've said it, I'll probably come up with a song that'll require use of all 64 voices). Add to that semi-weighted keys, and you've got a nice-sounding, nice-playing instrument.
As far as effects are concerned, the QS6 has four "stereo independent multi-effect processing busses" that can produce chorus, reverb, delay, and distortion, singly and in combination. You can also create rotating speaker effects. In all, the effects are awesome on this keyboard, and just add to the all the nice features this keyoard has.
But a big plus for me (and one of the major reasons I bought the keyboard) was the expansion capability of the system. The QS6 comes with a single PCMCIA card slot for either storing sounds and sequences, or adding more presets with Q-Cards, which are ROM cards burned with specific genre-type sounds. A very nice touch. The ability to store sequences (without necessarily editing them locally on the machine) was important to me because I do a lot of work at home and bring the keyboard to the studio. Being able to store my sequences and play the back into Pro Tracks was a HUGE issue. It meant that I didn't have to redo or revoice my MIDI tracks in the studio, saving valuable studio time that could be spent on the live instruments and vocal tracks.
MIDI on this unit is superb. This little multi-timbral unit allows up to 16 simultaneous MIDI channels to be used in a mix. And I have actually yet to use all 16 channels! Along the same lines, the QS6 doesn't come with a built-in sequencer, but that's not a problem for me because I've never been comfortable with built-in sequencers in the first place. I prefer computer-based sequencers where I have more control over the sequences settings.

Let's just put this in perspective: The keyboard comes standard with 512 Preset and 128 User single programs. Furthermore, it comes with 400 Preset and 100 User polyphonic mixes. The sheer number is staggering for a keyboard in this price range. And you'll definitely find a lot of voices that fit your type of composition.
All I can say for this keyboard's expressiveness and quality of sounds is that they are all top-notch with the exception of the acoustic piano sounds. But I tend to be pretty critical of those anyway, and prefer to do those live, so for others, it may not be an issue. The QS6 out of the box is really well-suited for more contemporary types of music as far as its default sounds are concerned. However, with the Q-cards adding genre-specific sounds to the keyboard, the types of music that can be played out of that box cover a pretty broad area.
As I said above, the onboard effects are awesome, and nice change for a sub-$1000 keyboard. In fact, one of the things I didn't mention is that the keyboard is so flexible that you can assign various effects to the three phases of a keytouch to produce some interesting effects. For instance, you can have the keyboard play one sound when a key is first pressed. After you hold the key down for awhile, you can have the sound morph into another sound; taking it a bit further, you can then program in another sound when the key is released. Way cool!
The keyboard is touch sensitive, so it will react to the way you play. I found that with some of the programs, the touch threshold to trigger secondary effects is a bit erratic. Sometimes they kick in to easily, other times, you really have to wail on the keyboard to make them trigger. Oh well, you can't have everything...
By the way, the keyboard is both velocity and aftertouch sensitive - kind of implied by the above.

Haven't had to call tech support yet - okay, just once, but that was only to clarify something (read, user stupidity). In any case, I transport this puppy back and forth between my home and the studio and it still looks new - it helps that I take care of it though, as should anyone who owns a delicate piece of equipment.
Would I use it on a gig without a backup? You bet, only because I don't have tons of money to have a backup, and if I did have enough, I would have one in any case just because I'm paranoid. But in my current financial situation, no problem, I could rely on this keyboard with ease.

Only called once, waited for only two or three minutes and got my question answered immediately, and without hassle. Upgrades haven't been an issue since the keyboard is brand new.

I absolutely love this keyboard! Yes, editing can be a bit daunting at first. But when you have the ability to customize or create sounds at a real fine level, having a lot of features to edit isn't such a bad thing at all.
Admittedly, I haven't been playing keyboard for a long time - I'm a guitarist and vocalist by trade, with a few years of piano under my belt, so electronic synthesis is a bit new to me. But I did my homework on this purchase, spending a couple of months (ouch, that was tough) comparing the QS6 to keyboards from Yamaha, Korg, Roland, Ensoniq (up to $1000). After weighing all the pros and cons the QS6 was the only keyboard that met almost all of my requirements. For the price, you just can't beat this keyboard!
I've been writing music for about 20 years, and since I've been using the QS6 to write music, it has propelled my music writing into another dimension. Combined with my PC, there's not much I can't do composition-wise. Once I mastered creating mixes and applying effects, I knew that this was one piece of equipment that I'd be hard-pressed to part with.
Okay, I've had nothing but praise for this keyboard, but there are some things that I'd like to see...
First, the LCD, while serviceable, could be bigger and more informative. All the Yamahas that I looked at had great readouts. Furthermore, it would be nice if Alesis wrote software for editing patches and mixes from Windows or the Mac to compensate for the tiny LCD. They could have even included one of the shareware programs that's out on the internet. It just would have been a nice touch.

It has a good look: the pitch and modulation are in the right places and so does the rest. It's well drawn, I would say. The presets sounds OK, the strings are good to my ears, and the drums are the best. Not the drums, but the effects too! Editing is a little boring, it's all there, but you don't have empty Programs to start. Things can be a little confusing then. The manual is very bright, with lots of pictures.

The polyphony is great: 64 voices. That's more than the keys (61), so live musicians don't have to care about that. Not even the studio ones, I think... But you can play from one to 16 programs at the same time, with the Mixes power, turning it to a 4-voice. making The effects are the best (it has FOUR busses!), including EQ, Leslie, Pitch (chorus, flanger, resonator...), delay, reverb and - god - an Overdrive. There is a problem: it's not easy to editing them without the manual... It can be very expanded, and there are the QCards, PCMCIA-like that have lots of new samples and programs. Well, MIDI is always present: velocity, aftertouch... there are two pedals: a sustain that comes with it and an assignable one. There is the Controller "A", a slider that you can assign what you want, from Filter Freq to Reverb Decay.

Well, the sounds. This is the first thing you need to consider at the time you buy a keyboard. But the QS6 don't make a mistake: it has good sounds. The pianos aren't very good, but you can "delude" some ears by making good use of the eletric ones. I like the strings, they sound great. There are drums and percussion for everyone, but the ones not interested in the real thing would be happier. The preset synths aren't The Ultimate, but I could make very good use of the samples and effects, making great leads and pads. I didn't like the guitars... well, I don't like to play guitar on the keyboard, so it doesn't matter. But, I admit, I've used some samples to make synths... The keyboard is very good, it's better than Roland's and Yamaha's. I use it as a MIDI controller too because of that.

Well, I've already carried it everywhere and it's still like a new one. It's very good to use on gigs, because of its iron-made. Well, that means the QS6 is a dumb-roadie proof. And the software, until now, hadn't had any problems so on.

Man, I'll be serious: I haven't called it yet.

Well, it's really a good keyboard. It's not the best, not even Alesis' best, but it worth. I'm beginning my little home studio, and it's resumed by that: an old mac (Quadra) to sequence, a Midi Time Piece, my little QS6 that I use for the 'base' of the songs, a Korg O3R/W, that I use for the General MIDI instruments (they sound great), and I'm planning to buy Nord Lead 2, to use some some of its great pads, leads and basses. Well, I have the Alesis Wedge (It's god damn good), a little mixer and two Alesis Monitor One (man, I like Alesis!). Well, It's a good keyboard for gigging and for the studio. Some of the keyboardists who have the money, buy it just for its great keyboard, using for a MIDI controller.