Alesis QS8

The QS8 is a great board, don't get me wrong. The programs and mixes are easily accessible, but it takes a lot to learn how to use all the edit/store functions. I would reccomend it as a master midi cotroller.

I love the action of the QS8. Nice and heavy like my Roland Fantom X8. I'm so used to the havy action that this is just a slightly differnet feel than my roland.
It's got enough polyphony for the type of music I play...64 voices.
I actually like this better than the QS8.2 because it has 2 exp. slots, and a digital out.

Some sounds are pretty bad, and can't be used. The pianos are pretty bright, and with a small band in a gig, this is the perfect controller with a bright piano present to cut through the mix. I also prefer most of the synths and pads over my fantom. I'll take the small sting/violins/cellos etc. in the fantom, but this has more usable/mixble string ensembles. I also will nebver touch the organs/e-pianos on the fantom after using these(even though the fantom has a dedicated piano switch with a huge e-piano section). I like all the effects it has too. For the price I got this, I cant be happier. I actually record more of this than my fantom x

It's kinda heavy, rugged, and has never died on me, though I bought it used off ebay. For a controller, it's perfect. For a keyboard, it's up to par with My fantom x in everything except for the acoustic pianos, and the extras, like the sequencer, sampler, pads, arpeggios...Hey, that's why the fantom is $3k.

Never had to deal with them. my keyboard must be special for being used and $400, with no probs.

I'd definetely buy it again, even if it costed $1000. I love the sounds and the feel. My only complaint is editing patches and all the internal features where you have to hold down two buttons, scroll 4 times, OK a parametetr...etc. If they added a larger screen and added a few more buttons (all that's there are the sliders and global, midi, and program/mix buttons), I'd be completely satisfied.

I am using the QS8 Synthesizer for 9 years now, and i've never been really sorry about it. combined with a sequencer (i use Cubase) it is an reliable tool witch is allmost the basement for most of my creations. The knobs are working precisly and working with it in aktion is easy and inspirating. Using additional ROM soundcards is easy just plug in and enjoy, Using it with a ram card is more difficoult, becaouse conectivity via midi is very slow and the added software for dumping progrmas is a fiddly work. even try to change progrmas an creating new sounds is very hard directly on the synth and the added software for changing it with the PC is very complex and the syncronisation with the QS often fails ore is doing strange things... the display of the synth has only 2 lines!
better download full program banks from internet and enjoy the sounds athers have made... if u do it by yourself.. it will take hours!!!
The factory presets are almost similar to all synths of the ninetys some piano, some synth, some strings etc. Boring but in good quality. Even if people here say something different the Piano sounds are mor realistik than known from yamaha clavina sounds! i love it!
The manual is almost standart

In fact that the Synth is very hard to edit i will lower the points heavily, because it is called a synthesizer and not a Casio budget keyboard - 4 points!

Features are mentioned before, but what i really do miss on this synth are filters. for having a filter-effect the synth uses different recorded samples wich u can overlay with the mod wheel so that it sounds like a filter... WANNABE!!!
The effect section is high quality, but it is not possible to chose differnt effects in multimode so that every sound comes with the same effect. fortunately the QS8 has 4 outputs so u can rout sounds in a dry way to ypur mixer and set effects externaly.
The 88 keys weighted keyboard is really heavy duty and undistroyable! but at the expense of playability the keys are hard to push dun, but they are working well and precisly, i like it, others do not...
the 16x midi-multimode works fine and i never had lags ore similar..
-2 for missing filters!

sounds are fine but to conentional. one Bank is wasted with good but not needed GM soundbank. i use it with a RAM card so that i have 1280 Programs for my synth. thats more than enough and u can compensate the lack of filters with a hughe variety of programs. with much time and creativity u can elicit woverwhelimg sounds!
But the natrual sounds are even very realistic, and u can have much fun with making your own band or orchestra with teh QS!

i had never one problem with the QS. and i would never having a doubt that it could fail anytime!

Bad, worse, Alesis...
the support has been very bad there is only customer support in the US .. now it changes but that took 8 years..
The to Host ability with the RS 232 cable i culd forget when windows XP was introduced. there is no support for XP and so u can dump your sysex via midi and that is terrible slow, even editing programs via software is slow... shame on alesis that is not standart in the music business! The deliverd software is too complex and not intuitive, an update would have changed much, but there was never one.. (maybe with QS8.1?? i don't think so..

As i said, i never felt sorry about buying the QS but today i would not buy it again! But it works well as a great Masterkeyboard because the keyboard is more than excellent, and HEAVY DUTY. The metalcase prefers it for road use if u have big muscles ore an "Mr Universum"- Roadie!!!! The midi funktions are well and u have 4 realtime sliders for editing external midi periphery. the sounds are aged and i prefer more flexible VA synthesis and that delivers the QS8 not. in germany we would call it "Preset-schleuder" - preset-sling....

But i still use it today and i would miss it if i could nit use it. i love it, but allways with a tear in my eye and a greedy glance to my VA synthesizers...

I had many live gigs with my QS8(.0) and I think most presets don't sound very realistic. I give a rating of 4 only because I like the piano samples (not the presets). Now I use the piano bank from "Sam's Alesis Page" and I like it, good mono and stereo piano patches.

Easy to use. Quick access to groups/types of presets. Relatively easy to edit patches, if you're used to editing patches on smallish LCD displays (mine is the original QS8 with the smaller LCD). Easier to program with a computer via MIDI and software (not included). The manual is EXCELLENT. If you are somewhat new to synth programming, the manual gives lots of help. Maybe it could be deeper or more detailed, but it is very friendly to new users.

64-note polyphony (ignore the recent reviews stating 16-note, they are incorrect). 16-part multitimbral, I believe.

Key action is weighted. It's luxurious at the price I paid (just under $1500 new when these things had just come out). Compared to a real piano, it's not the same, but it is far far better than synth action unweighted keys. Compared to other brands, I don't know as I have not compared. Other people have said it compares pretty well. Aftertouch is a great plus (channel, not note). No on board sequencer.

Has theoretically great expansion capabilities with PC Card slots (the original QS8 and QS8.1 has two slots as opposed to the 8.2's single slot). I don't own any QS Cards as they have been above my price range for their smallish sound sets (8MB per card max). If you do choose to use the cards, they're very easy to work with. Plug in and switch to the next available bank.

The "theoretically" part is in reference to the fact that, while you can build your own QSCards or use PC Cards for memory expansion to add your own sounds, it can be time consuming to do so. This feature turns a QS8 into a virtual sampler (meaning, no recording, but you CAN add your own sounds), at the cost of lots of planning and expirimentation. The software required to do this is available for both Classic MacOS and Windows from Alesis' web site. I highly recommend using a serial connection for the process of "burning" a card as the transfer rate is much faster than MIDI. It is the difference between an hour long card-write and several hours long. If you plan to put your own sounds to a card or two, make sure you plan the process before doing so. Loop your samples and set their root note values in a sound editor on your computer, then and save as WAV or SampleCell Instrument files. You can NOT make changes to ANY sample-related information once written to the card. A bad loop or root note value means starting all over again. The tediousness of everything can be irritating, but if you have time and patience, the QS8 lets you put 16MB more of custom samples into use (8MB for the QS8.2 which has only one slot).

It is fantastic that this synth has ADAT built in. I have lots of problems with ground loops and noise in my workspace. Moving from analog output to digital on my QS8 was a HUGE improvement. Be warned, the QS8.2 does not have ADAT!

Lots of controller options. Aftertouch. Pitch and mod. 1 foot switch and 1 continuous controller (foot, other). Four CC sliders. No knobs.

Very nice pianos. I recommend adjusting the brightness (decreasing) for lighter velocities and possibly changing the key sensitivity to a lower value (to make the brightest notes less likely to be hit on lighter key presses).

Nice strings.

Nice assortment of synths.

Brass and woodwinds are about the same as on most decent synths. Nothing here that even approaches the qualities of modeled synths.

Overall Sounds:
Good for all genres of music, unless you want filter sweeps. I agree with most reviews here. The sounds range from boring to interesting while the majority are somewhat plain. This is not a bad thing if you want to avoid making music that with an obvious "Alesis Signature sound." As a general sound source, it's quite good.

If you're looking for inspirational and wild sounds, you won't really find much here. I don't know if this is due to Alesis' sound designers or the synth's architecture as I have not programmed mine all that much (I have tended to use samplers and custom sounds and, briefly, some on-board sounds for generic music).

Not enough ROM patches make use of the controllers (such as aftertouch), in my opinion (I think this is common in a lot of synths). The specs show lots of possibilities, especially with the modulation (possible to emulate an arpeggiation) and some patches make interesting use of these features. Though they still don't command attention. The lack of utilization of controllers probably has a lot to do with the fact that the lower range models of this synth (QS7, QS6) uses the same set of sounds - why put lots of modulatable patches on a machine without aftertouch and fewer sliders?

Still, if you want a set of sounds that don't leave an "Alesis QS8 Signature" on all of your music, this is all a good thing. I expect that the hardware is capable of more impressive sounds than it offers in the ROM set, but it's up to you to program it. This synth is capable and has a great feel and set of controllers. Don't buy this synth for the sounds alone.

I don't think the onboard effects are all that impressive. Reverb is fine, but distortion feels way too underpowered and lifeless.

I've not had any trouble with my QS8. I do not travel with it or perform live. It is somewhat heavy, but this is due to the metal housing, which is a big plus if you DO want to gig with it. Feels solid and sturdy. Does not have any computer-like behaviors (crashing, freezing, etc). Reliable.

I have not needed to contact support. I hope I never need to, especially now that the QS8 has become greatly outdated by the other stuff out there, and especially by Alesis' Fusion, which seems like a monster that I'd love to have the justification and money for. If you plan to get PC Cards (PCMCIA) for custom sound expansion, the max is 8MB per card and you need the cards that use ceramic edges instead of metal. Check at the QuadraSynth Pages web site for more details.

If I didn't have the cash to buy something more modern (like the Alesis Fusion, Korg OASYS, etc), I would probably buy another QS8 (though I'd go for the QS8.1 for the larger LCD and dedicated transpose button). I have an Akai S6000 that's my primary sound source (or will be if I ever get my butt in gear), so the sounds on the keyboard are pretty irrellivant and I am happy with the keys and controllers (though I would like a ribbon controller and would rather have a Korg-like joystick instead of separate pitch and mod wheels).

I'm writing this because after several years I finally sold my wonderful
QS8, but I had to replace the LCD first, and that was a hassle due to
some odd engineering thing in the QS8 and the Alesis repair game.

So let me first say the original QS8 is a great keyboard. Solid,
looks good, plays well, good piece of equipment. I don't trust
Alesis repair/support though. To many bad stories and experiences.
See the part of my review on customer support to see an actual
e-mail from Alesis and how I eventually replaced my LCD for much
cheaper and better quality (and prettier backlight) than I could
have through Alesis.

The keyboard action was a little heavy for my tastes. I don't think
they were all like that. I tried other QS8's that had a softer
touch. That was my ONLY gripe about the instrument and it wasn't
a big gripe at that. Next weighted keyboard I get, I'll be VERY
picky about the action.

16 voice polyphony. Works great.

Some instruments are great. TrueStereo piano is good.
There is a divide between fantastic sounds, good sounds, so-so sounds,
and boring sounds. That is completely subjective. Most of them sound good to great.

It was VERY reliable except for the LCD which got dim and lost some
pixels after 6 or 8 years. I really liked that instrument.

Here's an actual e-mail dialog with Alesis customer support as of
12/13/04 regarding the replacement of the LCD in my QS8. Alesis
wanted to charge me a 300% markup on the part! (I explain how I
solved the problem after the e-mail from Alesis -- this could save you
hours of research or just giving up)



Hi,

------------------ Alesis E-Mail from arobichaud@alesis.com ------

Alesis customers may use any local service center to get their non-warranty merchandise repaired. If a local search fails to find a qualified service center, we can recommend this preferred non-warranty service center;



Techniserve

762 Rt. 17 North

Paramus, NJ 07652



info@tsirepair.com

201-670-1767 Tel

201-670-8176 Fax



P/N: 9-44-1602 LCD Display $59.00 + Shipping



To place a parts order I need the following information:



Name (as it appears on the CC) & Address

Telephone Number

Part Number & Description

Payment - Visa/MasterCard or Money Order

Ground or Air shipping



(Please attach all prior email correspondence.)



Thanks,
Allen J. Robichaud
Alesis, LLC
Parts Department

200 Scenic View Drive, Suite 201

Cumberland, RI 02864

Phone - (401) 658-5760 ext. 249

Fax - (401) 658-3654

Email - arobichaud@alesis.com

www.Alesis.com

---------------------------------------------------------------

ALESIS QS8 LCD REPLACEMENT:

Alesis is ripping the public off in my opinion. They are charging
$59 for a $15 (or less) 2x16 LCD display, available from any number
of sources, including my favorite, crystalfontz.com (they have great
colors, backlighting and great quality). The cheaper standard LCDs
are nicer than the cheap Data Vision LCDs Alesis used.

But there is a catch! For some stupid reason the LCD in the QS8
has most but not all of the pins crossed. I thought this might
be an accident until I see what they're charging for the low-quality
replacement part, which leads me to think it is a repair scam of
some sort.

If you want to use a standard (Hitachi 44780 controller based) LCD in
the QS8 instead of the overpriced lower-quality stock part, you need
to make your own cable or adapter some how to swap pins [Important:
The first two pins, pin 1 and 2 (- and +, respectively) are NOT swapped]. Here's how it goes:

QS8 LCD connector pin ---- Standard LCD Pin
1 1
2 2
3 4
4 3
5 6
6 5
7 8
8 7
9 10
10 9
11 12
12 11
13 14
14 13
15 16
16 15

You need to make a special cable to attach the superior cheaper
standard Hitachi controller type LCD.

That cable makes the LCD work, however, to make the backlight work
so you can actually see it well, you have to also solder wires
from LCD pin 1 (-) to to LCD Pin 16 (or LED- pin on Some LCDs), and
from LCD pin 2 (+) to pin 15 (or LED+ on some LCDs). And finally, if
the LCD is too bright and/or the pixels bleed light you need to
adjust the contrast. Use a resistor with some low value between
0 and 10K (or use a 10K trim pot between the + voltage and Pin 4,
rather than just connecting + to Pin 4, which drives the LCD at
max and usually too brightly). Experiment with the the resistor
value (or adjust the trim pot) until the LCD brightness is just right.

I would consider getting another QS8, but would probably look for
something newer technology and lighter action instead.

The presets are pretty good, but you'll want to buy a Q-Card expansion ROM or two or three. Editing patches is simple. Everything is accessed through buttons on the keyboard, and displayed on an easily readable LCD. The manual... hmmm don't remember reading it.

The QS8 has a fully-weighted keyboard WITH aftertouch -- if you use that feature, you'll appreciate it on this synth. Polyphony is decent with 16 voices -- you can combine up to four voices per program for some complex patches. The real problem is the processor which isn't fast enough to keep up with some of those complex patches -- especially when built in delay is used to sequence four offset voices.

One other annoyance is the midi control sliders. They're set by each program and many are global values. The midi controls are NOT reset when you change to another patch. So if you, for example, change the chorus with slider number 1 in patch X, and then switch to patch Y which has slider number 1 pointing to delay, you're stuck with the global chorus value until you go back to patch X and reset it, or issue a midi reset. That's why this gets a 6.

The patches have been inspirational... that is, I've created some songs just by playing around with a single patch or maybe two, and been driven to compose something. With the expansion ROMs, you can play almost style.

Once I fixed the bad pitch wheel (the notch holding the return spring wasn't fully molded, and the spring kept popping off), everything was great. I've not had a single problem since then.

Alesis has a pretty decent download site. Their website is rather poor overall (though I guess that's not strictly customer support related). I've never had to call them, so I'm leaving this blank.

This was my first synth -- I bought it back in 1999(just before the QS8.1 came out :^( I'm still happy with it and still use it as my master keyboard years later. It's a great value for a fully-weighted board with aftertouch. A plus for the solid feel of the keyboard, but a minus for its weight (this thing is heavy!)

Thought this was an Awesome keyboard when I purchased it Circa 1999, but the thrill wore off faster than with other units I own. It has a handful of Marque patches (like Scarlamare) but for the most part it the sounds are flat. They lack the balls you get with say Roland sounds ala XV88 or XV5080. The manual is good. Editing is no more quirky than any other unit.

The effects are pedestrian, and like most keyboards of this type, you cannot dynamically assign diffrent effects to a multitibral setup - only the level of a single effect. No expansion. No sequencer.
Overall, it's easy to use because it's not very deep.

Most acoustic sounds are weak. Back in 1999 I used the Stereo Piano patch by turning off internal effects and adding Lexicon reverb. It has a decent array of synth sounds, organs and EPs, but most acoustic instruments sound thin. The keyboard is nice to play and has aftertouch. My preference is for the XV-88 keyboard, the QS8 keyboard is a distant 2nd. There's something about the shallow depth of the instrument that affects its playability.

Pitch bend wheel died. The the display died. Others that I know who have one, have not had any problems, so perhaps I'm just unlucky.

Called them years ago when I had ADATs and they were very responsive. Local guy fixed the problems above.

Wouldn't replace it if stolen. Don't have a lot of use for it. I keep it around as a 88 note controller just in case my XV-88 should give me a problem one day. If you have the bucks, get and XV-88. If you can find one used, it's not a bad unit, just not a great one.

Bottom Line: It's the FORD ESCORT of keyboards. Simple, plain, pedestrian, boring, and somewhat reliable.

The preset sounds like most rom sampled modern synth, not particulary original, but some "evolving" sounds great.
It's not very difficult to edit sounds, but i don't like the interface.
The manual was very clear and useful

The action is great, i'm not a keyboard player, but it's largely better than my Rhodes, effects are largely usable. I didn't use the pcmcia expansion cards now so i didnt try to run a sequence from it

Because i have a Rhodes i didn't like the E-pianos.
Because i bought this for the keyboard, i didn't pay much attention to the sounds, but there is nothing to complain exept THERE IS NO FILTER on this one, but you can get cool sound without filters.
I always loved velocity and after touch and some sounds react very well to them, i changed many sounds i programmed ond my others synths because velocity works so much better than my ESQ1 (hopefully)

I removed the wood corners, because the walls couldn't be pushed, and it work well.
It sturdy built, great, but heavy, something like my JP8

They where very helpful and friendly, i asked them about my stupid walls that wouldn't be pushed and they removed the corners to measure the gains.
They where right, great service

It was the cheapest weigthed keyboard i could buy and i didn't regret.
The thing i would love on it is a great FILTER.
I don't particulary like the sounds but they couldn't be considered as bad,
they simply don't have too much personnality but for general use it could work great

La manera en que este teclado se maneja es muy facil cuando llevas un tiempo de usarlo y entenderlo no se me hizo la cosa mas facil del mundo pero despues de un a?o con el puedo decir que es facil de usarlo, cabe aclarar que nunca habia teniado un teclado tan grande y con tantas, y tantas funciones distintintas, pero yo realmente me refiero a un uso para hacer midis y para studio, pro que en lo que se refiere al uso para tocar en vivo, no te espantes este teclado lo puedes usar desde el momento en que lo saques de su caja.

LLevo aproximadamente 5 a?os en esto de los midis he programado midis con aterioridad con otros teclados pero definitivamente ninguno se compara con este, hasta ahora, la sensibilidad de las teclas es impresionanate no hace ni mas ni menos que lo que tu quieres que haga ademas de que se puede cambiar a diferentes tipos de sensibilidad o incluso hacer tus propias curvas de sensibilidad, la polifonia trabaja excelente aun usando los 16 canales nunca he notado que tenga algun problema con ello, algo de lo que mas me gusta son sus efectos tiene reverb's, delay's, distor, lezlie, chorus, flanger, eq, etc, creo que no le falta ninguno de los basicos suenan muy bien totalmente digitales, super, super, manejables en cada uno de los aspectos de cada efecto, maneja efectos por patch y por mix, tiene la capacidad de usar tarjeta<s de epxancion de sonidos pero yo nunca las he usado, yo lo uso para mi studio casero y relamente creo que esta hasta sobrado...

Lo primero que debo decir de los sonidos del qs8 es que estoy enamorado de las baterias, los presetts que trae de baterias son buenos y y bien combinados pero si te agarras el manual y te pones tu a hacer tu propio kit de bataka, puta madre! te queda una bateria muy chingona por que como le digo a la gente que ense?o, no se trata de que el midi se oiga como midi, un midi bueno es aquel que no puedes diferenciar de algo que se toco con instrumentos relaes... y el qs8 en este aspecto llena mis espectativas, los sonidos de piano son de lo mejor que he escuchado y tambien son muy customizables puedes hacer de ellos lo que quieras, los orgalnos hay algunos buenos y otros no tanto, pero finalmente tu pedes hacer los a tu gusto, los strings son lo unico que me ha decepsionado del qs8 no me laten, los sonidos de synth son muy buenos, en general tiene muy buenos sonidos, y el aftertouch y la velociad responden de lujo por ese lado no tiene ningun problema.

LLevo solo un a?o con el lo he movido poco por que lo uso para mi estudio personal y ademas pesa demasiado alrededor de 30 kgs pero en este tiempo lo he usado casi diario por periodos hasta de 7 horas y nunca ha fallado.

Pues he entrado a la pagina de internet de Alesis.com y logre bajar de ahi mis manuales y mi driver para pc, pero la unica vez que les escribi al mail de soporte fue para pedir informes del manual en espa?ol y jamas me contestaron lo que se me hizo una mamada!

Definitivamente no pienso cambiar este teclado en mucho tiempo solo que saliera uno mejor que este de la misma marca y con las mismas caracteristicas (pero mas avanzado obvio) solo asi lo cambiaria, es lo mejor que encontrado de acuerdo a mis necesidades y lo recomendaria ampliamente, el manual es muy explicito y no deja lugar a dudas no dejes de leerlo por que solo asi descubriras un monton de chingaderas que tiene ocultas.

The only problem I have is selecting sounds. If I want to use an organ and the preset number is 34, instead of pressing the 3 and 4 buttons, I have to select the 30-39 button and then either scroll up or press the 3 and 4 button. Other then that, I have no problems. I play a QS8.1 love the way they made transposing easier with this unit compared to the old QS8.

The main reason I purchased this piano is for the feel of the keys. I only play live in a band and use mostly the piano settings and it feels like I am playing the real thing. I did purchase Roland weighted pedal instead of using the cheap plastic pedal that comes with it.

Like I said previously, I use mostly the piano sounds such as the true stereo, dark classical, and sometimes the 64 grand. I do occassionaly use the American organ and the Rockin B3. Those sounds could be better but do get me by. The different pianos each sound sound their best depending on which range of the keys you are playing most on any particualar song. I use this mostly for country songs.

I have to depend on this because I can't afford a backup. So far, so good.

I would buy this piano again in a heartbeat, especially for the money I spent. That was no error, I paid $800 dollars new for my QS8.1. If you want to know how I came across that deal, feel free to email me. I believe the piano sounds are the best. I use a Korg Triton Pro-x at church and I love it, but I don't believe it's piano sounds compare to the Alesis. If you are like me and need a unit to use in a band setting, go with the QS8.1.