Alesis QS8

I find the general setup and interface quite usable, as is the patch editor. The buttons are clumsy at first, but, after a few months they are as natural as anything. Though the patch editor isn't a first-rate FX processor, it wasn't made to be. The manual was very helpful. Oveall, I was searching for a good performance synth, and the QS8 has far exceeded all my expectations in that field.

I have been a classical pianist for the majority of my life, and, after reading some of these reviews, I wonder what kind of piano experience some of these guys have. The keys are very natural, the touch-sensitivity and scaling options are great. I love the Q-cards, and the blank PCMCIA cards are truly superb to say the least.

The piano sounds, especially with the stereo grand piano expansion card, are magnificent. They are probably as close to a true concert grand piano as I've ever heard! The types of music it works for best, I think, is gospel, worship styles, classical, jazz, dance, and just about anything. With the right settings and expansions, this keyboard can do just about anything you can imagine!

Very dependable, reliable as a solo instrument, or as part of a group. The work-horse of keyboards.

I have had a few curious questions regarding expansion options, sequencing capabilities, and every time, I've received, fast, informative responses.

I truly love my QS8. So, all the people out there with their rude, non-factual remarks toward the QS8 or Alesis can just shut up!!

This keyboard is fairly easy to use. It has provided instant gratification and also yielded surprisingly rich depth as I've learned my way around the controls. It's flexible without being intimidating. The preset patches are straightforward to use and generally good quality. Presets are organized efficiently by instrument and it doesn't take a long time to find an appropriate sound. I've edited a few patches, and found the manual helpful but this was decidedly NOT an intuitive process. Editing patches is time consuming and I haven't tried it enough that I can do it without the aid of the manual. This tends to discourage me from getting extremely creative with the patches, but then again the presets plus the very easy-to-use Q cards provide a wealth of good sounds. I still haven't talked myself into coughing up the $78 needed for a computer cable so I can use the patch editor on my PC. I did play around with the patch editor software and it looked humble but workable.

I bought the QS8 specifically because of the keyboard action. It feels right, and this was extremely important to me when deciding what to buy. I did slightly favor a Yamaha keyboard, but not by much, and at $2000 for the Yamaha, I couldn't justify the extra $600. The built in effects are a mixed blessing- you have to experiment with the sliding bars to try to figure out which ones the programmers have chosen for your patch (if any), and what exactly they do. For the most part, the pre-programmed choices of effects for each patch are sensible and work well once you find them. Maybe there's too much reverb used on many of the samples, especially the piano samples. But you can usually turn it off. I read the manual and you can supposedly program the effects yourself, but I have been frightened away by the complexity involved, and begrudgingly settle for the pre-programmed ones. But hey, my separate digital recorder has tons of effects anyhow. The MIDI section is straightforward. There is no onboard sequencer-- a big minus. BUT, the expansion capabilities are a strong plus- I've purchased two Q-cards and been very satisfied with the ease of use and quality of sounds.

More of the instruments are realistic than not. Acoustic guitars, pianos, and drums especially sound very natural. So too do the many organ and electric piano sounds. Individual instruments like violins, flutes, are usable but somewhat less convincing. I have used the QS8 to record rock and dance music and it does both equally well. I'm currently having fun arranging the music to a Broadway-style musical entirely on the QS8, and its has been versatile enough to handle all the different styles. I haven't recorded classical music with it; I wouldn't want to rely on this keyboard to be a workstation for an orchestral score either. The lack of an on-board sequencer and ultra-realistic orchestral smaples would make this a daunting task. But when I need a nice patch with stacked acoustic piano and orchestra in the background to fatten up a pop tune, the QS8 comes through in spades. Reaction to velocity and aftertouch is smooth and easy to control. I find the keyboard itself to be very expressive, and the mod wheels are easy to use and excellent quality.

So far, so good. I hit it pretty hard when I was recording an African drum segment, and it held up to repeated pounding. It is a heavy keyboard, and I wouldn't want to lug this around to gigs. I leave it home and use it for recording projects. When and if I go on the road, I'm sure this would be reliable, but I'd rather bring a lighter unit like the QS6 or QS7. I've owned my QS8 for two trouble-free years, and it sees regular use as the centerpiece of my home studio.

I've used the information on the Alesis website often, and encountered no problems that have required a direct response from Alesis, so the jury is still out on this. I am particularly impressed that Alesis has so many user's forums available on their website, with many user-supplied helping hints, free patches, and general advice, both pro and con. Alesis maintains a very open climate on their website, and if people use that forum to discuss their gripes, the comments stay up there. This is refreshing in an age where most manufacturer-sponsored sites heavily censor their own bulletin boards.

This is a good keyboard that has served me well. It is the center of my home studio, and the only keyboard I have needed to complete all the various projects that pass through here. I've been playing for 20 years, and recording for the past 2. I compared this keyboard to the Kurzweil PC88, the Korg N1, the Yamaha DG200 (?), and a comparably-priced Roland, and I am very happy that I chose the Alesis, because it really has exceeded my expectations.

This is probably one of the simplest keyboards/synths I have used. I have a "project" studio and this is the only piano-action input device I have. Thus, I am relatively sure this silly thing will be in my studio for some time in the future. For a while, the QS8 was the only piece of gear in my studio, and, as I'm a profilic songwriter, I have many works that utilize it's facilities heavily. Nowadays, I have a lot of other, more expensive gear, and the QS8 has really been outpaced, but there are a few patches with the QS8 that just can't be beat. In particular, the stereo piano patches are (in my opinion) every bit as competitive as the extremely nice piano patches that ship with the K2500. I also like a small number of the acoustic guitar pluck patches on the QS8, and have selected them above equivalent patches on the K2500. HOWEVER, in general, I'd have to admit, I'm using my QS8 less and less and more expensive equipment in my studio more and more (of course, this should be any reasonable person's expectation, right?). With regard to many of the patches on the QS8, they are so ... well, bizarre, that I just can't use them. A good example of this is the electric guitar section of the patch presets - many of which sound tinny, unrealistic, cheap, and corny. Another complaint I've had is the sound synthesis method seems to achieve low "musicality". I don't sense subtle overtones and not much dynamic range. Since this synth is ultimately sample-based, my best guess is alesis engineers put a lot of effort into recording a subset of instruments extremely realistically, without recognizing that other factors, such as broad dynamics variation, overtone subtleties, etc., have a major contribution in modelling compelling sound. As a result, there are two kinds of patches (for me): a handful of patches that sound extraordinary; For example, as though you were sitting right in front of a real acoustic guitar plucked by a maestro. But, because there is very little random-ness of the sound, despite an extraordinary recording of the real thing by alesis engineering, you quickly realize that it's the same sample, the exact same dynamic curve, the exact same overtone sequence, etc. The other kind of patch is stuff that is just not usable for me, it sounds just... not at all like a fuzzy guitar, or a cello. The culprit is the ADSR envelopes, which can be investigated more thoroughly in the manual, but suffice it to say, they're pretty primitive by today's standards. I found editing patches to be simple, but the results were never quite up-to-par with more expensive equipment (again, something to be expected). I didn't have any complaints with the manual. The manual authors treat you a bit like a beginner, but probably this is appropriate given the kind of instrument the QS8 is. One thing I liked about the manual was it was easy to find the electrical requirements for the keyboard in the back - Something that I have never found anywhere in the bevy of K2500 manuals! It made managing my electrical and UPS systems just a bit easier.

The keyboard action of the QS8 is pretty good. I've used yamaha grand pianos, uprights, the famous (infamous?) disklavier and a variety of other real pianos, and, well, the QS8 is of course nowhere near as good, but, for a synthesizer keyboard with simulated hammer action, I didn't have to adjust too much from the way real pianos feel to me. The FX of the QS8 are not trivial to use, but not the most difficult to use, either. For their quality, I would say a couple of things: First, their input (the QS8 synthesizer section) is of relatively low quality, so the effects are kind of hampered to begin with. But considering the effects strictly in their own light, they are (in my opinion) doing a competent job. Not great, not outstanding, but they work, and if you're careful, they can do the right thing in your mix. My personal experience is, don't ask for too much. Currently, I limit my QS8 to providing the audio for ONE INSTRUMENT in my mix. For example, I'll have my QS8 deliver a stereo piano sound. Or I'll dedicate the QS8 to providing a plucked acoustic guitar sound. In this sort of application, you can optimize the instrument sound and the effects block and produce some VERY nice results. In particular, the QS8 effects block offers some modes that allow you to create things like a stereo leslie + reverb configuration (and other dual effects combinations), so, use subtly, this can be just the spice that brings out the beauty and ambience of a nice acoustic guitar. Outside of this one particular application, the FX unit is a bit rough, and I get better results by turning FX off and using an external high-quality reverb or FX box. You will NOT get lexicon quality reverb from your QS8.

I've touched on the instrument quality a bit throughout this response, so I'll be brief. Some instruments are superb, and I use them rather than other equipment I have, such as a K2500, dedicated high-quality tone modules like the Yamaha FS1r, and so forth. The vast majority of sounds, unfortunately, are not usable in my applications. I am a stickler for realisticity, expressiveness, flexibility, and CONTROL, and the QS8 just can't win out over other equipment in my studio. But, to provide a bit more perspective, when I consider using my K2500 for various applications, there are still limitations! Most of my K2500 guitar patches just can't win out over my FS1r. So, my QS8 is sort of like any other module in my rack: Sometimes it just can't be beat. A lot of the time, I'd rather use one specific module for a given instrument I need because I know it's just perfect for that one particular sound. In comparison with other instruments in my studio, the QS8 sounds a bit on the low side in terms of "does it sound real? does it sound live?" for two reasons I've already covered above; The sounds are sample based, so consecutive notes tend to sound exactly alike. More unfortunately, however, is that the QS8 synthesis method seems to lack a large dynamic range, so patches tend to sound more "lifeless" than patches from other equipment in my rack. For the former problem, I've found that careful and judicious use of the onboard effects improves the situation a bit. For the later, I spend quite a bit of time carefully varying the note velocity sent to the QS8, in combination with outboard digital dynamics processors like the dbx quantum will help. I wouldn't recommend this path for the average user, but I would be doing this kind of triage even for my K2500 and my other gear, so it's "the usual treatment" for me and doesn't bother me too much in terms of the time and patience commitment involved.

I've never had any problems with my QS8. I'd have no qualms bringing a QS8 along to a gig, it's sturdy. It weighs I believe 70-80 pounds, however, so it's easily the heaviest piece of gear I own (unless maybe you consider my rack a single piece of "gear"). As far as the gig goes, however, I would only use the QS8 as a controller, the sound quality is pretty lifeless and that would not go over well in a gig, so really only the midi controller aspect of it would have to work.

If my QS8 broke or was stolen, I'd buy a QSR instead. The situation is, so much of my music uses the QS8, that it would probably be crippling to not have one. As far as a controller, I'd much rather consider a Kurzweil or a controller-only type of deal over the QS8. The QS8 has a nice hammer-action deal, but I'd rather spend my money on something higher-end and leave my QS8 in a rack (with the QSR), where I feel it belongs. I paid a fairly low price for my QS8 ($1300, after tax), so I feel like, in the end, things have worked out. The QS8 has some MAJOR limitations and shortcomings. Since I haven't mentioned it anywhere else, if you ever get a chance, confirm for yourself that the pan on the QS8 has a total of SIX (6) positions! Compare that with the Kurzweil's 128 independant pan positions and you'll see at least one reason why the QS8 should most properly be considered something appropriate for people who don't need to expect a lot from their audio. There are a whole host of other limitations like this (which I won't get into), and it's not just the QS8. I also have the DM Pro from Alesis, and it has exactly the same set of limitations (sigh). However, the QS8 (and neither the DM Pro) doesn't cost what a kurzweil does. So, I feel like I got what I paid for. *chuckle* I've been playing for about 18 years, I own too much gear to list, but the highlights are K2500, Yamaha digital mixers, dbx mastering processors, EMU E4XT, ADATs, studio mics, apogee scintilla reference audio monitoring and an all-digital studio with a -120 db noise floor. I give the QS8 a 5 overall because the unit is just a little bit below average. The sound quality is not up to big studio standards, lots of limitations and shortcomings, but for a first piece of equipment in a beginner's studio, I think it's a great buy. That's the way it went for me, and I'm not looking back with regret.

Editing existing patches is time consuming, but I have to be honest in that I have not spent much time doing this. The manual is ok but to me confusing. It also needs a larger LD display for readability. Presets are generally ok and logical. It takes time to learn and there are many of them.

I personally like the keyboard action and play this for the pure pleasure of it. It is true and consistent. I have not used any of the expansion cards as of yet. I use this synth for some midi use mainly with my Mac computer and it does a good job. Because my Mac is USB and firewire I bought a Roland USB Mpu64 Midi-Interface. After some problems I got it to work.

I like the grand piano sound and some of the electric piano sounds. The old Roads sound is really close to the one we used in my school situation years ago. The string sounds are mediocre at best, however the string ensemble sounds are passable. Most modern synths are geared more to the pop medium and is my biggest complaint with them. The classical sounds are just not very good. They all sound very compressed and ugly. You can get by with the flute sound, and possibly the horn sound. The keyboard response is very good. It's fun to play. My son likes his roland response and I like this Alesis response better. We are in the ball park and the playing field is pretty level.

I have had no problem with this machine, but on the other hand it has never left my studio.

I cannot comment as I have never called anyone at the company.

I would buy one again and the low price for what you get can't be beat! I am an older musician, now retired from active teaching. However, I use the Alesis for composition and some sequencing and mainly for pleasure. I would recommend this instrument to anyone.

Okay, first off, to any interested buyers, I'm a guitarist/composer who owns several synths but does tend to get deep inside them very quickly. Just keep that in mind--I'd hate to discourage apotential buyer who's needs and synth skill level are very different from mine.
I wanted an 88 weighted keyboard. It occured to me that it might be nice toget 500+ new sounds that I might or might not work with--thus the QS 8 rather than the Kurweil PC-88 or comparable Roland units.
I haven't used the Sound Bridge software yet. I've done some rudimentary editing of patches and find that it's neither hard nor easy. The manual is good compared to, say, Roland's.

I'll deal with sound of presets below.

I like the keyboard action a lot. Of course, I'm a guitarist primarily but I do have along history of piano noodling. Effects seem fairly powerful, though I'm not a huge fan of Alesis effects (well, I was in the mid-80s when the midiverb was the first of its kind in that price range). I've toyed with a few of the Q-carss in the store but have not been impelled to buy any. Midi features are fine, though, as others have noted, there are complexities to transferring effect settings from Program mode over to mix mode for sequencing. The midi controller sliders are great. No sequencer. I use Cakewalk Pro Audio 9.

I've been generally disapointed with the sounds on the QS 8. Remember I have not ventured far beyond the presets, but it is significant that I haven't really felt compelled to. The acoustic instruments are mostly weak -- strings are awful, all but a few of the brass patches are mediocre standard synth fare. There are a few good basses but they tend to lack bite. Forget the woodwinds. It doesn't stand up to my Korg NS5R, which is itself pretty standard fare.

The wealth of sounds is in the keys dept, and here the story is mixed. For acoustic pianos, the Dark Classic and Pure Stereo pacthes appeal most to my ears. The presets tend to be drowned in reverb--perhaps covering up some suspect samples, I'm not sure. I have not found these piano sounds easy to mix with. They're kind of amorphous; they bleed across the EQ spectrum and tend to blot out other sounds regardless of volume. Takes a lot of work to wrestle them into a mix. Dark Classic works well in spaese, piano-dominated settings. Pure Stereo and True Steroe work better in pop mixes, but there are some glaring artificialities to the piano sounds, especially in the midrange. I give the pianos a B. I realize this is highly subjective. But for dense pop and rock mixes, my Roland U20 has a much more workable piano sound. For beatiful pianos, I use the gigasampler now.

Electric pianos are a fairly strong point. There are a couple of excellent wurli and Rhodes sounds, and they tend to be the most playable and expressive, imo. The organs pose a problem. There are many of them, and they cover of an impressive range (a bit heavy on the aggressive rock organs, to my displeasure) but I don't find them particulary expressive.

The hidden strength of this keybaord is its synth sounds--ironic, because I don't use a lot of synth sounds in my work. They are fat and weird and LOUD. Really good leads. Mod wheel implementation is intelligent and cool, and the effects are put to excellent use here. This keyboard might be surprisingly good to people who use a lot of synth sounds. I find myself using more of them just because I like them.

Drums were a bit of a dissapointment. World percussion is not at all good. The trap kits have some very good bass, snare, and toms, but the cymbals are ludircously bad, with some of the most unnatural and stingy decays I've ever heard.

Oh, and the General Midi set is among the worst I've ver heard. I understand this has been improved in the 8.1.

So far so good. It never leaves the house.

No need for it yet. I've owned numerous other Alesis products and have had few problems

I would not buy it again, largely because I'm not a gigging keyboardist and I think this thing's strengths might be in performance. I would buy a straight controller and then pick among my favorite soft synths and modules. But at this price, it's not a huge mistake by any means (and I see a lot of used ones real cheap!)
I wish I loved it. Who the hell wants to spend a grand on an instrument just to bitch about it? If I ever get deeper into programming it and my opnion changes, I'll be a conscientious reviewer and post and addendum.

I am currently not using any software. We bought a "Q Card" with the stereo grand tones, and unfortunately, the keyboard won't read the card. I would use software, but I feel like I would be just wasting more money on a lame product. I will give it this - the presets are very easy to manipulate and use.

Features? It has feautres?

Tones... They are horrible. They only decent tone I found was a clarinet, and some of the rhythm/FX tones. The piano tones are a joke, especially the acoustic grands. The organ tones are very diverse, but they are only good if you like distortion and favor a cheesy rendition of Leslie rotary.

I have to admit, the thing is built like a tank. if you play with a lot of other instruments, never play solos, and travel a lot, this might be the board for you.

I am hoping for someone to come and steal this thing. I must admit, buying it was not the smartest move in the world. For me, nothing can match the piano tones of the Roland A-90 or the RD-500. However, the price tag shows it, too. If you are looking for medium priced keyboard that will "get by" until you can afford the real deal, then buy a QS8. It is built sturdy enough to last for a while, the only problem is, it will always be an Alesis, and that's just not very good.

I found the QS8 very easy to use right out of the box but have had
a good deal of trouble figuring out how to make the amplifier effects
do what I want.

The QS8 looks like it's been stripped bare compared to the $5000
workstations but it had everything I was looking for. The keyboard
action is the best I've played and the only time I run out of
polyphony is when I'm layering sound on sound on sound in mix mode.

I've read some of the reviews that really trash the QS8's sounds and
describe them as "sounding like a cheap Casio." Having purchased the
QS8 to upgrade from home-consumer products I totally disagree. While
I usually am not happy with most of the sounds on the QS8 I can always
find one instrument in a category that sounds nice. I've used the
keyboard for public performance, using it with a computer sequencer to
provide orchestral accompaniment while I play trumpet and have always
liked the final product.

I haven't had any problems at all. I use the keyboard every week for
public performance and have never had a problem.

N/A

Right now I'm looking at retiring the QS8 to a second keyboard
because I'm growing in my music. I'd like to get a KORG N series or I
series workstation and keep the QS8 for extra capability with a
sequencer and additional flexibility in performance. I still like
the way it plays!

I am not using any software at this time. the main thing I would like to express is the fact that I feel that I wasted $1500 hard earned dollars on this clunker. the presets are horrible, especially the piano. I have been gigging with this unit live for a year, and am embarrased to use the piano patches that sound like a 30 dollar casio. The edIting patches are not to hard to get around, if you really have the time to spend on the manual. The manual itself is pretty complicated reading.

expressiveness sounds are of low quality, they sound very thin and cheap

Overall rating is a 4

I'm not a keyboard tech specialist, but I find that the basics are easier to use than others that I've used in the past. I'm still trying to figure out the patches, and haven't needed to use any software. Some of the presets are good, but most of the ones that I've needed (guitars, strings, bass, piano, electric piano) are very disappointing. After using them for a while, they sound more and more phony. The manual isn't too hard to follow. It's much easier than others I've had to fight with.

Keyboard action feels good. It's a little light, but there is a more positive feel at the bottom of the range of motion. I like that. I play a grand piano predominantly, and this keyboard can't compare to that, but it's OK as far as keyboards go. No onboard sequencer, but I use my old sequencer set-up from a previous keyboard and it works very smoothly.

The sounds on the keyboard are lousy. Piano sounds are very bad. I heard such good reviews before I bought it, but there is no way to make it sound as good as Kurzweil or Technics. The only way to make the piano sound good is to cover it up with other instruments. I will never buy another Alesis again for this reason. If you want a keyboard with a good piano sound, go with another brand. What I'm trying to say is that the piano sounds STINK and I've had to plug a friend's Kurzweil into my sequencer to "borrow" its piano sound when I copy to minidisc. What a pain.

Keyboard is very dependable. Technically, it is very dependable and I've had no trouble.

I had to call TECH support recently and got absolutely no help. After asking a couple of simple questions, he sounded bored and didn't volunteer any information. After explaining that I was looking for a better piano sound and asking for his help, he hung up without answering the question. I waited on hold for over 20 minutes and then got absolutely no help at all. TECH support is pretty important for such a complicated piece of equipment, so I'll never buy any Alesis equipment again because of the lousy tech support. In all the times I've called, they've never volunteered any information and have been no help. That's too bad.

I have played piano for about 7 years, and I create soundtracks for use in a church setting. I've done this for about 4 years. The keyboard has been an extreme disappointment, and due to the lack of TECH support, I'll have to sell it (losing money in the process) and buy another brand. This is the 5th keyboard that I've used over the past 7 years, and it is undeniably the worst sounding. I've never needed TECH support before, so I can't compare theirs with other brands. Overall, I made a costly mistake in buying the Alesis QS8.

I'm not a keyboard tech specialist, but I find that the basics are easier to use than others that I've used in the past. I'm still trying to figure out the patches, and haven't needed to use any software. Some of the presets are good, but most of the ones that I've needed (guitars, strings, bass, piano, electric piano) are very disappointing. After using them for a while, they sound more and more phony. The manual isn't too hard to follow. It's much easier than others I've had to fight with.

Keyboard action feels good. It's a little light, but there is a more positive feel at the bottom of the range of motion. I like that. I play a grand piano predominantly, and this keyboard can't compare to that, but it's OK as far as keyboards go. No onboard sequencer, but I use my old sequencer set-up from a previous keyboard and it works very smoothly.

The sounds on the keyboard are lousy. Piano sounds are very bad. I heard such good reviews before I bought it, but there is no way to make it sound as good as Kurzweil or Technics. The only way to make the piano sound good is to cover it up with other instruments. I will never buy another Alesis again for this reason. If you want a keyboard with a good piano sound, go with another brand. What I'm trying to say is that the piano sounds STINK and I've had to plug a friend's Kurzweil into my sequencer to "borrow" its piano sound when I copy to minidisc. What a pain.

Keyboard is very dependable. Technically, it is very dependable and I've had no trouble.

I had to call TECH support recently and got absolutely no help. After asking a couple of simple questions, he sounded bored and didn't volunteer any information. After explaining that I was looking for a better piano sound and asking for his help, he hung up without answering the question. I waited on hold for over 20 minutes and then got absolutely no help at all. TECH support is pretty important for such a complicated piece of equipment, so I'll never buy any Alesis equipment again because of the lousy tech support. In all the times I've called, they've never volunteered any information and have been no help. That's too bad.

I have played piano for about 7 years, and I create soundtracks for use in a church setting. I've done this for about 4 years. The keyboard has been an extreme disappointment, and due to the lack of TECH support, I'll have to sell it (losing money in the process) and buy another brand. This is the 5th keyboard that I've used over the past 7 years, and it is undeniably the worst sounding. I've never needed TECH support before, so I can't compare theirs with other brands. Overall, I made a costly mistake in buying the Alesis QS8.