Alesis QuadraSynth Plus Piano

Editing any sound is difficult, not intuitive at all.

The effects sound fine on this keyboard, no better or qorse than other models.
Keyboard action is, I find, very much personal opinion. I've been using it for 11 years from new, mainly playing piano, and I find it fine.

The main reason for buying this keyboard is the grand piano and electric piano sounds. These are very VERY good, even today (2006). Vibes are nice too.
Drums sound okay. Then it starts going downhill.
The strings and brass are both awful. I always use a Yamaha EX7 for these kind of sounds, the Alesis doesn't have a clue!
Organds are pretty average.

I bought this new in 1995 (or 1996?) so it's 11 years old. It's been used an awful lot, I'm a pro player, gigging all over the place.
I don't use a flightcase (too much weight for my poor back) so use a soft bag to carry it around. I also have never really cleaned it much. With that in mind, perhaps it's not surprising that I've had a few problems! I've lived with them all and have never had it repaired.....mainly because I either can't, or it's too expensive to.
I've had it permanently on +4 transpose for the last 4 years - this is the only way that I can play it in tune properly. Otherwise, when you play a middle C it will actually play an Ab.
What else.....the display went a few weeks ago so I can hardly see what I'm doing anymore. Not too much of a problem as I only use it for the Grand Piano.
Oh yes - it has 4 knobs to change the settings. It's probably dirt on the contacts or something, but they don't work 100% anymore.
I have to say that I haven't treated it with the utmost respect over the years! It's never actually completely let me down.

I broke half a key and cannot for the life of me find a replacement. The distributor here in England doesn't want to know. So I've been using it for the last 8 years with gaffa tape all over the bottom F!

I looked into getting another Alesis but decided not to.
I own Yamaha EX7 (mainly for strings / brass / organ / synth / drum sounds) and just got a second hand Roland XP80 which is much nicer than the Alesis Quadrasynth Plus Piano.
The Grand Piano and electric pianos are absolutely superb and are the only reason (but an extremely GOOD reason) why a sane person would buy this keyboard now.
I wish it had nice strings / brass / organ.
I do like the great big volume knob - wish all keyboards had that.
Tiny LCD display - far too small.

The sounds really have good quality for almost every kind of music. They are fat, have "presence", "bright". Editing a patche is easy, but I never really make many things anyway...the manual is simple and efective, I guess. But there's a big problem: I CAN'T CHANGE THE PATCHES USING THE NUMBERS IN THE MIX MODE!!! This really fucks everything.

64 voice is OK. Personally I don't like the keyboard action, but it's a matter of taste...The keys are better than my XP-30, but my XP-30 doesn't have Serious Keys...(LOL). Expansion capabilities are very good- the QCARDs are cheap and very good. No Sequencer, 4 knobs, and one AWESOME thing: THE VISOR. It's big and bright, everyone sayed "it's like a airplane".

The acoustic pianos are the best in the market for stage. I've tried Kurzweil, roland, Korg and nothing is good like the "TrueStereo". They are not "sunked" by other sounds like the drums or the singers. Kurzweil sucks in this point. I think the QS is good for every type of music, especially if you have QCards. EP pianos are very good (I love the "Fat Dyno"), but organs and strings are very bad. I love the "Heaven's gate" sound, so beautiful, such a shame I didn't find it in the QS8.2. I give a nine in this because other sounds are not so good as the pianos.

SO far, so good. I have mine for 6 years, never had a problem. SO GOOD.

I never really needed.

Is is worth the paying. If I loose my QS I will HAVE to buy another or a Nano piano, I guess...I have too a N1 Korg, Roland XP-30 and the setup is very good for me. I just love the pianos sounds, I became a true pianist after buying this and play the pianos sounds in the 88 keys of my N1. SO GOOD. I HATE the fact I can't use the number to change the patches in the mix mode...If somebody knows how to do this, I BEG, send-me an e-mail....

Pretty easy once you get the hang of it. The large screen makes it easy to navigate through the diferent menu options. The manual does help a lot in that respect. The voices aren't as editable as I would like, but the built-in effects do help to make some of the sounds more unique.

The built-in effects sound just like many of the patches on the Alesis Midiverb, almost like the Midiverb is built-in. Great verbs and chorus effects. I also have the Eurodance card for it (which was pretty pricey), but it has some fun sounds and loops to play with. I've looked for an inexpensive blank sample card for it for years, but haven't found one at a price I am willing to pay. Theoretically, if I did get one, this thing could work as a (limited) sampler, by moving samples onto it from the included software. The pressure sensitivity seems a little touchy, and since I tend to push hard while jamming, I sometimes goof up the sound unintentionally. No MIDI or polyphony problems, and I usually use all 16-channels simultaneously. I also think that it is one of the coolest looking synths that I've seen, and its even got a built-in handle on the back. The unique shape really beats all the boring looking symmetrical square synths coming out these days which seem to rely on fancy colored plastic to make it visually appealing. The huge volume knob is a little silly, though. Mine has the greenish yellow backlit panel instead of the orange panel...not sure if this was a "plus" thing, but I like it better as it seems brighter. This may sound silly, but I also like that it doesn't have a big wall-wort plug...saves me space on the power strip.

Great pads and vintage string sounds, as well as the (highly touted) piano sounds. The drum sounds are nice when combined with some of the effects - I especially dig the gated drum sounds. The "virtual analog" patches are a bit too cheesy, although the mod wheel filter function helps a little.

Not sure if this is due to age, but my main outs seem very low in volume and have also gotten noisy lately. I'm planning on picking up a lightpipe capable soundcard soon to try and use the Adat interface feature and see if that fixes (or at least sidesteps) the noise problem. I've taken this board with me on the road many times, and have had no problems. We were even rear-ended on the highway with my QS+ lying against the back door of the van, and had no problems at the show later that evening. Could be the SKB case, or maybe I just got lucky. None-the-less, I have had zero problems with its performance, and I plan on keeping it for a long time. The only issue I've had with it is with once of the rubber performance/parameter knobs on the upper right which seems to reset itself sometimes. Even if it gets obnoxious or too noisy, I'll probably keep my QS+ as a midi controller.

Never had to deal with them...hopefully I never will.

I've used this board as my main synth for nearly ten years, and released several synth-based albums with it, so I would have to say that it has helped me quite a bit. Lately, I have been using it more as a controller for softsynths more than anything else, just because of the noise from its main outs. However, once I get my MOTU 828 MKII hooked up and I can play with the lightpipe, I will likely use it again for its warm pads and odd spatial effects. Lately, I have considered replacing it with a smaller, lighter controller synth, simply because this one weighs a ton and can be a real pain to carry around to gigs. The only thing that has really bothered me with this synth was the lousy resale value, which seems much lower than comparative brands. It would also have been nice if Alesis had made their own blank PCMCIA cards, instead of having to buy a third-party card that may or may not work well with the synth.

Good. In some ways it is even better than a QS7 (I also own). The LCD window for example, bigger, better overview. Programming sounds needs time to learn but after all very logic. Manual tells you all you need to know (and that is someting not every manufactory can say).

This is a synth for people who want to play. If you are into house or something like that... don't buy this, you will be dissapointed.
4 basicsample per program and a lot you can edit, setup like later 70's synths. 16 programs per Combi. From there it's masterpossibilities are great! No sequencer or appegio's. Keyboard makes a lot of noice and feels cheap.
1 slot for ROM or RAM-card. ROM cards contain extra samples, programs and Combi's, good for more specific sounds for the type of music you are playing.

Piano's and pianolike sounds are very good. Organs may not be the best, but if you sent them trough a lesley or lesley simulator they are pritty convincing. The rest of the sounds are good. Only saxes, horns are not so well. Some killer sounds in it.

The keyboard ain't a standart one like later Alesis model. In order to survive Alesis doesn't make replacementparts for the Quadra. One single key costed me 15 euro! I use my synth a lot, but no further problems. Back up?... see overall rating.

Alesis dealer in The Netherlands is allright. Did a lot to find my key. Gave me all the time I needed to try differend ROM cards for my 2 synths.

Own the synt now for 2 years. Never had such a plessure with a synth like this, including the QS7 and some expencive Korgs I have/ had before. Because of it's age I bought a S4 module, but now I am thinking of exchanging it with a second Quadra. I like it as a master and somehow I try new thing always first on the Quadra before trying the other synths.
At the moment they cost around 200/300 euro. You can't find any better for that money. Or you must like Casio, Kawai, Roland........

Not sure of the OS, bought it used for about $360. I was able to get some patches and software to import samples to the (optional) PCMCIA card. Editing is fairly intuitive, the screen is fairly large and controller knobs work in edit mode. There is a shareware patch editor that is very useful although right now I just work through the synth interface.
I downloaded the manual as a pdf file, the store forgot to give me the manual and will mail it.
I had an original Quadrasynth and had nothing but trouble with it. This QSPP works well. 76 keys, reasonably fast UI, very interesting sounds, clearer and excellent in a mix.
If you see one used and it works you're probably in good shape as most of the problem QSPP's are now scrapped or repaired. Check the board out before buying! Alesis had some bad quality control issues.

Good sample sounds, mass strings, pads and synth sounds are good, reeds range form ok to good and FX are interesting. Of course there's some real stinkers in the presets but that's a subjective thing, you might love things I hate. MIDI seems to work ok although I am having problems with bank messages being recognised. That said, I didn't really buy this for sequencing so if it is a problem it's not important to me, but if you plan to sequence make sure to do some homework. Others have complained about MIDI issues. PCMCIA cards are not that easy to find, the ROM cards available are ok at best. Use soundbridge and burn your own samples. The keyboard plays well, some synth style weighting but still quick, you have to really press to get aftertouch but I like this. I have a Nova II that is far too fast on the aftertouch. No sequencing onboard, the four controllers are usefuls for live play and editing. No resonance on the filters is a bad thing, dock it one point.

I know many will disagree but the QSPP has a clean sound that is somewhat similar to Korgs. This is not surprising as ex Korg sound programmers designed many patches. That said the Korgs sound better at the lush evolving pads but the QSPP is no slouch. It's not as bright as Roland's XP80, nor does it have a synth engine to compete, but it still has a sound that is unique to the synth and at some point that is something you'll need to decide. If money is an issue you'll probably go with the QS. They are available at inexpensive prices and providing they work they are good for bread and butter sounds. Techno users pass, this isn't going to satisfy due to the lack of resonant filters. As mentioned before I like the way the keys respond, you have to push for aftertouch but I prefer this. The sounds in general are useful and although many slag the presets I find them interesting and useful for tweaking my own patches.

When I first bought one it was terrible. Customer service was difficult to reach and although eventually I found someone to work with. The result was a return to the store I purchased it from and a XP50 in it's place. Although the XP50 had more power I liked the sound of the QSPP better so it was a bummer. Now though it was a really fortunate thing to find a QSPP. I still like it's sound and it works well in the various projects I'm involved with. The one I bought years ago was useless, if there was a zero I'd give it that. But this used one is mint. It only took five years to get the QSPP I wanted. :) 5 points taken off for terrible service.

Who knows. They may get better now that they're bought by Numark. In the past most of the staff sucked. A couple of people did a great job and when the QS7 series came out it also had quality control problems. It also sounded and played different than the QSPP.

If lost I'd look for another rompler. If I found a working QSPP I'd buy it if it was in the $400 range. Otherwise I'd look at some real bargains like the Yamaha SY77 (unbelievible programming machine), SY85 - one of the few sample playback synths that I lust over. The Roland XP60 or XP80 would probably be more than I'd want to spend on this kind of synth. So in that respect the QSPP gets high ratings. I do not hate anything about the synth, I love some of the samples, the 8 bit synth patch kills me, it is so cheesy it's perfect, the mellotron samples and patches are excellent and a source of constant use. This is a musicial board, not much of a programming force although with a bit of work you can make interesting timbres mostly of the pad and FX type. If you like this stuff - I do - then you will probably appreciate the QSPP. Just remember to check the board before buying. At this point if it works well it has either been fixed or was one of the well constructed units.

Lovely sounds;bought it for the great stereo piano preset and the good amount of pianos and other keyboard patches. Mainly played it with presets, never got much into programming. Why? See below.

Wonderful action, totally adequate polyphony for my use. The unit takes various card for additional voices and memory. The cards seemed on the pricy side at the time I bought the keyboard. The onboard controls are really well thought-out and powerful.

The piano sounds are really quite good, esp. for a synth at this price. A couple of rhodes voices, with chorus and the effects wheel were heartbreakingly lovely, deep and emotional. This is my first real synth after several decades of playing acoustic pianos, and I found myself wonderfully entertained by the expressiveness of the keyboard touch and the dynamics of the samples. My playing definitely advanced after getting this keyboard.

Here's where it went south... After about 6 months the sound board started acting up, until finally all it would put out could be described as black noise-deafening screeching. I began a pilgrimage beginning with the repair guy at the store where I bought it, who put in main and back up DAC chips,which seemed to fix it for a while, then back to horrendous noise. From there I went to the authorized dealer, around 20 miles away, the justly famous Studio Instrument Maintenance. They valiently tried to find a short on the main board, working with it over 2 months, and fimally returned it with instructions to send it back to Alesis with $150 to have it reconditioned, that or spend around $700 for a new main board. Burned out fter thus screwing with it for a year and a half (!!) I decided to stick it under my couch for a while and bought a little Yamaha keyboard so that I could just do what I bought the QS+P for, to play. My new plan is to use the Alesis as a Midi controller, which I understand is something it is well set up for.

The authorized repair dealer was great, and, failing to fix the unit, charged me only the inspection fee, though they spent hours on it. The word I got from them is that the QS+P is a bit of a lemon, and I decided to just find another way to generate sound. I have a limited tolerance for messing with stuff....

There were times when I idly wished the thing would get stolen, so that I wouldn't have to mess with it. I do not feel I got my money's worth for it, and I sincerely hope it pulls its weight as a controller. My need to play is as much neurotic as it is artistic, and I get really cranky if I can't just sit down and depend on the thing to work...

The presets sound fantastic! The pianos are mostly very realistic and the organs and orchestral instruments sound very good as well. Acoustic guitars are good, electric guitars, not so good-though I run mine through a Marshall and they end up sounding great! Editing patches is a breeze, though I have only done so three or four times, since the presets are so good. The manual is big, but thorough.

The keyboard action is weighted, and I believe it's 64 voice polyphonic. There are built in reverbs and choruses, as well as a leslie simulator that's pretty good too. It accepts ROM cards, but I can never seem to find them anywhere. Of course, this is a little old...The MIDI uses are fantastic as well, though the aftertouch seems a little too sensitive at times. It accepts aftertouch, pitch bend, modulation, just about anything. There is no onboard sequencer, that's probably the only thing wrong with it! However, I already have a sequencer, so I wouldn't use an onboard one anyway.

This could work well for any type of music. As I've said, the sounds are just out of this world. The touch sensitivity is great, very realistic. Hell, even the drums are good! There seem to be too many "dance"-type kits for my taste, but then that's probably what most people want!

I would never gig with only one keyboard, what's the fun in that? Got to have my ProOne and ESQ-1 with me. However, it certainly is reliable and versatile enough to gig without a backup!

Other than sending in the warranty card, I've never dealt with them. I doubt I ever will!

If lost or stolen, I'd go with the QS7, which is the new version of this synth. I've been playing for close to 10 years now solid, on-and-off my whole life! I love everything about this synth, it has every feature I coud ever want. I compared it to similar-priced Rolands and Korgs, but they had only a fraction of the features. Since I bought it, my composing has doubled. It's great!

The presets, to my ear, vary tremendously in quality. The stereo piano sounds quite good, and the church organs sound fine, but the guitars, Hammond organs and most instrument samples are not nearly as sweet as my Roland U220 or Korg O1-W. I don't notice any loop problems. Editing is more than adequate once you can find the parameters you want. Manual is better than many, but verbose.

64-note polyphony is claimed, I hear timbre stealing before that, may have to do with patch layering. Effects are good, but rotary sounds fake. Expansion program cards have some good stuff. I am NOT a pianist, have played organ and synths for years. The keys have a deeper travel than I am used to, so I tend to 'stumble' a bit. THe most imporatnt feature for me is the ADAT lightpipe I/F. It works great!

4 programmable knobs add a lot to the live performance capabilities, but lack of resonance in the filter is a minus. The keyboard seems to lack dynamic range and most of the 'real' instruments aren't, they're too thin. THis may be to allow the filter some range of function, but I can't recommend this synth for orchestral stuff. On the other hand, it has wonderful electric and acoustic pianos, clavs and some usable drum kits.

Reliability of this synth has been spotty-the pitch bend was flaky for awhile, then resolved itself. But it has a tendency to go south and require re-initialization periodically. It always comes back, but you have to reset several global parameters to get full caability.

Customer support was ok, though they never admitted tp any other customers having the reset problems. The pitch bend problem surfaced about a week after the warranty was up, and the tech said they would accept it under warranty repair (but the problem cleared up after the phone call-go figure!)

If it were to go away, I would not buy another (but only because I already have an S4 Plus module equivalent), but for someone doing ambient, dance or funk, this would be a good buy (also anyone with an ADAT or two! As I said, I love the keyboards (except the Hammond organs-but there's a Terry Riley simulation that's exceptionally fun!) I wish it had warmer brass and guitars (and NOBODY can do a sax!) But I use it as my auxiliary keyboard (for weddings and 2-gig days) and I use the S4 Plus in my 'big rig' to get the sounds I like in the QS. It was definitely worth the price. The problems I have encountered are simple to fix (and apparently due to the software, my S4 shares the lock-up problem!)

Doesn't excel in any particular area, outside of the mega-piano sample, but provides plenty of useful presets to get you going. The programmers underused the excellent built-in effects, but this problem is easily corrected, usually by turning them up. A versatile sound palette is provided. Weak on analog emulation, though experimentation might result in some good things. The manual suffers from an incredibly weak index and the occasional haughtiness of its programmer/writer. So far only the Mackie manuals have been able to inject any humor into technical discussions without sounding forced. As with any synth, a patch editor would be helpful, particularly when dealing with the Quadrasynth's unique way of handling effects. It does not number its different effects, which would make things easier to deal with. Instead, they provide five effects chains you can draw upon. This makes things ultimately more programmable, but sacrifices a lot in immediate gratificiation.

I bought it cause I dug the tactile looks and feel of the rubber knobs. Very kinky. 76 keys in this price range is too good to be true. I'm not a weighted key nut and the keys feel very accurate and rewarding. I find myself playing less sloppily on this board. When you consider you get the equivalent of a Q2 effects processor and very workable Alesis drum sounds, you start reaching for your checkbook when you hear the price is under a grand. 24-megs built in at this price (which was even before the big drop in RAM prices) is unheard of. I was thrilled I didn't have to pay for a cheesy on-board sequencer. Once you've had the computer setup, it's hard to go back. The effects could be easier to use but sound great. Haven't tried Sound Bridge, the sample burner, and don't know anyone who has. Love to hear how this works. MIDI implementation is more than adequate. Combine the amount of sounds, the 76 keys, the Q2, and the drums, and you're getting the brains of your MIDI setup for less than some people pay for a dedicated MIDI controller.

Individual sounds don't necessarily knock your socks off, but with a little tweaking and layering, let's just say if you can't make music with this baby the limitation is not with the instrument. Nice pizzacatos and woodwinds, for whatever that's worth. Decent film score type stuff. Millions of organs and electric pianos that more than get the job done. You'll want more artillery in your MIDI arsenal, but the Quadrasynth is a fine centerpiece to build around.

I hear a little hiss when I change some parameters, but this could be my speakers. Haven't had a chance to really check it out. It was initially hard to buy an Alesis product; after years of doing bizarre arty-farty gigs with computers and analog synths without a road crew, the only thing that ever went out on my was the original Alesis drum machine. I guess I forgave them because of the Quadrasynth's rubber knobs. The build quality has obviously come around as well.

I did write on my warranty card that I would like a copy of Sound Bridge for Windows (the unit ships with a Mac disk) and never got anything. It's downloadable, though.

Definitely a value so fantastic (mine even came withan 8-meg pop/rock card) that whatever quibbles I can come with are inconsequential at this price. A likeable machine that rewards tweaking.I think I was in the perfect target demographic - MIDI users with computers who don't care about piano-action or onboard sequencers and who are attracted to ergonomics, design, and price point.

Presets: Pianos and woodwinds are superior.Brass and strings are realistic with intelligent patch design (lots of variations). Drums are very good, but not enough exotic percussions. Analog synths: interesting simulations of resonant filter effects. Editing is straithforward, much improved from the original QS The manual is helpful but lacks an in-depth index

64 voice, dynamically allocated Built-in Q2 processor.Reverb, delay, chorus, flange, leslie, overdrive PCMCIA slot for ram, flashram cards. Can receive new waves via included SoundBridge software

Most acoustic instrument patches are quite realistic. Electric guitar sounds leave to be desired. Broad use for pop, rock, classical. Maybe not the best choice for techno and dance styles Onboard effects are excellent. Overdrive could be improved Wide range of velocity/timbral control. Velocity switching/fading could be easier to set-up. Very good aftertouch effects, including el. guitar feedback effect.

Has been trouble-free so far (2 months) Case is sturdy

email contacts worked well. Response came within 2 days and was helpful Avoid phone contacts

I would buy it again. No other keyboard in this range has 24 meg of rom sounds. The sounds are both complex and clear. The MIX mode (multitimbral) could be easier to use.I compared it to the Roland XP-50 and the Korg 01/W and X3. The Quadrasynth Plus simply sounded more musical to my ears. . I wish it had a basic sequencer, even playback only, to take my Vision sequences on the road. I've been told, at an Alesis clinic, that they might implement one as a PCMCIA-based midi file player. The QS+ definitely helps me make music. It is the most powerful instrument I ever had (and I had many!)