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Why didn't the Alesis Fusion succeed?


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The ROMpler thing isn't all that. It's mediocre really. Where the fusion really shines is the VA and FM sections, and the ability to layer them in mix-mode. It didn't succeed because many people don't think the user interface is very intuitive (I bought my second one a few weeks ago after selling the first one years ago, and I find it much easier to navigate now than I did a few years back) and because the OS was pretty buggy when it was released. Updates in the OS fixed that problem, but it was probably too late by that time..

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As I understand - when it was released, it was way too buggy. I bought it a couple of years after it was released and installed the latest version OS on it (1.23) and it has been mostly stable. A little bit of quirks here and there but very manageable and trustworthy. So, it took over a year (I think) to stabilize the OS, and by that time, its reputation as a buggy synth was established.

 

The second blow was that the original presets aren't that great. This was remedied a few months later when Hollow Sun released the Preset 5 bank, with much improved sounds, and from then on Hollow Sun started offering the official Hollow Sun libraries (on the Alesis Site) and the Hollow Sun Freepacks (on the Hollow Sun website). For the average person, even though these were mostly excellent sounds, it was probably a bit too much to keep up with! And they focused more on the synth side rather than the ROM side, and ROM is still king, I guess.

 

Also, some promised features were never implemented - the sequencer is very basic and only works in linear fashion. They promised to add the ability to connect an external HD, or a CD recorder to it and that was never implemented as well. And finally, the ROM sounds are hit and miss - some are very good, some are OK and some are pretty poor (like solo orchestral sounds, for example) and that meant that a person looking for a workstation would much rather get the Motif which has always been very good about the overall quality of all it sounds - they're always good or excellent compared to everybody else.

 

People who like the Fusion today are people who use it as a sound creation device, not people who want a workstation that competes with Motif or M3 or Kronos. Even though it is possible to use it as a workstation, but in a very limiting way.

 

I hope this helps to start the discussion... I'm sure others will chime in saying how ugly they think it looks, or why it did not appeal to them... I personally love the thing.

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On paper it looks like a damn fine synth. And it wasn't that expensive

 

"On paper" was the problem. It shipped with many bugs affecting the sequencer and hard disk recording features, the factory presets were lame and there were manufacturing QC issues while the original price was within spitting distance of Motif, Fantom and Triton models that were already well established in the marketplace. Alesis cut the price a few months after release to try to spur sales but it didn't help. A lot of units ended being sold in blowout deals at 25% of the original price. People can forgive more at $500 than at $2000 :cop:

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...and from then on Hollow Sun started offering the official Hollow Sun libraries (on the Alesis Site) and the Hollow Sun Freepacks (on the Hollow Sun website). For the average person, even though these were mostly excellent sounds, it was probably a bit too much to keep up with! And they focused more on the synth side rather than the ROM side, and ROM is still king, I guess.

 

 

I'll say here I don't think this is quite true - the sounds are mostly samples. There are some "synth engine" sounds but the majority are samples. The problem as I see it is there are too many sounds available and the quality is not there in the original banks.

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As I understand - when it was released, it was way too buggy. I bought it a couple of years after it was released and installed the latest version OS on it (1.23) and it has been mostly stable. A little bit of quirks here and there but very manageable and trustworthy. So, it took over a year (I think) to stabilize the OS, and by that time, its reputation as a buggy synth was established.


The second blow was that the original presets aren't that great. This was remedied a few months later when Hollow Sun released the Preset 5 bank, with much improved sounds, and from then on Hollow Sun started offering the official Hollow Sun libraries (on the Alesis Site) and the Hollow Sun Freepacks (on the Hollow Sun website). For the average person, even though these were mostly excellent sounds, it was probably a bit too much to keep up with! And they focused more on the synth side rather than the ROM side, and ROM is still king, I guess.


Also, some promised features were never implemented - the sequencer is very basic and only works in linear fashion. They promised to add the ability to connect an external HD, or a CD recorder to it and that was never implemented as well. And finally, the ROM sounds are hit and miss - some are very good, some are OK and some are pretty poor (like solo orchestral sounds, for example) and that meant that a person looking for a workstation would much rather get the Motif which has always been very good about the overall quality of all it sounds - they're always good or excellent compared to everybody else.


People who like the Fusion today are people who use it as a sound creation device, not people who want a workstation that competes with Motif or M3 or Kronos. Even though it is possible to use it as a workstation, but in a very limiting way.


I hope this helps to start the discussion... I'm sure others will chime in saying how ugly they think it looks, or why it did not appeal to them... I personally love the thing.

 

 

This is a good assessment ... The only thing I'll add is that as a digital sound creation device, it's a shame there's only four knobs, a fairly lo-res screen and all those useless category buttons ...

 

The problem with Fusion is that they really had no idea what they were making (an attempt at OASYS-like workstation) when they threw it against the wall to see what would stick ... (sound creation VA with four knobs and soft buttons ... )

 

Not mentioned here is one of the things that saves the Fusion is its nice keybed with aftertouch (at least synth action version) ...

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I bought one when they were being blown out. It has very high fidelity sound, but weak presets as mentioned before.

 

I intended to do sound design on it, but the UI hindered instead of helped me. It's a very deep synth, but badly presented.

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A lot of the Fusion rom sounds have that Quadrasynth sound. Not bad for 1993 but, pretty weak in 2005 when the Fusion was released. Alesis needed to spend a lot more money on new samples and preset design which probably wasn't available after paying the designer of the fancy chassis.

 

:facepalm:

 

:lol:

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like EMU and Ensoniq, and like how Yamaha gave up on FM. i presume

Not like Ensoniq, which was doing great until they were bought out by Creative (not for their synths, but for DSPs and soundcards, to shut them out of the market and use the technology).

 

Creative lobbed the keyboard technology at their EMU branch, who pretty much just ignored it.

 

RIP a great keyboard maker. :-(

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How good is the VA section on it, say compared to the Micron?


And what is the physical modelling section like?


Ah, wind and reed models only.
http://www.vintagesynth.com/misc/fusion.php

 

This thread has some good information on that.

 

Bret Victor, the guy who designed the Micron and also designed the sound engine for the Fusion (genius!! it's the Fusion's best part), went on to design the initial interface for the iPad, iPod Nano, and a bunch of Apple products that never came to light. :eek:

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A point by point review:

 

The VA is great in my opinion (one of my faves) - and, programmable up the wazoo.

The FM is a capable, good sounding FM synth - nice interface for routing.

The ROM stuff is hit or miss - you get what you put into it - and, again, very programmable.

The PM stuff is terrible, just weak and terrible - it doesn't share any similarities with yamahas VL or Korgs moss systems.

Programming of the different synth engines can take some getting used to - but, it is quite intuitive once you find your way around.

 

The sequencer/recorder/sampler I haven't really touched - I tried, got scared, and never went back (!).

 

The keyboard is really good - great aftertouch response and overall feel (6HD synth action).

 

This thing was released buggy, with an unfinished soundset and looks like garbage - what did alesis think was going to happen?! If I were into conspiracy theories I'd say it was designed to fail.

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