Members TechEverlasting Posted March 21, 2008 Members Share Posted March 21, 2008 Obviously what did the Fusion in was the unimpressive in-store presentation and the buggy OS Alesis brought to market. I often complain that Romplers from the big three are designed only to create impressive in-store demos, and don't have much depth or flexibility beyond this. The Fusion is just the opposite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Diametro Posted March 21, 2008 Members Share Posted March 21, 2008 Perhaps, if you're NOT referring to the sequencer or audio tracks. Otherwise, you are correct ... Also, the relatively slow loading times for sample-based programs didn't help either ... Plus, the way it looks ... Fine on its own, not so good next to other synths, IMO ... Plus, Alesis was trying to sell this half-baked tart at name-brand prices with an unfocused feature-set ... It's a pretty good unknobby synth ... but a lousy "workstation." But that's how Alesis marketed it and doomed it to failure by rushing its release ... Again, as I've written before, it's the adventurer's choice ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Carey M Posted March 21, 2008 Members Share Posted March 21, 2008 I'd love to hear how the Fusion's (Hollow Sun's) electric pianos sound. Ya know, classic Rhodes and Wurlie sounds. I haven't found any (satisfactory) e-piano demos on the web. Anyone care to make a sample? Pleeeease? I'm yearning for classic Mk I Rhodes and 200A demos! No need for phasers nor other fancy effects, I like my electro mechanicals dry, maybe with a little tremolo-twist. I am seriously thinking about replacing my Motif with a Fusion... So, pretty please? - CM P.S. With sugar on top? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mate_stubb Posted March 22, 2008 Members Share Posted March 22, 2008 I'd love to hear how the Fusion's (Hollow Sun's) electric pianos sound. Ya know, classic Rhodes and Wurlie sounds. I haven't found any (satisfactory) e-piano demos on the web. Anyone care to make a sample? Pleeeease? I'm yearning for classic Mk I Rhodes and 200A demos! No need for phasers nor other fancy effects, I like my electro mechanicals dry, maybe with a little tremolo-twist. I am seriously thinking about replacing my Motif with a Fusion... So,pretty please?- CMP.S. With sugar on top? Look, my Fusion is a great synth, but for Rhodes and Wurlis my Nord Stage SMOKES it. SMOKES IT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ElectricPuppy Posted March 22, 2008 Members Share Posted March 22, 2008 I'm sorry Moe, but I'm just not clear on this... are you suggesting that the Stage may have some very slight edge over the Fusion for the catagory of electrically-enhanced pianofortes? Try to be more precise in your claims, good sir. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mate_stubb Posted March 22, 2008 Members Share Posted March 22, 2008 Very well. IMO, the Fusion is great for everything BUT sounding like a real instrument. The Stage is the only sample based instrument I have ever played that doesn't distract me with its sample switching, or just scream "fake!" when I play it. The keyboard response is matched exceedingly well to the sounds. The effects sound authentic old-school and have dedicated front panel controls. The release samples on the Rhodes pianos are extremely authentic. The wurli tone (shared by electro) is dead on balls accurate. I have owned 2 wurlis, a Rhodes 88 and 2 clavs. This instrument causes me to play it for hours for the sheer pleasure of it. Not so the Fusion. I have all but the latest HS banks, and there is simply not a wurli or a rhodes in there to match the Stage. Carey M, if you are not playing live, soft is the way to go. The modelled instruments are getting close to being convincing. For organ, check out VB3, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUUiV_B4uNghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea52H4ZBb3Q for Rhodes Mr. Rayhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sX8Jn7U_zk Both VSTs written by the same talented guy, and cheap too. Fusion is a great synthesizer though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dxdreamer Posted March 22, 2008 Members Share Posted March 22, 2008 would be really interested to try it out with new OS and new soundsets but sadly... due to not so good initial release, no one in BC Canada carry them in store for demo anymore!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Diametro Posted March 22, 2008 Members Share Posted March 22, 2008 Although the Fusion seems to roll in and out of use, and I like to rag on it, I consider myself lucky have one. Sort of like the sassy cool kid who gets killed in the beginning of the movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members madprof Posted March 22, 2008 Members Share Posted March 22, 2008 Although the Fusion seems to roll in and out of use, and I like to rag on it, I consider myself lucky have one. Sort of like the sassy cool kid who gets killed in the beginning of the movie. Grow some balls and use it more often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Carey M Posted March 22, 2008 Members Share Posted March 22, 2008 Very well. IMO, the Fusion is great for everything BUT sounding like a real instrument....Carey M, if you are not playing live, soft is the way to go. The modelled instruments are getting close to being convincing.For organ, check out VB3, ...for Rhodes Mr. Ray Thank you sir for your insight. Sadly, I AM looking for a live board. In general, I do not use a lot of realistic sounds (mostly analogue synths, mellotrons), but I do need good Rhodes and Wurlie. I guess I'll stick to my Motif for a while and upgrade later to XS/Fantom G. BTW, I use both of those VSTis in the studio (and MrTramp, which is good, too), and as an ex-owner of both a Mk I Suitcase and 200A, they are pretty damn amazing, especially considering that they are free. - CM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mate_stubb Posted March 22, 2008 Members Share Posted March 22, 2008 Have you tried Electro? Its acoustic pianos are tenuous, but the rhodes, wurli and clav are very good, although not quite up to Stage. Action is unweighted though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Carey M Posted March 22, 2008 Members Share Posted March 22, 2008 Have you tried Electro? Its acoustic pianos are tenuous, but the rhodes, wurli and clav are very good, although not quite up to Stage. Yep, even played a couple of gigs with one (after I lost both of my Wurlies in a fire ). Great board! The thing is, I'd love to have as much integration as possible. This will mean some sonical compromises, but it'll also result in a more compact and economical rig. So, if I could integrate some acoustic and electromechanical reproduction, a sampler, decent VA sounds (with onboard editing, hated the PLG150-AN) and master keyboard capabilities into a single 61 key unit, I'd be very happy At the moment, I gig with Motif and R3, which is alright... But has still a lot of room for improvements (the Motif Rhodes is "alright", the sampler is slow in loading and has small memory). The Fusion seemed like a perfect replacement for BOTH the R3 and the Motif. Maybe I'll buy a REAL Rhodes and a Fusion? - CM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mate_stubb Posted March 22, 2008 Members Share Posted March 22, 2008 If you have sampling skillz or access to a good sample set, you should be able to make up a rhodes for Fusion that would sound great. There's nothing wrong with the Fusion sound engine, I just haven't seen anything for it from the free libraries that is up to snuff yet. So make yer own! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mildbill Posted March 22, 2008 Members Share Posted March 22, 2008 ....it's the adventurer's choice ... Yep. and as Mate Stubb says - 'So make yer own'. The Fusion is 'Potential'. If that potential matches what you're looking for, you're set - otherwise you'll be disappointed. Here's what I mean: it's a sampler - so it can sound like whatever you want. But sampling is only 'potential' - it takes a lot of work to make your own samples.It's also a sample playback machine, but this also takes some work. You have to find samples in a compatible format, then convert them, and then do some arrangement, and so on - a lot of 'potential', but still a lot of work. It's also a great synth, with 3 different types of synthesis available. These are fantastic, if you know how to program, or are willing to learn how to program - otherwise they're just 'potential'. I could go on, but you get the point. Someone who doesn't want to put some effort into using all the 'potential' provided by the Fusion, is probably better off looking elsewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sillyme Posted March 22, 2008 Members Share Posted March 22, 2008 Yep. and as Mate Stubb says - 'So make yer own'.The Fusion is 'Potential'. If that potential matches what you're looking for, you're set - otherwise you'll be disappointed.Here's what I mean: it's a sampler - so it can sound like whatever you want. But sampling is only 'potential' - it takes a lot of work to make your own samples.It's also a sample playback machine, but this also takes some work. You have to find samples in a compatible format, then convert them, and then do some arrangement, and so on - a lot of 'potential', but still a lot of work.It's also a great synth, with 3 different types of synthesis available. These are fantastic, if you know how to program, or are willing to learn how to program - otherwise they're just 'potential'.I could go on, but you get the point.Someone who doesn't want to put some effort into using all the 'potential' provided by the Fusion, is probably better off looking elsewhere. I think the problem here comes when people are looking for realistic sounds. For piano, rhodes, wurlies ect this is where the Fusion runs into problems. If you need this types of sounds, the Fusion runs into a brick wall IMO. Even many of the people who have used the Fusion and programmed it have stated that its not a strong point. I think the word potential is a good word here. I think the Fusion had and has tons of it. The Fusion was the victim of terrible marketing and a buggy OS that scared everyone away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Enigmatic Posted March 22, 2008 Members Share Posted March 22, 2008 Is Alesis discontinuing the Fusion ? :poke: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Carey M Posted March 22, 2008 Members Share Posted March 22, 2008 Someone who doesn't want to put some effort into using all the 'potential' provided by the Fusion, is probably better off looking elsewhere. Hey, the open-endedness of the Fusion is a major factor in my interest in it... But I'm not going to sample a bloody Rhodes myself But I did come across a certain pretty good sounding Rhodes sample-cd in Akai 5/6000 format, which is, as I understand, convertable to Fusion format with a little effort. Shouldn't be harder than converting big multi-layer gigasamples to Yamaha format (I'd rather not do this again), I guess. Anybody care to share their experiences with the Fusion Converter? - CM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members synthvince Posted March 30, 2008 Members Share Posted March 30, 2008 But I did come across a certain pretty good sounding Rhodes sample-cd in Akai 5/6000 format Magnetica? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sizzlemeister Posted March 30, 2008 Members Share Posted March 30, 2008 I used an Electro and a Fusion for gigging. The Fusion not only handled the electronic sounds, obviously, but I also used it for EP, Farfisa, pianos, and other conventional sounds. I played some big shows and the Fusion sounds were ALWAYS the ones being complimented. Look! Listen! Decide! JvZghLuAuPE u64wxosXgZc j7P55SAZB1U Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Birdienumnum Posted March 30, 2008 Members Share Posted March 30, 2008 Cool! Thanks for dat, sizzle my mizzle! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Carey M Posted March 30, 2008 Members Share Posted March 30, 2008 Cool! Thanks for dat, sizzle my mizzle! But yeah, those were great clips, Sizzle. CFTAE rocked! So... was the Wurlie on Have a Cigar from the Electro or from the Fusion? :poke: - CM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sizzlemeister Posted March 30, 2008 Members Share Posted March 30, 2008 The other two, for better or worse (we blew Us and Them) 9fVrQ3LbNWE _8c32tHzqxU Let me see if I can recall which the Fusion handles in each recording: WTTM - opening and closing samples, all synths. The Electro is only doing the organ stabs. Careful w/ da Axe - is all Fusion; Farfisa and Waters scream sample. Have a Cigar - Fusion is doing the closing sample and synth sound. Cymbaline - Fusion is doing piano. Us and Them - Fusion does piano, and synth during Any Colour You Like. I used the EPs on the Fusion for Sheep, I think, definitely for Hey You, and something else. I left that band last fall so the memory escapes me. I also used strings from the Fusion in Comfortably Numb. I loved every moment with that rig, the Electro and Fusion - what a great live rig. Whatever I wanted to do I could do it - I had a an On The Run sequence and mix programmed that was always a crowd pleaser. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Carey M Posted March 30, 2008 Members Share Posted March 30, 2008 Thanks for the additional videos, Mr. Meister! Magnetica? Nope, but I'll have to check it out. I was talking about Pyramid Sounds' Real Rhodes, which sounds pretty damn good... And for 140 bucks, it should... - CM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gunslinger69 Posted March 30, 2008 Members Share Posted March 30, 2008 Let me see if I can recall which the Fusion handles in each recording:Careful w/ da Axe - is all Fusion; Farfisa and Waters scream sample. You got a much better rotary sim from the Fusion than I've been able to. How? or is it an external sim module? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sizzlemeister Posted March 30, 2008 Members Share Posted March 30, 2008 You got a much better rotary sim from the Fusion than I've been able to. How? or is it an external sim module? Farfisas don't use rotary speakers, at least not the psychedelic Farfisa sounds. It's all tremolo and vibrato. FWIW, I got a really cool Farfisa emulation back in the day from my Poly61. The memory of that sound I used to tweak the Fusion's Farfisa. You can get that sound from nearly any board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.