Members vptran1490 Posted March 27, 2007 Members Share Posted March 27, 2007 I've got a decent Alesis QA6.1 but don't link the piano sounds on-board. Alesis sold the q-cards about 7 years ago (at least) but I can't find those cards any more (even on eBay). Does anyone still remember those cards and where I can get one? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cl516 Posted March 27, 2007 Members Share Posted March 27, 2007 yep, i remember them. to be honest, they're not THAT bad, but i'm glad i got rid of mine. i had 'eurodance' and 'vintage synths / beatbox'.it was my first 'synth'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Birdienumnum Posted March 27, 2007 Members Share Posted March 27, 2007 Welcome to KSS, vptran1490! To be honest, and I speak as a former original QS8 (.0) owner, the Q cards aren't any better than the original sounds. You would be much better off with another used but pro bread and butter rompler synth like a Roland XP-30, E-mu PK-6, or Yamaha S30, just to name three offhand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members -groovatious- Posted March 27, 2007 Members Share Posted March 27, 2007 Welcome to KSS, vptran1490! To be honest, and I speak as a former original QS8 (.0) owner, the Q cards aren't any better than the original sounds. You would be much better off with another used but pro bread and butter rompler synth like a Roland XP-30, E-mu PK-6, or Yamaha S30, just to name three offhand. +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ChipCurtis Posted March 27, 2007 Members Share Posted March 27, 2007 I've got a decent Alesis QA6.1 but don't link the piano sounds on-board. Alesis sold the q-cards about 7 years ago (at least) but I can't find those cards any more (even on eBay). Does anyone still remember those cards and where I can get one? It's interesting this topic came up, as I just got through a long struggle trying to find the right software and PCMCIA cards to make my own Q-Cards. I finally got it to work. QCards are no longer avail. from Alesis, and the ones you find on eBay are too expensive. What you need is to find the right PCMCIA cards (must be either AMD Linear Flash Series D, or Intel Series 2; not 2+) with at least 8MB of space. Anything over 8MB is fine, the Alesis QS synth will only read the first 8MB of space on the card. If you need to know how it's done, here is an excellent web site that walks you through everything: http://www.benweaver.info/alesis. You have to have the right hardware and software to make this work. I believe the program "Memory Card Explorer" works fine but the trial only allows 5 reads or writes, then it expires. Expensive software too, something like $250. I would recommend getting cheap PCMCIA cards on eBay, then burn 5 cards and be done with it. However, you have to know where to get the image files. This can be somewhat ethical problem, but I figure if Alesis won't make them available anymore, it's okay to burn your own. As for the sound on these cards, I have only tried the Jazz Piano, Vintage Keys, and Vintage Synths cards. The Jazz Piano card IMO is the one worth having, as it sounds much better than the piano samples built into the QS. The midrange area of the piano keys IMO sound awful in the stock piano sound, somewhat banjo-ish and don't have the sonic strength to cut through a mix. The lower end and high end are fine, though. But the Jazz Piano card was done right, the midrage sounds authentic. I have also browsed through the VKeys and VSynth cards. Interesting, but nothing crucial there IMO. Just different samples of Rhodes, Clavs, Wurlys, Organs, more synth waveforms, and some interesting patches made from all this. I think the built-in organs and electric pianos in the QS are fine -- might need some minor tweaking, but the samples themselves are okay. The QCard burning procedure might be more trouble than it's worth, though. I'd say, if the acoustic piano sound is the only thing you don't like, just try to find a Stereo Jazz Piano QCard on eBay (it's one of the more sought-after cards, usually runs about $100), or PM me -- maybe I can hook you up somehow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Yoozer Posted March 27, 2007 Members Share Posted March 27, 2007 http://www.synthmania.com/ has a bunch of Q-card demos (just scroll down on the page, you'll find them eventually). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Nob prodham Posted November 19, 2017 Members Share Posted November 19, 2017 I've got a decent Alesis QA6.1 but don't link the piano sounds on-board. Alesis sold the q-cards about 7 years ago (at least) but I can't find those cards any more (even on eBay). Does anyone still remember those cards and where I can get one?ThanksI have 3 which I inherited from a musician friend. If you are interested just let me know. Euro Dance, Classical Instruments plus, and Sanctuary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JazzMastaJim Posted November 21, 2017 Members Share Posted November 21, 2017 I have two Q-Cards for my QS8.1: Vintage Keys and I Forget... no, I actually forget what the other one is. I got them very cheap -- legitimately -- so I don't particularly mind that I've only found about 10% of the sounds to be useful to me. The QS8.1 came with so many sounds pre-installed (plus, I made a lot of my own) that I just never used more than a few from the cards. I still think the QS8.1 is a great keyboard, and if it hadn't been orphaned and didn't weigh 80+ pounds, I'd probably still be gigging with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members delaware dave Posted November 21, 2017 Members Share Posted November 21, 2017 Years ago I had a 6.1 and the vintage keyboard q card. The sounds on the card sounded as bad as the internal sounds on the 6.1. Source for cards:https://www.google.com/search?q=alesis+q+card&oq=alesis+q+card&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l3.7153j0j7&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ChipCurtis Posted November 22, 2017 Members Share Posted November 22, 2017 Wow, has it really been over 10 years since I last saw/wrote in this thread? Amazing! I've only just retired my QS8.2 late last year, as I'm now using a Yamaha MOX8 as my main 88-key synth. (Also got a Kurzweil PC3 as my new upper board, replacing the Korg Z1). I guess it was only a few months after I wrote in this thread about making your own Q-Cards, that I eventually did just that (out of custom samples, that is... not duplicating Alesis cards). So, since about 2008, I've been sellling my custom Rhodes Stage 88 card on eBay, and it has been a popular seller to this day. I must have sold about a 200 of them, so a good handful of QS users out there know this card. It has 4MB of memory, all of it dedicated to the Rhodes samples. That's the only sound that's on the card, but it sounds so much better than the internal or VintageKeys Rhodes samples. I gigged my QS8.2 with this card over the past 8 years. Nothing but compliments on the sound. Currently none are for sale as I'm awaiting a new batch of blank cards to arrive, but it will be back up on eBay soon... Sells for $42. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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