Tell me something...

if u intended to buy a korg extreme but couldn't afford it, would u buy a TR or try the Alesis fusion?

inquiring minds want to know...

You could just wait and save ...

Umm.... only one answer to that

ok ok i get the picture guys

but khazul, hows the Alesis to u?

huh huh..

Personally I'm looking at the TR-61 in the near future. Really not bad for the price; I don't see how I can go wrong.

i hear yah and want to agree i'm close to that but would like to hear the take on the

alesis fusion...

The thing I find with romplers is if you like a particular rompler - its takes alot of playing with another one to get to accept, appreaciate and evntually actually like it if your reference is allready one of the main romplers.

I played with a Triton extreme last year - it wasnt just a case of it left me cold - I actually hated the bloody thing - and I mean just about everything about it from key feel to interface to price and sound. Actually, I didnt *hate* the sound - it just didnt do anything for me - there were a few OK patches, actually even some good ones, but nothin special about it to make me spend what was then a huge wedge of cash.

I was all set to buy a Fantom-X6 when the Fusion was announced. Then delay, more delays I ended up with a Motif ES Rack - its presets better suited what I was doing at the time - and I desparately needed a rompler preset box by that time - ES suited this well despite my not being exactly overwhelmed by it piano sounds - I like them on the Fantom X by contrast. Anyway - the point is - I got used to the Yamaha sounds and actually started like and apreciate it - despite a feeling that it was way over processed. But it does have a massive plus - they have done a very good job of masking the differences in samples between adjacent notes and across velocity layers.

Anyway - Fusion eventually came on the scene - at the time I was looking for a nice 88key controller, a workhorse sampler and was also getting pissed off with useability of the DX7 card I has in the Motif ES. Fusion prices crash and latest OS updates and sound sets happened to co-incide with its UK launch - one play with the board and I really liked the key feel. Interface was easy to get around, essential controls that I actually regular want to mess with on a rompler are there on the performance panel. I also liked the rawness of its sounds - such a massive and very refreshing contrast to the Motif ES. Oh - and the EPs - I love the EP and Hybrid painos sounds on it. I like the rawness of its main paino sound, but I dont like the way the layers switch rather abruptly between mf and ff. In no time I found I was hardly using the ES at all. Its VA turned out to be very useful as well as did its FM synth. A couple of months later, Im still have the ES - I still use it - sometimes its overly processed sound just works, but mostly the fusion is my workhorse sketching/rompler machine now. I quite like many of its fx as well - especially its rotor sims.

A thought to take away - buying the Motif ES rack last year, and buying the Fusion 8HD this year probably cost about the same, actually I think slighly less than it would have cost me had I bought a Triton Extreme 76, or a Motif ES 7 or 8, or a Fantom X8.

There are some thing missing on the Fusion as a rompler compared to the other biggies, but theres also a hell of alot extra as well. I hope in time Alesis will deal with the missing bits.

Oh yeh - sound wise - it definately does something for me in a way the others never quite managed (though best feature of the Motif ES has tro be its drum & perc sounds), but Ive learned that rompler taste seems to be a very personal thing to many of us - there isnt really a best.

hey khazul

thanx for that post man ...i really wanted to hear that side of it especially some one who has been around the mo and the fantome and the extreme of course personal taste plays a big part but for some reason i get the feel that the fusion is being down played.

another thing , i hear the sounds r a nice addition to sounds of the triton for example . the triton sounds suit alot of my music (reggae, r & b, soca, calypso...how does the Alesis compare to the triton in terms of makin the Alesis fusion the main board in the end?

thanx

TBH - I dont feel at all qualified to answer a comparison between the Triton and Fusion - I just havnt given the Triton enough of a chance.

Short of a Korg Oasys, I do honestly beleive there is simply no workstation synth on the market today that is more flexible.

The sound set I personally consider to be a bit traditional for my taste (trance head who also like to take a look over the wall into soul and jazz occasionally), but creating new sounds for it as actually very easy - and I mean *new* sounds - not rehashes of existing rompler waves - that the difference - it a rompler *AND* its a real synth - actualy its 3 real synths + a sampler and 8 track hard disc recorder and sequencer. Moss board, and plugin cards for the other are of course options.

It seems to depend on the sounds you want. Personally, the sounds on the fusion didnt impress me that much, but then again, it *is* an alesis board, and I have both an A6 and an ION and I can tell you the presets are no indication of what an alesis machine can do. in fact, they usually suck..

At the current prices, a fusion is really hard to beat. You could probably get one, and if you didnt like it, turn around and sell it again without taking too much of a loss.

well...guys things to think about...

i'm really scratching my head now..

oh well... we'll see where this goes...i hate makin choices like these especially when u can't afford all

i guess that's all in the mix

Originally posted by Khazul Umm.... only one answer to that

Nice pic and very nice setup ... but you need to do something about hiding those nasty wires and cables ... (or at least photoshop them out)

I like Khazul's answer.

Hey Khazul, where did you get that rack to hold the Novation KS, Motif and Korg? The lighting looks cool, did you get some ground lamps to do that? That looks like a fun studio to jam in!

Nice setup, Khazul!

The rack is a 10U quiklok desk rack - cant remember the model number - but they are quite cheap.

Red glow is from a rope light I ended up with over christmas and a bunch of other lights and an oil wheel out of view.

Cables - yeh - ran out of velco ties - actually thats the only place where they are loose - from the cable loom along under the desk (80mm guttering suspended with velco ties) to the stands and at the other end into the patch bays.

As for jamming - yeh - works well - can actually get a whole band in here and enough toys to amuse them all

This other pic shows the gear area which takes up about 1/3rd of the space.

i'd like to get my sticks on those V-drums.

Khazul, thanks for that great review. I'm considering getting the very same Fuzion 8/Motif ES rack combo to replace three boards in my live setup: Kurzweil PC88mx, Yamaha EX-5 and Nord Lead I. I'd like to have the fusion on the bottom, with my Nord electro above it, and I think that'd give me just about everything I need on stage.

Again, thank you!