http://www.sonicstate.com/news/shownews.cfm?newsid=1924#

Note the price thats less then a forth of Korgs new board...

Also if you check out the booth demo...let me know how you like the EP, reminded me of Steely Dan briefly

waw!!!! This Alesis Fusion looks very interesting. The price makes it more appealing than the new Korg. I wonder if it is a heavy keyboard.

I saw and heard the Fusion 8HD today at Summer NAMM in Anaheim. It really is very impressive especially at the price quoted $1999 for the Fusion 8 with 88 weighted keys and and $1699 for the 61 synth key version. The synth models sounded very good and with sample playback as well and streaming sampled audio off the HD made this look like a great new addition to the Alesis line. I think I would very definately consider it a contender against current Korg products in the similar price range.

Why wonder....

Weight
Fusion 8HD: 58.4 lb, 25.6 kg
Fusion 6HD: 30.4 lb, 13.8 kg


http://www.fusionsynth.com/specs.html

The price makes it looks within reality next to the Korg, and from the light demos/ booth footage/ random features...the Korg and Alesis seem just as capable. Not something that should be given the price gap.

Nigel cool you got to see the board.

IM just happy to see Alesis come out with a workstation in any form

As for the rompler side of the Fusion...any general feelings on that? As Alesis dint just port the Q stuff over, I REALLY want to know what the new sound banks are like.

"The synth models sounded very good and with sample playback as well and streaming sampled audio off the HD"

Fusion...

"I think I would very definately consider it a contender against current Korg products in the similar price range."

Agree. The Fusion costs HALF what I expected it to ( blame the 8000$ Korg for that one ).

To finish...any random thoughts you have on the Fusion are welcome to me

It's hard to really judge audio critically because of all the background noise from nearby booths at NAMM. But the analog modeling and modulation control sounded very natural. Alesis have done a great job on it. Also the FM and physical modeling sounded very convincing as well. I have always been a big fan of FM so that is a big plus for me. And all the synth engines can be combined so some serious patches can be created on this machine.

Just a question,

I am interested for a second keyboard, only sound engine, to go with the Pa80.
Do you think there are also good conventional sounds in this machine (organs, pianos, guitars, accordeons...) ?

Stam

"It's hard to really judge audio critically because of all the background noise from nearby booths at NAMM."

No worries and completely understandable.

"But the analog modeling and modulation control sounded very natural. Alesis have done a great job on it."

Yeah have an Ion so was hopeful the VA was gonna be nice on the Fusion.

" Also the FM and physical modeling sounded very convincing as well. I have always been a big fan of FM so that is a big plus for me. And all the synth engines can be combined so some serious patches can be created on this machine."

Hahahah Fusion.

Although I didn't get a chance to evaluate the conventional sounds I'd say yes because that is why Alesis provide sample playback in addition to the modeling.

With the ability to tweak the sounds whether Sample or User Playback or FM Synthesis, etc. as Nigel said, the Fusion should really be a winner. Even out of the Box the acoustic sounds were pretty good but with the ability to tweak those sounds to your hearts content is great. It has a 32 track Sequencer, USB "2.0" connectivity, it comes with a 40 Gibabyte Hard Drive, it is able to stream Audio from the Hard Drive, it has a totally new Sound Set with the "Q Up Arts" Holy Grail Piano included, Analog Modeling, Physical Modeling for Acoustic instruments, it is able to 'record' and 'playback' "8" tracks of '24' bit Audio, plus Compact Flash support. The Polyphony is up to 180 notes. It has S/PDIF Outputs (Optical AND Coaxial), Midi connectivity, up to 192 MB of Sample RAM, 120 MB of WAV ROM, plus many others features and bonuses with the biggest bonus being the price in my opinion. The 88 Key version can be had for under 2 Grand!! Wow!!!

Also the 61 Key version only weighs 30.4 lbs!

Best regards,
Mike

[This message has been edited by keybplayer (edited 01-24-2005).]