The Fusion future is golden

[Hollow Sun]

It all depends on how many FX any instrument can have simultaneously. I would also imagine it depends on how many effects any given single patch/program is using. So, if Fantom allows eight effects simultaneously then 8 tracks can have an effect each but if you try to use one program that uses all eight FX, then I imagine the other tracks can't have any unless you compromise (or if eight tracks already use the eight FX and you try and put a prog in that uses the eight FX, that program is going to be stripped of its effects).

The 'problem' with Fusion is that it 'only' has four inserts and 2 bus effects that need to be shared ... but is pretty much exactly the same way as all the others.

Again, for me, this wasn't a problem ... I was actually expecting it when I read the spec before receiving mine.

As far as I know, the old Novation Nova synths were the only ones where the tracks/channels had an identical and full complement of FX on each one.

As you say, maybe the Oasys provides more ... but at £7,000, I'd bloody well hope so!!

Oct 26, 2008 23:14:25 GMT lildave said:

Ahh, well, who cares.....

Well.... quite! Nothing's gonna change now.

[neomad]

I love my Fusion. More than 2 and a half years of pleasure and dreams (and some issues of course like a woman... but only speaks when I want and it do not want to have new Dior parfums every month ).

I love my Fusion, and despiting my criticism always present, I love this comunity too. My 2cts was downloaded more than 100 times (Apple Logic Environement) and I'm happy.

Enjoy as I do

[mps]

Just for the heck of it I stopped by the Roland Clan and checked out the forum on the Fantom G. Guess what? There are threads there about Buggy OS, Missing features, incomplete this-n-that. One faction wanting to demand that Roland release an OS update.

It all sounded so familiar.

[jpvideo]

[wigworld]

I read somewhere on another forum that the latest Akai MPC (is it the MPC5000? Not sure..) had the guts of the Alesis Fusion (makes sense, since they're the same company). Would they be similar enough for programs to be cross compatible? That could really extend the life of the Fusion!

[electrique]

Did anybody check if MPC 5k Programs are compatible with Fusion in some parts? E.g. the VA programs or sample programs?

[lildave]

Sorry to dig up an old thread but I just thought I'd share a few things with you all. I was happy with my studio but I just had to have more, even though I had no room for more, I still had to have more. So first I bought a Squier P-Bass. I bought it as a beginner pack and I spent $160 on it including the practice. My fat finger love playnig this way more than the electric guitar I bought, but I'm still not going to sell that. The bass I bought is like a cobalt blue. The internet does some things no just when it comes to pictures. Look at the Alesis Fusion. Nuff said. Enjoying the bass, but I couldn't stop there. After bugging my wife for almost a year off and on, I've finally bought a Korg Karma. $600. It's a little more than what I wanted to pay, but hey. Man, I'm very well pleased with this board so far and the KARMA feature rocks. I haven't got the hang of it yet of course but I still think it's very cool. One thing I have discovered is compared to the Fusion, the Fusion doesn't sound so bad. Yeah, it sounds retro sometimes, but different isnt a bad thing. The other suprising thing I've noticed is the ARP's on the Fusion and the KARMA feature blend so well together. I thought the ARP's were okay until I actually sat downand played them tonight. Some of them are still hard for me to use but other simply rock. I knew what they could do for drum patterns especially if you have some trigger pads like an MPD-16 hooked up via MIDI. Even guitars sound good with the ARP's I just wish there were more patterns. That's where the KARMA comes in for me. Man this thing is so realistic on the guitars and it sounds good too. Like all boards, the Karma does have some sounds I don't like but overall, I'm pleased. Especially with some of the drum sounds. I noticed the COMBI sounds are like the MIX sounds on the Fusion. Very cool. I know I'm not the only one on the forum who uses the Karma along with the Fusion so if anyone has any tips for me, I'm all ears.

[suilebhain]

As long as someone necro'd this thread, I think I will add to it.

When I first got my Fusion (this year - as in all things technological I am a late adopter due to financial constraints and usually buy used or closeout) I was having a blast going through all of the presets, then downloading the free stuff, then purchasing a few select packages to augment what I had.

It was great, and I loved every minute of impromptu playing that would spring from whatever patch. Having always wanted a Mellotron, I spent enormous amounts of time leaning into the MarkII Violins, but still would explore the various tasty offerings that the Illuminated Ones who share this virtual space have provided, like some Lovecraftian god gobbling up sacrifice.

Anyway, I have just started exploring my own programming chops and with the enormous capability to add LFOs and simultaneous mod routings I have to say that this thing is probably as close as I will ever come to owning something I have ever coveted but would never be able to afford (along with that 1965 Corvette Sting Ray coupe) - a Moog modular.

Granted, we only get 3 Oscillators to work with, but we do not have to dedicated ANY of them to LFO work. We can have an LFO dedicated to each, then have an LFO to control THAT LFO and the others, can route the whole mess through the Mod Wheel, can even tie it to the Pitch wheel to get that great "reality is slowing to a crushing halt" effect.

The only thing that disappoints me is the weak effects implementation. I would have preferred more simultaneous insert effects, then just have Program One in a Mix as the one that determines the effects because of all the ways there are to turn them off and on, using the T and S controllers, as well as Foot Switches (which I don't have, but the potential is still there).

So, lack of further development means this is something I will have to accept. On the other hand, I can always use the Aux outputs and route the signal to my Q2. I guess I can live with that.

[jokeyman123]

Deliberately reviving this thread years later with the advantage of hindsight. It's 2021-I am a professional performer/educator, have been around a bit. Started playing drums professionally before I was old enough to drive-my teacher had to drive me to first gigs, but I always envied my young friend's piano lessons and vowed someday I'd play-I put myself through music college and had to minor in piano to get my teaching cert.-would have been funner but didn't read a lick of music and my classical teachers tried to kill me-but they failed. Long story short-my first eps were Wurlitzers and got to play an occasional B-3/C-3 and Fender Rhodes-had to train/was spoiled on Steinways with those huge keys and incredible sound-went through the history of synths as best I could being a poor musician! learned analog from my Pro-One, sampling from my Korg DSS-1 and more analog through almost every Casio CZ, old Korg DW's, FM from my SY-77, one of the first that came out. And hardware sequencers-and software DAWs-still have about a dozen software DAWs on many laptops-learned computer music on my first Atari 520ST-FM, which was a fantastic machine for learning music technology back then. And a Kurzweil digital piano. Had several Generalmusic workstations-are still better than some, especially the sequencers, multis and controls. These intrigued me-were definitely different-again back then. I still have the Equinox. Then, having back problems from years of carrying heavy equipment I opted for a new Casio PX560-which weighs 26 pounds or so, has a tremendously good-sounding acoustic (and electric) piano, a rudimentary sequencer-I like to compose/arrange and can carry it to a gig. Certainly not a Kurzweil, Montage, Kronos, Roland 88 or any other high-end "workstation". I was not ready to sink another 3-4000 into another keyboard-not after all these years and investments. Then a few years ago noticed the now "obsolete" Alesis Fusion. Also noticed these rarely came on the used market-and the specs-what? In 2005 had specs and features some of the best still don't have. So-what happened??? I missed these when first introduced. So I did research. Then discovered these support groups-was already on many, but never noticed the Fusion. Until a few years ago. Unbelievable what I found here and the Alesis music forums-I recognized experienced, very knowledgeable musicians from other groups-were here. And-sound designers, experienced top-notch sound designers-guys/girls like me (not the girls part) that had been studying and playing since the dawn of time (no offense meant)-and they were all over this "Fusion". After 2 years of scouring for one, I finally found not one but 2 8HD's both needing serious work to fully function. I've done this type of work before-it was still a daunting task-you can see my results at the other Alesis Fusion group had to catch up with 15 years of R & D by the people in the trenches, not Alesis. Thanks to Jesse, parametric-what wonderful supportive people. And the work of Klaus, the late beloved Steve from Hollow Sun and many others-astounding how much independent work and research people have done on this one keyboard-I have 2 fully functioning 8HD's. Conclusion-I would not trade anything for these-like any acoustic instrument I've played-I've played many-these have their own identity and signature/quirks. There are so many ways to create music on these-its like my first circus as a kid. Cotton candy, a Davy Crockett hat and my first pen-knife! You can't get that at the circus anymore! Or a Fusion!

I am now depressed because 1) it took me so long to discover these 2) most of the rest of my electronic musical equipment is now obsolete-keyboards, recorders, dance boxes, not my acoustic and guitars at least! and 3) I may never leave the house again with 2 of these! So-I recently sold my Ensoniq TS-12-I kept that for over 15 years-it took that long to learn how to use all its features-the deepest instrument-it was a master course in synths and sampling-to someone who has made a very successful career with 1 TS-12. I won't say who it was-respecting anonymity-his pedigree is astounding. Will say-he worked with Phil Ramone for years in production, and used his TS-12 for demos, bands, writing extensively, it was and is-a killer musical instrument even years later. Why bring this up? If it wasn't for the Fusions, 12 or so years after these became "obsolete" I'd still have my TS-12-I've listened to almost every digital piano, every workstation demo-these obsolete keyboards were way ahead of their time. the TS-12 had/has the best drums I've ever heard-the sound quality was exceptionally clean, the orchestral sounds were better than most sample libraries/keyboards I've heard and had classic keyboard sounds no-one else had-that manufacturers are just now putting into their machines. I gigged with it-created arrangements with it in many styles-used for giant shows I had to direct, and once I had a Fusion-the TS-12 is gone. And-as heavy as an 8HD is, this has a more compact footprint and size than anything else-except the newest lightweight slim-line controllers and workstations-who are making compromises in keybed design (read-cheap) to get the weights down. Surprise-the Fusion was using a Fatar TP40 weighted action in 2005-just like many of the newest controllers and workstations are still using-yes they are. And with some exceptions-most of the new piano-action workstations still weigh a ton-no different than the 8HD Fusion. Suddenly everyone is bragging about added FM synthesis in their boards-just like the Fusion did-15 years ago. I think this is now a classic. It is for me.

[Jesse]

Alesis Fusion affectionately known as "The Beast"

At first I was looking at the Roland RD700, but after reading the original Keyboard magazine article and seeing the 2005 Winter NAMM demo

I pre-ordered my Fusion 8HD February 26, 2005 from Sweetwater before it was released I received it September 3, 2005, it's still going strong, I plan on keeping it forever, it's an AWESOME Workstation/Keyboard!

I paid a premium price for my Fusion 8HD, $1800 without memory upgrade, three years later I could have bought a brand new one with memory upgrade for $1000

But I love it and have no intention of ever selling it

[parametric]

Same here Jesse,

I wanted to treat myself to a new Synth to cheer myself up after my redundancy . . . .

In the course of my research - I came across the FusionZone and the FusionClub and was intrigued

by the Fusion.  After more intense reading-up, I could resist no longer and I went for it.

A member of Yamahamusicians was selling his 8HD, and invited me round to have a play with it.

He kindly showed me round it and left me alone to tinker.  I was hooked.

It was in great shape, 80Gb Drive and unexpanded - but £662 - I paid him cash . . . .

I later bought the hard flight case and the Alesis foot pedal that matches, from him . . . .

It later transpired that when Alesis pulled the plug - he did a deal and bought a bunch of 8HDs and 6HDs

from them.   I eventually bought a 6HD Hard case from him too. . .

The E3s I bought soon after were Alesis ones with the bigger price tag.

Soon after that - I did the research for the SSD upgrade - and actioned it . . .as many of you know . . .

I doubt I'll ever get around to the hidden depths of the Fusion, but sufficeth it to say -

it does all I want . . . and bloody WELL too . . . . . . . and a Keybed to DIE for . . . . 

I have two spare displays and two PSUs, just in case, so I'll keep it alive as long as I may . . . .

I now have one and a half 6HDs too . . .

When/if they expire - then I'll deal with that problem THEN . . . . . (DON'T want to think about THAT)

Chris