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alesis QS series


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Can you load your own samples?

 

This keyboard seems too good to pass up.

 

A nice MIDI controller AND it has internal sounds... AND you can add your own...

 

Am I missing something here?

 

Please enlighten me so I can stop being so darned excited

 

Dave

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Yeah you're missing something. The sounds are so outdated it's pathetic. You can't even get a

decent Rhodes sound on the thing. I sold my

QS7.1 and bought an Emu PK-6. I ended up getting

a real ugly keyboard instead of my beautiful

QS7. But guess what. . .this ugly keyboard sounds

twice as good as that beautiful, sleek, black. . .

terrible sounding paperweight. I mean the basses

were awful. The piano was OK. The brass was so

cheesy all I needed was some macaroni. For real

though. . .buy something that sounds current. Like the Emus, Tritons, Yamaha Motif or S80, Fantom, etc.

 

Aaron

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Originally posted by KikkyMonk:

Can you load your own samples?

Yes, it comes with Sound Bridge software that allows you to transfer samples to a PCMCIA card, up to 16MB. It has some good sounds and some bad sounds, like any synth. It's still the best piano sound I've heard in a synth, which counts for a lot. I think the organs are good, too. The electric pianos are better on their expansion card, "Vintage Keys". You should also check out the "Classical" and/or "Vintage Synths" cards if you're interested in those sounds.

 

I'm not a fan of the bass or drum sounds. It's all relative, though, you should go listen to one. Or at least listen to some of the QCard MP3s on the Alesis site. You're right that it's a great controller keyboard. It really feels great. I would buy another QS8 if mine died. -jl

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This is sucha subjective topic...you'll get every answer from "it is the best thing ever" to "it is the spawn of Satan".

 

My answer? The QS is a good, all-around, bread-and-butter synth. It's a good, flexible controller. It's expandable with new samples.

 

The internal sounds are extremely varied in terms of quality. The pianos, e. pianos and synth pads are great. The drums are fine (for a ROMpler). The basses, guitars and especially horns and strings leave a lot to be desired.

 

I'd buy another one if I was in the market for a keyboard.

 

- Jeff

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Opinions can be helpful if you keep in mind the bias. And factual info is what I'm most looking for... like the keys break easy, or the OS is hard to understand.

 

I'm looking for a controller and for anything decent its like $300... and for a little more I get a keyboard with sounds.. and you can load stuff... Sounds like a deal to me.

 

Dave

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Originally posted by KikkyMonk:

Opinions can be helpful if you keep in mind the bias. And factual info is what I'm most looking for... like the keys break easy, or the OS is hard to understand.

 

I'm looking for a controller and for anything decent its like $300... and for a little more I get a keyboard with sounds.. and you can load stuff... Sounds like a deal to me.

 

Dave

The keys don't break away - it's a pretty rugged FATAR keybed. The OS is actually really easy - the effects are a bit kludgy to work with on the small display, but everything else is very straightforward. Some of the sounds are pretty great, and some of them are not. It is an excellent controller, as you can make a Mix (Combi) with 16 different zones/channels.

 

The flash loading thing is pretty cool - 16 meg of samples loaded in the second you plug the cards into the slots, and any .WAV file, .AIFF file or SampleCell format multi-instrument imports effortlessly. However, finding the specific flash cards that you need to do it may be a bit of a bitch.

 

My main controller is a QS8. I still use two QSRs as well. They're fine instruments.

 

dB

:snax:

 

:keys:==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <==:rawk:

 

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I've got a QS6, QS7 and just ordered a QS8.1. As you can tell, I think they're pretty good. I do have about 15 other keyboards, but I think the QS series do a number of things qute well, while most of my others are 1 (or 2) trick ponies -though that trick might be pretty damned good.

 

Scott

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Originally posted by Dave Bryce:

My main controller is a QS8.

Same here. I like the action on the thing. I don't know what the deal is with the criticisms of the bass patches. I guess we either have different tastes, or it's a matter of context. I produced an album last year, and the most prominently featured bass sound in any song was a QS8 fretless patch that I used as a sort of duet with the vocalist on a ballad. The artist and I were both very happy with the way it turned out.

 

I use the "Pure Stereo" piano patch a lot as well. I have a few piano samples that are more realistic on their own; but this one usually sits well in a mix, IMO.

 

I had one problem with the pitch bend that a hard reset fixed. Otherwise, I've found the QS8 to be a reliable keyboard.

 

Best,

 

Geoff

Enthusiasm powers the world.

 

Craig Anderton's Archiving Article

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I had a few of the same complaints even before I bought it - but at $500 new (at that time), it was too good a deal to pass up. Design and construction are very good IMO.

 

With some tweaking you can get a decent-but-not-great Rhodes sound from the Vintage Keyboards expansion card. The Wurlys are pretty good on that card too, as is one of the Clavs. And if you're willing to really play with the programming, the card has one or two useful Hammond sounds.

 

As for the standard onboard sounds, the solo cello is pretty good and one of the solo horns is nice. The grand piano is quite good. There are plenty of other useful sounds there.

 

Originally posted by a-sharp:

Yeah you're missing something. The sounds are so outdated it's pathetic. You can't even get a

decent Rhodes sound on the thing. I sold my

QS7.1 and bought an Emu PK-6. I ended up getting

a real ugly keyboard instead of my beautiful

QS7. But guess what. . .this ugly keyboard sounds

twice as good as that beautiful, sleek, black. . .

terrible sounding paperweight. I mean the basses

were awful. The piano was OK. The brass was so

cheesy all I needed was some macaroni. For real

though. . .buy something that sounds current. Like the Emus, Tritons, Yamaha Motif or S80, Fantom, etc.

 

Aaron

I used to think I was Libertarian. Until I saw their platform; now I know I'm no more Libertarian than I am RepubliCrat or neoCON or Liberal or Socialist.

 

This ain't no track meet; this is football.

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Ah, probably the single most debated keyboard in this forum, owing in part to their sheer prevalence and in part to the strong Alesis connection of our moderator and many of our star posters...

 

I have a QS 8. Unlike Geoff and Dave, I hate the action. But there's another important difference between us as well: They're actually piano players.

 

I like the pianos and agree with Geoff's assessment--there are some finer samples out there, but the QS has better than average samples that play well and mix well. I have gigapiano and some others and am surprised how often I use the QS, thge Pure Stereo, the Dark Classic with the reverb turned way down, and a free patch out there called the Boriano, which might be my favorite of the bunch.

 

I always thought the EPs were on the whole pretty good. I'm not thrilled by the organs, but I have the B4 now anyway :)

 

Jeff K is right about the atmospheric synth sounds as another strength. They're very complex and active, and the controller/slider implementation on them is terrific.

 

Those who steer you toward the Motif or the Triton aren't being entirely fair. You can get a QS 6.1 (with the good piano samples) for 500 bucks. Try getting a Motif for less than 1600.

 

Honestly, I don't love my QS 8. It was a good deal at the time and it has served me well, but I don't consider my prime sound source and my undeveloped technique struggles with the weighted action of the QS 8. They are, however, great deals and viable instruments.

Check out the Sweet Clementines CD at bandcamp
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Originally posted by a-sharp:

Yeah you're missing something. The sounds are so outdated it's pathetic. You can't even get a

decent Rhodes sound on the thing. I sold my

QS7.1 and bought an Emu PK-6. I ended up getting

a real ugly keyboard instead of my beautiful

QS7. But guess what. . .this ugly keyboard sounds

twice as good as that beautiful, sleek, black. . .

terrible sounding paperweight. I mean the basses

were awful. The piano was OK. The brass was so

cheesy all I needed was some macaroni. For real

though. . .buy something that sounds current. Like the Emus, Tritons, Yamaha Motif or S80, Fantom, etc.

 

Aaron

The sounds are a little dated but the state of the art has not advanced hugely and you won't find any board out there that is consistently better in all departments, and certainly not for the price. Any board you listen to you are going to hear sounds that sound good and others that suck. Most boards around this price have zero expandibility. The expandibility of the QS series is limited but at least it exists.

 

Of the units mentioned above, I am not familiar with the new Emus, the standard pianos on the Tritons are, in my opinion, really dreadful (I am told an expansion card is available to fix that but now your up to three times the price at least) and the action really sucks. The Motif is a really nice synth but once again three times the price (the 88 is $2500). The pianos in the S80 are weak and you don't get the wide range of voices you get in the QS6. Its a real weighted action though so you should consider it as well as the Roland equivalent which sounds better but has a less nice action.

 

The Yamaha equivalent at the price point is the S03 (about 450 steet) which is a good deal for the price but is no comparison to the QS6 in sound quality or programmability. The Roland equivalent is probably the RS9 which I think is quite a nice synth, but its getting up round the $1000.

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Aside from the mixed quality on factory sounds in the QS series, another factor to mention: The analog outputs on the QS series, in my experience, are entirely too noisy for use in any serious studio situation - constant low-level white noise. (If you use the digital ADAT Lightpipe out, I guess you'd be OK.)
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Definately a 'thumbs up' from me. Totally reliable for the gigging musician. I have had mine for since 1996-ish and have never had a failure in probably 500 or so gigs. I did have to replace the display ($80) which plain wore out, according to my Alesis guy. I'd replace it in a minute if it were stolen. Still the best bang for the buck on the market in my opinion.

 

Rick

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I own a QS6.1 and the QSR module...and I love them both!

 

The sounds may be "outdated" but that's fine with me - every new board that comes out has 95% techno/electronica patches and it becomes a 15 minute ordeal just to find the pianos, organs and eps! The QS stuff is good because you just hit the "Organ" button and you've got 30 or 40 stock sounds to choose from. The Mix mode is wonderful, allowing splits on the same board or others very easily (I use my 6.1 as my master board).

 

Thumbs up from me!

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Originally posted by SoundWrangler:

Aside from the mixed quality on factory sounds in the QS series, another factor to mention: The analog outputs on the QS series, in my experience, are entirely too noisy for use in any serious studio situation - constant low-level white noise. (If you use the digital ADAT Lightpipe out, I guess you'd be OK.)

You must have been unlucky on that. I would like the analog outs on my QS8 to be quieter but they are not too noisy to use at all. The fact that they are unbalanced limits your noise floor in any case. I do use the light pipe for recording though and the synth sounds clearly better when recorded like that. For "serious" recording digital is the way to go. I think this is true of any synth,
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  • 15 years later...

I am intentionally reviving a 16 year old zombie thread. The current post about the Bosendorpher sample got me thinking about the QS, and I did not want to hijack the other thread.

 

The QS8 was my first ever keyboard - a present from my folks when I was in high school.

 

I knew next to nothing about synths at the time and had no basis for comparison but I LOVED those sounds. I know that dB was somehow involved with this synth but don't know to what extent.

 

Many years later, I still remember being enthralled with (in retrospect, not a particular useful) patch called "InstantEdge" in the guitar bank which had a multipart delay and triggered muted guitar samples at low velocities and ringing guitar samples at higher velocites, allowing you to very quickly re-create the guitar from many U2 songs.

 

The QS was definitely my "gateway drug" into the world of keyboards.

 

It's also interesting to see how many platinum and HoF members posted on the original thread that I don't recognize. It goes to show how long KC has been around and active!

 

 

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Nord Stage 2 Compact, Yamaha MODX8

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I have two QS8.1's, and a QS6.1 (who's power supply has gone missing, dammit). I haven't used the internal sounds in years, but the QS8 has been my main controller since Mainstage appeared. Always loved the TP/20 action - its also in my Generalmusic Pro 2. But the 8 may be moved to second spot because as of today my even older KX88 is out of retirement (see below). Seems to be a couple of slider issues to iron out, but plays like an absolute dream. I may look around for another. They're out there, and reasonable. One of the earliest controllers and still one of the best. (And best looking.)

 

Oh, and a big +1 on that InstantEdge patch. I used to blend it with one of the EP's to make it a bit more useful, but a very dynamic patch. Great for space jams.

 

LSbUBaW.jpg

Yamaha P515 & CK88, Pianoteq, Mainstage, iOS, assorted other stuff.

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A friend's rig was two QSs. An 8 and a 6, the silver ones. And he had a silver stand. Not sure which stand but it twas a cool looking rig.

"It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne

 

"A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!!

So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt

 

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I know that dB was somehow involved with this synth but don't know to what extent.

I was the marketing manager and main product demonstrator for Alesis' synth division from 1995-2000, and ran the Sound Design group for a while. I wrote about 20% of the programs in the QS series, including most of the Keith Emerson ones-several of which he used on tour for a little while.

 

I'm one of Andromeda's daddies as well - I'm responsible for the name, among other things. I think I may have called an MI product .1 before anyone else too, when I did it with the QS6.1

 

Many years later, I still remember being enthralled with (in retrospect, not a particular useful) patch called "InstantEdge" in the guitar bank which had a multipart delay and triggered muted guitar samples at low velocities and ringing guitar samples at higher velocites, allowing you to very quickly re-create the guitar from many U2 songs.

Oh, and a big +1 on that InstantEdge patch.

My program! :wave:

 

One of my favorites that I ever wrote for that synth. I actully did it in a hotel room in Sao Paolo, Brazil one evening while I was on the introductory tour with the pre-production QS8.

 

dB

:snax:

 

:keys:==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <==:rawk:

 

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my even older KX88 is out of retirement (see below). Seems to be a couple of slider issues to iron out, but plays like an absolute dream. I may look around for another. They're out there, and reasonable. One of the earliest controllers and still one of the best. (And best looking.)

Yes they are out there. One of my not frequent strokes of good luck, a few years ago I walked into a Sam Ash to kill some time browsing and left with this (in absolute MINT condition too!):

 

kx88.jpg

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I wrote about 20% of the programs in the QS series, including most of the Keith Emerson ones-several of which he used on tour for a little while.

Thank you for that. Loved me some "Keith's C3". I think that was the name anyway. Just ripped through the on stage mix!

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.

-Mark Twain

 

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I still have a QS8 that my son gigs somewhat regularly.

 

I noticed recently that one of the user banks was overwritten with the presets from one of my QCards. Anyone know where I can find a copy of the original presets and get them reinstalled?

 

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My program!

 

One of my favorites that I ever wrote for that synth. I actully did it in a hotel room in Sao Paolo, Brazil one evening while I was on the introductory tour with the QS8.

Well done, sir. It still sounds cool.

Yamaha P515 & CK88, Pianoteq, Mainstage, iOS, assorted other stuff.

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I finally sold my old QS6 a few years ago. I played a lot of gigs on it during the late 90's. For its time, it was pretty good sounding with a fair number of gig-worthy AP's, EP's, and organs. It also had decent semi-weighted action and was built like tank. I still have a Nanosynth, with QS 6 sounds, somewhere in my closet. Maybe I'll dust it off and give it a run for old time's sake.

Gigs: Nord 5D 73, Kurz PC4-7 & SP4-7, Hammond SK1, Yamaha MX88 & P121, Numa Compact 2x, Casio CGP700, QSC K12, Yamaha DBR10, JBL515xt(2). Alto TS310(2)

 

 

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Many years later, I still remember being enthralled with (in retrospect, not a particular useful) patch called "InstantEdge" in the guitar bank which had a multipart delay and triggered muted guitar samples at low velocities and ringing guitar samples at higher velocites, allowing you to very quickly re-create the guitar from many U2 songs.

Oh, and a big +1 on that InstantEdge patch.

My program! :wave:

 

One of my favorites that I ever wrote for that synth. I actully did it in a hotel room in Sao Paolo, Brazil one evening while I was on the introductory tour with the QS8.

 

dB

 

A QSR is one of the few modules remaining in my rig, and it's a keeper. The lush pads and punchy clavs are classic tones I've found a lot of use for.

Hadn't yet tried the InstantEdge patch, as I've used the module mostly for retro-type analog string and pad emulations - since picking it up in 2013. Unfortunately the guy that sold me the QSR had replaced much of the User Bank with his own edits; so no InstantEdge in User # 34. Unfortunately a reset doesn't appear to restore the factory placed User programs. It looks like the only way is to download a sysex file, then play it into the QSR via DAW. Though that's doable, I'd prefer to replace User # 34 only - since I like several of the other User Programs the previous owner did. So I'm seeking patch notes for InstantEdge to manually program the sound. Any KC folk have notes on that Program, or be willing to write the parameters down for me ?

 

'Someday, we'll look back on these days and laugh; likely a maniacal laugh from our padded cells, but a laugh nonetheless' - Mr. Boffo.

 

We need a barfing cat emoticon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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One of my not frequent strokes of good luck, a few years ago I walked into a Sam Ash to kill some time browsing and left with this (in absolute MINT condition too!):

 

Damn. Which Ash?

Yamaha P515 & CK88, Pianoteq, Mainstage, iOS, assorted other stuff.

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The QS8 was my first "professional" keyboard and it served me well. One day after thirteen years or so of good service (and my getting increasingly annoyed with the piano and EP sounds, just out of pure "familiarity breeds contempt"), it refused to power on. I gleefully put it in the case and left it under the stage at the venue, where it probably remains to this day, and ran out to buy a CP300.

 

The THX Deep Note thread had me reminiscing about it. There was a patch on there that approximated that sound well enough to amuse and annoy my bandmates back in high school.

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I gleefully put it in the case and left it under the stage at the venue, where it probably remains to this day, and ran out to buy a CP300.

:crazy: Haha, I love that.

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##[/align]

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