Back in the 90s I couldn't decide between a Korg N1 or an Alesis QS8 so I went for the N1 because I preferred it's weighted action, but later on I bought a QS7. For my own band gigs I would haul both, even a Hammond M103 sometimes, for cover bands I got pretty good at programming so all I needed was the QS7. The main piano could cut through guitars and the sax patch was expressive with growl after touch, I loved the semiweighted action and rubber type wheels. Burning samples took some time but I had 2 cards with my own strings, choir, DX7 Pluck sound, acoustic guitar and some other effects. I was basically trying to follow Jordan Rudess one master keyboard idea which the Alesis worked for me very well, I even programmed a similar T Lead that many people liked in the old alesis QS yahoo groups. The last gig I played with it was my last gig in 2010, it was for a Symphony X tribute show where I programmed the set list in Mix mode and just pressed the INC button to take me to the next mix for that song (again, similar to what Jordan did with the K2600 concept) I flashed special loops and one shot effects for that gig and only used a Korg N1R rack for a Jens Johanson lead I had in it. The QS7 had some good and bad samples but for the price tag it was great, I loved the Keith Emerson programs and I doubt they sampled Keith's synths as the ads mentioned, but Dave Bryce programmed some very faithful to the original songs. My QS7 lives in a friend's studio now with a missing key that he accidentally broke (which sucks because it survived untouched for so many gigs other than a volumen and pitch wheel spring replacement I did on it) remembering better times.
