d.r.e.a.m.i.s.t Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 I've just noticed this on several online stores. Fusion 6HD is now under $1000 and 8HD under $1500!! Competition at lower-to-mid-priced synths market is now very fierce indeed... ...beginner struggling to become a better beginner... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RABid Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 Wow. $1499 and a $100 rebate. That makes it $1399 and very tempting. I still have not bought an 88 and if the Alesis keys feel decent that would be a good buy. Robert This post edited for speling. My Sweetwater Gear Exchange Page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bloodsample Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 wow... Why can't other workstations (ie motif es) bring their prices down? I mean the fusion HD8 is now cheaper than yamaha's "light ES" version, the MO8, which doesn't even have sampling and has stripped down features. The fusion has hard disk recording for crying out loud! IMO, the motif es has better sounds, but does that make it worth twice the price of the fusion? (Yes it does ) But once the sounds are designed, it doesn't cost them anymore to mass produce the units, does it? It all goes into the same ole cheap circuits (cheap in price, not quality). It's obvious that a company can make a full featured workstation and still manage to sell it for under 1500$, so is it a offer+demand thing? Are other workstations built with better quality parts (I'd expect a gold plating on some of these things the way they're priced...)? Whats going on here? I think I'm getting a little carried away, I'll shut up now. YouTube: onceuponasynth.tv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RABid Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 How is the keybed on the MO8? After looking back at old threads that is a a bing complain on the Fusion. Bad feel is something I cannot accept on an 88 and that seems to knock out Fusion. Robert This post edited for speling. My Sweetwater Gear Exchange Page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burningbusch Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 The action on the Fusion 88 is VERY light, IMHO. The MO8 action is very close to the S90/MotifES8. The difference is probably only noticable to people who have played the older Yamaha boards for some time. Busch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 I agree with Busch on the keyboard action. I could not get into the Fusion 8's action. Very light and clacky, if that's a word. The MO8 seems close to the S90 and Motif 8, but lacks aftertouch. It bottoms out a bit harder and the keys do not seem to be quite as high quality, but that may be subjective based on the way the action just feels different without the cushiony aftertouch there. I am intrigued by the Fusion price drops and might look into the Fusion 6. Regards, Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keynote Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 I think the reason Alesis lowered the price has to do with Yamaha's MO release and also Korg's TR. Yamaha and Korg are established companies that have been producing Workstations for years. OTOH the Fusion is Alesis's first Workstation offering plus Alesis doesn't have the same brand recognition as Yamaha and Korg do. To compensate Alesis has decided to further lower the already low priced Fusion in my opinion. They're doing it to stay competitive with Yamaha and Korg's new offerings that are also suprisingly low priced and relatively feature packed products. In real estate the motto is always "location, location, location". In the world of Keyboards the first priority and standard in my opionion is "sound, sound, sound". If Yamaha's MO and or Korg's TR outshine the Fusion in the sound department, which I think they do btw, then Alesis is going to have a dickens of a time selling Fusions even at the reduced price. But since the Fusion has a host of cutting edge features that the MO and TR don't - like Hard Disk recording and Physical Modeling capabilities - some people may choose the Fusion over the MO or TR now that it is priced even lower than before. At least Alesis is hoping anyway. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DafDuc Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 I'm willing to bet on continued OS upgrades, though maybe at a slower pace. I'm definitely in, just not sure if I want an MP8 plus a 6HD, or just an 8HD. I'll have it figured out soon. Daf I played in an 8 piece horn band. We would often get bored. So...three words: "Tower of Polka." - Calumet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Zero Two Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 I would be concerned with past quality problems with Alesis. Parts are hard to come by - since their gear uses so many properitary chips and my repair guy has said that to test you have to buy special equipment from Alesis - he has said that he will not work on Alesis gear. Period. The feature set looks good on the HD but it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niacin Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 Ditto. My local repair guy was happy to see Alesis going out of business (before their subsequent recovery, around the time the Andromeda was released) due to the difficulties he'd had. Gig keys: Hammond SKpro, Korg Vox Continental, Crumar Mojo 61, Crumar Mojo Pedals Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carbon111 Posted March 5, 2006 Share Posted March 5, 2006 I just got my Fusion 6HD a couple of days ago. And I must say that while the style is kind of nasty looking in pictures, in person its not bad at all. I just couldn't resist those four synthesis engines for under a grand! The PM engine(s) is(are) much more capable than I had hoped and the FM engine's implementation is easier to program than I had hoped - back in the day I used to hate programming the DX synths... The "scratchpad" 8-track audio recorder is just icing Its too bad this board had such a rocky start - a very buggy OS, mediocre samples/presets, etc. It was only released, what, about 6 months ago? The newest OS fixes all the serious bugs and adds a new soundset which is certainly passable, at least on my monitor system - though nothing I would use un-tweaked. Hollow Sun just released their third batch of extremely tasty samples/patches for the Fusion a few days ago - they are astounding...really nice PPG and electromechanical timbres with a few suprises...I'm really loving this board more and more as i play it. The featureset is pretty damn deep but the navigation and editing system is fairly intuitive and easy to get around on. Last night I programmed a VA sound and a "reed" PM sound from scratch (not just tweaking existing sounds) and while the editing seemed a little fiddly at first, I soon fell into the Fusion editing paradigm - there are lots of nice shortcuts implemented to speed up things as well... The end results: The VA is very nice! The "RP" filter in particular is especially warm and squelchy. While my result wasn't quite as warm as some of the sounds I've heard from the Ion, it certainly is at least the equivalent of the Waldorf Q if a bit warmer. Certainly theres not that brittle digital "fizz" I've noticed from my Nord gear... All in all, I really like the VA engine. The PM engine is bizarre! The trick here is to use the mod matrix extensively with multiple envelopes affecting things like "breath pressure" and "bore frequency", "reed threshold", ect... I was able to get a very dynamic Reedy Flute sound going in no time that I could actually "overblow" by using high key velocity. The PM engines are great too! I created some FM patches today. The engine is really powerfull in its being flexible without adding complexity! You can make up your routing scheme as you go, you're not locked into specific "algorhythms". I've managed to get a depth and subtlety of modulation I could never get from DX style FM. I created a patch that could easily be mistaken for a rather nice real analog string pad - and that was before even adding any filters The FM engine can still do the "ringy" DX thing but can take it a bit farther. There's a FM preset called "Oxide" that I'm dieing to inspect - an ethereal scrapey bellish resonant thing that is astounding - it sounds like its rusting as you play it! Also, I loaded the new OS today - it adds Loop-style recording to the featurelist. Still havent had a chance to mess with the HD recorder yet...I'm still having too much of a blast programming patches on this thing. Now I'm going to try to master the Chicken Sys. conversion program and dump all my Akai libraries into this thing... Best Regards, James -- http://cdbaby.com/cd/carbon1112 http://www.carbon111.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergievsky Posted March 5, 2006 Share Posted March 5, 2006 How do you like the piano? Raul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carbon111 Posted March 5, 2006 Share Posted March 5, 2006 Originally posted by Sergievsky: How do you like the piano? Well, It kind of depends on what you like personally. Let me explain; the Piano on my Motif Rack was a brittle piece of crap to my ears. The piano on the Fusion is a lot more realistic. Personal taste varies on piano sounds quite a bit though - I've got an old Baldwin Acrosonic Spinet in the studio that I love! The unique sound engines in the Fusion are just a blast to program and I love their sound...thats where I think it really shines. Its no slouch as a sampler either. If I want Piano, usually I'll just put a ribbon mic next to the Acrosonic but I can see myself actually using the Fusion's Piano once in a while. If the Piano sound is of paramount importance to you, by all means go listen to it Sorry for the long-winded answer Best Regards, James -- http://cdbaby.com/cd/carbon1112 http://www.carbon111.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carbon111 Posted March 5, 2006 Share Posted March 5, 2006 I used the Fusion Converter program to dump a bank of Akai-format Waldorf Wave samples into the Fusion last night. I just got through "fine tuning" them this afternoon...tweaking velocity settings and envelopes. Four banks of pure Wave! Sounds better than out of my S2000 and I can load all the programs at once instead of one at a time from a ultra-slow CD Rom drive. Unreal!!! O_O I'm totally stoked with this board now. I'll be loading the rest of my sample libraries in there soon. I'm looking forward to recording my own multisamples from some things patched up on my Serge Modular. Polyphonic Serge! Yeah! This has been the best bang-for-the-buck synth I've ever had...and it sounds great! Best Regards, James -- http://cdbaby.com/cd/carbon1112 http://www.carbon111.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markyboard Posted March 5, 2006 Share Posted March 5, 2006 In the right hands.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d.r.e.a.m.i.s.t Posted March 6, 2006 Author Share Posted March 6, 2006 It's a toss for me now between a rompler module + a Micron and only one Fusion 6HD... ...beginner struggling to become a better beginner... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergievsky Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 Micron is great for its portability. Fun to play synth and great sounds. As for the Fusion, I guess I'll have to wait till next month when I go to the US to get a better feel for it, sounds and all. Need to see about the keys as well. All it took was 5 seconds of playing the keys for me to throw out the "Key Buy" award given to the M-audio keystation. Hope the Fusion plays better than that. Raul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9Ether Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Originally posted by DafDuc: I'm willing to bet on continued OS upgrades, though maybe at a slower pace. I'm definitely in, just not sure if I want an MP8 plus a 6HD, or just an 8HD. I'll have it figured out soon. Daf This is my dilemma, except I'm caught between an MP4 plus a 6HD, or just an 8HD. I haven't demoed the 8HD yet, but my local dealer is willing to bring one in from his other store for me to try. I've heard negative responses about the 8HD's keybed, but I may just have him ship it in. I hope it's action is similar to the MP4's. That would save me at least $500; maybe more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niacin Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 the Keyboard mag review said the MP4 was closer to the real thing than any other digital piano. The Fusion is a lightweight keybed that is probably a good compromise for playing both piano and ep and organ and synth parts. Don't expect it to resemble a piano action in the way the Kawai does. Gig keys: Hammond SKpro, Korg Vox Continental, Crumar Mojo 61, Crumar Mojo Pedals Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.