superpowter77 Posted November 2, 2006 Share Posted November 2, 2006 what's next: fusion discontinued and no longer tech support. I just realized this morning fusionsynth website is no longer maintained. What is going on? Did they get tired supporting a non selling synth. As a matter of fact this will change my desicion on buying a fusion 8hd. Are fusion sales that bad? what would happen with fusion support. Also I couldn't find a dedicated fusion's support page on alesis website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeronyne Posted November 2, 2006 Share Posted November 2, 2006 Product Support Hours Monday - Friday 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM (Eastern Time) Call 1-401-658-5760 during these times to ask for our product support center. Calls are taken in the order received, so please stay on the line. The average hold time is about 5 minutes, except during peak periods. Fax Support Product Support can be faxed at 1-401-658-3921. E-Mail Support If you can't find the answer already on file, you can E–Mail our technical support department with this link. Please include the correct product model along with a detailed description of the problem. All inquiries are answered in the order received. I always suggest before buying a new synth to call their tech support line to see how long it takes to get through. The fact that there is no dedicated tech support page means nothing...MI manufacturers ares woefully slow at updating web pages. There are a few exceptions, of course. "For instance" is not proof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverDragonSoun Posted November 2, 2006 Share Posted November 2, 2006 Originally posted by superpowter77: what's next: fusion discontinued and no longer tech support. I just realized this morning fusionsynth website is no longer maintained. What is going on? Did they get tired supporting a non selling synth. As a matter of fact this will change my desicion on buying a fusion 8hd. Are fusion sales that bad? what would happen with fusion support. Also I couldn't find a dedicated fusion's support page on alesis website. There'a an interesting thread at Sweetwater's keyboard forum about the Fusion. There's a flame war and alot of posts from people who have issues with the Fusion. Maybe some of them could be helpful to you. I would seriously consider reading the thread before purchasing a Fusion. Begin the day with a friendly voice A companion, unobtrusive - Rush Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daBowsa Posted November 2, 2006 Share Posted November 2, 2006 The latest batch of Andromedas have been showing up with problems direct from the factory. Seems like Numark might be in over their heads... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carbon111 Posted November 2, 2006 Share Posted November 2, 2006 The fusionsynth website was always intended to be for the rollout, retiring it after a while. My Fusion 8HD is easily one of the most powerful synths I own! Its a shame that there's still a few sequencer bugs...fortunately I don't use the MIDI sequencer Best Regards, James -- http://cdbaby.com/cd/carbon1112 http://www.carbon111.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernie Rideout Posted November 2, 2006 Share Posted November 2, 2006 Hey guys, I pinged my old pal Jim Norman, the keyboard product manager at Alesis, and he has this to say about the current state of the Fusion: >The Fusion is not discontinued and we even plan to continue to offer free sounds to owners. >We will continue to support the Fusion and we are actively working on bugs currently. >We have added numerous features the past year that weren't advertised- New Sounds, Fusion Converter software- Transfers files from PC's/Mac's of various sample formats into Fusion format, new synth parameters, new sequencer functions. > The Fusionsynth.com website wasn't intended to be up forever. In fact, it was up about a year longer than it was originally intended. All the updates, support files and demos are on the www.alesis.com site where it was intended to be. >We are also offering great, new sales incentives to new customers. This is not something a company would do if they were abandoning a product. So there ya go, the official word. We're planning a Fusion Hot Tips article for an upcoming issue, as there are some way cool things the synth does that are not so obvious. Best, Ernie Ernie Rideout, Private Citizen Gee, that was quick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Botch Posted November 2, 2006 Share Posted November 2, 2006 According to Sweetwater's most recent newsletter, they're developing new Fusion patches using "their vast library of samples" (and I'm paraphrasing from memory here) which makes me think they're using their Kurzweil library resources, which would be fantastic. I'm actually thinking of calling them and get a little more info on that, will let you guys know what I find out. I'm still itching to acquire that bugger. Botch In Wine there is Wisdom In Beer there is Freedom In Water there is bacteria Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverDragonSoun Posted November 2, 2006 Share Posted November 2, 2006 You can actually go to sweetwaters site and under the Fusion they have specific information on who's making the sounds and what they entail. Begin the day with a friendly voice A companion, unobtrusive - Rush Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Botch Posted November 2, 2006 Share Posted November 2, 2006 Thanks for the head's-up! Botch In Wine there is Wisdom In Beer there is Freedom In Water there is bacteria Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jook Posted November 2, 2006 Share Posted November 2, 2006 Yknow - some keen fans of the Fusion could well take up that domain and continue it, and build on that user community. That'd be cool to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Hines Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 Originally posted by Ernie Rideout: This is not something a company would do if they were abandoning a product. Except for this, ALSO by Jim Norman: http://www.promusicproducts.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2338 As you can imagine we have many products that we are working on. Upkeep on the Fusion is part of our agenda as well; however I cant promise that well continually add in new features. As I mentioned before we have done a lot of aftermarket support on the product the past year. I defer to Mr. ODonnell on decisions on whether we invest more resources into aftermarket development for the Fusion, which have been so far quite significant. I have discussed future development with him, but at this point we are not creating new features for the Fusion. Of course we will endeavor to fix any bugs that pop up. If you want to contact him you certainly can. You have the address of Alesis. Glad to clear up any questions. Jim While Alesis is not "abandoning" the Fusion and will continue to provide "support" (which I interpret to mean tech support and repair support), the statement "but at this point we are not creating new features for the Fusion" seems pretty clear to me. The only question many Fusion owners have are whether items described in the original advertisements (i.e. use of the external SATA port) will be developed or does "support" mean correcting bugs only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Bryce Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 Another interesting point is that several of the key guys who were on the Fusion design team are no longer there. Don't know if they replaced them with new guys or not... dB ==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <== Professional Affiliations: Royer Labs • Music Player Network Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carbon111 Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 Ah well, thats it then, innit? Hand me a nail and a hammer Best Regards, James -- http://cdbaby.com/cd/carbon1112 http://www.carbon111.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxcvbnm098 Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 I'm with James (Carbon111); the Fusion is really a powerful board. I too have the 88 key 8HD, and I really like it. And at prices around $1400, it's an amazing value. Even if they only do bug fixes from here on out, I'd still recommend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Hines Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 Originally posted by zxcvbnm098: I too have the 88 key 8HD, and I really like it. And at prices around $1400, it's an amazing value. Even if they only do bug fixes from here on out, I'd still recommend. If a person likes the Fusion "as is", there are really good deals around: -- If you buy from an authorized dealer, Alesis is throwing in a pair of free studio monitors (M1 Active MKII Monitors) -- Sweetwater has gone as far as adding some custom sounds/samples to Fusions they sell: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Fusion8HD/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverDragonSoun Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 I've read alot about the Fusion and love the features. There are still so many bugs though. To me it seems like this would not only stunt and hamper musical creativity and it would also not be a reliable board for gigs and studio recording. If your spending 1000 +, why take this kind of chance? Just my 2 cents. Begin the day with a friendly voice A companion, unobtrusive - Rush Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carbon111 Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 Thats just it, its not very buggy at all right now. The sequencer still has a MIDI sync bug that they're working on but everything else is pretty damn good since OS version 1.22...its a shame all the BS is going to drive this great-sounding, flexible synth into the ground. Best Regards, James -- http://cdbaby.com/cd/carbon1112 http://www.carbon111.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andre Lower Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 ...which is all Alesis fault. I for one did not have a gun to their head, forcing them to release a synth riddled with bugs and with a soundset apparently designed to make it sink on that account alone. They called their shot, and if they missed it's no use to "blame" the users (or would-be users, for I count myself among those put off by actual contact with the board). I wonder what would have happened if they had chosen to build on the qualities of the Ion/Micron instead. Although a completely different product, it still remains a potential goldmine. But somebody decided that the right move would be to abandon the Ion/Micron as is and dedicate all their resources to the release of the Fusion. They called their shots. Now it's the market's call . "I'm ready to sing to the world. If you back me up". (Lennon to his bandmates, in an inspired definition of what it's all about). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoachLittle Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 I've had one of the Fusion 6HDs for a couple of weeks now. I find the darn thing to be pretty amazing. I realize that there are some bugs in it (the midi/audio synch and the lack of mixdown INSIDE the board being the two biggest that I've seen) BUT - I have faith that ultimately Alesis will find a fix to those two issues too. There have been a series of updates to the OS over time, nothing I've read indicates that Alesis doesn't want to fix/address bugs or issues, but that like most companies, they have to allocate resources across their entire product line, so sometimes things take a little while. Given that Alesis has the arrangement with Hollow Sun for all those sounds, and the Hollow Sun folks were so generous with the Free Packs too, and if you buy a Fusion currently you get a set of Studio Monitors - a 6HD nets out to somewhere around $600-$650 if you deduct the price you'd have spent on monitors (I needed some anyhow). At that price, even if they NEVER fix the bugs, it's not unreasonable. And if they do fix the bugs, it's downright amazing. I'm no synthesis genius by any means, but every time I turn the thing on, I find time flying by, and that's just simply exploring what's there and what tweaks I can make to it. I would guess that the really smart folks about synthesis could do some things that I can't even begin to imagine. My biggest concern is that so much of the noise being made about the Fusion is negative that it will destroy the sales and user base such that the fixes won't be cost effective to Alesis. That would be a shame IMHO - as I think the Fusion is really on the cusp of greatness with just a few more fixes. Just my $.02. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DafDuc Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 Didn't need the monitors anyhow (already have 2 sets of M1's), but still an amazing deal. Just ordered a 6HD from Sweetwater now. Christmas comes early for little Daffy!!! 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...
SilverDragonSoun Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 Originally posted by Carbon111: Thats just it, its not very buggy at all right now. The sequencer still has a MIDI sync bug that they're working on but everything else is pretty damn good since OS version 1.22...its a shame all the BS is going to drive this great-sounding, flexible synth into the ground. Well according to this thread click here there are still some very serious issues with the newest OS. Like I said its a great price but you might be playing with fire. There's also another forum site for the Alesis Fusion that has threads which mirror these comments. Begin the day with a friendly voice A companion, unobtrusive - Rush Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carbon111 Posted November 6, 2006 Share Posted November 6, 2006 Yeah, I know. I posted in that thread. Mostly clueless folks who have never touched a Fusion or who don't understand some of its functions - I don't feel like quoting chapter and verse. Trust me, I don't have the patience or time to spend on a bug-ridden, faulty, bad-sounding synth - the Fusion is none of those things. ...I actually have one of these synths. I actually use it everyday. I have practically no problems at all. I know some folks haven't got on with it, thats fine but I think its great. I've documented my experience from day one here: http://www.carbon111.com/fusion.html As you can see in the photo, my Fusion has a couple of "bugs"...Bit of an inside joke, my studio is called Rusty Insects ^_^ http://www.carbon111.com/studio3.jpg Best Regards, James -- http://cdbaby.com/cd/carbon1112 http://www.carbon111.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverDragonSoun Posted November 6, 2006 Share Posted November 6, 2006 Originally posted by Carbon111: Yeah, I know. I posted in that thread. Mostly clueless folks who have never touched a Fusion or who don't understand some of its functions. Personally after spending some time reading that thread, I think the people who have issues have valid complaints with specific issues. They appear to be anything but clueless as they are giving very specific details and are using the deeper levels of the synth as their bugs listed indicate. I saw alot of issues listed and they are occuring with most of the facets of these people's Fusions. I can 't remember when I've seen a thread list so many issues by different people which are specific instead of opinions with any keyboard. I had no idea how many bugs the Fusion had. Begin the day with a friendly voice A companion, unobtrusive - Rush Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mildbill Posted November 6, 2006 Share Posted November 6, 2006 I got a Fusion recently and so far, I'm lovin' it. OK - so I've only used its synth/sample playback aspects so far. But for what I paid for it, I'm WAY more than satisfied with it. I've got a board with built-in, nicely integrated FM, Virtual Analog, Physical Modelling, Sampling, and Sample playback. Decent enough feeling keyboard, adequate knobs/controls/pedal inputs, etc., nice envelope/triggering functions, and all the sweet goodies that I like Alesis products for are there. I probably won't use the sequencer because I'm a Cubase addict, but I may give the hard disk recording a try. Anyways, it's defintely, totally worth what I paid for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mildbill Posted November 6, 2006 Share Posted November 6, 2006 oops - SDS snuck in there while i was writing. As I've said, I use it mostly as a synth, so haven't experienced the bugs that others are complaing of. If they bought the Fusion as an only board, to be a complete, isolated workstation, and these bugs are preventing that, then they've got some totally valid complaints. I won't try and defend something I haven't run up against, but for the purpose I bought it for, it's serving very nicely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carbon111 Posted November 6, 2006 Share Posted November 6, 2006 Originally posted by Silver Dragon Sound: Personally after spending some time reading that thread, I think the people who have issues have valid complaints with specific issues. They appear to be anything but clueless as they are giving very specific details...Thank god I only use the Fusion in a cursory, shallow manner. It would suck if I actually did anything deep with it and opened up a hideous bugnest... ^_^ I'm sure there's some folks that have some valid issues. There are, after all, a couple of elusive debilitating bugs in the sequencer. But, just as an example, one guy in that thread states that the ADAT output isn't configured propely. It is - he just dosen't like the fact its set up as a stereo out and sends and returns. As I stated before: I don't have the patience or time to spend with a buggy, bad-sounding synth! I really dont. Best Regards, James -- http://cdbaby.com/cd/carbon1112 http://www.carbon111.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mildbill Posted November 6, 2006 Share Posted November 6, 2006 Some people have bugs 'in' their Fusion, but Carbon's got bugs 'on' his. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverDragonSoun Posted November 6, 2006 Share Posted November 6, 2006 Originally posted by mildbill: Some people have bugs 'in' their Fusion, but Carbon's got bugs 'on' his. I wonder if Alesis will address this bug in their next OS update. Begin the day with a friendly voice A companion, unobtrusive - Rush Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Hines Posted November 6, 2006 Share Posted November 6, 2006 ** disregard ** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carbon111 Posted November 6, 2006 Share Posted November 6, 2006 Hey Martin, what's up? I didn't compare the fusion to "you-know-what" or anything like that Best Regards, James -- http://cdbaby.com/cd/carbon1112 http://www.carbon111.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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