Alesis

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Alesis is a manufacturer of electronic musical instruments owned by Numark and based in Cumberland, Rhode Island.

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[edit] Targeted market

The products manufactured by Alesis are mainly for studio and live performance (as opposed to practice) use and are targeted at professional and semi-professional musicians. Alesis is known for budget equipment but has sometimes produced surprisingly high-quality and innovative gear such as the Nano-Synth, Nano-Bass, Nano-Piano, Andromeda A6 analog synthesizer and software analog modeling synthesizer called Ion. The Micron is based on the Ion.

Alesis achieved an early success with their original MidiVerb device, a stereo reverb (2 in, 2 out) at a reasonable price. Although the MIDI specification was not extensive, it was sufficient. The unit responded to patch changes 1-63 to select different preset reverb sounds, higher numbers activated "Defeat" mode (which was Alesis parlance for Mute). The MidiVerb was built using off-the-shelf parts, which enabled the device to be repaired in the field easily.

The list of popular Alesis gear includes the MicroVerb, SR-16 drum machine (introduced in 1991 and still in production), the Quadrasynth line of sample-based synths, and the ADAT 8-track digital tape recorder, ubiquitous in the early 90s.

The company suffered financial turbulence in 2001 following an April 27 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, after investing heavily in the hard-disk equivalent of the ADAT, the HD24. In the subsequent restructuring, Jack O'Donnell (president of Numark Industries) acquired the company.

[edit] List of Alesis Gear

  • M1 Active (Mk1 and Mk2)
  • M1 Active 520 and 620
  • HR-16, HR-16:B
  • Quadrasynth
  • Quadrasynth Plus
  • S4
  • S4 Plus - Rack version of Quadrasynth -
  • QS6
  • QS6.1
  • QS6.2 Voice Expandable Synth
  • QS7
  • QS7.1
  • QS7.2
  • QS8 88-key Synthesizer Keyboard
  • QS8.1 88-key Synthesizer Keyboard
  • QS8.2 88-key Synthesizer Keyboard
  • QSR
  • SR-16
  • ION Analog Modeling Synthesizer
  • Fusion 6HD 61 note Semi-Weighted Keyboard Workstation
  • Fusion 8HD 88 Note Fully Weighted Keyboard Workstation
  • A6 Andromeda Polyphonic Analog Synth
  • Micron
  • MMT8
  • Performance Pad
  • Control Pad
  • XGuitar

[edit] See also

[edit] External links