This synth is MSRP 800$ so we'll keep that in mind as I talk about the Alesis ION. Alesis kept this unit so cheap by putting all of their effort into the sound, so let me talk first about where ALESIS did not put any effort into. 1. The keyboard, its not as bad as everyone says but its not great either. 2. Polyphony at 8 voices its no Virus but keep in mind the MS2000 only has 4 and the JP8080 is only a little better with 10. 3. Effects.... well what do you want? 4. Arpeggiators....ok here is my biggest gripe, these arps stink, they are non user programmible and totally over-programmed and largely unusable, this may be fixed in a later OS but well have to wait and see.

Price paid: $700 USD

UTILIZATION

The layout, really f-ing sweet here. You have four parts or patches to a program and you can map them across the keybpard as you like. Essentially the ION is a hardware version of Emagics ES2 3 oscillators, two filters, FM, noise , external input, two lfos and a S&H and a modulation matrix with a tracking generator, furthermore there are drive effects and standard effects. It has a great big display, and when you move knob the display jumps to that parameter (bravo bravo)also the knobs themselves have no settings, they turn 360degrees, I cant emphasize enough how awesome this is for live work and recording, when you switch patches and turn down a level or filter you dont get that stupid "jump" that happens on ALL other units. Also when you change the waveform of the oscillators the display shows the actual waveform, which i must insist you try if you can. In fact because of its ergonomics and usability I would really recommend this synth over the JP8080 or MS2000 as a starter synth for anyone interested in sound synthesis

SOUNDS

Sound........phat.....f-in phat ass phat phatty phatness. I dont know about the patches. Considering i can make up a mind bending growling bassline or a silky smooth pad or a rhythmic sample & hold tempo based LFO trance stack in a matter of minutes with the ION i just havent bothered to sort through all the preprogrammed nonsense. But HOW does it sound, well it sounds very very analog-like thanks to the Alesis effort put into the DSP processors, there's even an oscillator drift setting that emulates the inconcistencies only found in analog VCOs. Anyway its largely a smooth punchy sound reminiscent of 70s synthesizers, however Im convinced you can get almost any sound you want out of this mo fo

OVERALL OPINION

Solidly built, i like the metal casing, the knobs feel great so do the mod wheels, only thing is that the keys arent as good as on my Roland A37, and they dont have aftertouch, but i think thats to be expected in this price range.

I used to use Logic Audio's es2 very extensively before I went the hardware route, I loved this synth because of its versatility and abilty to do ANYTHING i wanted. The ION has all the functionality of the ES2 but in a hardware interface, and it sounds................ well you will have to hear for yourself.......its thick and sticky, but also smooth and silky, its sexy and punchy (ouch), but can also be gritty if you want it to be.........wow ive just turned myself on talking about this synth so much i need to go synch my LFOs and detune my saw waves.....excuse me.

Originally posted on FutureProducers.com
Posted by: Unknown (January 0-, 2003)