MGR/Laklander « Alesis Micron »
Published on 01/15/10 at 15:00The Alesis Micron is based on the larger Alesis Ion. It's a full 3-octave keyboard housed in a red and white/silver case. I'm a bass player, but I bought the Micron to control with Roland PK-R bass pedals rather than spend $2000 for the new Moog Taurus pedals. I also use it for string pads in live situations and as a MIDI controller for home recording.
Bought from Musiciansfriend.com in April 2009 for $399.
The Micron far more sounds than I will ever use, including bass, lead, strings, brass and a variety of pads and effects. There are three envelope generators and two LFOs with multiple wave shapes and sample and hold. The Micron offers a programmable step sequencer, an arpeggiator, a rhythm sequencer for drum kits. Effects include a 40 band vocoder. Stereo inputs let you process external audio through its effects, filters and vocoder. Stereo output is excellent for recording and live performance.
I like the variety of presets on the Micron and that you can edit them fairly easily. I also like the favorites feature that allows you to save often-used sounds in a single location. I also like that it has full-size keys rather than the tiny ones on the comparable Korg synths.
Pushbuttons or rather than rotary controls would have been nice for recalling presets, but since I'm not a dedicated keyboard player, it's really no problem.
The Micron is solidly built and, with reasonable care, there's really no need to buy a hardshell road case. A padded bag is sufficient.
For the money, the Alesis Micron delivers fully polyphony and a lot of sounds, including classic Minimoog for leads as well as a great variety of string pads. Comparing it to other synthesizer in t5hi price range ($400) I think the Micron is the clear winner.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
Bought from Musiciansfriend.com in April 2009 for $399.
The Micron far more sounds than I will ever use, including bass, lead, strings, brass and a variety of pads and effects. There are three envelope generators and two LFOs with multiple wave shapes and sample and hold. The Micron offers a programmable step sequencer, an arpeggiator, a rhythm sequencer for drum kits. Effects include a 40 band vocoder. Stereo inputs let you process external audio through its effects, filters and vocoder. Stereo output is excellent for recording and live performance.
I like the variety of presets on the Micron and that you can edit them fairly easily. I also like the favorites feature that allows you to save often-used sounds in a single location. I also like that it has full-size keys rather than the tiny ones on the comparable Korg synths.
Pushbuttons or rather than rotary controls would have been nice for recalling presets, but since I'm not a dedicated keyboard player, it's really no problem.
The Micron is solidly built and, with reasonable care, there's really no need to buy a hardshell road case. A padded bag is sufficient.
For the money, the Alesis Micron delivers fully polyphony and a lot of sounds, including classic Minimoog for leads as well as a great variety of string pads. Comparing it to other synthesizer in t5hi price range ($400) I think the Micron is the clear winner.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com