Product Description
Alesis QS8 64 Voice Expandable Synthesizer
Includes power cord
About This Keyboard
This Alesis QS-8 just came in and is in very good condition both cosmetically and mechanically. It just has a few scuffs and scratches here and there but they are mostly confined to the end caps. Mechanically it is in perfect working order with everything we were able to test working just as it should. All of the keys play just as they should and all of the buttons and sliders work well. It also comes with a power cord.
The QS8 is a powerful multitimbral synthesizer from the effects-box geniuses at Alesis. There's 64 voices of polyphony and 16 parts multitimbrality and tons of memory and expand-ability packed into to this big, blue, beautifully laid out performance synthesizer. Based on the original QuadraSynth series, The QS8 has 8 MegaBytes of samples and uses digital additive/subtractive sample playback synthesis to create high quality stereo grand pianos, organs, strings, drums/percussion, brass, woodwinds, new and classic synth textures, General MIDI, and rhythmic/sonic loops. Most of them sound pretty darn great too! However Alesis had not yet fully anticipated the dance craze and so this is not one of those "physical-modeling" synths that began appearing at the same time. And sadly, in addition to the north-bound Pitch/Mod wheels, there are only just two real-time assignable control sliders for live tweaking, which is not a lot at all.
As a master synth, the QS excels in it's price range, except for that tiny LCD display which makes navigating through the pages and pages of program settings pretty tedious. The QS8 implements the powerful QS Modulation Matrix, allowing users to assign virtually any controller source to any modulation parameter. There's an onboard multi-effects processor (based on the QuadraVerb 2) with four totally discrete effects busses that include reverb, delay, rotary speaker simulation, distortion, chorus and much more. With a direct Mac or PC hook-up, loading patches and editing via software is a snap! QS synths shipped with Alesis' Sound Bridge software for Mac/PC which lets you write AIFF and WAV samples, Standard MIDI Files and Program data to PCMCIA Flash or SRAM cards. It can play Standard MIDI file sequences from the expansion cards without the use of an external sequencer. For an all around versatile modern synthesizer that isn't focused just on dance or trance, be sure to consider the QS7.
- Specifications
- Polyphony - 64 voices
- Oscillators - 48kHz Linear samples.
8MB, expandable to 16MB using PCMCIA ROM and RAM cards - Multitimbral - 16 parts
- Effects - 4 On-board effects, based on the Alesis QuadraVerb 2 FX processor
- Arpeg/Seq - None
- Keyboard - 88 weighted, hammer-action and aftertouch sensitive, synth action.
- Memory - 512 preset 128 user programs, 400 preset and 100 user mixes, expandable using PCMCIA cards
- Control - MIDI IN/OUT/THRU (16-parts), RS232/RS422 computer serial port for Macintosh or PC
- Date Produced - 1996
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It is important to remember that when buying a used keyboard it may not operate or look exactly like a new one. Used keyboards develop wear over time that can cause such items as function buttons, knobs, sliders etc. to fail to operate as smoothly or easily as when they were new. Our technician does check these items and if they are deemed unusable they are replaced but some function buttons may require more pressure or manipulation to make the appropriate changes. Cosmetically your used keyboard may have scuffs, scratches, cracks to plastic pieces, discolored keys or other visual impairments that might not show up in the photos. We try to mention any obvious visual imperfections but may not consider them serious enough to post in the listing.
