'Alesis' is a manufacturer of
electronic musical instruments owned by Numark and based in
Cumberland,
Rhode Island.
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.
List of Alesis Gear
★ QSR
★ QS8.1 88-key Synthesizer Keyboard
★ QS8.2 88-key Synthesizer Keyboard
★ QS6
★ QS6.2 Voice Expandable Synth
★ QS7
★ QS7.1
★ 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
See also
★
Numark Industries
★
Akai (also owned by Numark)
★
Alesis Fusion workstation
★
Alesis Quadrasynth
External links
★
Academy of Contemporary Music - The Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford is Europe’s leading school for Rock and Pop musicians and is sponsored by Alesis.
★
Alesis Official Website
★
Numark Industries Official Website