Alesis Fusion 6HD
Alesis has always been about giving us more features and functionality for our money than the current industry zeitgeist says we’re “supposed to” get. Most famously, the ADAT brought eight tracks of digital multitrack recording to the masses, and the ability to link them together almost single-handedly launched the project studio revolution of the early ’90s.
Solid and great-sounding, the sampler is basic: It offers a standard editing menu of cut, copy, paste, fade, and normalize functions. I expected a workstation with such a full-featured sequencer would include beat-based slicing á la ReCycle, not to mention some kind of pitch- and/or time-stretching process, but no. Right now, the sampler is best as a tool for rolling your own programs. Samples can be imported using Fusion Converter, a utility developed by Alesis and Chicken Systems (www.chickensys.com). We’re told the list of supported formats is being expanded; currently, AIFF, WAV, SoundFont, and Akai S1000/3000 are on the list. Once you’ve got a multisample you like, the slick “To Prog” function generates a program based on it, saving editing time.
Overview
Gotta start with synthesis types, don’t we? On the Fusion, they aren’t segregated in different banks, and which method you use is simply one of a Program’s parameters. Groups are musical, not technical: In a series of, say, pads, there’ll be a sample next to an FM sound next to a virtual analog one, and Mixes and Songs can combine them freely. Let’s look at each.
- Analog modeling. Fusion delivers premium sound quality here, with aliasing-free high end in league with the best dedicated VA’s, colon-kickin’ bass, and up to three oscillators per note, any of which can opt for external audio or noise as its waveform. Fusion is a real chameleon, as I enjoyed faithful reproductions of the character of a Minimoog, Prophet, Oberheim, Jupiter, and beyond. Nicely done!
- Physical modeling. At present, reed and wind models are available, and are very expressive. Playing from the keyboard, it’s a sound-by-sound trial whether a modeled sax or pipe is more realistic than a sampled one. With a wind controller like Yamaha’s WX-5 MIDI’ed up, the models spring to life. So it would be nice to have a dedicated breath control input. Alesis agrees that plucked string and drawbar organ (i.e. Hammond) models would be welcome additions, but for the time being, rely on the sample-playback engine for those sounds.
- FM. More powerful than a vintage DX7, Fusion dishes out every sound you’d expect from that ol’ brown bomber, and many that you wouldn’t. Six oscillators offer harmonically different sine wave flavors and totally configurable “algorithms.” Explore “FM Worlds” or float in “Outer Space.” It may change your thinking about this still un-exhausted and rich sound creation method.
- Sample Playback. Fusion’s main piano is derived from Q-Up Arts' Holy Grail series, and I like it a little better than the base Motif and Triton pianos. Greasy and organic, “Wondrous Clavinet” is my fave vintage-keys patch. While I found something involving and beautiful in every category, overall sample quality is closer to cutting-edge ROMplers of the mid-‘90s than to those of 2005. A speed bump for sound designers is that Fusion programs have only one filter (sample-playback oscillators each include an additional nonresonant “1-pole lowpass filter” which amounts to high shelving EQ 0), and though it doesn't get quite as nasty as true analogs like the Poly Evolver or Andromeda, its 13 modes all sound very natural, with none of the dreaded stair-stepping even on bold sweeps. It's cool that all synthesis types can access all filter modes: A lowpass really warms up FM sounds, for example.
Conclusions
Contrary to the inevitable musings we've read on the 'net, Fusion is by no means intended as a “budget OASYS-killer.” Instead, think of it as the iPod Nano of workstations, packing indulgent amounts of features and storage into a tight form factor at a more-than-reasonable price. In deference to retailers, we don't print street prices, but go look it up; the value is downright dramatic. Consider the hard disk recorder, and it's even more so.
No question: The crop of sample-based sounds we had for review is an Achilles' heel, and players who judge a workstation on the first few Rhodes, guitar, clav, and string sounds may well prefer a “big three” alternative, at least for now. Sound expansion, whether in the form of samples you import or future programs and synthesis types from Alesis, is truly open-ended, coming closer to delivering on the “obsolescence-proof” promise we've seen so many companies make over the years. While at press time it remains to be seen what improvements and enhancements Alesis has up its corporate sleeve, the Fusion has enough horsepower and infrastructure to eventually fulfill its promise of becoming a world-beater.
Vital Stats
Synthesis types/polyphony
Sample-based: 256 voices; analog modeling: up to 140 voices; physical modeling: up to 60 voices (reed)/48 voices (wind); FM: up to 120 voices.
Multitimbral parts
16.
Sequencer
32 MIDI tracks with full editing.
Audio recorder
8 tracks to internal HD at 24-bit/44.1kHz.
Sampler
Stereo, 16-bit/44.1kHz (24-bit sampling in future OS).
Internal storage
40GB hard disk, 7,200rpm.
External storage
Compact Flash reader, port for external SATA hard disk or CD burner, USB/USB2.
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