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Average rating:
3.8 out of 5
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I like the sound the Nano Synth gives me. I also use Nano Bass with this unit. Very versatile and the piano sounds are very true. The only thing I don't like about it is the fact that it uses RCA jacks for the outputs. 1/4 inch outs would have been much better. Still, it is a great unit to use.
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After owning the Alesis NanoSynth for about two years now, I think I am finally qualified enough to state my opinion on the device. I must say that I am very impressed by the NanoSynth. It has a very, very clean sound with a lot of sparkle. The module is tiny, but it packs a punch. With four banks of 128 patches, this thing is loaded. The first bank is the standard General MIDI (which actually sounds quite good), and each bank afterwards is a variation. Patches are well organized in the several banks. Arranged to the General MIDI format, all of the patches are easy to locate and remember. I especially like the choirs/voice patches, as they are very clean and life-like. Some really nice patches to look for are Atlantis, Hen-Ya, J-Strings, and 7th Wave.
On the front face are five knobs that can control the device. The volume knob is the only one worth a damn. I would never recommend using this box as a stand-alone synth. You must use it with a sequencer and a computer. If you were to just use the front knobs to select patches and banks, you can only access about half of the presets!
Overall, I like the NanoSynth very much. It is compact, and it sounds very good, crisp, and clean. My only beef is that it has no power button. In order to turn the Nano off, you must pull the power cord jack out from the back. This could get a little annoying if the device were rack-mounted. Also, the NanoSynth can crash or seize up. Out of the blue, the little Nano may lock up and output some weird sounds. Also, the patch Bali Hai seems to have no MIDI OFF command. If you play a key, the patch keeps playing, even after Panic or changing banks! Totally weird�
I think I bought mine on sale for about $150.00. I love it. At that price you cannot go wrong. Why pay a lot more for a QS6 when you can have the same power in a smaller box?
www.efextek.com (quality, affordable analog audio effect products)
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I gotta disagree about the 'great' drum sounds. I had the Nano a couple of years and got to where I couldn't stand them anymore. The cymbals are especially bad. And almost everything is wet wet wet. And it's no easy job figuring out how to excise all that reverb.
Not long ago I bought an old SR-16 for my drum parts, and (even?) that was a big improvement. I do agree that the Nanosynth is a good unit for the money though.
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OOPS, forgot to mention. Greatest Homer style "DO'H" of all time. With the Nanosynth they supply (free) with the editing software, two "entry-level" type sequencers so you "can explore the wonders" of sequencing with your new toy. Slight problem, 80% of the sounds on the thing (mostly of best ones) are in the "higher" banks, and the sequncers they supply - BOTH DON'T HAVE BANK SWITCHING DO'H!!!!!!!!!!!
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We all go into the music shop and the first thing we want to hear from the new arrival is patch 001 - piano. The factory piano's in the Nanosynth SUCK BIG TIME (BARF!!!). So the first time I heard the thing I just walked away. I figured well, fair enough, they've saved the best pianos for the "sister" unit the Nano-Piano (just out of interest I played it for a while - and they're just as bad!) I eventually gave it a second listen - this time in an environment where I could get to all the sounds not available on the front panel, and bought one.
THEN, after I had owned it for a while, I started downloading patches of the net. First I found a piano patch called "(8meg)piano" - which actually sounds ok, but I also found 3/4000 patches, from which I have selected a Beautiful set of favourites. If you're not using a computer, you probably shouldn't get one. If you're not using the net and a libarian program, you probably wont like one. If you're doing all of the above, the only other thing you may need to do is dump of individual parts to your recording system, to gain more specific effect treatments. In short, for the user as described above, just bloody buy one, the drum sounds alone are worth it!!
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