|
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)
|