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Average rating:
3.8 out of 5
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The Alesis QSR is the only synth in my rack. I have had it for 2 years now, and am just now delving into its progam capabilities. Until now I was just using all the prefab tones and a EuroDance Q card (also highly recomended. I sugest you use the QSR with a PC (or mac?) and take advantage of the editing software that is out there (Q control). then you can see all the aspects of the tones your tweaking.
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I find it strange what some of the prev reviewers have said about the QSR synth, I have had no problems at all with it. I did not find the sounds "grainy", mine is quite soft in different areas , perhaps the aforementioned users unit is faulty. As for there being only 18 usable sounds,I think not! there is plenty to work with here and you can add more sounds if needed. If someone wants to give me their QSR unit if they hate it that much! I will gladly pay the postage.
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In it's day the QSR was an interesting alternative to synths like the Roland JV1080. You potentially had the ability to personalize it but for the most part the QSR was designed to be a good all around synthesier.
The piano samples always sounded good to me although they never sat well in mixes without a lot of tweaking, often through external effects as they had to be automated. Organs were good but were better realized with the QS6.1 or better. Strings were good as were some pads, Alesis seemed to try to out-Korg the X5DR and NS1R/NS5R units.
To my tastes Korg has managed to rule the pad and FX style patches although Alesis does a reasonable job with the QSR.
Negatives: menu city, cumbersome and somewhat flimsy build. Add in cards, up to 2 PCMCIA were a good idea but the Q Cards were uninspired execpt for a few samples. Many people had terrible times attempting to burn their own samples. Horrible, completely worthless tech support via telephone and email.
Positives: a lot of support from Alesis online staff, bright sounds that for the most part sat well in a mix but in spite of the modulation matrix were limited in programming.
Verdict: If you are looking for a synth you don't plan on doing much programming with the QSR will do the job. However it is uninspiring and not as easy to use as one would expect considering the QS series synths.
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Once you start to play around with the clumsy interface (particularly the wheel which has a mind of it's own) you can soon start programming decent sounds of your own.
Some of the guitar and synth programs are excellent and not always bettered by the mixes. If the 80's are your thing then get the Vintage Synth card. Great sound quality, poor interface
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The pianos are really the only thing worth having on this unit.
After some tweaking, I came up with a couple of nice piano sounds, that I have yet to find a decent replacement for, even after more than four years of owning my QSR.
Some of the "electric"-type keyboard sounds are ok. I like the "Purple B3" sound, when it's mixed in with my Triton organ sounds. The other organ sounds are flat and dull-sounding, IMO.
Some of the lead sounds are decent, but lack depth.
The jog wheel on mine has been replaced, as the original became a bit squirrly, and would jump anywhere from one to four patches.
The main thing that bothers me is the lack of a cv pedal input. I like having my cv pedals dedicated to their particular synth, and not have to fool with midi programming from my master keyboard. As it is, I use a standard audio volume pedal for it.
As my main piano sound, my QSR soldiers on, but that's about all it's good for.
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