I recently go it and already the audio outs are broken. They are so sensitive that whenever you touch the cord it sizzles extremely loud. You can feel the inserts are loose inside the Fiz. This on top of my internal Power Supply going dead on top of the LED missing the 4th letter makes me very happy. I just love buying new products and having to send them out for repair. I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT!(Kicking my legs up while wearing my paisly stretch pants).

THE FIZMO SUCKS. PERIOD.

When it arrived it had something loose in the case. Had to take it apart and remove a chunk o' matal and plastic was sliding around. After that bit of pp quality control, I have no complaints.

I played with it at Guitar Center and didn't quite know what to make of it as there were too many arpeggiated presets that hid it's true power, but couldn't resist the $495 blowout price. Can't even get an old used synth for that price, nevermind one with great effects and 48 note polyphony. Kee-rist a Pulse has only one note, JP8080 only 8, a Microwave just 10. Even the lovely Nova only has 12 and I can sure get I can get thicker monophonics leads out of my Fizmo.

As a former and longtime original owner of a Prophet 5, I would take the Fizz over the P5. OK, OK I can hear the gasps of shock. Without too much work, I have some absolutely mind-blowing sounds that could put Nova's to shame. No bass? What the hell are you people talking about? I could create a minor earthquake with the rumbles I can get.

The most unique part that I have no heard on NO other synth is to have each of the 4 parts that make up a voice to be panning in their own evolving envelope that gives the stereo sound a liveness unimaginable. The complexity and depth of the waveforms that I have created are incredible.

Yes it is somewhat flimsy. I don't care what the name is, what others say or who made the chips. This is one fascinating instrument.

Ok here are the main faults of teh Fizmo which I think outweigh the good.

1. THE MAIN PROBLEM: The processor is way too slow. Here is what you will notice after owning it for 2 weeks and become very familiar with it. If you turn a knob YOU WILL NOT hear instant results but rather notice a 2 to 5 second delay and sometimes up to 1 minute. I have no idea why they chose these weak chips but it cannot handle even 1 tweak UNLESS the tweak is a mere 1 to 5% increment. If you plan to turn the knob 90 degress then i hope you have some time on your hands. Sometimes the turn wont even register and you have to do it again so it resets the knob. That is not good.

2. Sometimes the Fizmo will NOT save your sounds. If you press save ,you have a 1 in 8 chance that the Fiz will glitch and lose your hard worked, unretrievable patch. This is VERY upsetting.

3. The power supply WILL give out on you sooner or later. This may also lead to internal power problems which require a 4-6 week turnaround IF Ensoniq decides to honor your warranty. This problem IS inevitable , just give it time. Trust me, there is a bug in the chips and it just takes time for it to wave its ugly head.

4. Overall contruction is shoddy. The buttons are the worse. You can take your fingernail and easily plop the buttons off. They SHOULD NOT come off that easily. I was at a show and I was changing the patch and the knob came flying off. I had to stick a drumstick tip in the whole just because I had 2 seconds to hurry up and change the patch. I will never ever bring the Fiz out again. Infact Im selling it.

Please write me...price is $175

Thanks Jake

the

Personally, I wouldn't use the Fiz for leads, and it isn't one of those gay-ass "imitative synthesis" pieces of shit. The Fizmo is all about synthetic ambience, whether it be mellow and trancey, or bassy and evil.

Bad things: Frankly, the idea of a 4 character LED screen sucks, and you NEED the manual to understand some of the hieroglyphs it displays. Also, it has 6 less MIDI channels or something gay like that, but that's easily worked around.

As for it falling apart, mine is fine. No static when i play too hard, and the knobs aren't flaking off... if you get a broken one, send it back.

I'm sure that there are ppl who have legitimate complaints about their Fizmo, esp. in regards to dealing w/ Musician's Friend. But I know a lot of the reviews posted here are just bullshit, posted by people who probably never even touched a Fizmo. If you believe the review by "Johnathan Taylor Thomas" then yer probably a telemarketer's wet dream come true...

And why are so many ppl reviewing this thing without buying it, or at least taking it home and trying it for a while? I don't seem to find that in other forums... "I tried this out in the store and I couldn't figure it out right away, so it sucks!" Whatever.

If my Fizmo breaks down or some crazy shit and I end up hating it, I PROMISE I will come back and post another review and, to save all of you Fiz Haters the trouble, I'll include a full paragraph on what a stupid asshole I was for loving it so much.

PS. Boycott Musician's Friend! Support your local privately owned music store!