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Average rating:
3.2 out of 5
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This is really the ONLY product from Quasimidi that really sucked and it did bigtime. The whole rest of the line was killer.
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For me, a Quasar sucks if you only use the presets. They are quite boring. If you got a tre and a hardcore modul - try the soundset of SOUNDS-OF-REVOLUTION.com With that set - your cheep quasar sounds like a absolute professional synthie - this set is really phantastic. Cool Pads, strange arpeggios, great pumpin´ basses, strange effects and so on.....but only the presets are really boring.
steve-b
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I'm happy to own one (mine is also equiped with one of those expansionboards, sorry I don't know wich one the Hardcore or the TRE module. Yes the sounds are a little backdated, but still, if you take a little time to build your own sounds (layering in Perf.mode) it's worth it.
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The Quasar made around 1994, is packed with over a thousand preset sounds, is 16-part multitimbral, has up to 300 performance layered-sounds (100 editable). Has 19 drum sets including 808 and 909. A smart arpeggiator. It has two midi-in ports so you can play with a friend!! Has stereo output and four single outputs for the performance playing.
Has 23 different reverbs, all-editable on screen. It has 30 effects including chorus, flanger, phaser, rotary, tremolo, wah-wah, distortion and more.
The soundbanks have loads of useful and unusual sounds. There's a reasonable GM- soundset to improve midi file backing music. The banks are broken down into easy to manage categories as you can soon be overwhelmed by the amount of sounds from this unit. The sounds themselves contain new and familiar, fans of kraftwerk, 80's pop and 90's rave will love some of the retro sounds from this unit. There are also plenty of orchestral sounds ranging from average to very good.
Buying second-hand I'd say don't pay more than 300 quid and you've got a bargain (some have the expansion boards). This puts it at around the same price of a Roland JV-1080 second-hand, which I'm told is similar. If you’re looking for a unit full of sounds then this is for you. The fx on the unit are okay and can change the presets a fair bit as two can be added per voice. The hands on editing is not a big feature of this unit so those of you who love knob twiddling should avoid.
Overall I'd say the sound quality of the Quasar to be excellent although some of the patches where a bit dull. I cool feature is to set the drumsets to the arpeggiator get some some disjointed beats going one! The performance mode is excellent for creating layered ambient soundscapes and unusual textures. It would have been nice if the Quasar had had some assignable easy-access control knobs for things like cut-off and resonance. For anyone who has a pattern-based drum machine the drumsets linked via midi open a load of new sounds and also gives you a 808 and 909 drum machine!!! Recommended.
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I got the Quasar as a "USED" machine for £250 from Digital Village in Cambridge - great place that shop, very friendly, I most certainly recommend them.
Anyway, enough with the advertisements!
Mine was bought by me, for me to use initially for one of my audio music tech modules i was taking for my B.Sc.(Hons) degree. But now it's broken and it won't load up. when I turn it on, all I get is the first part of the boot up sequence and it shows me the make, name and version (2.00) of the module itself. It then just stays like that as if it doesn't have any sounds to load. - Can anyone help me?
But I do love the sounds that the quasar can make just from the pre - sets. I do miss it. I love the piano sounds. Even the quality of the GM sounds are so much better than a lot that I have heard.
I didn't know what to expect with a sound module, but the quasar does work nicely for me... just wish it were fixed!
User friendliness would be - YOU NEED TO HAVE SOME INITIATIVE WHEN USING AND WORKING OUT HOW TO USE IT. it can be a bit confusing if you're borrowing it from a friend and you don't pick things up quickly.
I would like to add here, that I found it rather easy to pick up (just for the record of course)!
I would say about 3- 4 out of 5
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