alesis micron anyone?

[nordlead]

Hi, I would like to know if anybody here has played with an alesis micron and what was your opinion on them. I'm thinking in getting one for christmas, being cheap.

I think its almost the same as an alesis Ion, but with added reverb.

Any info would be cool. Thanks in advance.

[Merlot]

I played with one at the local guitar center. They are pretty nice for the price point and features. Only problem i saw was 4 knobs i think. that means if you want to edit, you are going to do alot of menu surfing. Alos the sound was was great. awesome pads and basses. Good luck.

[Panopticon]

I've been wanting one pretty bad, they sound a lot better than, say, the microkorg. And it's small enough that you can take it anywhere, I think Alesis has put a lot more thought into their products in recent years (e.g. A6, Ion, Micron).

[nordlead]

Thanks for the answers. I'm actually trying to sell my microkorg to get the micron.

[GothicIndustrial]

I got one nearly two weeks ago, but I haven't had that much trigger time with it yet. My wife just gave birth and I had my first set of finals since I went back to grad school.

Anyway, I like it a lot. It has great filters and is VERY deep. The oscs are good and don't seem to alias up high like the Virus oscillators do. I can't wait to really get into programming it, because the presets are...well...presets. Some of them are decent, but many are too 70's prog rock oriented. Lot's of sounds named after Rick Wakeman, you know?

The engine is great, though. The filters each have their own character and each react differently. The arp filter overdrives with high resonance, the Moog filter pushes out extra bass, the Jupiter filter sounds... uh, Jupitery. It's got two LFO's, 3 envelopes, trackig generators (which I haven't really used or figured out yet).

The effects are nowhere near as good as those on the Virus, but then again the Virus has tremendous effects.

The interface is kind of sucky, but not as bad as a Yamaha FM synth. It's usable, much better than a Korg Prophecy, but not the best interface I've seen. That's what you get at this price point.

Overall, I like the Micron and I want to get into programming it, then maybe I'll fall in love.

[DIGITAL SCREAMS]

Im interested to know what the Jupiter filter sounds like. To the best of my knowledge thats got to be the first jupiter emulation ever made.

DS

[nordlead]

very interesting GothicIndustrial. Is it solid or built like a toy? The microK is really fragile and that sucks.

I just got a buyer for my microK. Lets hope it turns out fine and I can buy this baby.

BTW, is this synth very recent? I cant find it anywhere. I find the Ion and the A6, but no micron. Maybe I'll buy it online.

[GothicIndustrial]

DS, I've never played a Jupiter. It has a little bit of a Juno-ish tone, but not exactly. Take that as you will.

Nordlead, the build is good. It's a light little synth, but it's much better built than a Bass Station keyboard for example. The keyboard isn't the best, and it pales in comparison to a Virus KB, but it's usable. It's a far better synth than the Microkorg. I would classify it as a pro synth rather than a toy.