Alsesis bankrupcy

[sjoko2]

This week Alesis has file d for bankrupcy and fired most of their workforce.
They are now in Chapter 11
Hope someone will buy them

[Blue Bear Sound]

Where did you get this info sjoko2? I looked but can't find ANYTHING on it???

Alesis customer support is still active..........

Bruce

[sjoko2]

They are still working, just fired a load of people.
Chapter 7 is the first stage of bankrupcy, which provides temporary protection from creditors.
Banks called their loans in weeks ago.
So now they are seeking to re-finance or a purchaser, if not, they will go into chapter 7, which means kaput.
Its a fact, not hearsay. and of cause, nothing they would voluntarily broadcast. In the meantime they are just carrying on.

[Blue Bear Sound]

I wasn't questioning your info, I was only looking for more details!

That bit 'o news really sucks though...............

Bruce

[sjoko2]

Yup it does, but so does the Euphonics thing.
No doubt alesis will survive - they have a strong product line which someone will buy or invest in. Looks like they relied to long on ADAT.
Oh, how do I know? Just have a lot of contacts in the manufacturing industry, and my partner owns a well known equipment manufacturer.

[sjoko2]

And to carry on in that vein ....... the "for sale" sign is up at Steinberg as well
Just shows you how closely the "new" music business is linked to the whole dot com thing.
Perhaps this is an opportunity for some of these companies to fall into the hands of audio, rather than software professionals, which would definately be a huge bonus

[Shailat]

Or worse..... fall into the hands of 2 big companies that buy them out and create a Monopol there for - rasing prices due to lack of competition...........

No competition is bad news for Audio related users.

[sjoko2]

Yup, there is always that possibility, sometimes its a good thing, sometimes bad, depends on who buys them

[Sound Cracker]

Alesis just stuck their noses into aspects of the audio business they didn't belong in. There crap PCI card, and the over-priced Masterlink proved that.

When they bought GT mics, well, that should have told everyone something.

I don't think keeping the ADAT line hurt them a bit, it was probably the only thing making and money. It was their insistence on staying with the 3630, and their whole monitor speaker line, as well as their rather crappy mixers that probably did them in. Just too much other stuff out their that fly's better with the consumer in the same price range.

I think too that they held on waaaaaaaaaaaaay too long with their keyboards and sound module lines. Too little product for any price really. That whole "micro" thing they had just could never pay off. For just a bit more, everyone was putting out more versatile products.

Let us not talk about their entrance into the electronic drum market. I have a friend who is a drummer who worked for Alesis (at least up until last week) who said he would NEVER use those at a gig, and would probably favor a cheap real drumset for practice purposes and risk sound complaints. He felt they were that bad.

Alesis needed to grow up and make a stronger showing in the professional market. They never did. They also needed to stay away from anything that had to do with a hard drive, but they didn't.

Their doom is eminent!

I say good, it don't come soon enough. Possibly the market share they took with their somewhat cheaply made products can go to companies that made more dependable, more versatile gear. Companies that are maybe a bit more in touch with making products that don't have inherent flaws.

The upside is that Alesis's best selling product line, the ADAT is an easy machine to figure out by bench tech's, so support for the machines will still be around for a long time. With the fact that an ADAT is a glorified SVHS recorder so the parts are readily available (that was part of the whole original ADAT concept, and the reason they could build the machine for so little money) current users of the format shouldn't worry too much about getting them fixed (something that seemed to happen a lot.....)

Yes, I am a bit pissed at Alesis. They were are the forefront of the whole "make it cheap and they will buy" era that recording gear is in.

I suspect that Mackie is not far behind. They spend way too much money on international advertising to keep at their pace.

A disgrunteled past Alesis product line buyer.

Good Day!

[Track Rat]

I for one would mourn their passing. I was just reading some very good things about the new hard disc recorder. Hell, I was thinking about buying one just for the converters. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/001517.html

[carguymike]

You know .... half the gear in my studio was/is Alesis. And almost everything has something wrong with it! Bought a Qs 7.1 awhile back. Used it on a gig & when I went to put it the road case, the right side came off in my hand! And I've had quite a time getting their pc card to work properly with Logic Gold. Maybe someone will take over & do a proper overhaul on the product line. My AI3 only works when it's warmed up. My Midiverb backlite is on intergalactic display mode (quite interesting!), Studio32 power supply has gone to lunch, SR16 is too damn hard to figure out, nanocomp works only when IT wants, RA-100 seems ok, LX20 works great, 3630 has actually been ok. I know I'm getting old when I look at my 25 year old TEAC A3340S and wish that was what I could use on a daily basis. Sure, modern editing techniques are great, but equipment reliability seems a thing of the past. My old TEAC still works perfectly. I'll keep it forever!

[The Green Hornet]

Yo Crackers of Sound:

You are right on the money when you mention the Alesis Synthesizers, [other posts too] I had one as a back-up to my Yam DX-7. It was one of the Q models.

The view screen was made for hawks, which can see 8 times better than humans. Small, very small. Manual, well, you all know about manuals. Quality sound? Never even came close to the DX-7 which is a pretty old product. Would you believe the battery in my DX7 is still pumping after more than ten years?

I sold the Alesis keyboard. The only other piece of Alesis gear in my studio is a Midiverb which isn't too bad but the Lexicon 100 I also use is better -- 24 bit sound processing is good stuff.

Been thinking about the Alesis Masterlink but I kind of thought it was overpriced. Still looking and talking to the site for information.

Green Hornet

[BigKahuna]

hmm that's pretty depressing news ...
But I think you're right ... with some new blood and new capital ... the company will continue on ...

I actually like the Q-series synths (my bro has a Q8) ... I think some of the sounds are better than my Kurzweil. The only other Alesis gear I have are LX20 (no problems there) and a Wedge (not bad for a $99 desktop novelty ... *love* that audition button )...

Still, sorry to hear that their having financial problems ... but I think you all are right ... their foray into mics and apparent reluctance to provide HD recorders probably contributed to their downfall.

[dragonworks]

I think we should pool our resources and buy Alesis?
At least come alongside and give her a broadside then board her.

[sjoko2]

Or just pretend to and say we need samples of products for investigation by the potential investors???

[sjoko2]

I'm very very sorry sonus ........ they can't do that
(no money to pay the lawyers

[ruebarb]

I called customer service yesterday - It's in the repair queue - it'll take about 3 weeks - -

Better get it working before they fall apart...that's all I can say...

I don't see them completely dying - ADAT's are so popular in studios around the world, but it's easy to see why' they'd diversify a bit - and make some clunkers

[JFogarty]

Difversify? They already make a product in like every catagory. geez, they should stick to one thing, and make it really well....

[RWhite]

For whatever it is worth, my Studio 32 mixer has been rock solid and works great.

[mixmkr]

hey...I like my Wedgies....and at a $100 a pop, ya can't beat em. Maybe they'll drop to 50 bucks a whack in the used market now!!!

My RA100 still works...clip lights always seem to be on....but.....no matter...I like it LOUD.

[skippy]

For a response to the "Alesis is dead" rumors from John Maier of Alesis, go have a look at this thread:

http://www.3daudioinc.com/wwwboard/messages/12227.shtml

and search in it for John Maier.

Mr. Maier appears to be an official corporate spokesman for Alesis (Director of MarComm), and the gist of his article is that the rumors of Alesis's death are somewhat exaggerated.

They are indeed downsizing, restructuring, and spinning off some product lines. But they appear not to be either closed down, in receivership, or whatever else might come to mind. In extremis, perhaps yes: ripe for a merger or buyout, certainly. But dead? no.

Hope that their engineering group rides this out well enough. I've been through this at another pro audio company, and it ain't fun.

[sjoko2]

As I started the thread - never said that they were dead
Alesis is here, still alive, but no longer busy like a hive.

I stated they filed for chapter 11 - which is a stage of bankrupcy which affords protection from creditors in order to re-structure and re-finance the business.

A lot of the engineers are gone - I've been told by an ex Alesis engineer who's gone

[StuDog]

I have been following the progress of the "End of Alesis" for some time now, as I know a lot of people that do/used to work there. As of last Friday (the 29th?) they had been denied chapter 11 protection.

Rumors are that Fender, of all companies, is the strongest contender to buy them out.

Just my 2 cents worth.

-SD

[sjoko2]

I heard the same

[kristian]

what the hell were they thinking with the air fx? that looks like it was relegated to the level of casio 17 key keyboards of the 80s instantly.

one pro of this situation, hopefully there will be some good liquidation prices for the consumer. i always say that about everything going out of business, or and semblence of it.