Alesis Ion as a MIDI controller

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batchmister1

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Hey folks,

I was thinking about getting an Alesis Ion and using a Midi controller. Does anyone know of any other analog boards that have the warmth of the Alesis Ion within the same price range (under $800)?

Secondly, does the Ion enable one to scroll through the octaves so that one could use more than the 49 keys of the synth?

Is this possible when using the Ion as a controller?




later
 
Ion

Yes it can be used as a controller and is able to transpose up or down 3 octaves, for a total range of 10 octaves.

New in same price range? I do not know. But its price has come down further to $599 at the large retailers. Check out

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Ion/


Used analog gear for the same price? Probably.
 
Does anyone know of any other analog boards that have the warmth of the Alesis Ion within the same price range (under $800)?
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The ion is not analog, its 100% digital. Are you looking for a controller or a synth that you can also use as a controller?
 
altitude909 said:
The ion is not analog, its 100% digital. Are you looking for a controller or a synth that you can also use as a controller?
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Yes it is. The Ion is analog modeling, or Virtual Analog.
 
VA is not analog. Anything with a D/A on the output and a computer generating the sounds is digital. The only true analogs out there these days are the Moog, Alesis Andromeda, and a couple boutique synths
 
Silly

altitude909 said:
VA is not analog. Anything with a D/A on the output and a computer generating the sounds is digital. The only true analogs out there these days are the Moog, Alesis Andromeda, and a couple boutique synths
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Answer your own remark: What does the "A" stand for in VA?

You seem to be taking issue with the source of the mode - Hardware circuitry vs. Mathematical modeling. In either case, it is Analog.
 
Toddskins said:
Answer your own remark: What does the "A" stand for in VA?

You seem to be taking issue with the source of the mode - Hardware circuitry vs. Mathematical modeling. In either case, it is Analog.
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sorry but it aint analog....there is a difference..Ive had both and now i have a V.A.
 
nswer your own remark: What does the "A" stand for in VA?

You seem to be taking issue with the source of the mode - Hardware circuitry vs. Mathematical modeling. In either case, it is Analog.
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uh ok, then riddle me this.. why are the real versions of all the things "VA" software and hardware try to emulate fetch prices into the thousands of dollars when their "VA" counterparts can be purchased for peanuts at any music outlet. Mathematical modeling cannot take into consideration of componenet tolerances , signal path, bad manufacturing practices, materials of the time and so on. Is there a good "va" of a leslie? or how about a TB303? Have you ever compared a/b a real analog and a its corresponding VA? Please..

So i take it that virtual sex for u is as good as the real thing right?

if the ion was analog it would cost thousands. VA has some adavantages (i.e. Access Hyper saw) the greatest of which is it's cheap
 
Both you guys need to do some studying

DO a simple search on Google, friends, and learn what is meant by "analog" synthesis.

It does NOT mean hardware!

It means a PROCESS, whereby the sound source starts as an analog signal, as opposed to a Sample, and then goes through a Filter and Amplifier section.

You will see in your research (Google), that the term "Subtractive Synthesis" will come up not a few times.

Do you know why? Because Analog synthesis refers to a process.

YES, in its early days, the sound source came from a hardware oscillator as opposed to the newer invention of a digital representation (virtual), but in any case, the ION is an Analog synthesizer, BECAUSE of its synthesis process.

It is NOT a debate as to which sounds better. That is irrelevant to this argument.
 
Wrong. Plain and simple. Subtractive sythesis is not inherently analog (although all analog synths are subtractive)

I'll quote Martin Russ's Book "Sound Synthesis and Sampling" Chapter 1: Digital vs Analog Synths. "Digital Technology replaces analog signals with numerical representations and uses computers to process those numbers"
 
altitude909 said:
Wrong. Plain and simple.
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I second that.

Toddskins, you've backed yourself into a corner and are fighting to get out.

You classify this as an 'argument', which it isn't. Real arguments involve differing opinions on a set of facts and you have the facts backwards.

Yes, the 'A' in 'VA' does stand for analog.

No, that doesn't mean calling a keyboard a VA synth means it's an analog machine. Anything digital in the signal path rules out the possibility of it being an analog machine and the ION has digital components that are made to simulate the warmth and varities of vintage analog synths without the bad stuff --- lack of polyphony, tuning drift, temperature sensitivity, etc.



.
 
The only thing analog about the Ion is the signal recieved at the external inputs and the signal sent from the outputs, and everything in between is digital (hence the need for converters). And simply put the Ion is about the best of the VA's, and certainly amongst the cheapest. And if we can be done hijacking this thread, to further answer batchmister1's question, the Ion can also send controller data from all of it's knobs and panels (or not depending on wheter or not you choose to enable that feature globally).
 
Its a cool price..but I just didnt like it..i messed with it at the guitar ctr a few times...i like the korg ms2000..its at a similar price point9at least the rack)
 
For what it's worth:

The A in "VA" may stand for analog, but that doesn't mean it's analog ... because the "V" stands for "virtual."

"Virtual reality" isn't reality either.

If every digital model of a thing were the thing it modeled, we'd all be living in Tron.
 
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