Alesis: Nanos suck? What about others?

P

porphyrous

New member
Hello,

I've seen hints and bits that people really despise the Alesis Nano effects boxes. I happen to own two of them, a NanoVerb, and a NanoCompressor. Though to be honest, I don't use them directly anymore.

Mostly these days, I use computer-based effects, mostly the ones either in Cakewalk 9 Home Studio, or the ones in Cool Edit 2000.

I use the NanoVerb to add some effects to my Wurli, and I use the NanoCompressor when I do voxovers for my Internet radio show.

So are the Nano units really that bad? Just the effects or all of them. I have a NanoPiano that I have no complaints about.

What about the other Alesis effects units? Do they, in fact, make good ones? If so, which ones are good?
 
Effects units are more subjective. A 'good' or better unit allows more editing control, flexiblity, better SNR and higher bit rates.

If an effects unit works for you than great. The Nano's have very little editing capability and stock presets rarely do a good job. That is why they get a bad rap. Also many people just think they sound like shit.

I'm not too familliar with Alesis effects units but some of the newer 24bit Rolands are pretty nice.
 
I used to have a nanoverb,definitly had some good
reverbs,especially with electric guitar direct in,wish I still had it.
Not great on vocals though.

After that I had the low end Lexicon,much better and great on vocals.
Good unit for the price.

Best to you,
Pete
 
I own the same ones you have. Like you, I don't really use them in my studio. I use the nanoverb as a simple live vocal reverb. Its OK for that. The only application I found for it in the studio was one particular small room sound, which sounded just right on a drum track. The Nanocompressor has never been in my studio. in fact, I don't even use it as a compressor, but as a volume control for my Minidisc deck. I set it so the compressor is doing nothing. High praise, eh?

To be fair, I bought an Alesis Wedge for $99 on a blowout, and it sounds pretty good. I have a Quadraverb too, but that is useless. My favorite reverb is still my old Yamaha REV7.

My favorite piece of Alesis gear is my old Micro Limiter. They don't make 'em anymore, but I'd gladly buy a couple of extras if I could find them. I sometimes run it after a preamp before the recorder. I have had great success with it for that. Warm and fat with my 4033. Ah well, after this post, I've probably lost any small shred of credibility I've ever had, but I guess you'd just have to hear the results!
 
One trick the nanocompressor can be used for is to dirty up
a clear voiced singer to make them sound more "rock and roll"
as an effect when you go to mix rather than up front.
Works on this guinea pig anyway!

Chris

P.S. Sometimes I use the nanoverb as part of the headphone
(only) mix while tracking vocals, mostly either plate #1
or small room #1.
 
I have one of thier Micro series effects and It sucks too, but that goes for the whole line I think. I would maybe have one of thier Midi modules and I have the Air fx, and I enjoy the sounds that come out of it.
 
I had those with my portastudios

I owned both of those Nano boxes with my first two portastudios and you just gotta try t get the best sound outta them as you can.
I grew to kind really hate the Nanoverb but if you can mix it to where you cant hear it at all in the mix, it can still help a little to bring things together without screwing up the sound too much.

One thing that sucked about the verb though was that mine had wicked zipper noise. But when i got my groovebox and started doing techno-ish stuff, I used the zipper noise to do little noise fills and noise solos.

I did keep the compressor though.
I used to use it an all purpose mic-pre/guitar-pre/bass-pre and the more I used it the less I compressed with it.

I still think it sounds really good as a kind of bass pre.

I guess I'm just used to that sound though.
Make em work till you get something you can make work better.


P.S.
Crawdad, could you give me a little info on the REV 7.
I have heard others say good things about it and I see them floating around pretty cheap.
What kind of I/O. Tweakability??. Presets?

Thanks
-mike
 
The REV 7! Gee, you have to really go back in time to around 1984. It was one of the first multi program digital reverbs out there. Before Alesis and Roland introduced their models. Its a big, deep, double rack space thing--probably before the days of the custom large scale integrated chip. It has hi and lowz ins and outs, a mix control and a built in EQ on the front panel.

The pros: I like the hall settings and some of the early reflections. Also like the vocal plate in the thing. It still sounds richer to me than any plug in verb I have have used.

Cons: it is a bit noisy if you aren't careful. Give it a strong signal and pull it back some on the returns and its not a problem. Probably not as versatile as some of the classic Lexicon digital reverbs of the same era.

If you find one for a good price, it is a deal. Sounds much better than the SPX 90. Richer and more spacious. I use mine only for the verbs and its been in my rack since 84 or so. Amazingly, it still works fine--but the battery for the memory finally gave up the ghost a couple years ago. I have bought several verbs since, and it still sounds better than all of them.
 
i havent really used the nano comp, but the nano verb, IMHO, is a great verb especially live, where i rarely have much time to mess around with effect settings. i find the presets to be limiting, but usefull at the same time. in the studio, i use it for special effects mainly. i like the rotary effect, i found it great on my organ. it is not the greatest box out there, but you cant beat the price and ease of use.
 
danka crawdad

thanks for the info.

I'll keep that in mind about the Rev 7.

Chessparov, thats a really good idea to use the nanoverb on a head phone mix (I just re-read the post).

See Porphyrous, these units can be put to good use if work 'em a little.

I remember an article I read once about gear, and it said you should never get rid of anything, just buy more because eventually that dusty 'ol 3 handled gradunzah will be THE perfect thing to use in a particular situation and besides.......

having more stuff is better.

I wish I had more stuff............(sigh).....oh well.

-mike
 
Thanks Mike.
The beauty of second rate (read limited) equipment is that it saves
wear and tear on your good stuff as a general principle!
Although I now have a Lexicon MPX 200 that's very nice,
the nanoverb has some interesting ones too.

Chris
 
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