Alsesis bankrupcy

  • Thread starter Thread starter sjoko2
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So tell me dragonworks, can you transfer 8 tracks to and from your ADAT at the same time for over 5 mins with sample accuracy without any problems with your card?

I would be surprised if you can! THAT is how the card is advertised.

It was SUPPOSED to be full duplex. The Toslink I/O was SUPPOSED to be capable of S/PDIF I/O too! It was SUPPOSED to be a "seemless" integration into an ADAT system. You can't even use the BRC with it unless it can "slave" like another ADAT.

Turns out that is doesn't like to slave to ADAT's! Imagine that!

There were so many fucking lies about that card. The S/PDIF I/O thing really pissed me off because the feature was part of the original advertising scheme, and Alesis abandoned that feature with NO explaination! I sent at least 3 emails inquiring about that.

The last explaination I got from Alesis as to why my fucking card wouldn't work is that my ADAT may not be working properly!!! This particular ADAT can do digital transfers from another ADAT, or a ProTools interface with NO problems, but according to Alesis, it may not be functioning properly because it can't do digital transfer from their piece of shit card properly! Just another wild goose chase to get me off the phone. I found it funny that every call I managed to get into their tech support made me answer the same damn questions over and over again. Did I install the latest driver? Do I have DMA enabled? Do I have the card is Master mode! I DO read the manual you know.....

I am tired of the lies and misinformation. I talked to a lot of people who are familiar with the process of writing device drivers, and the consensus is that the hardware implementation of that card is garbage, and that the driver is bogus! That would explain why a NT4 driver, and a 2000 driver was NEVER developed. Hell, Alesis won't even guarantee that the damn thing can work on 95!!! This card made me distrust ANY device that does not have at least a NT4 driver!

Junk!

Maybe if Numark buys out Alesis I will pursue a class action suit. At least Numark has a little money to pursue from their garbage mixers they pond off to unknowing DJ's! Pioneer is the shit right now for those kinds of boards (remember, I set up sound for a lot of DJ's. Numard is definately NOT what is happening with the pro's right now). God knows, Alesis don't have any money to get! :)

A very, Very, VERY disgruntled PAST Alesis customer!

(and to think I used to moderate this forum and recommend the ADAT!)

What really bugs me is that I have explained this situation EVERY time I have called tech support. The response is like I am a dummy or something. They push that card like it will install easily into just about ANY PC, yet, my PC, WHICH HAS ALWAYS EXCEEDED THEIR MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS was always at fault for that card not working. That is the biggest joke in the world! I can record a 1 hour 24 bit, 48KHz sampling rate file through my Lynx card without a single hiccup, yet, I cannot even transfer 1 track on that PCR card to and from an ADAT for even 4 minutes without something going wrong! I have stacked up 16 24/48 tracks played back in Wavelab through my Lynx card and applied a few plug in's without any problems. Yet, I cannot even transfer 8 16 bit, 48KHz sampling rate tracks to my ADAT without something going wrong.

Don't get me started with the many newer 3630 compressors that I have used that have a variety of problems! Along with the poor quality compression on most things, it is a device that CANNOT compete in todays market. Alesis made NO attempt to upgrade it that I know of. The newer ones are WORSE then the older ones (which were not all that hot anyway!)

It will not break my heart to see Alesis leave the audio business for good.

I DO have two people who I used to play in bands with that work for them. I don't say the above too easily. But, Alesis showed absolutely NO ethics in their business practices. They deserve their demise.

Ed
 
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More than bad Ethics

Bad ethics you say?
how about flat out robbery.
After having a conversation with a few pissed off former employees, this is what I found out:
after laying off employees without giving them their final pay and telling them they will probably not pay them vacation pay, a week later the employees got the checks. Of course the checks (dated the same day they were let go) all bounced. The account was closed. then to top it off, they took the employees 401K contributions and did not post it to their 401k. they used the employees contributions (very much aginst the law by the way). After Chap 11, it would be a wonder if they get paid at all. Sounds to me like they need a good attorney. Corporate America at it's best!
 
I used to work at Alesis. Taking into consideration the pittance they paid me, the chinese labor they exploited, and the big money they recieved in return for their garbage, I don't believe a word of it.
 
What a shame..... I've been following this post for weeks and reading everyone scalding Alesis. I can't say I blame you... But what I can say is, I love their products, and have yet to have problems with any of them....I don't own much of their stuff, but I can say the stuff I do have including the 3 adats, that are used daily, are all solid reliable pieces of equipment... I hope Numark, doesn't take them over...... I also hear Gibson is buying samick, and Gibson guitars are gonna be made crappy in samick factories.......(The guitar rep, at one of Ontario's bigger guitar stores just told me this)
 
Message from Alesis guy

StuDog, I am happy to say your info is inaccurate. Alesis is now under Chap 11 Protection and Reorganization. Fender is NOT the company buying us; we already signed an agreement with someone...the press release is forthcoming.

Ed, the MasterLink does not have a GUI, you are right......when are you going to call Studer, Otari, Sony/MCI etc. about having to edit by ear on their decks? :^) Yes, I know, I am comparing analog equipment to digital equipment, but my point is: rely on your ears, not technology. You are not performing single track waveform editing. For the editing on MasterLink (cropping etc.) there have been no complaints at all from *actual users* about "no GUI". But no manufacturer can please everyone, it is true.

And for 24/96 recording (and archiving), DSP and editing, CD burning, $1699 list is not a lot. And no IRQ conflicts, extension conflicts, crashes, interrupts, etc etc etc to worry about. :^)
 
May 11, 2001 -- Alesis Studio Electronics announced it filed for Chapter 11-bankruptcy protection on Friday April 27, 2001. The filing was made in conjunction with an agreement in principle to be acquired by Jack O’Donnell, President of Numark Corporation. As part of this agreement Mr. O’Donnell has provided financial support for the company. An auction for the company will be held on May 23, 2001 in United States Bankruptcy Court, Courtroom 1475, 255 East Temple Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90012. For further information concerning this auction, interested parties should contact Alesis attorney Bennett Spiegel at Wynne, Spiegel, Itkin, 310-551-1015.

Alesis plans to continue normal operations at the company during this protection period. Jim Mack, V.P. of sales and marketing, said, “We’re very excited about the agreement with Mr. O’Donnell and what it means for the future of Alesis and our newly introduced product line. While we’ve had to make certain reductions in our operation, we’re confident that in a very short time we will be back to doing what we do best – supplying the market with innovative, high-quality audio products that improve the way people make and record music.”
 
Re: Message from Alesis guy

mnicoletti said:
For the editing on MasterLink (cropping etc.) there have been no complaints at all from *actual users* about "no GUI". But no manufacturer can please everyone, it is true.
Click to expand...
I *LOVE* my Masterlink... BUT I do have one GUI enhancement request.... if I record a long piece comprised of many segments that need to be split into separate tracks, there is no way for me to reach the, say 3rd, track without fast-scanning to that point and performing the split. It would be much faster if there were a way to "jump to" a given timepoint directly...

Just a request from an "actual user"!!!

Bruce
 
Alesis guy

Hi, Bruce,

Ahhh, like Locate points. I will pass that along to Engineering.

Thank you for your input and your purchase.

Mike
 
Re: Alesis guy

mnicoletti said:
Hi, Bruce,

Ahhh, like Locate points. I will pass that along to Engineering.

Thank you for your input and your purchase.

Mike
Click to expand...
Thanks Mike! Can I expect the change in version 2.03??? ha-ha! :D

BTW - did anyone out there ever figure out why the Masterlink doesn't like talking digitally with a Tascam DA-40 DAT, without the addition of a Midiman C03 in between the two?!? I was talking to a few techs about it a while ago (a year?!?) and never heard anything further... (I didn't care since throwing the C03 in took care of the problem, but there's still no reason the 2 boxes should be incompatible!)

Nice having an "Alesis guy" on board here... welcome! :)

Just little glitches - still doesn't change the fact the Masterlink is an excellent unit!

Bruce
 
I received it by email Mike, days ago. Nothing in there that wasn't already general knowledge within the industry.
 
mnicoletti, glad to hear it!

mnicoletti,

I'm happy to hear that Ch.11 was granted after all! I know too many excellent people from Alesis who are job hunting as we speak, and it would be great for them to be able to return to work!

This has been a long and painful trip for a lot of people I know, and I'm sure they won't get sympathy from everyone here, but I know there are a few of us who are happy that there seems to be some kind of a calm coming back to the company.

Lets hope that Alesis can manage to get back on track this time around! :)

Good luck to you, and all you fellow employees over there!

Peace,

Stu

...and if you happen to have any of those pesky masterlinks lying around you don't need... ;)
-SD
 
Return of Alesis....guy

Hi, all,

First, let me thank you guys for the kind words you have posted. All of us at Alesis appreciate the support, and I have no doubt that, as soon as we can, OUR support to YOU will come back blazing!

Bruce, the MasterLink is using an unbalanced form of AES as its SPDIF (Some other manufacturers do this as well; apparently the guidelines for implementation of SPDIF is a little loose and interpretive). The result is that certain digital "flags" are not present. We had tested a number of SPDIF units during alpha and beta that worked fine (I even had a Yamaha DTR-2 DAT back from my days with Yamaha that worked great via SPDIF). But we have seen some SPDIF gear that is NOT happy with the SPDIF from MasterLink. DA40 may be one of those. We had tested one of the "DA" units (either the 30 or maybe the 45...) that was fine. So it even varies within a manufacturer; again, differences in implementation. You know what they say: "Standards are a great thing, that's why there's so many of them"!!

thanks,

Mike
 
Mike, with all due respect to you, and nothing personal, but
"our support to you will come back for you blazing????"
I now you're a company guy, but please don't walk around with your eyes and ears closed. Alesis tech support and product service has managed to gain quite a reputation over the years, and I think diabolical is an accurate way to describe it.
 
Support

As the head of tech support and service, I must respectfully disagree with you, sir. Before the Chap 11 our hold times were down to a 5 minute average and I was heading for better. Turnaround repair times were good as well. Our *independent* sales reps reported to us that our dealers were telling other companies to check us out because of our support (their words not mine).

Our Parts Department is the only area that I felt was in need of improvement; a bit understaffed but I am working on that as well.

I am curious as to specifics you can give me; there's always room for improvement.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Mike
 
again with all due respect - I have had 2 personal experiences with Alesis' service, the last one 1 1/2 years ago with 2 ADAT machines, and one before that with a keyboard. Both I can very comfortably put at # 1 and 2 of worst possible service experienced in at least 20 years........
I can only speak the way I found
 
sjoko2 said:
again with all due respect - I have had 2 personal experiences with Alesis' service, the last one 1 1/2 years ago with 2 ADAT machines, and one before that with a keyboard. Both I can very comfortably put at # 1 and 2 of worst possible service experienced in at least 20 years........
I can only speak the way I found
Click to expand...

I am going to support this claim!

It was BEFORE the PCR card was released that I experienced under minimum 20 minute wait times for customer support at Alesis!!!! I have waited as long as 55 minutes to talk to someone who only suggested that I download the "latest drivers" for the card that I have complained about for two years!!! Drivers!!!! Maybe improve THAT area first if Alesis ever wants to play in the PC market!!!

Mike. I am almost SURE that you were the guy I talked to on the phone the last time I waited over 20 minutes to talk to tech support there. You suggested that on my PIII 800, SCSI Ultra2 (Adaptec card), 256MB of PC 100 Ram, Intel BX440 chipset mobo system, that my ADAT is probably not working right since I couldn't transfer .wav files back to the SAME ADAT that transferred 8 tracks of data without error to the computer! (this was ONLY after a significant upgrade to SCSI Ultra 2 LVD, about $900 of upgrade to try to make this card work!). What is funny is that your company "claims" that the PCR card will "integrate" into a ADAT system with "ease" (my qoute) with a minimum system requirement of a whole hell of a lot less of a computer than I currently have, or have EVER had!!!! This same ADAT that is "may not be working properly" has never had any problems with digital transfers to other ADAT decks, and works with a Yamaha O2R quite well, which again makes me suspect that it is indeed working just fine, but rather that the PCR card is a hunk o' junk that is NEVER going to work right except on a system that is configured EXACTLY like the system is was designed to run on! Tell me Mike, when is the Alesis PCR card going to support S/PDIF I/O on the Toslink Optical I/O? That was a feature that was listed in the original magazine advertisements for that card. Two years later, I STILL see no support of S/PDIF on this card! Will it ever happen? I STILL see no full duplex capabilities for this card, which was said to be in the works on your websites FAQ for this card. I was told by a tech support person that a NT driver for this card was "in the works and expected sometime soon". That was over a year and a half ago! How is that driver coming along Mike? Do you guys even have a Beta for NT yet? :) You KNOW there will never be a NT driver for this card because the hardware implimetation is so poor that a NT driver CANNOT be written for it. Then a Windows 2000 driver was promised (since 2k would replace NT4, so why write a driver of NT4....this again coming from higher than first tier customer support at Alesis..I seem to have a way of drawing out all the lies from tech support there eh? ;). I have NOT seen ANY suggestion that a 2k driver is in the works. I am not holding my breath that one will ever be produced. Along with the alledged S/PDIF capability of this card, you guys are on quite a roll with keeping your promises!!! With promises like these, who needs the snake in the garden of eden....:D

I have exhausted the many possibilities that could be wrong on my end of this card working, and have recieved far too many response emails from other people that have tried to make this card successfully work on a PC to think that such silly little things like IRQ's and what not are the problem. Hell, I have a sound card (a Lynx One card. Maybe you should have THEM write drivers for you, they seem to have got their drivers right the first time around....) that can easily transfer 2 tracks of 24bit/48KHz sampling rate audio for over an hour FLAWLESSLY to think that my computer is at fault here.

I am not discounting the fact that maybe my computer should be configured differently to make this card work (let's not go into the whole deal of the fact that the listed "minimum system requirements" by Alesis for the PCR card are FAR shy of what is actually needed to make this card work the way it is stated to work (I was amazed that your tech support was so casual in stating that I would need a $200 SCSI Ultra 2 controller card, and $300 dollar SCSI Ultra2 LVD hard drives to make this card work effectively. Indeed, that is a bit more than the IDE Ultra 33 hard drives and standard IDE controllers that are stated on your minimum system requirements!). Alesis was totally misleading in representing this card to the public in regards to a PC system that would make it work!!! You can admit it now. It is okay. I let the cat out of the bag! The ONLY two people who "claimed" to have this card working the way it is advertised were both Alesis reps! YOU are one of them! You don't see the irony in that?......oh my....) but I am majorly pissed that I have not experienced even ONE person in the norm that could make this card work the way it was advertised!

Now you come along with claims of lower wait times than most experienced at Alesis!!!

Mike! Time to wake up!!! I am a very cool, and mostly patient guy. But I will always call a spade a spade. And I WILL call bullshit rep talk bullshit rep talk! If you want to retain even a shred of integrity on this BBS, it would be best to drop the company line of bullshit here and start talking about what REALLY at Alesis that caused a financial crisis that lead the company to a chapter 11 filing. Obviously some things were amiss! sjoko2 has shown that the 'truth' can be posted quite easily. A company in Alesis's financial troubles who have let go of so many people with no notice is going to have a lot of ex employees talking, no matter WHAT your "non-disclosure" statement in their employment contract says!!! In the end, the real story winds up being exposed by those that were burned by it. You still have a job there, so I don't really expect you to jepordize it by posting the truth of what happened, unless upper management somehow has a change of heart about lying to the public about it!

Don't kid a kidder. There are many smart people on this BBS! Many have already seen what Alesis is really about, and I suspect that many more will see the same thing in the near future, ESPECIALLY with a company "rep" posting obvious BS on this BBS.

I am not leaving this BBS anytime soon Mike. I have already chased off another Alesis "rep" who couldn't stand my blasting of a company that not only lost track of the times by releasing proprietary products with no third party upgrade ability at a price that is not really in line with quality PC solutions, dropped timely, quality customer service, and a release of a product that for all rightfull purposes should land them in a class action suit for misrepresentation of a product. I suspect that if you don't change your song here anytime soon, you will join those ranks!

Do I care if you post here again under these current thinly veiled spams to generate support for Alesis? No. You have not offered up on bit of info on this BBS that has help the normal home recordist improve the quality of their work! You have only offered up product literature hype of products that have a very good chance of NOT being supported and/or released in the near future.

Check the company line BS at the forum summary page on this BBS! I have taken note to your previous posts concerning my problems with your products. When I have the time (AGAIN!!!) to try to troubleshoot my way through my setup to see if your suggestions have any merit in my current problems, I will be sure to email you the results. Let's just say that I am dubious of a solution being found from the same old suggestions that I have recieved from my many calls (complete with the average 30-40 minute wait times!) to your tech support.

I will stop here. I am sure that I have raised your blood pressure enough already for one post. You can be assured I will do it again if your posts continue in a similar fashion, because most of what you are posting here is pure and simple Alesis hype, which is not working so well these days with those that have seen it for too many years now and have not benefitted much from it!

Good day!

Ed
 
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Re: Support

mnicoletti said:
As the head of tech support and service, I must respectfully disagree with you, sir. Before the Chap 11 our hold times were down to a 5 minute average.

Mike
Click to expand...

5 minutes???????? thats unexceptable!!

Joe:D
 
Oh my... this thread's gettin' ugly! Quick... someone hide the guns!!!!!!!! ;)


:D :D

Bruce
 
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