I have owned a JV-1080 for 3 years and use it as the centerpiece of our studio here. One thing that it lacks is the quality of its piano sounds. I have heard of many, many praises of Alesis' Grand piano samples and regular piano patches in their synths & modules. But it is usually from sales people at the Guitar Center. You know how that works.
Can anyone who has used any of the QS series synths QS7.1, QS8.1 or the QSR(rack of the qs7 and qs8, I have heard they're very nice (especially for the price).
PS,
Can anyone also attest to the expansion "Q Cards" for these Alesis synths?
I have both, a fully loaded JV 1080 and a QS8 with a few Q cards. The JV has a lot more programming options (e.g., resonant filters) and a larger sound set, which is even more impressive with 4 expansion boards. The QS is a great meat and spuds synth which was sampled at 48khs, so has clean sounds. The Q cards range in cost from $100 to $200 depending on where on the net you buy them. They don't give you as much flexibility as the sounds on the expansion boards, but the freeloader program allows you do dump some of your own samples into a card... but it takes a long time. QS and JV make a good compliment to each other. Plus the QS has 4 sliders which send out midi data!!
I have extensive use with the Qs6.1 in a studio setting and I can say this: the Alesis qsr line does have damned good piano sounds and damned good on board electric piano tones, but that having been said, I must also say somthing else. The piano sounds are good, but not without a lot of time and effort eq'ing them. The EP tones are good on their own and can only benefit from eq, but the piano tones at first sound very thin and bright. With some tweaking of the on board drawbars, the modulation control (which duals as a brightness wheel) and some console EQ, you've got some pretty killer piano sounds. I recommend the Dark Classical. It may seem REALLY dark at first, but with the modulation wheel turned up about 1/4 of the way, it's perfect. Hope I've given you some insight.
