Category: Synthesizers

Alesis had already been quite successful in the industry for several years when their Fusion Workstation hit the market in 2005, albeit under somewhat rocky circumstances. However, not long after, this keyboard became quite popular, especially among its owners. Today, the Fusion is considered one of the digital classics of the 2000s. There are reasons for this. And I played a role in it, soon becoming the world’s leading provider of soundware for this unique and distinctive keyboard. Read here to find out how it all came about and what unexpected events happened.

The folks at Alesis had already hired me for translation jobs back in the ’90s. That’s how I ended up translating many user manuals from English into German. For instance, for the QS synthesizers, which were quite successful at the time and were the successors to the Quadrasynth. I also worked on their effects units, such as the MidiVerb 4, the DM5 drum module, as well as power amplifiers, mixing consoles, and monitors, ADAT. It all added up to quite a bit. Since I was quite familiar with Alesis products, the German distributor hired me to help out at their booth during the International Musikmesse in Frankfurt, Germany. In addition to general booth support for visitors, my job also included presenting products.

And when musicians visited the booth and asked questions, to provide them with knowledgeable answers. When I was in Los Angeles in the late ’90s, I visited the Alesis headquarters in Santa Monica. To get to know the people who developed all the products I’d been working with so closely for a while. That would have consequences, because they no longer saw me just as the translator of the user manuals and a helper at the International Musikmesse, but also as the go-to guy for sound design and preset creation as part of the standard factory voicing for new keyboards. It didn’t take long before they asked me to create a complete presets bank for the Andromeda A6 analog synthesizer. They wanted me to deliver typical keyboardist sounds. I did that in early 2001.

Everyone was quite happy with the result, and it wasn’t going to be my last sound design project for them. A while later, I was programming another sound bank — this time for the Ion. And soon after that, I got another assignment, creating sounds for the then-new Fusion workstation. My job: programming presets again. Normally, in cases like this, I receive the new instrument, which is set to hit the market soon, and whip up the desired sounds in no time. Then the instrument goes back to the manufacturer. But this time, things turned out quite differently.

As agreed, the Fusion arrived right away. Via FedEx, which was the top-tier courier service back then. I unpacked the unit, it was the 8HD model. I quickly set it up on a keyboard stand in my sound lab. I turned it on, and within a few seconds it was ready to play. There were already a few presets loaded, and they sounded great. Great samples, well-crafted VA sounds, and even a bit of FM. All right, I was ready to go, and it was fun.

The weighted keyboard on the 8HD felt very comfortable to me. It offered just the right amount of resistance, as you’d expect from a piano, but was also smooth enough to play fast lead synth solos. So I got right to work. In the meantime, I had gotten myself a card reader, which I ahd to use to transfer the presets from the Fusion CF card to my PC and then send them to Alesis in the U.S. And after just a few days I was able to send the first results to them via email attachment. I was confident that I would soon have my job completely finished and could then turn my attention back to other things. I had a music production project coming up that was set to be released on CD soon. But things turned out quite differently.

Suddenly, I received an email from Alesis instructing me to update the operating system. The email included detailed step-by-step instructions, so I read through them. It said that my Fusion had arrived with a very early version of the operating system, but that my programmed sounds should be compatible with the next version up. And that’s why this update was absolutely necessary. All right, I thought, I’ll just do it then. It was a first for me; I’d never had to do anything like this before. The process didn’t seem too complicated, but there were technical hurdles I had to overcome. I wasn’t sure if I could really do it correctly.

Because one thing was clear: no one could help me with this, the NDA prohibited anyone from telling others about the new instrument. I was completely on my own. Fortunately, during my subsequent online search, I finally found the expertise I needed and discovered a solution to my problem. In the end, the OS update worked, and I could finally continue working on the presets.

So everything looked pretty good, and by that point I’d created a large number of presets so the folks at headquarter could pick out the best ones. That’s exactly what happened, and I thought it was time to send the invoice for my work. But then I received another email from Alesis. They had planned a 128-bank General MIDI soundset plus drum kits for the Fusion, and they asked me if I could complete it. I said yes, I could. So off I went, back to the Fusion. I owned the Roland Sound Canvas SC55 at the time, so I knew exactly how a General MIDI soundbank was supposed to sound.

No sooner said than done. I sent this soundbank to their in-house sound team as well. They were once again satisfied with the result. Even before I could finally send the updated invoice, I received another email from them. This time with bad news. They had to make some changes in Fusion, for whatever reason, and as a result, my General MIDI sounds were essentially broken and no longer sounded the same as before. They asked me to revise the GM soundset. I took care of that, too. But now I finally wanted to write my invoice. Yet another email arrived from Alesis. It said they had noticed that they still needed sounds such as solo violin, wind and ethnic instrument categories, and all that sort of thing. Those were their latest requests.

I managed to finish that as well and created another complete sound bank, which was later called ROM 5. But, finally, that really marked the end of my work on the Alesis Fusion manufacturer projects. Not so for others, though.

Now I needed to make preparations for the music production mentioned above. The composer, who was also the producer of the music project, had provided some specific sound requirements. It turned out that the sounds created specifically for this project by Fusion were a perfect fit.

Along with other instruments in my setup, including the Alesis Andromeda. I was also lucky with the 8HD model, because unfortunately my other master keyboard had just suffered a technical malfunction and had to be taken out of service. So the Fusion, with its great weighted keyboard, came along just in time as a fantastic replacement. In the end, it took a while before the CD album for this project was finally released in the summer of 2007. It’s the album ‘The More You Know’ by Milo’s Craving. A little later, the French music magazine Highland selected the album as one of the 140 most significant prog rock albums of the past 40 years. A pretty good start for a new band. Here’s the link to the YouTube playlist:

Well, it turned out there were other unexpected ways to use the Fusion. Let’s go back to 2006. There was a lot of activity among new Fusion owners on an internet forum. People were discussing all sorts of things, including the sounds. It seemed there was a demand for more. Since I was really familiar with the keyboard thanks to my extensive factory voicing, I thought I’d just continue working with it as a third-party provider, just as I’d been doing for years with other instruments. I already had my own online shop for sounds. So, in a short time, I programmed the sound bank “Fusion Presets by kpr”; this package contains no fewer than 364 new presets, and I thought they turned out well and were a suitable complement to the factory presets. I posted the information on that forum and had also created a demo MP3, which allowed interested users to listen to several presets online.

Quite a few people were enthusiastic about it, and I sold a surprising number of copies of these three sound banks. Encouraged by this success, I soon released another one: “Fusion SYNTH Presets by kpr.” This time, the focus was on the Fusion’s VA and FM sections. But there were also some presets based on the internal ROM samples that similarly emphasized the Fusion’s synthesizer capabilities. At the same time, I had equipped all presets with extensive controller assignment programming, which significantly improved the real-time dynamic possibilities compared to the factory presets. The controller assignment of the factory presets was only rudimentary and quite simple. I was able to show this well in my preset demos. Fusion owners were pleased with this, so this soundbank also sold very well. Now I was finally deeply immersed in Fusion voicing and turned my attention to the sample content.

Since I had already produced many sample libraries in various formats in previous years, I used the Fusionconverter software for this purpose. That’s how I created my first sample library for it, titled “Fusion Samples by kpr.” It was the same process as before: I posted on the user forum offering an audio demo MP3 with a few presets, and once again, customers placed orders.

In the meantime, the folks at Alesis had hired Steve Howell from Hollow Sun and had him create sample libraries that were made available to users for free download. Fusion owners were absolutely thrilled by all of this. Alesis had finally ironed out all the bugs, so excitement over the Fusion gradually reached a peak. I didn’t slow down either, releasing one preset soundbank and sample library after another, including Ultra Synth, Otherworld, Dreamscapes, Grand Piano and MyMoog.

Then Steve Howell got in touch with me and said he’d created a sample library featuring the legendary Hammond Novachord from the 30s. It’s a very rare instrument with a truly unique and amazing sound. He asked if I could create some Fusion presets based on those samples, and I was more than happy to do so. Steve’s Novachord samples were superb, and it was a blast to contribute my own ideas to the project. In the end, Steve was pleased with my contribution. I demonstrated some of the presets to Steve with audio demos, and later I posted a video of it on YouTube.

My Fusion road trip still hadn’t reached its destination. That’s because Fusion owners kept asking me questions about the instrument on the user forum. I thought about compiling my answers into a book. That’s exactly what I did, under the title “My Fusion Secrets.” It contains pretty much everything I had learned while working with the instrument, and I simply passed that knowledge on to Fusion owners in this way. The book is still available today in an improved version. It includes a sample library and a preset soundbank.

The years went by, and I kept working on my Fusion soundware. New titles were released at irregular intervals, and I occasionally published ones that catered to specific areas of interest. For example, “Glasses,” featuring samples I created using wine glasses, some of which were filled with water. And “Pianoharp,” a sample library with these unusual and very distinctive sounds. Likewise, “Best of Vintage Keys,” a 4-part series featuring the best and most characteristic sounds of the most legendary vintage synthesizers and keyboards.

But also “DynaGrand,” which allows for incredibly dynamic playing on two grand pianos, each with four velocity switches, without overloading the Fusion’s relatively small sample memory.

I also published what I call “Analogic”, a controller assignment concept at some point, in which I devised a way to control the Fusion VA Synth in real time just like an analog synthesizer. And I made it so that every preset can be controlled in the same way using these real-time controllers.

I also ended up adapting the concept for the Korg Kronos. And that’s not all, I’ve created a website where I publish tips and tricks that are freely accessible and free of charge for Fusion owners, such as a quick guide to using your own samples. There’s also an extensive list of links to websites related to the Fusion, serving as a handy resource for every Fusion owner. It’s also useful for those who eventually bought the instrument secondhand.

Well, it’s been 20 years since I first started working on these custom Fusion sounds, and I’ve since become the world’s leading provider of Fusion soundware. I kept the Fusion 8HD, which I originally received as a programmer’s unit, and it’s still sitting in my sound lab today. I still enjoy using it, partly because of its great keyboard. But the FM section is also so fantastic that, as a die-hard FM enthusiast, I really love working with it.

And I probably won’t be done with it for a long time yet, given how versatile and extensive its capabilities are. I’ve only had technical issues with the Fusion once in all these years. I’d worked the pitch bend wheel so hard that the center position got a little loose, and the technician had to tighten it back up. It was a minor issue.

Awesome, reliable Fusion, you’ve been a lot of fun, helped me make money, and let me create great music productions. Keep it up, my little buddy.

Recently there was this manufacturer of electronic keyboard instruments who approached me and asked if I could create sound presets for their new product. I first asked the product manager a few general questions. What kind of instrument is it, how does it generate sound, when do they need my sound work delivered, and is there a briefing with instructions. By that I mean, what sound categories do they want to be considered for their customers. Sometimes they don’t care and just want me to do what I do best. But this employee said he wanted Signature sounds. I replied that I was sorry, but I don’t do that. What he can get from me are iconic sounds. He was a little confused and asked what’s the difference. Well, I was rather surprised that he didn’t know. If you also want to know what these two types of sounds are and why I cater to one category but not the other, then just read on.

So first of all: What exactly are Signature sounds. And what are iconic sounds. How do they differ? Let’s start with iconic sounds. These are sounds that are so well done that they have characteristics that musicians find so appealing that they like to use them again and again. These can be certain musical features that are particularly well suited for performance. For example, a certain presence or great dynamic characteristics. Perhaps also a thick brushstroke or exactly the opposite. In any case, there are some that have become true sound classics.

One of these is definitely Factory Preset 11 on the Yamaha DX7. The Preset sound name is E-Piano 1. And indeed, it is somewhat reminiscent of the Fender Rhodes electric piano, however, only almost. The sound has a character all of its own and can be played just like an electric piano. It has a powerful attack, significantly sharper than the Rhodes, and a much slimmer body than the Rhodes, but it is very useful musically. It sits well in the mix and is also suitable for solo passages such as intros or interludes. And the dynamics are very useful for expressive playing. It can be used to achieve a certain dramaturgy, for example in ballads. It has been used so often and so willingly over the years that some people have even found it excessive. There are also variants that differ in nuances.

However, this original Preset 11 is what you might call iconic. Played solo, you can hear it here as Audio file mp3:

Another representative of iconic sounds is the Oberheim Synthbrass, which can be heard on Van Halen’s Jump. Here is the song video:

This kind of sound is also available on other synthesizers, although in slightly different versions. We are familiar with this thick brushstroke sound from Europe’s Final Countdown, here is the song video:

This famous Synthbrass sound was created using a layer of Roland JX-8P and Yamaha TX-816 presets. Now, ELP’s Fanfare for the Common Man also works with this type of Synthbrass, in this case the Yamaha GX-1 organ, whose sound generator is similar to that of the famous CS-80. Here is the video so you can watch Keith Emerson doing it:

Simply anywhere where a bBrass section is used in classical and romantic music. That’s why these Synthbrass instruments have become a subcategory of their own within the Wind Instruments.

Synthbasses can also be iconic. There are two well-known examples of this. First, there is the digital Yamaha DX7 on the one hand, and on the other, the analog Minimoog, its siblings, and relatives from other manufacturers, i.e., analog Synthbasses. In terms of sound, they tend to be powerful and very distinctive. Pop music from the 80s is full of them; there is hardly a song where you can’t hear a Synthbass. Want an example? The song Venus, covered by Bananarama, has a Synthbass like this. Here’s the song video:

Mr Mister chosed the growling DX7 bass for Broken Wings, here:

Not quite as influential, but still just as iconic, are the light, ringing sounds often associated with atmospheric pads, familiar from sample-based synthesizers of the late 80s. The Roland D-50 and Korg M1 in particular produce these sounds. Fantasia, a popular D-50 preset, is the godfather of such layer sounds par excellence. Synthmania once uploaded an Audio exmaple using it as an mp3, here:

There are countless variations, all with the same structure: a percussive tone or noise as the initial sound, followed by a broad, breathy sound, which together create this iconic Synthlayer classic.

What they all have in common is their versatility, and they can be heard in almost all styles of music. The operator of the Synthmania website has compiled a list of some of them, often with short Audio examples. Here is the link to the website:

FAMOUS SOUNDS

Now let’s move on to Signature sounds. Here, it’s the combination of sound with musical expression, or even the musicians and their identity and playing style itself. This is best illustrated with specific songs. James Ingram and Michael McDonald: Yah Mo Be There from 1983. Here’s the song video:

There is a short interlude in the song starting at 3:07, where a peculiar solo sound is used that is difficult to describe in words. A soft tone, somewhat throaty overall, layered with a soft string sound – and there you have the Signature, which is very tangible in character and related to the song, and may even remain in your memory as an element of it.

Can this Signature sound be used elsewhere? Possibly, you can try it, but it may be that it won’t convincing in a different context. It’s not much different with the Talk Talk song Such A Shame, also from the 80s. Here’s the song video:

At around 2:27 there is a short interlude, and you can hear a really idiosyncratic solo sound. It is also modulated with pitch bending. This results in a presence that, when used in this way, is specifically associated with this Talk Talk song, similar to Yah Mo Be There. Here, too, one might think that this sound could be used elsewhere. However, you first have to program it yourself to be able to try it out.

In addition to this type of Signature sound, which can make a song distinctive, there are others that can be directly associated with the artist themselves. This is because they use a certain type of sound particularly often, or at least once, thereby stamping it with their personal Signature.

Let’s look at some examples again. Take Manfred Mann, for example. On his album Solar Fire, there is a song called Pluto the Dog, here:

At around 0:12, you can hear something that is very typical of his solo passages. A rather woody Minimoog lead sound, which is repeatedly modulated with vibrato and filter during the virtuoso playing, accompanied by neat pitch bending. This can be heard again in the song The Circle Part 2 on the same album, here

Apart from pure synthesizer sounds, we are familiar with the so-called Foster Piano, which is even associated with the name of the artist: David Foster. He mixed the sound of a Grand Piano with the Yamaha DX7 E-Piano Preset and used it in numerous songs. For example, in Gazeobo, an instrumental track from his soundtrack for the 1987 film The Secret of my Success. Here is it:

The same applies to Water Fountain here:

There is also a mixture of Iconic and Signature. One example is the high piano note in the upper range at the beginning of Echoes, one of Pink Floyd’s most famous tracks. It is the title track of the B-side of the 1971 vinyl album Meddle. A very simply played single note, whose audio signal was routed through a Leslie rotary speaker cabinet. Rotor speed set to Fast, that’s it. Soon after, and also at the very end of the piece, you can hear it played in a slightly more complex way as broken chords and melody lines, with chords in between. Here:

Both types of sounds are rare. Most were simply included in the factory content without any particular intention, and it was only over time, as many musicians used them, that one or the other sound proved so suitable that it could be classified as Signature or Iconic. In all the years since synthesizers and other electronic keyboard instruments have been around, a certain steadily growing list of such sounds has emerged. Compared to the thousands upon thousands of existing synth and sample sounds, however, this is a relatively small number of those that deserve such a label.

Nevertheless, there are certainly some gems hidden away in this huge collection that are worth discovering. As a sound designer, I can definitely plan an iconic sound, as the elements that make it iconic are well known. With a Signature sound, it’s a different story, because who knows what an artist will do with a sound that they use specifically for a song. The best example: the Frog sound from the Casio MT-60 in the early 80s, which was used in Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Here:

These Presets, or very similar ones, can also be found in the Casio CT-401 and other Casiotone keyboards. This proves that sometimes it’s the sounds you wouldn’t expect at first listen that can leave such a lasting impression. That can be an incentive to go on a search of your own, right?

Finally, a case where the Signature sound is so closely associated with the song that the composer had to be called in during the final production to record the part. How did that come about? It’s about the song Die Tänzerin (The Dancer) by Ulla Meinecke, which she wrote together with Edo Zanki. He was the keyboardist and played the pre-production, at least the keyboard parts. For the distinctive rhythmic part of the keyboards, he used the Yamaha GS-2, whose FM sound generator offers a great Preset. It resembles an electric piano, but with a bamboo-like character and a biting attack.

When production of the release version was then completed in a Berlin recording studio, the producer realized that Edo Zanki’s playing style for this part was so idiosyncratic that there was no studio keyboardist on site who could play it exactly the same way. So they called Zanki, explained the situation to him, and brought him to the recording studio in Berlin. There was no Yamaha GS-2 there, but fortunately there was a Yamaha GS-1, which also had this sound in its Preset memory. And so the final recording was made with this unique Signature sound, which is actually just a ready-made Preset for anyone to use, but in combination with the playing style, it created the Signature for the song. And you can listen to it here:

So, now you know why I don’t make Signature sounds on demand. If one of the countless Presets I’ve made over the years inspires a musician to use it as a Signature somewhere in their songs, I would be very happy. We’ll see if that ever happens. Or maybe it already has and I just haven’t been told.

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Copyright notice:

Sharing/reblogging is expressly desired. Reprinting, even in part, as well as any editing and commercial reuse are not permitted or require written permission from me.

When synthesizers were still relatively new and, above all, had no sound memory, every keyboard player created their own sounds. Mainly synthetic instruments that were based on acoustic instruments as role model and some that could be described as new. This resulted in so-called lead sounds, synth basses and percussives. It was no coincidence that terms such as synthbrass and syncussion were used. Their characteristics were also similar to those of acoustic instruments. At least in principle, i.e. they consist of the elements of tone attack, sustain or decay phase and what happens after a key is released. Initially, only a few options were provided for dynamic control, in particular the pitch bend wheel for tone bending and the modulation wheel for vibrato and tremolo. In the 80s, a really serious dynamics tool was added in the form of keyboard velocity, which was particularly welcomed by keyboard players with piano training. Although special sound effects and noise effects have also been created since the early days, but this article is about synthetic instruments.

You first had to learn how the instrument works and what analog sound synthesis is. It didn’t hurt to have some basic knowledge about existing instruments and how their tones are created. That was the case in the 70s and the norm, so to speak. Some manufacturers included so-called patch charts with the instruction manual so that everyone could immediately set up a few sounds. That was a good help when learning to create synthetic instruments. If you wanted to create your own sounds with the parameters, for example for certain songs, you used a blank patch chart and marked the settings on the parameter knobs and switches with a ballpoint pen or felt-tip pen so that you could have the sound exactly the same later. This was then the template and the keyboard player had to set all the knobs, sliders and switches back to the previously noted settings and the desired sound was playable again. Some keyboard players were particularly talented in this discipline and created very unique and sometimes well constructed original results. Some with a specific character of their own or, and this was also almost the norm: sounds, very personal sounds that were so concise and unique that a listener would associate them with a specific keyboard player.

That was the beginning of the so-called signature sounds. Sometimes a song from this time with such a signature sound became famous, and also a synthesizer solo could became a classic. Back then, musicians also exchanged such patch charts with each other, but not all of them did that. Some regarded these self-created sounds as their trademark and did not pass them on to others. This changed when there were presets ROM/RAM memory and the manufacturers themselves brought people on board to equip a new synthesizer with as many sounds as possible. It was the beginning of sound design, first as a side job, then as a full-time profession. Over the years, a lot has happened in the keyboards market, especially with more and more instruments from more and more manufacturers. Other syntheses were also added, such as FM (frequency modulation), additive synthesis, phase distortion and, above all, samplers, which were often a combination of synthesizer and pure sample player.

So far, so good. But today there’s a catch. And that is not only an unmanageable amount of synthetic sounds, but also a lot of completely arbitrary, meaningless or even actually useless tones. Tones that lack everything we know from acoustic instruments: an unmistakable character and that certain something. Even a simple recorder delivers character that is instantly recognizable as soon as you have listened to it for a few seconds. In other words, much of today’s tone material in synthesizers lacks any of the dignity that the recorder has. What happened that allowed this to happen?

On a whim, I recently watched a few YouTube videos in the evening after work and suddenly had the impulse to listen to a Tangerine Dream album again. It was Rubycon, which is my favorite album by them. And while I was listening to it, I also remembered the two live concerts I saw. One at the time of their album Phaedra, the second around Tangram. Both gigs were sensational. The three Moog Modular cabinets let the sounds sweep through the concert hall with a breathtaking force, just like the Mellotron, the Solina String Ensemble, the Korg PE-2000, EMS VCS 3. The PA had power and transmitted the sounds perfectly. A real treat. And the sounds were partners to the music and offered exactly the aesthetics that the musical ambition wanted to portray. In other words, three elements: character, presence, song-oriented. And that’s no longer the case today? Yes, but far too rarely and sometimes not at all.

Youtube: Tangerine Dream: Rubycon, full album, click here

Do you want to leave it like this, this facelessness, the irrelevant paleness, the boring? This doesn’t mean that it necessarily has to come across as massive, as with Tangerine Dream. No, the finely drawn, delicate sound is also needed in a musical context if this certain fragile expression is to be reproduced. Or it has to sound funny, like the Casiotoone Frog preset, which plays an almost striking role in Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Or the famous Preset 11 electric piano of the DX7, which has been an integral part of songwriting for 40 years now with its slenderness and great dynamic possibilities. In other words, everything that is associated with the term Famous Sound. TR808 drums, Prophet 5 Sync sound, the widest brushstroke ever called Jump from the Oberheim OB-Xa. But all this doesn’t have to come across as wide-legged, it can be done differently. The glassy pad of a PPG Wave 2.2, the soft and warm fuzz of the Oberheim Matrix 12 Preset Horn Ensemble, where the singer calls for a pad sound that lays the sonic foundation for his performance. The bizarre, beastly lead sound, where you can hear the punk that it is supposed to represent. The dignity that a synthetic sound can have can be found in all these sounds. After all, such an instrument should be on a par with acoustic instruments. So it may be time to return to that, as described above. To dignify the synthetic instrument creations and to proceed according to the method less is more.

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Copyright notice:

Sharing/reblogging is expressly desired. Reprinting, even in part, as well as any editing and commercial reuse are not permitted or require written permission from me.

It was 2005 when Alesis launched a keybaord workstation on the market. It was called Fusion and for good reason. Because under the hood, it really is a powerhouse with four engines. A virtual analog synthesizer, another section capable of FM synthesis, a sample player and physical modeling. And that’s not all, because the developers have added a kind of drum machine to the keyboard, as the built-in arpeggiator can read MIDI files and therefore also drum patterns

A workstation is only a workstation if it has a sequencer and that’s exactly what the Fision offers. So, that’s the feature list in a nutshell. Does it all sound pretty well thought out? Yes, Alesis already had experience in keyboards. The first model was called QuadraSynth and its successor QS. That should be enough to venture into the premium workstation class. Really? Well, it turned out to be more than a challenge. At the time of its market launch, the instrument was available in two versions for less than 2,000 euros, which was sensational. Its look is quite unconventional, the silver aluminum housing is curved to the front and back and is reminiscent of an airplane wing. Let me fly! And the design of the controls was probably inspired by American classic cars of the 50s and 60s. In any case, the look has character, is photogenic and shows its strengths in the everyday operation of the keyboard. The instrument came at a good time for musicians. Workstations had been popular for several years, starting with the Korg M1. Everything in, everything on. And the Fusion cut a good figure straight away with its features. You could only get something like this for a lot more money, such as the Korg Oasys, which came onto the market in the same year and was much more expensive. This earned the Fusion the nickname “Poor Man’s Oasys” among keyboardists, and rightly so.

However, the joy was initially dampened unexpectedly by some very annoying bugs. There weren’t too many of them, but they were pretty highly praised by musicians in the relevant forums. There were error messages that appeared on the display when loading samples and you didn’t know what they meant and, above all, how to fix them or at least work around them. Or master clock problems when synchronizing audio data with midi data in the sequencer. And many other things. That dampened the joy, at least temporarily. Alesis worked feverishly to eliminate all these problems and OS 1.24 put an end to most of them. The remaining desire for fusion was fueled by a flood of additional sounds. Which was logical, because the internal factory voices were criticized here and there as being a little pale. One of the reasons for this was that the great modulation options in the presets had not been used straight away in the way they turned out to be a little later. The modulation matrix on the Fusion is a blessing. Both in terms of the wide range of possibilities and the fact that it is quite uncomplicated to use.

Just like the Sampler Player Engine, which allows up to four layers. Plus lots of effects for polishing. And up to eight LFOs per voice. Separate envelopes that are displayed graphically, making it much easier to get an overview. Operation in general. The menu navigation via the display is exemplary, which certainly pleased the musicians. The same goes for the equipment with over a dozen real-time controllers. The four knobs, for example, are endless encoders, which makes them extremely convenient to use. In addition, their values and positions are shown graphically on the display. The effects are numerous, although perhaps not always quite so great in detail. The reverb effect, for example, has occasionally been criticized, although the plate model in particular is quite good.

The two keyboards are just as good. Once as semi-weighted plastic keys and once as weighted piano type keys. The latter are relatively smooth-running, which still allows pianistic playing. And the plastic key version of the 6HD is nicely staffed and therefore good for accentuated expression. Both Fusion versions, the 6HD and 8HD, are comparatively light, weighing just xx kg and yy kg respectively, which makes the instruments easy to transport.

And there are other pleasant features such as a CF card for additional data. Although the internal hard disk is already very convenient. A novelty in keyboards at the time anyway. This allows any number of sound banks directly on board. So no expensive extra cards required. This is very unusual for keyboards of this type, which often only offer a limited number of internal memory locations. Such a powerful keyboard is therefore ideally equipped.

It didn’t take long after the market launch of the Fusion for owners to get together in forums. And helped each other out with tips and solutions to problems. Not just because of the annoying bugs. Rather because of all the great possibilities of the Fusion. Sounds and samples were distributed, suggestions were made and it also became an advertising platform. For 3rd parties like me. I was one of the people hired by Alesis to program the factory presets long before the Fusion was launched. Since I had already realized during this work that there was much more to it than just the few song banks that were included, but that I could make further offers and inform the users in this forum about it, I simply did it. The forum owner had allowed this self-promotion. The first Program Presets Bank with 364 new sounds was literally snatched out of my hands. And not only presets were in demand, but also sample libraries.

To date, over 30 of them have been produced, by me alone. There are a number of other providers and the Fusion is probably one of the best supported instruments in the workstation sector. There are also tutorials, some via website texts, some in forums, on Youtube as videos. And also as a book “My Fusion Secrets”, which I published and which was available with a sample library plus two sound banks. It will be back soon as a new edition with more sounds. The Fusion is featured on many music productions and has earned itself the status of “keyboardist’s darling”. Despite all the difficulties at the beginning. The developers in particular deserve to be honored today. People who have a Fusion love it and never want to throw it out of the studio or the bedroom.

There are even pimp-my-synth options, such as replacing the internal hard disk with an SSD disk. Or upgrade the memory to up to 128 MB RAM. The used price is still surprisingly low today. So it’s still a good idea to get a used Fusion if you’ve listened to a few online demos and are considering buying one. Today, the Fusion is certainly one of the top digitals of the 2000s that has made it to the Olympus of the most popular.

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