Alesis “Ion”

Hello!

Just got my first good keyboard: the Alesis “Ion”.

Obviously, because I am new to it, I have hundreds of questions; but first of all I just wanna say it is a kick ass synth with lots of presets (not that I use presets the way they are) and lots of functionality.

As far as I’m concerned, the following questions cannot be answered by going through the manual:

1. I think I have only just worked out those “part” buttons. Would I be right in saying it is so that you can have synths from all four banks going at once?

2. The preset “Green 83” is called “Zorgan”. Try it out...

...It appears to have either a Volume LFO or Tremolo. Either way I wanted to get rid of it. Can anybody work out what is making it fade in and out and how to remove it? I sure as hell can’t. I tried changing the rate of the LFO (because it doesn’t seem to have a disable) but nothing happened.

3. How can I set the depth of the pitch wheel?

4. I just worked out how to edit the effects of presets. When I go into the FX page on the LCD screen it has a percentage for each effect. Does that mean that those effects are resident on the current preset? ...or do effects have an on/off flag (do they have to be activated first)?

5. How can I change the Res of a preset so that when I tweak the m2 wheel (cut filter) I get a few more high frequencies.

Also: I notice when I unpacked the keyboard the “m2 wheel” was down by default. Does this mean that everything I have been playing has been on low-cut. Basically what I mean is, if the m2 wheel is down and I am using a preset that has some treble frequencies present, is that the way that the preset is supposed to sound?

I suppose what I am really asking is “should the m2 wheel be in the middle?”

6. What is the program level for? My guess is that it is the master volume for a bank.

7. Blue 99 (The FM Police) is a classic example of a ringmod. I thought I might try to remove the ringmod to see what this synth sound like without a ringmod. However, the ringmod amount is set to 0%. So where is it and how do I remove it?

8. How do you store presets into unused spots? the manual says push soft button 1 but I don't know what that is.

Thanks guys,

I hope this wasn’t too much at once.

Hello, I have no idea as I've not used the Ion. Maybe Alesis would be better equipped to answer your questions

Good luck!

Have you RTFM?

  user said:

Have you RTFM?

RTFM?

WTF?

  user said:

Have you RTFM?

  Quote

the following questions cannot be answered by going through the manual:

  Mr. Cool Ice said:

  user said:

Have you RTFM?

  Quote

the following questions cannot be answered by going through the manual:

:shade:

please guys I need help with this keyboard any help would be appreciated.

I have been through the manual and not found answers to those questions (yesterday I figured out how to store presets but I still need answers to those other questions)

thanks you

:ermm:

  meneedit said:

  Mr. Cool Ice said:

  user said:

Have you RTFM?

  Quote

the following questions cannot be answered by going through the manual:

:shade:

 

 

please guys I need help with this keyboard any help would be appreciated.

 

I have been through the manual and not found answers to those questions (yesterday I figured out how to store presets but I still need answers to those other questions)

 

thanks you

 

:ermm:

i've got a micron and probably might be able to help you once I get back home (end of this week). Otherwise, check the sweetwater user fourms because theymight be able to help you out. http://www.sweetwater.com/forums/ or any other forum besides this one.

edit: look! a yahoo ION grounp -> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/alesis-ion/

cool thanks man

hey dude - the ION is an obscenely powerful synth, from what I have heard of it.

try asking q's about it in the VintageSynth.com forum

  Analogue Wings said:

hey dude - the ION is an obscenely powerful synth, from what I have heard of it.

 

try asking q's about it in the VintageSynth.com forum

thanks

I've got the Ion as my major synth aswell, but I find your questions alittle weird. Most of them are can be answered by reading the manual, digging into the presets structure or by understanding synths.

I suggest playing abit more, and in my experience of the Ion the presets are not that great, and it needs an external effects unit (I use a Lexicon MPX550 at the moment).

Keep going at it, but I think that you are approaching the synth in the wrong way.

BTW, "part" usually referrs to multitimbrality, ie playing two different patches at once.

A synth is X voice polyphonic and X part multitimbral.

  Analogue Wings said:

BTW, "part" usually referrs to multitimbrality, ie playing two different patches at once.

 

A synth is X voice polyphonic and X part multitimbral.

I believe you just invented the most awkward word in human history.

the ion is kind of weak. i was disappointed.

  Cyanescens said:

the ion is kind of weak. i was disappointed.

the presets anyway. i'm sure you could milk it

but yeah, that's kinda how i felt when i played with it at the music store. i didn't think it was werth the price tag

weak? :omg:

hmm i've heard almost nothing but good things about the ion. i had the chance to buy a new one (b-stock) for 400 a few weeks ago, but i bought a microwavext instead. but i will buy an ion soon

(400 euros/450$ that is)

  william s. braintree said:

  Analogue Wings said:

BTW, "part" usually referrs to multitimbrality, ie playing two different patches at once.

 

A synth is X voice polyphonic and X part multitimbral.

 

I believe you just invented the most awkward word in human history.

oh really? then check out this word in my language (it means endurance - plain and simple):

VZDRZLJIVOST

that's 7 consonants together! :D

regarding the synth - why the hell didn't you get the Andromeda?!?

  kokoon said:

regarding the synth - why the hell didn't you get the Andromeda?!?

I'm guessing cause it's twice the size and really expensive!

There's a lot of Andromeda hate on Analogue Heaven, but I think that's mostly just sour grapes from people who spent the same $$$ on a certain synth that only plays 1 note at a time :grin:

The ION is def one of the the coolest D*****l synths I've heard.

It's also layed out like a sophisticated modular rig, so it's a really good way to learn about analogue synths in general.

alesis seems to have taken the route of behringer as of the late. they take designs from other companies, copy them and slap their labels on it. i also have noticed that alesis has problems with their menus taking a long time to load and can act glitchy, prolly a problem with the processor or some other shit that i cant even begin to ddeal with.

Andromeda is kinda meh imo

those types of sounds have been recreated too much and it hardly acts as a meat and potatos synth imo

i did play with the ion and didn't like, i got a virus and a v-synth instead

i just picked up a korg ms2000 yesterday.

the presets are a bit trancey and lame, and the editing is a bit fiddy, but the sounds are phat as fuck. apart from all the 'instant techno' seqmodded sounds. well, they're kinda phat, but kinda never ever getting used.

spent the last twenty four hours tweaking... fun fun fun.

anyone who has one of these, and hasn't listened to the 'demo' tracks yet.. do it... you'll piss your pants laughing.

  acid1 said:

Andromeda is kinda meh imo

 

those types of sounds have been recreated too much and it hardly acts as a meat and potatos synth imo

hahahahah

'those type of sounds'? what type of sounds?

and what do you mean with meat and potatoes? yeah it doesnt sing and it doesnt instantly rearrange amenbreaks, if that's the meat and potatoes in your music.

the andromeda is one of the most versatile hardware synths ever, thats for sure. don't bash it just because you can't get your head around it and program it. it's not a preset-machine, you know :wink2:

yeah acid1 wtf andromeda is really a powerful synth... and - the most beautiful thing about it - it's true analogue!

have my eyes on the Radias. I think I want one bad.

i just meant the types of soudns it creates are kinda typical that i can do with software. also i would have liked it a lot better if it had a sine wave, this is just imo

what i meant by meat and potatos is like, i wouldn't grab that synth if i wanted a specific type of sound, because despite being analog and whatnot it just lacks some features i'd expect in an every day synth.

didn't fit the style of music i was making either

curse my soul, but if i was going for a smooth andromeda, ion type synth i'd get a nord lead 3. i know i'm just a wrong human being.