Fusion lifespan?

[splinters]

My Fusion is around three years old now but sadly has hardly been used. I occasionally practice a bit of piano on it. Made one song but never even sampled or used it as a multitrack recorder.....real shame.

Anyway, I have been looking into selling but struggling to find anything suitable to replace it (88 weighted keys, multi sound, sampler just in case I decide to experiment etc.) well, not without dropping well over a grand.

I have had no errors other than the Vload error (forget its proper term) whichis usually after playing for a while and loading lots of samples.
I hear a lot about the reliability of these machines but was curious what the expectged lifespan is, especially is I have had no problems in the last 3 years.

Anyone got an older one still going strong? Do the problems usually occur early in is life if at all?

Curious really as I don't want to miss out on selling it now only to have to replace it in the next year. I realise there is no absolute answer but would appreciate your thoughts.

[crgl]

hahaaa, I think you are trying to sell us your Fusion.

[Luc Henrion]

I got mine in 2005, november I think. Still going strong, had a gig yesterday: 3 "encore".

[Jesse]

At first I was looking at the Roland RD700, but after reading the orignal Keyboard magazine article and seeing the 2005 Winter Namm demo http://www.sonicstate.com/video/media/new_player.cfm?id=169&vfile=wnamm05_alesis_fusion&vtype=wmv&compoid=sdm,
I pre-ordered my Fusion 8HD February 26, 2005 before it was released I recieved it September 3, 2005, it's still going strong, I plan on keeping it forever, it's an AWESOME Workstation/Keyboard!

[splinters]

hahaaa, I think you are trying to sell us your Fusion.

Quite the opposite, just convinced myself (with a little help from a few fusioneers) to keep it and make more use of it.

[crgl]

hahaaa, I think you are trying to sell us your Fusion.

Quite the opposite, just convinced myself (with a little help from a few fusioneers) to keep it and make more use of it.

Good !. I bought my Fusion because at the time it was the only keyboard that could do everything I wanted and at a considerable low price. I wanted the Sequencer, audio tracks, the VA modeling. All the keyboards that do these things today are out of my range. If I buy other keyboard, i would certainly buy a Motif EX 76.

I think there is no other keyboard that can, so easily, upload samples and the internet is full of them so in a sense I have a limitless palet with the Fusion.

Regarding quality of build: I bought the FUsion because I have a QS7 still working perfectly.
but my Fusion has the display damaged ( light bulb ) and it is beginnng to have problems with
the outputs, sometimes, but still I have the digital outputs that function perfectly.

I wished I had bought an 88 keys Fusion since the 6 HD has problems with the action ( different sensitivity between black and whites )

Hope it helps.

[dhmartens]

I bought mine for $1299 about 4 years ago. The only thing on the market that lets you load in new samples is the Nord (wave/stage/electro) (can't layer with the electro). The korg m3 takes 3 minutes to boot if loading samples. I liked the Korg m50 but the illusion of long samples is just that. The first part of the samples are long but the loops points are too short to save money. The Fusion has some nice long samples and great fidelity. For piano I use a Yamaha cp-70 because it has great "physical modeling" properties - its real.

What I do notice about the Fusion 8HD is the weight of the keys are too heavy to play good synth and organ. If you compare the Korg m50 88 with the 61 you notice a big difference on how the same sounds responds to touch. A solution for the Fusion is if you have a 6HD is buy a $300 weighted hammer 88 note controller, and if you have a 8HD is buy a 61note feather touch controller. IMHO you need both weights of keyboards.

[crgl]

I bought mine for $1299 about 4 years ago. The only thing on the market that lets you load in new samples is the Nord (wave/stage/electro) (can't layer with the electro). The korg m3 takes 3 minutes to boot if loading samples. I liked the Korg m50 but the illusion of long samples is just that. The first part of the samples are long but the loops points are too short to save money. The Fusion has some nice long samples and great fidelity. For piano I use a Yamaha cp-70 because it has great "physical modeling" properties - its real.

What I do notice about the Fusion 8HD is the weight of the keys are too heavy to play good synth and organ. If you compare the Korg m50 88 with the 61 you notice a big difference on how the same sounds responds to touch. A solution for the Fusion is if you have a 6HD is buy a $300 weighted hammer 88 note controller, and if you have a 8HD is buy a 61note feather touch controller. IMHO you need both weights of keyboards.

I have a Yamaha P80 digital piano that has a great piano sound ( very classical ).
I've never used it to control my 6 HD because I dont have both never in the same
place but I will do it soon.

You comment on the weight of the 8HD keys. The yamaha keys are very heavy, I dont think
that the 8HD are heavier than this but Ive never played an 8hd.

[Luc Henrion]

About keyboard action: it's only a matter of personal taste; I'm a classicaly trained pianist and I just can't play on a "synth" keyboard, even a "semi-weighted" one, without playing wrong notes ! For example I still use an SY99 because it has very special FM+PCM sounds but the keyboard is awful to my taste... I use the Fusion 8HD midified to it 99,99% of the time, even for organ or synth leads or wathever.

[crgl]

About keyboard action: it's only a matter of personal taste; I'm a classicaly trained pianist and I just can't play on a "synth" keyboard, even a "semi-weighted" one, without playing wrong notes ! For example I still use an SY99 because it has very special FM+PCM sounds but the keyboard is awful to my taste... I use the Fusion 8HD midified to it 99,99% of the time, even for organ or synth leads or wathever.

Do you think the action of the 8HD is heavy ?

[psionic]

From the player's perspective, keyboard action makes a great difference in the psychological perception of the sound. For example, playing the identical Holy Grail Piano on the 6HD is very much a different experience than playing it on an 8HD. It's very hard to totally disconnect your musical fingertips from the mechanical device you're playing... the "feel" of the keyboard shapes your personal experience of the sound. Probably doesn't matter so much to the audience, tho.

On a 6HD, you don't have the room to spread out across the octaves at your leisure. At the same time, the very light action causes you to also restrain yourself, otherwise every other note is at full velocity. Playing on the 8Hd allows you more "dynamic headroom", so to speak, and so translates into a more musical performance. To repeat, this is just for the identical sound on both keyboards.

Furthermore, let's say you just have the 8HD. Just by changing the Velocity Curve/Velocity Scaling under GLOBAL, you once again change the "feel" of the keyboard. For comparison, here's a quick chart comparing a few more extreme settings:

LINEAR, high scaling ==> responds smoothly, everything is louder, even soft/medium playing
LINEAR, low scaling ==> responds smoothly, everything is quieter, even harder playing

EXP, high scaling ==> favors louder side, mediumish playing results in louder sounds
EXP, low scaling ==> favors quieter side, softer playing can be soft, while harder playing just reaches max loudness

LOG, high scaling ==> favors middle volumes, medium-hard playing gets loud, almost always max loudness
LOG, low scaling ==> favors middle volumes, soft playing still mediumish

So on something like the Holy Grail, if you don't tweak the Velocity Curve to your particular piano style (or lack thereof), then it's very easy to hear that awful break between the loud and medium multisamples. On the other hand, fine-tuning the Velocity response, along with some LP filtering and MOD changes to Velocity==>Volume response (I prefer Additive instead of Multiplicative, leaning to 100% on the /Shape/Curve page), can result in a more natural feel or response to the Holy Grail. Better, but still not a super great piano.

As for how hard the Fusion's 8HD action is, it is much lighter than a standard piano feel. The Yamaha Motif 88key is heavy, and somewhat fatiguing for my non-classically trained hands. The Roland Fantom G 88key is somewhat lighter, but still on the heavyish side. I've grown to really prefer the Fusion's 88key feel, as it's heavy enough for keyboard sounds, yet still light enough to solo on, for me. If I really want to wail fast flurries or light phrases, or need to double- or triple-strike (or more), like for guitar-picking style percussive playing, then the 6HD is preferred, because the 8HD is too sluggish for light and quick double/triple bouncing.

[Luc Henrion]

I agree: [quote]it's heavy enough for keyboard sounds, yet still light enough to solo on[/quote]
Really a nice balance, with a little practice, I can play classical piano pieces, and there is absolutely no problem playing everything else

[crgl]

Just to let you know Ive just tried my Yamaha P80 as a controller for the Fusion.
Its great to feel the sound from the Fusion from playing heavy keys.
I liked the Holy Grail Dark Classical the most in doing these, although I will have
to tweak the sensitivity (from the yamaha, fusion ???, dont know )
since the sounds feels always in the midrange. I am not able to play in a
low volume or a high volume.
Any help in this ?.

[psionic]

Hi, crgl, if you look at my post above I think what you need is EXP to play louder and softer.

[crgl]

Thanks !, I ll try it.