ALESIS Fusion8HD Synth

ALESIS FUSION8HD Details

Version 1.20 Now Available
Whats new in Version 1.20?
Added “Preset 5” External HD program bank with 128 new killer programs
Fusion now with over 1000 preset sounds!
Hard Drive bank capable of endless sounds with the 40 gig drive
4 new filters from the ION and the Micron have been added
Sample algorithm programs now contain four oscillators
Increased frequency range of effects EQ bands drastic ally improving the programs and mixes
Inserts can now be chained

What makes a Keyboard a workstation?

A workstation is simply a keyboard with a built-in sequencer and digital sampler. What’s so great about that, you ask? Well… workstations are cool because having a keyboard, sequencer, and sampler in one package is convenient, portable, and saves a lot of money over buying everything separately.

Unfortunately, integrating all these features makes most workstations daunting and difficult to use. Users have to battle confusing menus and poorly written manuals to get their ideas recorded. Worse yet, owners often have to compromise their artistic vision because it’s too much of a hassle to hammer out an idea exactly how they want it to sound—users end up settling for “good enough.”

We’ve seen other companies try to make the “ultimate workstation” by packing in lots of features without any attempt to make the experience of creating music simple, inspiring, and fun.

The Alesis Approach

At Alesis, our focus was not to simply pack in as many features as possible without regard to the user experience. We re-examined the idea of the workstation and set out to build an instrument that is musically inspiring, easy to use, and has everything to record even your wildest musical ideas without compromise. After over two years of research and development, our work resulted in the Fusion workstation.

Examining the Creation Process

How does a keyboard player find inspiration after sitting down at a workstation? Keyboardists often start by playing different sounds—a Grand Piano, synth lead, or maybe some drums. They search till they find something that inspires them and use that as a foundation to build their ideas.

What separates the Fusion from the competition is our wide palette of synthesized sounds. The best analogy for this can be found in painting. What if Rembrandt only had a few shades of gray at his disposal? There would be no depth or realism to his paintings. The paintings might still be pleasing to the eye, but you would feel like you were left lacking in the experience. This same principle applies for sonic choices as well.

The Fusion has a major advantage over its competitors because it gives you several sonic colors to paint with. With four totally different synthesis types built into one workstation, owning a Fusion is like having four different synthesizers at your disposal. More synths mean more sonic colors. More sonic colors mean more inspiration and better music.

Sample Playback

Say you want some good old sample playback synthesis… It’s been around a long time and it’s still the best way to create a realistic grand piano, drum kit, and many other instruments. No problem—the Fusion has it. We started from scratch and built a world class library of sounds just for the Fusion.

All Fusion sounds were custom made by some of the most talented sound designers in the industry. With thousands of incredible sample-based instruments at your disposal, you’ll never have a shortage of sonic inspiration on the Fusion.

Many people think the grand piano is the most important sound on a keyboard and we couldn’t agree more. We searched for the absolute best piano we could find and came across the “Holy Grail Piano” by Q Up Arts. The Holy Grail Piano is a world-class grand piano that was painstakingly sampled from top to bottom and turned into a breathtaking instrument. You can find this incredible piano on every Fusion workstation along with thousands of other top-quality sounds just like it.

Sampling

The sampler has become an incredibly popular instrument since its inception in the 80s. Whether you make hip hop, electronic, or even rock music, you can always use a sampler to make your song better. Whether you just want to play back a soundbite or go all-out and create your own custom instrument, the Fusion has you covered. Our synth’s comprehensive sampling capabilities let you record, edit, and manipulate sounds just like on a hardware sampler (or computer) and you can even store your samples on the Fusion’s massive 40-gigabyte hard disk—something that no other workstation offers. The graphical editing makes doing all this a snap.

Virtual Analog

If you’ve been playing keyboards for a while, you’ve probably heard of our award winning analog and virtual-analog synthesizers. The A6 Andromeda is the king of analog for countless top producers and musicians around the world, and our Ion and Micron virtual-analog synths beat the pants off competing keyboards costing five times as much! When it comes to analog, nobody can touch us in terms of sound quality or bang-for-the-buck.

The Fusion is our latest virtual-analog creation and it will knock your socks off.

Forget the cheesy “sampled analog” found on many of our competitors’ products—the Fusion will give you the real stuff: earth-shaking basses, gnarly leads, and lush pads.

There are plenty of assignable knobs and buttons giving you virtually unlimited control over an incredible array of mind-blowing sounds. Take one listen and you’ll know what we’re raving about.

FM Synthesis

Many of the bands you know and love from the 80’s and 90’s (and today) get their unique synth sounds from FM (Frequency Modulation) synthesizers. With sonic timbres ranging from the from the all too familiar “DX Rhodes” piano found in dozens of hit ballads to the instantly recognizable sounds found in Michael Jackson’s Thriller, FM is capable of generating a world of unique new sounds.

The FM synthesis engine on the Fusion can recreate all the great FM sounds of the past as well as go beyond and do things that were never possible on old FM synthesizers. We’re sure the FM timbres on the Fusion will work themselves into tons of platinum albums over the next few years.

Physical Modeling

Physical Modeling is a cutting-edge synthesis technology that is so new, many musicians don’t even know about it yet. The Fusion has it anyway because it’s the mother of all workstations and we think our users will appreciate what it will do for their music.

Have you ever listened to a wind or reed instrument on a keyboard and thought “this doesn’t sound like the real thing!” We have too. This is because analog, FM, and sample-based synthesizers are just not able to recreate the nuances of wind and reed instruments accurately.
Physical modeling is a radically different approach to synthesis and creates sound by calculating how a sound wave behaves inside an instrument like a clarinet or a flute. This results in the most realistic and expressive wind and reed instruments you’ve ever heard coming out of a keyboard.

With physical modeling, you can even create instruments that don’t (or can’t) exist in real life. For example, have you ever wondered what a 30 foot long flute would sound like if played with hurricane-strength wind? Just configure your physical model on the easy-to-edit program menus and find out for yourself!

More Creative Tools

Once a musician has found an inspiring instrument, the Fusion has plenty of functions to make the songwriting process go more smoothly. For example, the Fusion’s advanced arpeggiator has multiple modes tailored for different styles of playing. First, it can function as your typical arpeggiator that plays preset or user defined patterns (like those commonly found in electronic music). The Fusion also has “Phrase arpeggiations” that help you play in styles that might not be familiar to keyboardists such as guitar strumming—creating convincing guitar strumming has never been easier than on a Fusion. The last mode is “Drum arpeggiations.” These are programmed beats that you can use to add drumming in your song. Think of this mode as being a full-featured drum machine that is thrown into the Fusion for free!

The Fusion’s high resolution sequencer was designed from the ground up to capture all the subtleties of your playing. The large LCD display and full graphical editing capabilities help making edits and fixing mistakes easy. That’s only the tip of the iceberg. The Fusion is the first and only workstation that lets you seamlessly mix MIDI and multitrack digital audio. The sequencer records MIDI and multitrack direct-to-disk audio recordings on one screen. Being able to edit MIDI and audio on screen is just like working on a computer (without having to lug around a computer plus monitor, that is). Once you’re done recording, editing, and mixing your composition, you can even burn your mixed down projects on CD using our optional CD recorder. **

With a long list of celebrated synths and recorders like the A6 Andromeda and HD24, you could say Alesis has been around the block a dozen times when it comes to synthesis and recording technology. The combination of these world-class technologies in the Fusion lets you take your idea from concept to a finished recording in one awe-inspiring workstation.

Playing Well with Others

The Fusion is designed for the modern keyboard player. We know you’ll want to move files to and from the workstation from your computer, so we’ve included USB 2.0, ADAT Lightpipe, and Compact Flash connectivity. Moving samples, multitrack recordings, projects, and mixdowns from your workstation has never been easier.

Let’s say you want to create a song away from your studio. Just fire up your Fusion and get to work. When it’s time to move your project to a computer just connect your Fusion to your computer through USB and drag your files to the desktop—it’s as simple as that. The Fusion stores all sound and MIDI data in common formats that can be opened in any DAW software.

The Mother of all Workstations

Over the last two years, we’ve put a lot of love and energy into making the absolute best workstation ever built. We’re sure you’ll agree once you play it and all other workstations will feel weak in comparison. Don’t take our word for it—try one and hear for yourself.


What is the polyphony of the Fusion Synth?

This depends on the types of synthesis being used. Currently  gett ing 180 voice polyphony for sample playback synthesis.

Are the sounds in the Fusion new?

 Alesis s tarted from scratch and ha s developed a new library of sounds for the sample playback section. There are newly developed sounds for the Analog Modeling section as well as the FM and Physical modeling part as well.

ALESIS FUSION8HD Specs

Tone Generator
Fusion Engine Synthesis - Sample Playback, Virtual Analog, FM,
Physical Modeling

Polyphony
Dynamic processor allocation. Up to 180 voices of sample
playback.

Multitimbral Capacity
Mix: 8 internal/16 external, Song: 16 internal/16 external

Waveforms- tones
120 MB (when converted to 16-bit linear format)

Sounds
Preset Instruments: 800 Programs
Preset Drumkits : 64 Drumkits
GM: 128 Programs, plus 8 Drum Kits
User: 40GB of whatever you want

Mixes
200 Mixes

Filters
13 types

Effects- types and amt
20 Reverbs, 10 Chorus, 50 Insert Effects, 4 Band EQ (low shelf, low, mid, high mid, Hi shelve

Sampler

Multi-samples (waveform capacity)
128 samples per Multisample

Sampling sources
Analog Input L/R, Stereo Output (resampling)

A/D Conversion
24 -bit, 64 X oversampling

D/A Conversion
24 -bit, 128 X oversampling

Sampling Frequencies
44.1 kHz

Memory
Memory 64MB installed, optional expansion to 192MB

Sampling Time
11 Min, 53 Sec (with onboard memory), 37 Min, 15 Sec (with full expansion memory)

Sample Formats
Alesis format, wav

Sequencer

Note Capacity
Unlimited / based on HD limitations

Note Resolution
480 ppq

Tracks
32 Tracks

Songs
40GB of whatever you want

Arpeggio
Preset: Preset 1000
User:User Unlimited

Sequence Format
SMF

Controllers
Pitch Bend Wheel, Modulation Wheel, Aftertouch, Assignable Control Knobs (4), Assignable Trigger Buttons (4), Assignable Switches (2)

Display
240 x 128 backlit LCD

External Storage
Compact Flash Type I and Type II (Flash and Microdrives), SATA HD and (by Fall 2005) CD-RW

Connectors
Stereo Input L-Mono/R (Standard 1/4 Jack), Stereo Headphone Output (Standard 1/4 Jack),Stereo Main Output L/R (Standard 1/4 Jack), Stereo Aux Output L/R (Standard 1/4 Jack), S/PDIF Output (Coax/Optical), ADAT Output (Optical), MIDI In/Out/Thru, Sustain Pedal, Footswitch, Expression Pedal, USB (to Host), HD Recording Inputs 1-8 (Standard 1/4 Jack), External Drive (SATA), AC Inlet

Power Consumption
50 W

Dimensions
Fusion 8HD: 51.5x14x5 in, 130.8x35.6x12.7cm
Fusion 6HD: 35.5x14x4 in, 90.2x35.6x10.2 cm

Weight
Fusion 8HD: 58.4 lb, 25.6 kg
Fusion 6HD: 30.4 lb, 13.8 kg

* All specifications subject to change prior to product delivery

ALESIS FUSION8HD Technology

Technology

Fusion - a union by or as if by melting: as a : a merging of diverse, distinct, or separate elements into a unified whole.

Synthesis

The Alesis Fusion has a newly developed synthesizer engine that employs a Coldfire processor surrounded by seven high-performance DSPs. This massively powerful processing core starts by giving you the following four synthesis types: Sample Playback, Analog Modeling, FM and Physical Modeling.

Alesis Dynamic DSP Synthesis™

The Fusion’s synthesis engine is whatever you configure it to be. Maybe you just want regular sample playback synthesis for all of your instruments in one song. The next song has sampled drums and an analog synth lead. The song after that is more esoteric and combines physical modeling and FM synthesis along with analog and sample-based synthesis. It all can happen on the Fusion because of our Dynamic DSP Synthesis engine.

Sample Playback and User Sampling

The Fusion has a unique new approach to the concept of sample playback synthesis. Unlike our competitors’ sample-based workstations, the Fusion is designed to be extremely flexible. Sounds in the built-in 64MB (comparable to 128MB linear) Flash ROM can be exchanged for other samples that are stored on either Compact Flash or the internal 40 Gigabyte Hard disk. This means you have access to a virtually unlimited library of sounds.

You can also easily create your own custom instruments. The Fusion allows you to sample through the analog inputs, or to load in WAV files from your computer via USB (or Compact Flash) to create your custom soundset.

Our optional E2 memory module allows you to expand internal memory. This will add an additional 128MB of RAM on top of the internal 64MB giving you a total of 192MB of memory for sample playback sounds.

Alesis has created a completely new soundset for the Fusion. Our newly developed libraries offer the absolute best collection of top-quality instruments for realistic performance.

Virtual Analog

Alesis has a very strong background in Virtual Analog (VA) synthesis. Over the years we have researched and built many synthesizers (including the real analog monster called the Andromeda) with massive sounds and extremely accurate emulations of classic analog filters.

The Fusion contains a very flexible virtual analog synth. The VA engine offers three oscillators with ring modulation and lots of flexible routing as well. The engine features multiple types of filters with variable poles to emulate the characteristics of many vintage analog synths. The Fusion also offers in-depth modulation assignments of countless parameters. The VA engine in the Fusion goes far beyond other VA synths—even ones that only do virtual analog synthesis. With the user defined modulation table assignments it’s like having a modular analog synth that can remember all your crazy patch cable routes every time you call up the program.

FM Synthesis

The Fusion is the first keyboard in Alesis history to offer Frequency Modulation (FM) synthesis. This radically different and sonically diverse form of synthesis was introduced in the 70’s and has made a major impact on musicians and producers alike.

FM is fundamentally different from our subtractive sample-playback and virtual analog synth engines. Unlike many other kinds of synthesis, FM uses at least two oscillators to make sound. Traditionally, FM uses one operator oscillator that is modulated by a carrier oscillator, but depending on the sound you are looking for, you can have multiple operators or multiple carriers (or both). Each additional oscillator greatly affects your overall sound. While FM synthesis might be a little more complex to understand than other synthesis types, it can produce very unique timbres that just can’t be created using any other methods.

The Fusion’s FM engine is designed to be straightforward and easy to operate. There are six oscillators that can be flexibly routed to either generate sounds or work as carriers. The oscillators can output the following waveforms: sine, sine square root, sine squared, sine warp or white noise. Each of these waveforms offer distinctive sonic variations and give you a wide palette of sounds to choose from.

Our FM signal router is a handy menu that has preset templates allowing users to quickly assemble programs without the difficulty of traditional FM programming. Additionally, you can add envelopes and an LFO to further modulate and shape your stunning new FM sounds.

Physical Modeling

The fourth and final synthesis type on the Fusion uses cutting edge Physical Modeling algorithms. Physical modeling is an advanced new approach for creating sounds that is vastly different from all the other synthesis types found on the Fusion. It uses complex mathematical calculations to compute how a sound wave behaves inside an instrument. This lets you create a “virtual model” of an instrument that you can play and modify in real-time.

A real world example of this is when a flute player changes the pressure and shape of his lips on the mouthpiece while blowing into the instrument. This results in minor changes in the nuances of the flute’s sound. These changes are easy to create using physical modeling but very difficult to do using any other form of synthesis.

Many musicians cringe at the mention of mathematics and algorithms, but they have nothing to fear with the Fusion. Our synth designers carefully created an interface with simple and intuitive parameters that make sense to musicians. This means users can tweak their sounds without having to deal with any complex math or confusing parameters.

A physical model has several real-time parameters for a user to tweak such as Breath, Noise, Jet, Curve, Frequency and Bore Filter. With physical modeling all of these parameters can adjusted in real-time to affect the sound. Traditional instruments such as digital samplers have no way to alter the specifics of the sound because samplers only play static recordings of a sound that can’t be modified by the input parameters.

The Fusion contains two core physical models including “Wind” (flutes) and “Reed” (clarinet, Oboe and Sax). Both of these models are fully adaptable and can be set to model instruments that do not (or can’t) exist in real life. This gives users the ability to tweak existing models or create totally new sound timbres using the powerful physical modeling engine.

Mix up your Synthesis

The Fusion’s synthesis engine is whatever you configure it to be. Maybe you just want regular sample playback synthesis for all of your instruments in one song. The next song has sampled drums and an analog synth lead. The song after that is more esoteric and combines physical modeling and FM synthesis along with analog and sample-based synthesis. It all can happen on the Fusion because of our Dynamic DSP Synthesis engine.

Now that you understand the different components that make up the Fusion’s synth engine, it’s easy to imagine the kinds of music you can create with it. Each synthesis type can be played individually or can be mixed together with other types to form new, composite sounds.

The Mix Mode of the Fusion can have up to eight different instruments (each with a different synthesis type.) This lets you layer and mix different synthesis types to make incredible new sonic atmospheres. Imagine your custom samples, mixed with real world instruments, layered with FM percussive textures, modeled wind instruments and a thick stew of analog filters all in one workstation. The Fusion makes all this possible.

This is the next step in synthesis.

ALESIS FUSION8HD Documentation

Fusion Manual (pdf)

Fusion Quick Start (pdf)

ALESIS FUSION8HD Resources

Fusion Resources http://www.fusionsynth.com/

Get the “Alesis Fusion Converter™” program FREE at www.alesis.com .  This is a fully functional translation program that allows .wav, .aiff, SoundFont and Akai libraries to be converted into Fusion samples. 

Fusion Reference Manual

Fusion Synth has its own web site. Click here to visit.
Analog modeling programs. The Alesis Fusion has a true VA engine, comprised of multiple oscillators, filters, and envelopes.
Frequency Modulation (FM) programs. True FM synthesis for absolutely accurate, classic FM sounds and programming.
Physical Modeling programs. Realistic physical models of breath-driven instruments. From flutes and clarinets to wild and bizarre sonic textures.
Download the Fusion Program List.
Download the Fusion Mix List.

Fusion 8HD/6HD Downloads

Fusion Image File v1.20 (55.4 MB)

This image file contains updated firmware (version 1.20) and an updated Sound ROM (version 1.20). Several new features have been added along with improvements to programs and Mixes. Here are some great new features: Inserts can now be chained, sample algorithm programs now contain four oscillators, 4 new filters have been added, 2 new sample process functions have been added, and envelopes can now have their curve set per stage. Detailed software and sound changes relevant to this release can be found in the Release Notes. Description of features added since version 1.00 can be found in the Manual addendum.

NOTE: For instructions on how to install the files into your Fusion, please download the instructional PDF .

Fusion Convertor ™ is an application which imports various file formats into your Alesis Fusion™ workstation. It also offers Bank Management, allowing you to organize your Banks, Programs, and Samples on your computer, and supports computer archiving of Volumes for organizational access.

Fusion Convertor™ supports the following import formats:

WAVE files (.wav)
AIFF files (.aif and .aiff)
Akai S-1000/3000 CD's
SoundFonts (.sf2)
Akai S-5000/Z-Series Programs (.akp)

Windows (PC) v1.0
Macintosh (OSX): (Coming soon)

Fusion External Volume:

An external sound volume is now available (version 1.20) that can be downloaded to your Fusion Hard Drive. Simply load the latest Image and then follow the instructions to install these additional sounds on your Fusion's hard drive. This includes demo songs and an additional program bank.

Fusion_HD_Volume_v120.zip (24.5MB)
Created by Alesis – 12/2005

ALESIS FUSION8HD Hear this Product

Click each link to listen to MP3 example s of Fusion programs.

Analog modeling programs .  The Alesis Fusion has a true VA engine, comprised of multiple oscillators, filters, and envelopes.

Frequency Modulation (FM) programs .  True FM synthesis for absolutely accurate, classic FM sounds and programming.

Physical Modeling programs .  Realistic physical models of breath-driven instruments.  From flutes and clarinets to wild and bizarre sonic textures.

What You Want .  This song demonstrates the Fusion using multiple VA Programs, Sample Playback, and one FM Program (electric piano), along with 8 audio tracks. Composed by Huston Singletary.

Jazz Piano Demo .  Showing off the dynamic capabilities of the Holy Grail Piano.

More MP3 Demos

ALESIS FUSION8HD How to Choose

Other views of ALESIS FUSION8HD (Click to enlarge):

ALESIS Fusion8HD Synth

Envelope_Screen

Fusion_Controls

Fusion_Edit_Controls

Fusion_Edit_Screen

Fusion6HD

Realtime_Controls

Rear

side

Synth_Screen