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Alesis is a manufacturer of electronic musical instruments based in Cumberland, Rhode Island.
The products manufactured by Alesis are mainly for studio and live performance (as opposed to domestic) use and are targeted at professional and semi-professional musicians. Alesis is known for budget equipment but has sometimes produced surprisingly high-quality and innovative gear such as the Andromeda A6 analog synthesizer and software analog modeling synthesizer called Ion. The more sophisticated Micron is based on the Ion.
Alesis rose to an early notoriety with their original MidiVerb device. A stereo reverb (2 in, 2 out) at a reasonable price. Although the MIDI specification was not extensive, it was sufficient. The unit responded to patch changes 1-63 to select different preset reverb sounds, higher numbers activated "Defeat" mode - which was Alesis parlance for Mute). The MidiVerb was built using off-the-shelf parts, which enabled the device to be repaired in the field easily.
The list of popular Alesis gear includes the SR-16 drum machine (introduced in 1991 and still in production), the Quadrasynth line of sample-based synths, and the ADAT 8-track digital tape recorder, ubiquitous in the early 90s.
The company suffered financial turbulence in 2001 following an April 27 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, after investing heavily in the hard-disk equivalent of the ADAT, the HD24. In the subsequent restructuring, Jack O'Donnell (president of Numark Industries) acquired the company.
See also
- Numark Industries
- Akai (also owned by Numark)
External links
"Alesis"