Alesis QSR 64 Voice Synthesizer

January 16, 1997 -- Alesis Corporation announced the introduction of their new QSR 64 Voice Expandable Synthesizer Module, according to Jim Mack, Alesis' Vice-President of Marketing. The QSR will start shipping to Alesis dealers in February.

"The sound banks in our QS7 and QS8 keyboards have received high marks for sonic purity and versatility. It was a natural decision to package these sounds in a professional MIDI sound module that all keyboardists can utilize." said Mack. "We are very serious about expanding our role as a leading supplier of synthesis and keyboard products. The QSR fulfills an important need within that market."

The QSR is a 1U rack module that offers 16 megabytes of onboard sound ROM. It features all of the sounds of Alesis QS7 and QS8 keyboards, including Alesis' acclaimed phase-accurate stereo grand piano voice as well as a full complement of organs, strings, drums/percussion, brass, woodwinds, and rhythmic/sonic loops. It also features several banks of both new and classic synth textures, including waveforms from Keith Emerson's famous analog modular synthesizer and organs. The QSR offers 640 Programs and 500 multitimbral Mixes, which may be expanded to offer 1660 Programs and 1300 Mixes (32MB of ROM) using its two PCMCIA sound card slots and Alesis sound cards. All of the QS7's internal and external ROM and RAM voices are immediately accessible without installing expansion boards or waiting for disk drives.

QSR also implements the powerful QS Modulation Matrix, allowing users to assign virtually any controller source to any modulation parameter. The onboard effects processor utilizes four totally discrete effects busses for powerful multieffects that include reverb, delay, rotary speaker simulation, distortion, chorus and much more. Using Alesis' Sound Bridge software and any Mac or PC, the QSR can write AIFF and WAV samples as well as Standard MIDI Files and Program data to Flash RAM or SRAM cards. Standard MlDI File sequences can also be played back by the QSR without the use of any external sequencing device.

For direct digital connection to ADAT recorders and compatible products, the QSR includes the ADAT Optical Digital Interface. Also included is a high-speed serial data port that provides direct connection to a Macintosh or PC without a MIDI interface. This interface is up to four times faster than MIDI when used for burning new samples to a sound card from a computer using the included Alesis Sound Bridge software. Four independent 1/4" audio outputs and a headphone output are also provided. Like all the synthesizers in Alesis' QS Series, the QSR includes a CD-ROM in Mac and Windows format that includes Steinberg's Cubasis as well as a fully-functional version of Mark of the Unicorn's Unisyn for the QS Series, Opcode's Galaxy module for the QS Series, Alesis' Sound Bridge and FreeLoader applications, 3000 extra programs and mu titimbral mixes, demo applications, sample sequences and more.

For more information, visit their web site at www.alesis.com.