The pitch‑bend and modulation wheels are placed above the first five notes of the keyboard, on the left side (as with the old Yamaha DX21 synth), but in reality this makes no difference at all to your playing comfort. The large custom LCD has been replaced by a generic 2 x 16 character green backlit display, and though it is really too small to be ideal, this may not be a problem if you own an Apple Macintosh or an IBM PC clone, as included on the CD‑ROM disk is a QS6 editor for MOTU's Unisyn editor/librarian software. On the deficit side, the keyboard has shrunk to five octaves, and gone are the four 'Quad knobs' and the ADAT digital interface. Physically, the QS6 is smaller than the Quadrasynth and features anodised aluminium casework rather than plastic which makes it stronger, and presumably provides better RFI shielding in readiness for the new European regulations. The QS6 is obviously an attempt to set right the shortcomings of the Quadrasynth without having to go right back to the drawing board. The original Quadrasynth sported a 6‑octave keyboard, 16Mb of ROM samples, and combined a very clean sound with massive polyphony - but, unfortunately, it lacked a strong sonic character. Also included is a Mac/PC CD‑ROM containing programs, demos, samples, MIDI files and, most importantly, the means to import your own sample waveforms. Rob Brady tickles them ivories.Īlthough the new Alesis QS6 is based on the same synth engine as the Quadrasynth, it features new packaging, new sounds, a new operating system and a lower price. With new sounds, a new operating system and a lower price, the QS6 looks set to attract its fair share of admirers.

Sound forge mac