OT: JON vs. ION (or AN1x vs. ION) - long
2003-09-11 by Jon
1st off, it was *great* seeing everybody at the Craig Anderton/Alesis ION seminar last night - really enjoyed myself! Sayer and I hooked up and took his wife's new car ;-) met David from the ION list here at Yahoo! Groups http://groups.yahoo.com/group/alesis-ion/ then Ed showed up after work (congrats on the new job!!!) along with Ming (ex-ASRX list) and Peter from WMC (good luck at the gig in Baltimore tonight.) The seminar was presented as an introduction to Virtual Analog synths sponsored by Alesis. Apparently Anderton wanted to make it clear the topic was general purpose using the ION only as an example but this quickly dissolved into a product specific demo and Anderton readily admitted the more he worked with the ION the greater his appreciation for it. The presentation was very much a techno geek, keyboard weenie type of affair and Ed pointed out, probably on the mark, they should have had a more proficient keyboard player (read: flashier) demo the instrument - and a subwoofer would have been welcome to showcase the ION low end. I think Ed is on the money with these observation but I was so impressed with hearing Anderton speak at a seminar I can't say it occurred to me ;-) The highlights were as follows: there was compelling discussion on the reemergence of user friendly interface design on electronic instruments (as opposed to digital displays, data sliders and numeric keypads) and how we as musicians listen and perform driven by left brain vs. right brain hemispheres. The construction of the ION is impressive - much more so than the AN1x in regards to the knobs, wheels, audio i/o jacks and case. Solid metal case, sealed rotary encoders affixed with nuts to the case (so you don't press down on the PCB board every time you turn a knob), solid tactile feel to the knobs, etc. The keyboard is rubbish - no two ways about it - and there is no aftertouch but there is a 2nd mod wheel to make up for the latter. Since AN1x users typically dislike the AT on the AN1x this is probably okay but you might not want to use it as controller - something the AN1x is okay at. The UI is certainly friendly enough, think Synth 101 basics, and the display is nicer than the AN1x but the angle is kind of 'off' (mentioned in the Keyboard review too.) IMHO this would be okay of it were angled slightly so you didn't have to lean so far over the synth. Probably not a big deal. The sound quality is awesome but it does *not* sound like an AN1x. Where as the AN1x is Prophet-5 knock off the ION is noticeably missing any Sequential type filters. However, the Oberheim filter types were, IMO, the standout filter types on the ION. The Roland filters were nice too but for my money the Oberheim filters are VERY impressive. For comparison sake the ION offers something like seventeen filter types (with more on the way!) as compared to the AN1x' six. The ION Modulation Matrix is comparable to the AN1x CtrlMatrix. The AN1x offers more 'sets', 16 vs. 12, but the ION might offer a few more parameters. Really, IMO, it's a toss up which one comes out ahead. For me the difference would be how the ION Depth setting works in relation to the Depth parameter on the AN1x. I sometimes find it limiting that the AN1x forces you to use a setting of Direct for certain parameters when I'd rather limit the parameter to a range of values (see page 10 of the Data List.) Without spending some 'quality time' with the ION I can't comment any further on this. The Real Time control is more immediate than the AN1x - this is a good thing, IMO. I love the Assign Knobs on the AN1x but I've always found that I have to pre-plan what controls I want 'live' in my Voices as opposed to being able to experiment with more abandon - this is why I've always admired the Nord Lead 2 keyboard. I can tell you one thing: after last mights demo and the recent conversation on the list I'm picking up a new FC7 foot-pedal *today* What a useful tool - I *need* one ;-) The resolution of the ION controls is certainly impressive: no noticeable stepping!!! Apparently the ION sends/receives NRPNs as opposed to MIDI CCs to preserve the enhanced bit resolution of the encoders. I did not realize the MIDI Spec allowed for this so I'm off to do some reading on this shortly. I think there's something in the list archives... They did point out a 'bug' in that the Oscillators alias in the higher registers. Apparently this was fixed and then broken in an '11th hour bug fix' and Alesis will have an OS update for download in the near future that corrects it. There's another plus: FLASH upgradeable OS as opposed to EPROM chips. They made no secret that there would be new Filter types and additional Effects. There is currently no delay line (this *might* be added) and no Reverb - the latter will NOT be added (but who cares, Reverb on $1000 MSRP keyboards isn't all that.) The ION Arpeggiator offered many types but I don't recall the number compared to the AN1x. The next OS update is suppose to enhance the ION Arp so it transmits via the MIDI Out (something the AN1x already does) - it already syncs to MIDI Clock AND offers a Tap Tempo feature that actually works. Another plus: the ION offers a pair of audio inputs which can be processed by the synth engine and/or FX. Anderton had his guitar plugged into the ION to show some of the effects and this was certainly nice but it didn't floor me - the hour was late and they were hurrying to finish up the nearly 2 hour(!) presentation. The Vocoder demo sounded good enough that you would like to hear more but, again, the presentation wasn't all that. Hope this is helpful. As I said, it was GREAT seeing everybody last night and making new acquaintances. We'll have to do it again soon. There's another seminar in December I think so we'll target that one I think. Now I'm off to Guitar Center for that FC7 pedal ;-) regards, Jon