ALESIS MICRON DEMO
First I apologize for the choice of song (If you had - J.Lopez). But fear not, she doesn't sing on this one, hahaha! All the tracks were recorded on Cubase using the Alesis Micron only. In this demo, you get to hear Micron -or Ion since they share the same synth engine- drums, bass, analog guitars, keys, strings, bells, brass, synth, and 6 leads. All the sounds are presets, no external effects or EQing were added except for some compression on Drums.
Micron Demo mp3:
low (128kbps ~4Mb) |
high (320kbps ~7Mb).
If the download links don't work, bookmark this page and try another day (that's free hosting for you!).
As you all know, no synth sound makes it to the final mix of a song without some EQing/effects/compression. Now if you like what you just heard in the demo, just imagine where you can go from there.
THE SOUND
In one word, the Micron is WARM!! the presets cover a wide range of retro analog (Vangelis, Jean-Michel Jarre...) and modern dance / trance / hip hop patches... It has a nice round sound (just like Real analog). However you can make it sound gritty by using the internal distortion effects. Other effects include Reverb, Delay, Phaser, Flanger... (to sweeten your sound) and a 40-band vocoder (to do those robotic voices you often hear in dance songs...)
A SYNTHESIZER?
If you're buying the Micron for the presets, you're missing the whole point. This is a Syn-the-si-zer! It was made to be programmed!! the presets can be a starting point to getting the sounds you want. i.e. You pick a bass patch you like, save a copy, tweak it to your heart's desire. And the Micron has more-than-enough memory banks for storing your sounds (900 programs! 200 preset patterns, 250 drum beats plus room for your own!).
MEMORY
What's really cool about the Micron's memory is that the patches are stored alphabetically and by categories! you can find any patch you want in no time! Each key on the keyboard acts like a shortcut to a Category (or Menu)... which is ingenious!!! i.e. you can access Drum patches by holding the Program button and the 2nd A key. There is a Recent category (which -you guessed it- stores recently played patches) and a Favorites category (which could be used to store your own patches);
FOUR MODES: PROGRAMS, SETUPS, RHYTHMS, PATTERNS.
You can use your Micron as an analog drum machine or sequencer! Alesis have done a great job programming this little monster as there are a good variety of preset Rhythms (analog drum beats) and Patterns in there that showcase the power under the hood. You can hear some of them in the
official demo. Also there's a Setup mode (Combi in Korg lingo) in which you can layer multiple Programs (single sounds) to make a big complex sound; or split them across the keyboard. For example, you can have a drum beat and a bass-line triggered from the left side of the keyboard, and a nice lead patch on the right (NB if you layer too many sounds you'll exceed max polyphony and you'll hear occasional clipping (muted) notes.
MICRON IS ION?
If you think the Micron looks like a toy, it sure as hell isn't! Don't be fooled by its size. it has the same sound engine as the 799$ Alesis Ion synth!! The patches are compatible (and they sound better on the Micron thanks to a dedicated Reverb DSP chip! which the Ion doesn't have.); Plus the Micron has a Drum Sequencer (again, the Ion doesn't!); On the other hand, the Ion has the advantage of having dedicated knobs which make programming quick and easy. In short, the Micron is a light portable Ion with added Reverb and a Drum Sequencer.
SYNTH ENGINE
To sum up, it's an 8-voice polyphonic VA synth with 3 Oscillators, 3 Envelopes, 2 LFOs, 2 filters (with 20 classic synth types to choose from!!) Also there's a 12-route modulation matrix which allows you to assign almost any parameter to be controlled by either one of the 3 Envelopes, or the 2 LFOs, or the knobs/sliders... kinda like a modular synth. imagine the possibilities! Another great little feature: the Micron has a detuning algorithm that let the Oscillators' tune drift (this happens with real analog synths!) so you don't have to use one of your LFOs to simulate this.
FM MADNESS?
The Micron is capable of producing some very complex digital FM sounds (like the famous Yamaha DX synths) thanks to different Oscillator combinations and routing possibilities.
PROFESSIONAL FEATURES
Just when you think that Alesis has done enough, professional features like 24bit balanced outputs make it even more worthwhile (I don't have those on my Triton Studio which cost me about 7 times more!!)
REALTIME CONTROL
You get 2 sliders and 3 knobs assignable to virtually anything on the Micron. And it's really fun to do it (again thanks to the Micron's smart interface!), you just press down the Control Knob on the parameter you want to control and you turn the knob/slider you like to assign, done!
ON THE NEGATIVE SIDE
(it's nothing serious really)
Although programming on the Micron is a little tricky with only one knob, I got the hang of it thanks to the keyboard shortcuts.. ie. you press the Program button + the B Key once to go to Oscillator 1, twice to Osc2, 3 times to Osc3...
The X, Y, Z knobs aren't very precise, but for the price, you get 3 Oscillators, 2 filters (20 types), 3 envelopes, 2 LFOs, balanced outputs, a vocoder, a drum sequencer and an arpeggiator.... no other synth offer so much for so little!
FINAL THOUGHTS
Thanks Alesis for a wonderful synth! (and for setting new standards for other manufacturers to follow!)
also check out: Micron or microKorg
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