Alesis Sound Card
Su Strawderman
Every time I remember that my Vintage Synths Q Card exists, I get happy. I plug it in to one of my QS synths (believe it or not, the Quadra Synth Plus Piano's keybed makes it a fave), and get lost in it for an hour or so. We had such a good time making that card, and there are so many cool samples on it, including the big ol' GX-1 we had for a few months. Lotta interesting programs as well - it was way fun to have sounds from all those classic instruments to be able to combine.
I still regret selling the QSR. I had the vintage synth card, vintage keys and eurodance, which I bought pretty cheap. The vintage synths and keys sat in the slots, i hardly ever used the eurodance. I really enjoyed the vintage synths.
I didn't really need the money, it was in prime shape and only occupied 1 space in the rack; but i was all about streamlining my setup. The sounds weren't flashy, but they mixed well with other synths.
People remember the old classics, but the QS series for me have their place. You couldn't get another 88 key weighted action synth with a decent piano sound, built like a tank with plenty of synth sounds when they came out for close to that price.
I've said it before, but the QS series got so much right (from .1 onwards): quality action with aftertouch, wheels-above for compactness, light weight, internal PSU, expression pedal inputs and four sliders. I'm keeping mine as a controller now.
Quick QS story: when the QuadraSynth first came out in 93 or 94 I just HAD to have it. Saved my dollars and bought one. First gig I go to, I powered it up and the display was COMPLETELY scrambled, no sounds, no nothing. Did a system reset and managed to get enough of the ROM accessible so that I could at least play the gig.
Sent it back (I think I bought it from MF). Got another one. Practiced with it, set up my "user" patches and went to the gig. SAME THING - all scrambled. This time a system reset brought it back to factory settings, but I lost my user patches.
As I was loading it into the car (a CRX hatchback), I noticed that the coax for my ham radio antenna was run directly under the carpet where the "brain" of the QS would be when the keyboard was loaded into the car. OOPS. When i transmitted on the ham radio, I was sending enough RF into the QS to scramble the brains of it! I re-routed the coax and no more problems. I still have that QS. Great board. I'd like to find a dead one though because it has a few broken keys.
I'm with you on the Korg, but have to disagree on the Alesis. I loved my QS7.1. For one thing, I found the user interface to be very easy and intuitive to navigate. I wouldn't call it a one board solution, but some of the sounds were remarkably good for a low cost synthesizer. I used to like "Keith's C3" for example. It absolutely ripped through a live mix and got right up in your face.
I have an S4+ and a QSR in my racks. My Quadrasynth + I gave to my son a couple of years ago, which I sometimes regret. A Vintage Keyboards, Eurodance (which I never use) and an eight bank Expando card complete the Alesis set. The S4+ has easier patch selection than the QSR and why was that wonderful flute sample ditched in later incarnations? That "Moody Flute" patch still sends shivers!
For the same reason the Bosendorfer sample got shrunk in the transition from QSPP to QS - the system only supported 32MB max. In the QSPP, there was 24MB of wave ROM and one slot...QS series, 16MB and two slots. With the QS, we decided to lean more towards customizeability aspect, trimming the wave ROM from the QSPP back and adding the new Emerson organ and modular samples as well as some new orchestral stuff. No way we could do that without trimming a bunch of stuff from the QSPP wave ROM.
Additionally, about a decade ago I created two custom "Q-cards" - one for Rhodes and one for acoustic piano... and used those sounds for gigging for many years. I am still selling the Rhodes card on eBay.
I wrote a whole bunch of those programs. I think I did more programming on that card than any other, with the possible exception of the Sanctuary one (which I still think was one of my best ideas for a QCard).
This tune is almost entirely the Vintage Synths card, with Nick D'Virgilio triggering the beat box samples from a DM Pro kit. The only other synths I used are the "Nanites" sample and hold sound at the very beginning (Andromeda), the "voice" solo (JP8) and the resonant filter sweep at the end of the "voice" solo (Andromeda)....and, of course, the real guitar track. You can hear the GX-1 in the bass sound that comes in at 1:35, and in the last synth solo that starts at 3:20.
FWIW, the GX-1 we sampled belonged to Hans Zimmer at the time. The thing was at Alesis for months. Brother Erik Norlander (who was running the synth engineeering group back then) even used it on his Threshold record...because he could.
My QSR and the two cards that were in it at the time didn't get lost in the house fire and subsequent Hurricane Sandy. I play my QSR at least once a week. I've though about replacing all the missing cards (I had the whole set plus some blank RAM cards) but the aftermarket is just too steep.
Also have been using the Vintage Synths Q-card quite extensively for the past five years. It has provided a great set of useful and authentic sounds, alongside the generous helping of synth samples already in the QS8 itself.
This is my first post, though I started visiting about six months ago (man, that CPS Spacestation thread is a doozy!) So Dave, a second thank you for running the forum, and thanks also to the members who have shared so much expertise. I hope to contribute where I can.
I also have some thoughts on the Jazz Piano Q-card, which I've used for over 10 years. In particular, the program called "Warm and Clear" has been my standard piano sound when playing blues -- it's a thick, full-bodied tone that really lets you dig in, and it's very responsive. It seems to lend extra weight and authority to solos (which means I'm not tempted to over-play), and if I'm the only one comping while the guitarist takes a solo, this sound fills the mid-range just fine and keeps the band sounding "full."
However, for rock piano, or in layers with other sounds, or in a crowded mix with more than one other chording instrument, I have not found the Q-card sound to be a good choice -- it just takes up too much "sonic real estate" and starts to make it all sound like mud. In those situations, the internal "Stereo Piano" sound on the QS8 works just fine. It's a great sound in its own right, with more "bite" and less "body," and so it cuts through better, but then promptly gets out of the way of the other instruments. And it sounds nicer with other sounds in layers, like organ or strings.
I think, of the two, the Q-Card plays and sounds more like a "real piano," while the internal QS8 piano sounds more like a "rock piano" (this is not a knock.) But the extra responsiveness and "depth" of this particular Q-Card sound may be the reason why it has always been one of the more sought-after cards for the QS8.
There were three piano cards: the 8MB Bosendorfer in the QSPP which (IIRC) was originally made as a card because the S4 (QuadraSynth module) had no piano, the Classical Piano (Fazioli) and the Jazz Piano (K. Kawai).
1. "Stereo Grand Piano" is actually a QuadraCard, not a QCard. It was designed for the older QuadraSynth. However, it works perfectly well in all other QS synths, except for a few sounds that only play correctly in an original QuadraSynth. It has 128 Sounds and 100 Mixes.
Hi, I have recently installed Pianoteq and have been trying to find some information about my onboard sound card. I was wondering if I would see much improvement in sound quality if I upgraded to an interface .Here is a link to my motherboard :
If your system ASIO or WASAPI drivers give you low latency the biggest upgrade you can make is with better loudspeakers, even with average onboard sound chip. Look to get some decent active loudspeakers with at least 5.25" woofers.
Thanks very much for all the help. I am a little confused about the different audio outputs pianoteq lets me choose from. In the output section I have speakers realtek R audio, speakers usb device, speakers Alesis Core 1 or nvidia high def audio.
I presume the realtek output is my best option as this is using my motherboards sound. Should I always choose ASIO with this from the audio device type menu and is ASIO the best option which ever output you use ?
- if you are recording vocals or acoustic instruments, the main advantage of using an audio interface is that you can use high quality professional mics to get better recordings (assuming you know how to use the mics properly).
- the Alesis Core 1 is an audio interface that works with dynamic or battery operated mics (no phantom power). You can also directly plug-in and record an electric guitar. The Alesis Core 1 is a mono only device, so it cannot be used to record in stereo.
You can use either the Core 1 or the Realtek as the output device. I think you will find the latency on either to be so low as to be indistinguishable for MIDI keyboard performance.
I've tried a Realtek and found the Windows Audio Exclusive mode to give lightning fast response like a good ASIO driver.
The quality of the audio as recorded in your DAW is not affected by the output device - it is not part of the recording chain. You don't have to concern yourself with input device quality for the virtual instruments.
Obviously the output device does partly determine the quality of the playback (what you hear). The main difference in what you hear is determined by the playback system's room acoustics, loudspeakers and amplifiers and then to a much lesser extent to the sound device or DAC and so on. It all makes a difference to your enjoyment of the sound, and your ability to assess sound quality, but get the best loudspeakers for your room.