Thoughts on the Alesis Ion

[iProg]

Recently I've read a lot about this classic VA and it seems like a real bargain!

Would it be a good compliment to my current rig or is it too similar to the JP-8000 to make a difference?

What would you guys prefer? Any recommendations and/or experiences and pros and cons about the Ion is much welcome!

[winningatlife]

I was pretty let down with this synth to be honest. I was really hoping it'd be awesome, and it sounds pretty good through headphones but once live / amplified / recorded against other synths it lacked any distinct character or depth.

Very powerful on paper but for all the effects, multitimbrality, filter emulators, etc., once plugged into some big speakers it came out sounding 'digital', cheesy, and terrible.

Perhaps others have had better experiences, but VA hardware is dead for a reason IMHO. :/

[ned-ryarson]

ive seen used Ions going for really good prices recently, for a VA, thats what id have

[premieklovn]

I like it a lot but I haven't had enough time to explore all the features yet. I got mine mainly to quickly substitute a JX3P so I haven't made any complex patches with it yet, mainly typical Roland string sounds. I think I'll have to bring it home and spend some quality hours with it.

[shaft9000]

if you're nuts about 'dual filter' sounds then the ion is a good way to get them w/out springing for a Virus or Radias.

i've had a micron a couple of times...very good all-around synths, just kind of boring if you have other stuff, like winningatlife says. kind of like Novation - they sound nice doing most stuff but nothing truly spectacular.
great for live knock-around work, but in the studio - they are just alright.

I say sell your JP and get a VSynth.
It will add way more to your sound than an Ion, and you still get your entire JP engine WITH dual filters and tons more (sampling+PCM+COSM+stepsequencer)

[braincandy]

I don't think it's necessary seeing as you have quite a setup already, iProg.

I had an Ion and it didn't really have an identifiable "Ion" sound. However, I got some decent bass synths out of it as well as some really odd f/x (one of which sounded like a wailing dog). It really needs some delay and reverb to come alive.

[mama.]

I think the oscillators sound bad. And I have an Ion in my room right now as I type this. The sine waves are wrong. And some of the other waves just kind of hurt my ears. other than that its especially hard to tweak because of the simulated knobs. the only thing worse is microkorg.

in case manufacturers are reading:

please stop it with the virtual analogs! Its like the worst of both worlds. All the beaten to death ideas of analog circuitry meets the awfullness of digital oscillator. the typical owner to your synths never bother programming anyway.

[ned-ryarson]

It really needs some delay and reverb to come alive.

so does everything...

[braincandy]

It really needs some delay and reverb to come alive.

so does everything...

Not necessarily. My Juno-60 and the OB8 I had in the past didn't need external sweetening the way the Ion does.

[frequency]

I've used an Ion for some time and found the oscillators to be stronger than the Virus' oscillators. Too many filter types though, and only some of them really useable. Arp sucks. Effects are...well...useless. The keyboard feel is poor and you could say more bad things about its design, but... I have never used it live, always in a home studio, and was able to build some of the best pads, warm and rich, that I ever made. Besides that there is a lot of programming ability, and for those patient enough you can get almost anything out of this synth. It lacks a certain signature edge to its sound, but you're not paying the price tagg of an Andromeda either.

[Jinsai]

To address your specific question:
The JP-8080 and the Ion have similar subtractive synthesis methodologies. The Ion is newer/more modern and much more flexible. It can get very close to all the sounds the JP-8080 can make (except for the Supersaw stuff).

The Ion can also do much more - FM, more filters, 3rd oscillator. However, it has less polyphony.

Whether or not it sounds "better" or "good" is something you have to decide for yourself, in person, with your ears.
Whether or not it's a good match for your existing gear isn't something anyone can answer for you. It depends on your music and what you want to do. Maybe you want something very close to what you have. Maybe you want something with a very different character.

Personally I'd ditch the 8080 for an Ion in a heartbeat.

2 things you need to realize:
1) You need to check it out for yourself. Everyone else's opinions (mine included) about this are useless to you. Asking us to pick is like asking us to tell you who you should date or marry.

2) For its price (~$500 new) the Ion is a screaming deal. If you have more money to spend, there are other synths you could look at. But I guarantee someone on this site will tell you how it sounds like poop, is too hard to program while simultaneously being too limited, and how it's not as good as some other goofy synth.

As for the haters:
Who uses a synth's oscillators "naked"? That said, I think Ion's sound better than most VAs and better than some actual analog synths. Overall, Ion sounds very, very good.

"Too many filters". Riiight. It must be very confusing having so much choice and flexibility.

"Get a VSynth". An unrealistic comparison. The VSynth is $2000, the Ion is $500.

"Hard to tweak". I completely disagree. Ion has a boatload of knobs and you can either adjust by ear or stare at the parameters.

Effects: I'd rather have NO reverb than a shitty reverb, which is what most hardware synths have. Ion has a great group of effects which complement its sound generation. The phaser, in particular, is great. The other effects are more than usable.

"No more VAs". Yeah, I really long for the days when every synth cost thousands of dollars, weighed a ton, went out of tune, etc. I've been playing synths since the early 80s. I'll take a decent VA over a polyphonic analog vintage synth any day of the week.

[paugui]

The original V-Synth is nowhere near 2000$.
I bought a brand new one last christmas, an ex-demo with full warranty, for 829 euros, and I've seen them going for about 600 euros used.
It is more than the Ion, for sure, but its not 4 times more, it is likely a little less than 2 times more.


I never used a JP-8080 or an Ion, but I have a Roland V-Synth (original) and an Alesis Fusion and I really like them both.

The V-Synth is indeed quite flexible and the VA engine is quite good, at least to my taste. The filter could be nicer (I prefer the one on my Yamaha AN1x much better), but the added COSM processor algorithms make it really versatile and able to achieve really nice sounds.
You can also use samples too, which is great.

The VA part on my Fusion is quite cool too and I am definitely able to get some really nice sounds out of it. However, it is quite some differences from the Ion, as it has more LFO's and Envelopes (8 of each) but only one filter and less filter types. This makes me want to get an Ion too, as I really enjoy the Fusion's VA engine.
If you want a Rompler too and an FM synth and a Physical Modeling synth (to do emulate wind and reed instruments), I would say the Fusion could be a wise choice for you.


Another old VA I would recommend you would be the Yamaha AN1x.
I really like mine. It can only have one filter, but you can have the equivalent to 3 oscillators (when you use Sync) and you have 4 Free EG's.
You also have a nice Step Sequencer with 16 steps all controllable with the knobs - the only bad thing about this is that you can't see which step is being played at the present time...
On the plus side, it is one of the cheapest VA's out there.


Hope this helps,

Paugui

[pricklyrobot]

Another old VA I would recommend you would be the Yamaha AN1x.
I really like mine. It can only have one filter

There's only one multimode filter with resonance control, but it does have the additional post-mixer High-Pass Filter (you can only control cut-off though).

[hfinn]

All I will say about it is that I once did a minimoog bass sound here and did an A/B with an actual minimoog and more people said the Ion was the moog.

[otto]

I liked the Ion. It has more of a 70's character as far as VA's go. That said, the virus series blows me away and I don't really desire any other VA but I think the VA thing is very much personal taste.