Alesis QS8?

[Julia]

I've possibly got an opportunity to make a trade of one guitar for this. I know it's old tech, and my planned use is for Audio Out to some kind of Roland keyboard amp (I don't need anything big -- the 60W amp would do fine) in the studio to practice along with some backing tracks and use for midi input for Alicia's Keys and Reason 4 (I really don't think I'm going to update for a while).

Anyone know what these are worth these days? It will determine which guitar the guy gets. I'm selling four of my collection. I'm thinking the 07 Schecter C-1 Hellraiser (worth about $400) because I never play it.

 

[elwoodblues1969]

The QS8 does have some pristine sounding presets,but it has only 16MB of ROM(worth of sounds),while the average keyboard these days is at least 256MB.

For that reason,the QS8 isn't worth much in my book & if I were you,I would trade the least expensive piece of sh*t guitar you have,for the QS8.

The estimated value of this synth(according to VintageSynth.com),is at least $700...which is ludicrous.

-Elwood

 

[Burn4Him]

well thats according to vintage synth however i just looked one up on ebay and it was 200 bucks (still bidding)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ALESIS-QS8-SYTH.../330463146962?pt=Keyboards_MIDI#ht_500wt_1154

and a buy it now for 550

http://cgi.ebay.com/ALESIS-QS8-2-88...ENT-CONDITION-/330463599484?pt=Keyboards_MIDI

and if you just want the sounds there was a rack unit of it for 150

http://cgi.ebay.com/ALESIS-QSR-Thin...29775369?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0#ht_2655wt_1139

if you never play it then maybe its not such a bad trade but what are the other guitars you have up for sale?

the schecter seems like a pretty fair trade to me.

 

[Julia]

I need the 88 weighted keyboard, pitch bend and mod wheels. Sustain & Expression pedals. And midi out. I know that M-Audio makes the ProKeys 88 but I've read durability issues about that and the Alesis is supposed to be built like a tank. And it will be a lot less money going out than with a Yamaha CP33 which I wouldn't be able to get until February. Still would need a small keyboard amp and that's the Roland.

if you never play it then maybe its not such a bad trade but what are the other guitars you have up for sale?

the schecter seems like a pretty fair trade to me.

I'm also selling a:

* G&L Legacy (just not my tone)
* Fender Mustang (I went through a grunge phase)
* Epiphone LP Special w/ P90s & set neck

The Epi is worth about $250. Mustang is the 65 reissue $600 for that. The G&L bought used for $670 so $670 for that.

This leaves the Schecter which was originally $650. So I figure $400 for that (considering the new model of the same is $850) and it's probably a decent one for one swap. It would save me a bundle. I'm not going to use it live. I've got all the synths w/ Reason 4 and perhaps later Komplete 7 will get added. For recorded piano, Alicia's Keys will do the job. It's for studio practice, not for performance. I'm not gigging. I'm writing and recording.

The guy wants a humbucker guitar. He only has a Strat at the moment. And he never uses the keyboard.

 

[goz211]

Hello Julia

Have you wired it up and got it going with your computer set-up? If it all works fine and you like the feel when you play the NI soundpack - go for it. Your guitar is gathering dust. It's still a good keyboard.

Have you already purchased the NI soundpack?

Could you sell your guitar and actually get $400?

 

[Burn4Him]

Good deal! go for it!

 

[Julia]

Yes, I could get $450 to $550 for the Hellraiser -- I checked the completed auctions on ebay. It's a fair deal. Everyone wins. I'm not using the Hellraiser. He's not using the QS8. Both are gathering dust. Virtually no money out of pocket which means I can get this NOW instead of putting off recording my projects until February, and going into debt for another $1000. Everyone wins.

I've had the Alicia's Keys (NI) piano plugin for a while. It sounds great. It's about the most realistic sounding recorded piano plugin I've heard, and that runs fine with Kontakt Player 4.1.1 and Pro Tools 8.0.1 cs1 (I have XP so no point in updating further since the only updates are to accommodate Win 7, IE8, and fixing stuff they broke when they updated to support these two).

I hope the guy has the pedals, otherwise I've got to find out if Alesis uses the Roland or Yamaha standard. I'm actually thinking the Roland CM-30 will be big enough for studio use as a monitor. Remember I've got a Steinway downstairs for primary.

 

[goz211]

CM-30 and Truepianos

I'd be interested to know how Alicia's Keys measures up to Truepianos. There's a free demo of Truepianos. Did you try it or pianoteq before you bought the NI soundpack?

Lucky you having a Steinway.

I have two CM-30s which I use for monitoring at home and as my smallest PA for gigging. They're great. Rather have a Steinway though.

 

[Burn4Him]

the alicia keys piano is very very good however i prefer the italian grand at synthology.com

 

[Julia]

I'd be interested to know how Alicia's Keys measures up to Truepianos. There's a free demo of Truepianos. Did you try it or pianoteq before you bought the NI soundpack?

Lucky you having a Steinway.

I have two CM-30s which I use for monitoring at home and as my smallest PA for gigging. They're great. Rather have a Steinway though.

The Steinway was from inheritance money, and it was pretty inexpensive for a Steinway. I just had to put $3000 (rebuild with my huge discount) into it immediately after purchase. It's a fully restored 1916 model M. The A string on that model is about 5" longer than on a new one. So it's like having a 6' grand in a 5' 7" box. Plus the wood of the soundboard is just fantastic. I had it rebuilt with a modified Renner action, and Abel hammers. I had slightly stiffer return springs put in so that the keys return faster. Action at middle C is 47 g instead of the standard 52 g. Very light. It did make it difficult playing on a former teacher's beast (57 g at middle C -- the person was sadistic toward students) which was funny since we had the same tech.

If I were to buy a newer piano today, I'd go with Yamaha because Steinway hasn't been very consistent over the past 30 years.

I didn't try Truepianos. I went by several posts over on DUC (Digi User's Conference) that were discussing various plugins. AK is really nice sounding. You can orient the piano stereo from looking at the keyboard as a player or from the listening point of the audience (which I use extensively). It has the mechanical noises of the pedals and action, too. You can also adjust mic noise and "tube" saturation if you want a more "vintage" sound. People have had problems with Kontakt 4.0.1 with this, but they tell you to update to Kontakt 4.1.1 and that eliminated the latency issue.

But with MIDI, even the 2.9 ms latency (Truepianos) will bug me in a mix because I will compensate for it, and this is why I needed a keyboard with its own sound and a dedicated amp rather than a straight MIDI. So I'll be listening to the Alesis sound while playing, and then have the AK sound recorded when I'm playing with others. Solo it won't bother me. My quad core doesn't come close to any problems even with Reason 4 and PT running.

Truepianos does not have an RTAS version for Windows. For Mac, yes, for Windows XP no. To use with PT, I would need to go through the fXpansion VST/RTAS wrapper -- and this introduces more latency when recording.