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Alesis Quadrasynth / QS Series
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alesis-quadrasynth-qs-series.md

Alesis Quadrasynth / QS Series

Alesis Studio Electronics was founded in 1984 in Hollywood, California. Initially started by selling digital effects processors at a price more accessible to home project studios, they branched out into sequencers, drum machines, and revolutionized the audio industry by introducing the ADAT digital tape standard.

The Alesis Quadrasynth series seems to be named after the QuadraVerb 2 FX processor that was developed for the QuadraVerb 2 multi-effects unit released in 1994, the "Quadra" prefix aluding to the four categories of effects provided - Reverb; Delay; Pitch and EQ. The first three generations made use of the same processor for effects, with the fourth and fifth generation featuring a "QuadraSynth 2" four-Bus Parallel Matrix (reverb, chorus, distortion, EQ, delay, rotary speaker simulation, and more).

All QuadraSynths featured 64 voices. The keyboard units all featured velocity and aftertouch sensitivity. 4th and 5th generation included release velocity.

Gen Year Name ROM Size Expansion Slots Keys
1st 1993 Alesis Quadrasynth 16 MB 1 PCMCIA slot - 8 MB 76 keys; semi-weighted; synth-action
1st 1993 Alesis S4 16 MB 1 PCMCIA slot - 8 MB n/a
2nd 1995 Alesis Quadrasynth Plus 20 MB 1 PCMCIA slot - 8 MB 76 keys; semi-weighted; synth-action
2nd 1995 Alesis Quadrasynth Plus Piano 24 MB 1 PCMCIA slot - 8 MB 76 keys; semi-weighted; synth-action
2nd 1995 Alesis S4 Plus 20 MB 1 PCMCIA slot - 8 MB n/a
3rd 1996 Alesis QS6 8 MB 1 PCMCIA slot - 8 MB 61 keys; synth-action
3rd 1996 Alesis QS7 16 MB 2 PCMCIA slots - 16 MB 76 keys; semi-weighted; synth-action
3rd 1996 Alesis QS8 16 MB 2 PCMCIA slots - 16 MB 88 keys; weighted, hammer-action
3rd 1996 Alesis QSR 16 MB 2 PCMCIA slots - 16 MB n/a
4th 1999 Alesis QS6.1 16 MB 2 PCMCIA slots - 16 MB 61 keys; synth-action
4th 1999 Alesis QS7.1 16 MB 2 PCMCIA slots - 16 MB 76 keys; semi-weighted; synth-action
4th 1999 Alesis QS8.1 16 MB 2 PCMCIA slots - 16 MB 88 keys; weighted, hammer-action
5th 1999 Alesis QS6.2 16 MB 1 PCMCIA slots - 8 MB 61 keys; synth-action
5th 1999 Alesis QS8.2 16 MB 1 PCMCIA slots - 8 MB 88 keys; weighted, hammer-action
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