I have it. It's hands down the best SOUNDING virtual analog to date.

But...the polyphony is limited to eight.

But...there are some nasty bugs in the OS that the bastards at Alesis won't fix until early next year.

But...there are no on-board delays (not technically) or reverbs. Not a problem for some.

It's generally regarded as the most analog sounding Virtual analog yet.

It has a great sounding saturation section.

The basses are incredible. The leads are unbeatable.

The bugs will probably be worked through, but don't get it if the polyphony issue bothers you.

And one last thing, it doesn't look the same in real life. Not as good looking as it is in the pics.

I believe if they work through the bugs and add some on-board (quality) efffects and increase the polyphony, it will be an instant classic.

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Last edited by Etherium on Nov-20-2003 at 18:20

yea, i was playing with it at a local shop so i noticed the difference of its appearance. that doesn't bother me at all. what kind of bugs are in the OS? other than that i think i'm going to have a wonderful xmas

First of all, not all Ions have the bug, and if you get one from a recent batch, then maybe there are no worries.

The Ion has a "jump-to" patch editing system. So when you touch the amp release knob, it jumps to the amp envelope screen containing all of the amp envelope parameters. My particular Ion jumps to the oscillator 3 edit menu at the most inopportune times without me even touching the oscillator 3 knob. So, I'll be adjusting the filter and all of sudden it jumps to oscillator 3 and I've adjusted the fine tune by seven semitones. Then I readjust the pitch to what it was and go edit something else and it happens again. Very, very annoying. It really makes me not even want to make patches. And it really pisses me off that Alesis hasn't done anything about it yet.

One day, I left the Ion on, and when I came back from work the Oscillator 3 fine tune and drifted a full octave. Others have slightly different, but similar problems.

I don't think you'll be disappointed with the Ion, it is quite possibly the best VA to date and almost certainly the best sounding, but just be aware of the two regrettable limitations of limited polyphony and potential bugginess.

Hope that helps.

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thanks!!