timebaby's Electronic Studio Setup

100% of its time, for better and worse. Some of its sounds are classics (run its strings and pianos through a good reverb and they're as good as much more expensive modern units), and some are horribly dated. You can get a lot out of it, but programming it takes an advanced degree in computer science. Expandable, but the expansion cards are way too expensive on the used market. I'm not the person to write a comprehensive review of a synth like this, but I can say that for all its faults, I find it impossible not to love, just like the decade that spawned it.

Alesis gear has never been top of the line, but back in the '90s you were thrilled to have it around if you were on a tight budget. I bought my Quadraverb over 20 years ago, and it's still going strong today. I don't make much use of its modulation sounds, which are all done far better by pedals and plug-ins these days. That said, its reverb is still excellent, especially on synths. You can even get more out of it by cranking the input knob to overdrive the reverb, which works better than you'd expect.

Like so many rack units and synths from this era, programming it is a bit of a pain, with lots of menu diving on its little LCD display, but it's not as bad as it could be. Choose one of the preset signal paths, edit each effect to your taste, and hit save. The buttons don't feel great, but at least the value up/down buttons speed up the longer you hold them which makes scrolling through the numerous built in and user programmable presets a little more convenient. It's probably not going to be anyone's primary effects unit these days unless you're intentionally going for the cheesier side of '90s rack sounds, but as a companion to your favorite hardware synth, it's a great affordable unit.