Micron
Analog Modeling Synth
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This is one of the cutest, smallest, yet most powerful synths I've ever put my hands on! The Micron is the sequel to the popular Ion, and while it can be considered as the Ion's younger brother, it actually has a few enhancements that are absent on the big bro. This is a very clean, precise, sparkly and definitely virtual analog (or analog modeled) sounding synth. Eight voices of polyphony are plenty for these types of units, but we would always want more. The synth engine is the same as the Ion though, but extra and welcome features include sequencing, arpeggio, and great on board percussion, and the ability to build patterns. The Micron really sounds bigger than it looks:
while personally I feel that the character of its synth engine
leans on the more digitally precise DSP side of virtual analog
technology, it's certainly capable of huge, warm and fat sounds. |
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| The main panel is logically laid out and easy to understand. At the very left, a big red knob offers volume control; the two "m1" and "m2" sliders provide useful modulation control, typically (but not always) vibrato and filter cutoff. The three knobs labeled "x", "y" and "z" also offer way of modulating sounds, and can (ought to) be assigned to your favorite parameters. Two octave buttons, and other useful commands such as tap (tempo) and latch (sustains the notes) occupy the space at the left of the two-line backlit green display. Finally, a multi-function matrix with push-down knob serve as the central nerve system of the machine, letting you easily access programs, setups, configurations, patterns and rhythms. You do the programming by turning the knob to view the various editing pages. In all, it's simple to program, and the manual does a fantastic job of being easy to follow and easy to understand. | |
Alesis Micron factory programs audio demos in mp3
Factory Programs audio demos
| Program name with audio demo | My comments |
| Bass 01-47 - AcidAndOilBass | Enormously fat synth bass, very modern and aggressive |
| Bass 02-47 - Alien Womb | Cool electro bass sound, reminds of Mr. Oizo a bit. |
| Bass 05-47 - Big Bass Pedal | Analog modeling at its best. Note how tweaking sliders and knobs can alter the base sound quickly and effectively. |
| Bass 09-47 - Closet Bass | Remarkably realistic analog bass, very Moog. |
| Bass 14-47 - Growl Bass | Another excellent modeled synth bass. |
| Bass 15-47 - Hacker Bass | Deep techno bass |
| Bass 17-47 - J00p1t3r | Very nice representation of the Roland Jupiter bass sound |
| Bass 23-47 - Machinery Bass | Perfect for trance |
| Bass 24-47 - Mini Twin Bass | The Moog filter in action... |
| Bass 27-47 - Old Favorite | Of course by old favorite Alesis means the Roland TB-303. Excellent emulation. |
| Bass 34-47 - Rhythmo | Nice panned synth bass, similar to sounds Depeche Mode used in the early '80s. |
| Bass 36-47 - Spit Bass | Nice reverse synth bass |
| Bass 38-47 - Sub Bass | Woooof... |
| Bass 42-47 - TaurusBassPdls | Obvious reference to the Moog Taurus pedals |
| Bass 44-47 - TomSawyerBass | From Rush's song, a good emulation of the sound used in it. |
| Lead 02-43 - AquamarineLead | Killer analog, screaming lead |
| Lead 04-43 - Cars Sync | Classic oscillator sync patch |
| Lead 07-43 - Flatulent Duck | Love the name of this patch :-) |
| Lead 12-43 - LeadOfSixSines | Perfect recreation of Rick Wakeman's 70s Mini sound |
| Lead 13-43 - Lucky Porta m2 | The usual ELP "Lucky Man" lead. Quite good. |
| Lead 17-43 - Micron Flute | Very realistic, actually - great use of noise parameters. |
| Lead 18-43 - Mini 5th | Incredible emulation! Nails the Minimoog tone. |
| Lead 19-43 - Mini Classic | Another classic Minimoog emulation |
| Lead 20-43 - Odyssee Lead | Very similar to the ARP Odyssey used by Herbie Hancock in "Chameleon". |
| Lead 24-43 - ScreaminWarpLd | Eminently useful trance comp/lead. |
| Lead 32-43 - Tarkus Carcass | Another classic ELP patch |
| Pad 05-127 - Aeon Choir | Very, very nice filters in action - |
| Pad 06-127 - AnotherLongDay | Beautiful sparkling, moving pad, Wavestation-like |
| Pad 07-127 - AstrologySweep | Classic, solid filter sweeps |
| Pad 09-127 - Backing Vox | Exquisite, ethereal vox pad |
| Pad 118-127 - Vocoded Ents | A bit digital but okay. |
| Pad 120-127 - Voices | Nice Mellotron-like program |
| Pad 15-127 - Classic Vox | Sounds like an early 8-bit sampler vox sample |
| Pad 19-127 - Deep Space | Cool LFO-based patch |
| Pad 26-127 - Ecology | Gorgeous synth that works as pad and also for melodies |
| Pad 33-127 - Ghosty Voice | Very good analog voice emulation |
| Pad 49-127 - Kirumamoru | This is a actually a screen name for a guy on the Harmony Central keyboard forums |
| Pad 65-127 - Morten'J | This one too, although I have not seen Morten'J around for quite some time |
| Pad 71-127 - Oberpad | Nice and analog string pad, with Oberheim filter |
| Pad 91-127 - Silver Lining | Beautiful, moving reso pad |
| String 09-18 - Nervoso Strngs | Meaty analog strings |
| String 12-18 - SilkyVerySilky | Ravishing, warm and supremely analog sounding synth strings |
| Brass 02-26 - AnalogHorns ff | Classic analog brass |
| Brass 19-26 - Regal Horns | Variant of the above |
| Key 01-36 - 60's Organ | Great organ patch |
| Key 14-36 - GroovyAuto-Wah | Filter in action |
| Key 32-36 - StreetsOfParis | Charming button accordion |
| Key 35-36 - Vintage Piano | Cool ana-digi electric piano |
| Key 36-36 - Zorgan | Excellent patch - the sliders add Leslie |
| Comp 01-113 - 1and2andComp | Very 1980s and cool |
| Comp 02-113 - Ai-ya! | Outstanding vocal emulation |
| Comp 05-113 Baba O'Riley | The classic sound from the Who song. |
| Comp 100-113 - The 80s | Absolutely |
| Comp 113-113 - WontGetFooled | The other famous Who song |
| Comp 19-113 - Dude! | Powerful! |
| Comp 44-113 - Laryngitis | More voxy foxy |
| Comp 69-113 - Punchy Harp | Particular, different. |
| Drum medley-118 | This is a walkthrough of the many on-board percussion sounds. Excellent sounds. |
| Sfx 01-50 - 101 Vocoder | Decent but not too intelligible. I'm saying "This is the vocoder on the Alesis Micron... x2". |
| Sfx 02-50 - Deep Vocoder | Okay... I'm saying "This is the Deep Vocoder patch on the Alesis Micron... Deep Vocoder patch..." |
| Sfx 07-50 - Goblin Talk | Cool! I'm saying "Hi, this is the goblin. How are you all doing? x3" |
| Sfx 10-50 - Airlock Door | Nice sound fx |
| Sfx 12-50 - Bombs Away | Incredible emulation of a propeller airplane!!! Outstanding! |
| Sfx 14-50 - Close one! | Bombs |
| Sfx 17-50 - Dead Pack,Man | The famous Pacman sound fx |
| Sfx 27-50 - Howling Dogs | Fantastic programming job! |
| Sfx 41-50 - The FM Police | FM beauties |
| Sfx 49-50 - Windy City | Classic, standard wind effect |
Factory Setups audio demos
| Setup name with audio demo | My comments |
| 02-146 - 1982 | This is what you can achieve with the Micron by itself... very impressive. |
| 03-146 - Albion | Fantastic setup that truly recalls mid-80s synth-pop. |
| 10-146 - AnalogWorld 05 | Another excellent all-analog synth setup. The Solina-style strings in particular sound great. |
| 105-146 - RhythmWorld 07 | A synth setup typical of the mid 1980s |
| 15-146 - AnalogWorld 10 | Great 909 beat + various synth |
| 37-146 - Easy Beat | Marvelous soft pad setup, with pumping sub bass |
| 53-146 - Ice | Incredible pad, with lush strings and sparkly overtones |
| 62-146 - Micronox | Classic retro synth setup |
| 70-146 - PadWorld 01 | Stunning, melancholic and hypnotic pad/lead split. |
| 99-146 - RhythmWorld 01 | Delightful bass/synth split - the synth truly sounds analog. |
| Features at a glance | |
| Year of release: | |
| Polyphony: | 8-voice |
| Presets: | |
| Rhythms: | |
| Keyboard: | |
| Responds to velocity: | yes |
| Sound generation method: | VA |
| MIDI: | yes |
| Sound expansion capabilities: | no |
| Effects: | |
| Controls: | |
| Outputs: | |
| Display: | |
| Misc: | |
Alesis Micron pictures
(click on thumbnails to enlarge)
Alesis Micron manual
available at www.alesis.com
Links
Alesis Micron Alesis Micron HC demo this is a demo I did a few months ago for the Harmony Central keyboard forum.
Micron features from Alesis:
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| SITE | Type of resource | DESCRIPTION |
| www.alesis.com | ||
Alesis Micron review with audio demo