Alesis ION and on and on and on and on and on and on and on.
So after a bit of noodling with the MicroFreak, which I am enjoying though I do find myself starting to become annoyed with certain things, I thought I'd fire up the ION and screw around with that one for a change, only to discover that the m1 wheel was acting wonky. I have the LEDs for the wheels set to change brightness depending on their position (the further away from zero, the brighter) and though the pitch and m2 wheels were functioning properly, the LED for the m1 wheel was freaking out blinking on and off and staying on then suddenly shutting off and doing all sorts of This Is Not Normal stuff. Great! Just what I need! Aaaaaaargh.
Anyway. I've been buying dead Photon series keyboard controllers off the auction here for about a year and a bit now, with the sole intent to use them for parts harvesting as the knobs and wheels are exact, drop-in (or push-on) compatible with the ION, and Cuntaur, I mean, Syntaur, ahem, well they charge way too much for what they're selling (I mean, $5 a knob, really?!), though sometimes there's no other option. So I had spare parts enough to just desolder the connection, yank out the wheel assembly, put in a working one, solder the pot connection and bam we're good to go. Here's a photo of the wheel assembly:
As far as I can tell, the value of the pot is the same (B5k I think) though the wonky one was reading like over 5m and the reading was continually fluctuating so I dunno what the hell happened to that thing, but it's in full Freak Out mode so whatever, yanked that fucker outta there. The assembly, as I mentioned above, is drop-in compatible so that made things nice and easy. So any of you ION owners out there who are worried about the longevity and availability of parts, maybe looking on evilbay or reverb or whatever for the photon series of controllers is something you should consider. I don't think I've paid more than $40 for one, and that one is a currently fully functional deal that I use to control some stuff even now. In any case, the ION is back to full health.
Something struck me after noodling with it too. The MicroFreak can do a lot more synthesis types, and the sequencer (and accompanying four-lane knob recording deal) is a great tool to have at your disposal, but I found that I enjoyed the results much more with the ION. Sure, the ION only has three waveforms per oscillator, but you can waveshape them, and thanks to an extensive, totally set-it-up-how-you-want mod matrix, as well as the drive and (measly) effects sections, somehow I ended up feeling that the ION is sort of head and shoulders above the MicroFreak, but that's just my opinion. I like the MicroFreak, don't get me wrong. But some things are happening that are forcing my hand with reducing studio/gear collection size, and the MF will most likely be on its way out pretty soon. And it's a shame because it's a fun little machine. Oh well, that's how it goes I guess. Anyway, see ya next time!