Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 3:35 pm
I wrote a bit about it here: Thoughts on the Alesis Micron synth...colabonham wrote:How have you liked your Micron? Been thinking about getting instead of an MicroKorg (but in reality it comes down to which one I can get a better deal on).
As I said in that post, I found mine used on craigslist for $250 and it was owned and well-cared-for by a major synth nerd, so it was a no-brainer for me. I haven't used it much live since I bought a Moog LP for my thirtieth birthday last year, but only because I primarily used the Micron as a Moog simulator in the first place with the band I'm in now. I'd like to integrate the Micron into my live setup as well, but carting around guitar w/hardcase, huge amp, pedalboard w/flightcase, and Moog w/flightcase is enough of a nightmare for me as it is. It'd be great to have some polyphony with the Micron, and it'd also be nice to make use of some of the great patches I've made and found -- but I'm not ready to go full Wakeman just yet.
I use the Micron a lot at home, and it's really an incredibly powerful synth. It's not as difficult to program as it looks, as there's a fairly ingenious method of jumping around the parameters by holding down a function button and using the keyboard keys to navigate. There's also a killer VST/AU knob-per-function interface to use when jacked into a computer. I don't do a whole lot of knob-tweaking when playing live, so I always found the three knobs and two sliders (plus mod wheel) to be perfectly adequate.