Alesis Quadraverb

1988, MIDI, Digital Stereo Multi-Effects Unit

Alesis Quadraverb

The Quadraverb is a very flexible and controllable multi-effects unit with EQ, reverb, delay, resonator, flanger, phaser, ring modulation etc. The reason my Quad has been such a major part of my music is the midi control; 6 selectable realtime controllers based on which effects you have running in that patch. I have a patch setup especially for this job: Midi controlled reverb and delay; delay time left, delay time right, delay feedback left, delay feedback right, delay input level and reverb input level. What more do you need! Everything starts dry until you bring the delay or reverb input level up via midi. This is an excellent patch for making complex short delay patterns and again you will hear this a lot in my older music.

Unfortunately my PC isn’t quite as good at midi parameter control as my old Atari was. Maybe it’s my soundcard or whatever but the Atari could handle far more midi data simultaneously than my PC can and this is highlighted by the intensive Quadraverb control that I used to use. I want to fix this; see update below.

The presets on the Quad are very good quality and inspiring to flick through. It has flexible routing options and plenty ways to customize the sound. The resonator has 6 channels so you can produce some great pitched sounds with that. I really like the phase shifter too, excellent for using before duby delays in the chain. This unit is also my primary unit for feeding back mono dub delays as it is pure and clean with no detrimental colouration. An all round very useful effects rack. I actually have two but the screen on one is totally dead so I just blindly wonder through its presets.

Update March 2012: My hardware effects units are all in hibernation due to the software world – however; I plan to get a soundcard capable of sending/receiving to hardware effects units some day and the Quadraverb is one of the effects racks that I want to be available. I’ve just spotted replacement screens on eBay for £20 so I will be able to fix those. Also note there are the Quadraverb Plus, Quadraverb GT, Quadraverb 2, and Quadraverb 20 (RRP when new: £899!!) – all look very good indeed but I have never used them.

Resources

  • Alesis Quadraverb Manual PDF
  • Alesis Quadraverb Patcher 1.4 by Karl E Schmidt(Screenshot)
    This is an old program and I havent tested it myself, in the readme file it suggests making another backup before using this so be careful and use this at your own risk.
    NEWS: I have a report from Luca in Italy saying that it does work but only under XP/2000 or before; it will not work on Win 7, tested with a Quadraverb Plus and all working: “Midi connections are good but it’s very slow and you can manage only single patch!” – Thanks Luca 🙂
  • How do I reinitialize my QuadraVerb?
    Power on while holding: “BYPASS” and “PROGRAM”. After the usual power-up screens an initialized “Basic Program” will appear at location 00. Clears memory, restores the original factory settings.

14 Comments

  • Asante says:

    Hey i recently bought an Alesis Quadraverb 20 k and even installed the update chip but i can’t seem to get past the “Basic Program” setting. Whenever i press a value button it just says “Not Used In This Configuration”. Do you know how i can get past this?

    • Chris says:

      Hi, when you press “Prog” does it light up red? It normally would; so you can use ‘value’ to move up and down programs. Maybe the ‘Prog’ button isn’t working, or needs a firm press?

      • Asante says:

        The “prog” button is red regardless while on the “prog” setting and just stays red no matter how hard i press.

        • Chris says:

          Well, just checked the manual and while PROG is selected the Value buttons should move you through the programs. Does the red light on PROG go off when you press the CONFIG button?

  • Asante says:

    Yea the red light on “PROG” went off when i pressed “CONFIG”

    • Chris says:

      OK, so if you go back and press PROG again; red light comes on, Value should move to other programs .. if it doesn’t then you have a problem. I wonder if the chip isn’t working, would go back to the factory chip and see if that works.

      • Asante says:

        Alright, I’ll try the original chip and I’ll get back to you

        • Asante says:

          Yea so i put the original chip back in but now when i press “VALUE” while on the “PROG” setting, a bunch of nonsense shows up

          • Chris says:

            Mmm ok, maybe try cleaning the connections where the chip connects to the socket or something? Sounds like a chip/socket problem to me, patches aren’t being loaded correctly. But I could be wrong ofc….

  • Asante says:

    Yea i have no idea what im doing. I just figured it would come ready to go. Do you know of anyone or anyplace that can fix it?

    • Chris says:

      Well yea if you buy something it should be in working order. Probably just the chip not seated very well; worth fiddling more with. Where are you?

      • Asante says:

        Yea probably I’ll keep trying. I’m in Pomona California

        • Chris says:

          Cool, the Quad is a great sounding unit, probably just needs to contact cleaner in that socket or something .. Might be worth looking on facebook for ‘synth repair’ near you.. good luck!

  • Christopher S Good says:

    Need to connect a midi cable from the midi in to midi out while you’re reinitializing the quadraverb after it goes through the self test take the MIDI cable out turning it off and back on again I’ve sometimes had to reinitialize a few times for it to work correctly

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