well, shit. i knew this day would come eventually, and here it is...

the display on my alesis fusion is on the blink. literally; just like my vaio screen did a few days ago, it's started flickering and fuzzing and generally behaving like something's just burned out.

this would be annoying but not fatal in most synths, because most synth have an extensive SysEx implementation that allows them to be more or less completely controlled remotely.

but the fusion does not. they never got that far when they were coding the OS - they got stuck on basic stuff, like keeping audio and MIDI in sync...

so this damn thing, which cost £799 new in 2006 (and had its power supply replaced in 2007, after it decided one day that it really didn't like the mains voltage standards in the UK), is basically going to have to go in the bin because as far as i know it can't be effectively serviced :-(

this is why we don't tend to bother having nice things. eventually they go away.