MIDIFEX © 1986 Alesis.
The Alesis MIDIFEX was a budget-priced digital multi-effects processor designed to bring professional-quality studio effects to home and project studios. Developed by Alesis, it shared much of its hardware architecture with the groundbreaking MIDIverb but replaced dedicated reverb processing with a broader range of delay-based and spatial effects. The unit offered 63 preset programs, including delays, echoes, stereo enhancement, panning effects, and specialized reverbs, all accessible through a simple preset-selection interface. It also supported MIDI program changes, allowing effects to be recalled remotely from sequencers or MIDI controllers.
The MIDIFEX was introduced only a few months after the hugely successful MIDIverb and was designed using much of the same hardware platform.
Like the MIDIverb, it featured 63 fixed presets and intentionally avoided complex editing controls in order to reduce cost and simplify operation.
The unit offered a wide variety of effects including single, double, and triple-tap delays, stereo synthesis, auto-panning, thickening effects, filtered echoes, and reverse-style reverbs.
Many of its effects would have required multiple expensive studio processors to reproduce using conventional equipment in 1986.
The "MIDI" in MIDIFEX referred primarily to MIDI-controllable preset selection, allowing effect changes to be automated from a sequencer.
It was housed in the same compact half-rack enclosure as the MIDIverb and could be mounted in a standard rack using an optional adapter.
The MIDIFEX helped establish Alesis' reputation for delivering studio-quality digital processing at prices affordable to home musicians.
Together, the MIDIverb and MIDIFEX were among the products that accelerated the rise of the project studio market during the second half of the 1980s.