Alesis Virtue Review

We rated the Alesis Virtue a 7/10. This keyboard serves beginners fairly well. The easy-to-assemble parts make it user-friendly, and there are loads of accompaniments available to help fill out your sound. This keyboard is also great for those who are beginners but plan to stick around for a while. Because the polyphony is high, it can also serve advanced beginners to intermediates quite well. The over-300 voice soundbank is also quite impressive. However, the keys are a little light for our tastes, so we had to take a few points off.

Welcome to BestPianoKeyboards! This is Aleah here, and today, we are going to be delving into an Alesis keyboard. Keep reading to find out everything you need to know in this Alesis Virtue 88-key digital piano review. 

Overview

The Alesis Virtue 88-key digital piano is a beginner-to-intermediate electronic piano keyboard. With a full-sized keyboard and 360 built-in voices, it sounds pretty promising! So let’s check out the features.

Features

360 Premium Voices

How many?! Yep, 360. Talk about an upgrade from the last Alesis we took a look at! The Virtue has 360 voices. Let’s delve into what sounds you can create with this thing. Here are some of the more interesting sounds that I gleaned from the manual:

•  A bevy of electronic and grand piano sounds
• Several ‘detuned’ pianos
• Harpsicords
• Clavichords
• Celestes
• Organs
• Harmonicas and accordions
• Guitars (including steel string, nylon, electric, detuned, distorted, and jazz)
• Orchestral strings and synth strings
• Trumpets, trombones, and other brass hits (Included muted brass sounds as well)
• Saxophones (altos, soprano)
• Several FX (like goblins, bells, and other atmospheric sounds)
• World strings (sitar, koto, shamisen)

The thing I love about these sounds is the distinction in the winds. Most pianos just have ‘sax’ or ‘trumpet’, but on the Alesis Virtue, they are much more specific. Being able to choose between a bright trumpet and a muted trumpet, or a nylon string guitar sound vs. a sound with a lot of distortion will make all the difference in your recordings or performances (and even practice!)

3 Months of Skoove

Just like with any new Alesis keyboard, the Virtue comes with 3 months of Skoove for free. Skoove is a program that allows you to choose lesson modules. Every month, this program comes up with new materials. They have pop and classical, which are genres that a lot of new pianists want to look into.

Lesson Mode

Lesson mode splits the keyboard so that the teacher and student are in the same octave. I find this mode to be really helpful as a music educator. This feature would be really helpful to have as an electric piano inside a private music studio.

It’s More than Just the Keyboard

Oftentimes, when I’m researching new keyboards, I have noticed that all they sell you is just that: the keyboard. No stand, no bench, and sometimes, not even a music holder! The Alesis Virtue comes with all three, plus pedals, which I really respect. If you want to get an instrument that has everything you will need to get started inside the package (so you won’t have to sit and play it on the kitchen floor….) then consider this instrument, or one will a full package similar to it.

You’ll Never Run Out of Notes

The polyphony on this instrument is a whopping 128 notes. Unlike a lot of beginner keyboards, this piano has a lot of polyphony. So, what happens when you don’t have enough polyphony?

Say for an (extreme) example, you have a keyboard that has a polyphony of 5. Polyphony, in this context, basically means how many notes the electronic instrument itself can handle. So say you are playing along on a Bach fugue. The first few notes with your right hand come out just fine. But once you start getting into the two-handed part of the fugue, you notice something. All the notes aren’t sounding!  With a small polyphony, you only are able to play that certain number of notes at any given time.

So with the Alesis Virtue, you are ‘limited’ to playing 128 notes at any given time. That’s a lot of notes for those ten fingers of yours. So, as I said, you’re not going to run out. 

The Wide-Range, Adjustable Metronome

One of my main complaints about many metronomes is that they don’t have a wide enough range of tempo. Practicing really slowly, or with the metronome clicking as more of a small ‘microbeat’ has a ton of benefits. This particular model offers a range of 30-280 BMP. While I don’t personally know any professionals who practice at 30 BMP (40? Sometimes!), more variability is always better where this is concerned. 

Loads of Accompaniment Tracks and Demo Songs

With 160 accompaniment styles and 80 demo tracks, no beginner is going to get bored with this piano. As far as accompaniment goes, some of the rhythms that you will find include pop beats, rock beats, and shuffle beats, as well as waltzes, cha-cha’s, and fox’s. You can even find some Chinese folk beats, though I have to admit, I can’t speak for the musical/ cultural authenticity of them. 

Some of the demo songs include American folk songs, Christmas songs, a handful of classical pieces, and pop songs. I do wish that some of the pop songs were a little more new and relevant, but, that’s what Skoove is for, I suppose! Here are some of my favorites that are on the list:

• La Traviata
• Habanera
• Excerpts from Swan Lake
• American Patrol

If you’d like to check out more about the specifics, you can find the Virtue’s Users Guide here.

Easy Assembly for Newbies

According to many of the reviews, I have been reading, the Alesis Virtue is easy to set up from the perspective of a beginner. Now, onward, to specs!

Specifications

• Weight: 64 pounds
• Dimensions: 24 x 13 x 57
• Power Source: Corded
• Split Mode: Yes
• Layer Mode: Yes
• Accompaniments: 160 styles
• Voices: 360
• Demo Songs: 80

Who Is It Suitable For?

Like many pianos in this price range, the Alesis Virtue is suitable for beginners, intermediates, and those who enjoy the casual gig. I think that this piano is on the higher-end of the just-under-$500 keyboards. While many categorize it as strictly an ‘entry-level instrument’, I personally think that it has a little more to offer than that. 

Pros and Cons

Pros

• It is an affordable keyboard bundle
• Easy to set up
• It is a fun instrument for beginners
• It includes a learning subscription
• And, you can hook it up to your Ipad for easy-learning 
• It has many voices
• It has many rhythms and demo songs
• A great quality for gigging

In my personal opinion, this is an affordable keyboard bundle that has a lot to offer. How often do you see an under-500 keyboard that comes with all three types of pedals? Let me give you a hint: Not often at all!  All in all, it is a fun instrument with countless voices. It has everything an intermediate could ask for when it comes to extra features, voices, and modern connectivity options. 

Cons

• The pop demo songs are older
• The music stand is designed to be used with a tablet
• The wood quality could be better
• The sustain pedals sustain is too short for some musicians taste
• The keys do make a slight click
• The keys are light
• The piano itself is heavy
• You’re going to have to be a little handy and put it together…

The fact that the music stand was designed to be used with a tablet is something that comes as a surprise to many musicians who receive this piano. The main drawback here is for those of us (like me) who have an extensive physical sheet music library. If you are going to go with this music, I personally suggest using a piece of music digitizing software like ScanScore to get your music into a digitized (and editable form). You can check it out here.

Another common customer complaint is that the quality of the wood could be better. In low-budget pianos, we often see a lighter wood, or, particle-board. That being said, you get what you pay for. Personally, I was pretty impressed that they used wood at all, because it is an under-$500 piano, so, take that as you will.

Other concerns include that the sustain on the pedals is a little short, and, as we found on the Alesis Concert, the keys do click a little. In addition to this, the keys aren’t graded-hammered, nor are they heavy. That being said, you’re going to have to look to $500+ instruments if you want these features. Also, be prepared to get handy, or find someone who is handy. While the keyboard is relatively easy to put together, it still will require a little elbow grease to get the job done. 

Quick View 

The Virtue Vs. The Concert

If you’ve been sticking around BestPianoKeyboards, you’ve probably seen our other Alesis review on the Concert keyboard. You’re probably wondering, what’s the difference? 

The Alesis Virtue is a higher-tier Alesis piano. The Alesis Concert is great for serious hobbyists, and it is priced around $260-$300 range. So, at $419, the Alesis Concert has a lot more to offer. While both keyboards are full-sized, the Virtue offers SO many more voices. While the Concert only has 10 keyboard voices, the Virtue has 360. This is just a small snapshot of the main difference. As far as similarities go, both pianos come with lesson mode, a metronome, similar connectivity options, and adjustable touch sensitivity. So, which one you choose really depends on how many voices you are looking for, as well as your skill level, and of course, your budget. 

If you are interested in purchasing the Alesis Concert, you can find it here on Amazon.

And, if you’re looking for a higher-end piano that is closer to a professional-grade keyboard (it has GHS keys), check out the Alesis Recital Pro.

Let’s Hear it!

In this one-minute snapshot, you can hear a lovely tidbit of Autumn Leaves on the Alesis Virtue. This is performed on the “StGrandPiano”, which is a resonant and lovely sound sample. 

Alesis Virtue Review: Conclusion

Overall, the Alesis Virtue comes with lots of bells, whistles, and a decent quality. If you are an intermediate pianist looking for an under-500 instrument, the Alesis Virtue is a solid contender. I hope this Alesis Virtue review has proved insightful and will help you make an informed decision on your next instrument. Until next time!

Here’s a music quote for you: 

“Music can lift us out of depression, or move us to tears- it is a remedy, a tonic, orange juice for the ear”

-Oliver Sacks

7Expert Score

We rated the Alesis Virtue a 7/10. This keyboard serves beginners fairly well. The easy-to-assemble parts make it user-friendly, and there are loads of accompaniments available to help fill out your sound. This keyboard is also great for those who are beginners but plan to stick around for a while. Because the polyphony is high, it can also serve advanced beginners to intermediates quite well. The over-300 voice soundbank is also quite impressive. However, the keys are a little light for our tastes, so we had to take a few points off.

PROS

• It is an affordable keyboard bundle
• It is easy to set up
• It is a fun instrument for beginners
• It includes a learning subscription
• And, you can hook it up to your Ipad for easy-learning
• It has many voices
• It has many rhythms and demo songs
• It is a great quality for gigging

CONS

• The pop demo songs are older
• The music stand is designed to be used with a tablet
• The wood quality could be better
• The sustain pedals sustain is too short for some musicians taste
• The keys do make a slight click
• The keys are light
• The piano itself is heavy
• You’re going to have to be a little handy and put it together