After months of rampant rumors and speculation, Alesis (www.alesis.com) announced that it filedfor Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on April 27, 2001. The filingwas made in conjunction with an agreement to be acquired by NumarkCorporation. Numark manufactures professional DJ equipmentincluding mixers, turntables, CD players, headphones andmicrophones. An auction for the company was to have been held onMay 23 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles.
Alesis said it will continue normal operations during itsprotection period; there is no word yet on new product development,but the company said it plans to follow through on technologyannouncements made at AES and NAMM.
In related news, Groove Tubes announced earlier that itsthree-year partnership with Alesis has come to an end. Groove Tubesretains all original product designs, intellectual property for itsstudio mics and processors that were invented before thepartnership, and retains exclusive rights to the Groove Tubestrademark and GT logo.