User manual ALESIS QS62

[. . . ] Reference Manual This page intentionally left blank 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Table Of Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Important Safety Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Chapter 1: Connections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Chapter 2: First Session. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Playing the Demos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Playing Programs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Finding Programs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Playing Split and Layered Programs (Mixes). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Changing the Programs in a Mix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Selecting Banks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Using the Performance Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Transposing the Keyboard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Storing and Copying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Chapter 3: Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 The Front Panel Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 The Edit Modes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Global and Store Modes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Special Editing Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Compare. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Resetting Parameter Values. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Chapter 4: Expansion Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 PCMCIA Expansion Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Playing Card Sounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Playing Card Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Saving a Bank to an SRAM Card (Formatting) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Saving a Program or Mix to an SRAM Card. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Loading Banks from a Card. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Loading a Program or Mix from a Card. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Transferring Mix Banks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Chapter 5: MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 MIDI Connections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Using Your QS With a MIDI Sequencer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Changing the MIDI Channel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Saving Programs and Mixes Via MIDI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Chapter 6: Global Parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Setting the Master Pitch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Fine Tuning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Picking the Keyboard Velocity Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Setting the Keyboard Velocity Scaling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Transposing the Keyboard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Setting the Keyboard MIDI Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Turning on General MIDI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Setting the A-D Controller MIDI Numbers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Setting the Pedal 1 MIDI Controller Number. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Setting the Pedal 2 MIDI Controller Number. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Selecting the MIDI Program Change Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 1 Table Of Contents Setting the Behavior of the MIDI Out Port. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Resetting the A-D Controllers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Setting the A-D Controller MIDI Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Chapter 7: Editing Programs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 QS Composite SynthesisTM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Selecting a Sound to Edit [00-30 SOUND] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 The Voice Function [40 VOICE] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 The Level Function [50 LEVEL] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 The Pitch Function [60 PITCH]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 The Filter Function [70 FILTER]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 The Amp/Range Function [80 AMP/RANGE] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 The Pitch Envelope Function [90 PITCH ENVELOPE] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 The Filter Envelope Function [100 FILTER ENVELOPE]. . . . . . . . . . 44 The Amplitude Envelope Function [110 AMP ENVELOPE] . . . . . . 45 Naming the Program [120 NAME]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Copying Sound Layers [STORE]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Auditioning Programs Before Storing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Chapter 8: Modulations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Selecting a Mod Route [0-5 MOD] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 The Pitch LFO Function [6 PITCH LFO] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 The Filter LFO Function [7 FILTER LFO]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 The Amplitude LFO Function [8 AMP LFO] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Scaling Modulation Sources [9 TRACK GEN]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Chapter 9: Editing Drum Kits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Selecting a Drum to Edit [0-9 DRUM]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Selecting the Drum Sample [40 VOICE] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 The Level Function [50 LEVEL] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 The Pitch Function [60 PITCH]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Setting the Velocity Filter Curve [70 FILTER]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 The Amp/Range Function [80 AMP/RANGE] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 The Amp/Env Function [AMP ENV 110] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Chapter 10: Editing Mixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Changing the Programs Within a Mix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Getting Into Mix Edit Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 The Level Function [60 LEVEL] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 The Pitch Function [70 PITCH]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 The Effect Function [80 EFFECT] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 The Keyboard/MIDI Function [90 KEYBOARD/MIDI]. . . . . . . . . . . . 66 The Controller Function [100 CONTROLLERS] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 The Range Function [110 RANGE] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Naming the Mix [120 NAME] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 The Mix Edit Buffers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Chapter 11: Editing Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Setting the Send Levels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Getting Into Effects Edit Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Storing Effects Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Copying Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 The Configuration Function [40 CONFIGURATION] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Configuration 1: 1 REVERB. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 2 Table of Contents Configuration 2: 2 REVERBS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Configuration 3: LEZLIE+REVERB. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Configuration 4: 1 REVERB+EQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Configuration 5: OVERDRIVE+LEZLIE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Selecting a Send to Edit [00-30 SEND]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 The EQ Function [50 EQ] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 The Mod Function [60 MOD]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 The Lezlie Function [70 LEZLIE]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 The Pitch Function [80 PITCH]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 The Delay Function [90 DELAY] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 The Reverb Function [100 REVERB] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 The Overdrive Function [110 OVERDRIVE]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Setting the Effects Output Levels [120 MIX]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Appendix A: Frequently Asked Questions . . . 89 How do I split the keyboard?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 How do I layer two sounds on the keyboard?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 What is a MIDI Sequence?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Where can I get MIDI sequences for the QS? [. . . ] You can choose either a Sound in the current Program, or different Program. (If you choose a different Program, the Sound layer to be copied will be determined by your destination choice). 4 ) Press [PAGE >] again to advance the cursor to the lower line of the display. 5 ) Use the [VALUE] buttons to choose a destination. Depending on the choice you made in step 3, you will be able to choose either a Sound layer, or a Program number. If you selected a Program number in the top line, you'll only be able to select Sounds 1-4 as the destination Sound. Keep in mind that your choice here will also determine which Sound will be copied from the Program number you chose in the top line. If you selected one of the current Program's four Sounds in the top line, you'll be able to select any of the other three Sounds in the current Program or one of the Programs in the User Bank (000127). The Sound number in the top line determines the target Sound within the User Program you chose. 6 ) Press [STORE] to copy the Sound. Auditioning Programs Before Storing When it's time to store your Program, you may need to "look around" to find a Program that you don't need anymore so you can overwrite it. To do this, you can take advantage of the fact that you can move between Program Mode and Mix Mode without losing your changes. So, to find a new location to store your edited Program, jump into Mix Mode, search for a Program you can overwrite there, then jump back into Program Mode and store the Program. NOTE: The way to tell the difference between a program edited in Program Mode and one edited from Mix Mode is by looking at the display: in Program Edit Mode, "PROG EDIT" appears in the lower-left corner of the display, while in Mix Program Edit Mode, "MIXPROG EDIT" appears. 48 8 Modulations The Mod Routes As we mentioned in the previous chapter, modulation refers to modifying some aspect of a sound. For example, sound volume is shaped (or modulated) by the Amplitude Envelope. A Mod Route refers to a modulation source and the destination that it is modulating. In the previous chapter, we've already covered some of the "hard wired" mod routes. One example is the Pitch LFO, which can always be used to modulate pitch. In addition however, there are six general-purpose mod routes that have many more possible mod sources and destinations. Using these, you can: · Use a slider to control brightness, effect level, LFO speed, etc. · Use velocity to increase the attack speed of an envelope, so playing softly makes the sound fade in, while playing hard causes an immediate attack. · Use release velocity to decrease the release time of an envelope, so quick releases of the keys cut off the end of the sound, while slow key releases allow the sound to fade away gradually. Hard Wired Mod Routes One way to extend the power of your Mod section is to be sure you're not routing something with a Mod that could be handled elsewhere in the QS's functions. Here's a list of routings that are "hard wired" into the QS: Source Aftertouch Destination Amplitude Amplitude LFO Depth Filter Frequency Filter LFO Depth Pitch Pitch LFO Depth Amplitude Filter Frequency Filter Frequency Amplitude LFO Depth Filter Frequency Filter LFO Depth Pitch LFO Depth Envelope Time Tracking Filter Frequency Pitch Pitch Pitch Filter Envelope Level Filter Frequency Pitch Envelope Level Button [80 AMP/RANGE] [8 AMP LFO] [70 FILTER] [7 FILTER LFO] [60 PITCH] [6 PITCH LFO] [8 AMP LFO] [100 FILTER ENV] [7 FILTER FREQ] [8 AMP LFO] [70 FILTER] [7 FILTER LFO] [6 PITCH LFO] [90-110 P/F/AENV] [70 FILTER] [90 PITCH ENV] [6 PITCH LFO] [60 PITCH] [100 FILTER ENV] [70 FILTER] [90 PITCH ENV] Page 2 7 5 7 5 7 5 10 5 6 4 6 6 8 2 10 5 4 11 3 11 Amplitude LFO Filter Envelope Filter LFO Mod Wheel Note Number Pitch Envelope Pitch LFO Pitch Wheel Velocity 49 8 Modulations Editing the Mod Routes The Mod Routes are part of each Program, just like any other program parameter (like Filter Frequency for example). Hit [EDIT] from Program mode to begin editing. Selecting a Mod Route [0-5 MOD] In Program Edit Mode, use the [0] - [5] buttons to select one of the six mod routes to edit. [. . . ] This warranty is enforceable only by the original retail purchaser and cannot be transferred or assigned. The purchaser should complete and return the enclosed warranty card within 14 days of purchase. During the warranty period ALESIS shall, at its sole and absolute option, either repair or replace free of charge any product that proves to be defective on inspection by ALESIS or its authorized service representative. In all cases disputes concerning this warranty shall be resolved as prescribed by law. [. . . ]