User manual ALESIS 7-51-0177-D WEBSITE

Quick Start Owner's Manual Manual de inicio rápido para el usuario (Spanish) Schnelles Hinweisbuch (Deutsch) Guide d'installation rapide (Français) Manuale rapido di utilizzazione (Italiano) This page intentionally left blank Thank You! Thanks for purchasing the Fusion digital audio workstation! The Fusion is one of the most powerful and fully-featured products we've ever built. We're sure you'll love using it! To help you jump in and start using the Fusion quickly, we've created this Quickstart guide. This short guide has everything you need to start playing quickly. When you're ready for more in-depth information, take a look at the Reference manual. The Reference manual describes every single feature and parameter on the Fusion and provides answers to all of your in-depth Fusion questions. We hope your new Fusion workstation will provide you with years of enjoyment and you'll find these manuals to be informative and useful for you. Sincerely, The People of Alesis Fusion Architecture The Alesis Fusion workstation features an arsenal of different synthesis types, hard-disk recording, sampling, arranging, and real-time control in one beautiful machine. The Fusion 6HD and 8HD are identical except for size, weight, and keyboard action. The 6HD has 61-notes and is semi-weighted whereas the 8HD has 88 fully-weighted keys. Right out of the box, the Fusion gives you everything you need to realize your wildest musical ideas. The Fusion's Synthesis Engine The Fusion provides four types of synthesis: Sample Playback, Analog Modeling, FM (frequency modulation) synthesis, and Physical Modeling. With Dynamic DSP SynthesisTM, the Fusion allows you to create sounds using any combination of synthesis types. There are no artificial limits placed on synthesis or polyphony--you're free to configure and push your Fusion to its absolute limits. Sample Playback Whether you're looking for the most realistic guitar or piano, a massive snare drum, or a sound effect, the Fusion's sample playback engine can make it happen. Right out of the box, the Fusion has thousands of high-quality samples at your disposal. Virtual Analog (VA) Synthesis The Fusion's VA synthesis engine is just what you need to make lush pads and deep, massive bass. The three oscillators, ultra-flexible routing, and variable filter types allow the Fusion to sound like any of the great analog synths of the past. Or, if you're the adventurous type, you can go wild and create a virtual analog synth that has never been heard before! FM Synthesis FM synthesis is best known for its ability to produce electronic piano, bell-type sounds, and melodic percussion such as vibes and marimba. Prior to the Fusion, FM synthesis was considered a challenge to program because of the way the operators and carriers interact to produce sound. With the Fusion, FM's complicated programming is a thing of the past. The Fusion's graphical FM signal router greatly simplifies sound creation, enabling you to intuitively realize the sound you want. Physical Modeling Physical modeling is a state-of-the-art process that mathematically describes how a sound wave behaves inside an instrument. We've taken a great deal of care in designing an interface that musicians can relate to--enabling you to tweak your sounds in real-time without complex math or confusing parameters. With physical modeling, you can create ultra realistic wind and reed instruments or create instruments no one has heard before. Eight Channel Hard Disk Recorder For capturing vocals or live instruments, the Fusion has an integrated, 8-track, 24-bit /44.1kHz hard disk recorder. The analog inputs on the rear panel let you record eight tracks simultaneously allowing you to capture an entire band at the same time. Like any recorder, the Fusion provides standard transport controls with locate points. 2 Sampling Capability If you want to create a custom instrument or sound effect, you can easily do it with the Fusion's sampler. The Fusion provides stereo inputs with a Trim knob for adjusting input levels. Your samples can be either mono or stereo, and are recorded and stored as files that can be placed on either the Fusion's hard disk or compact flash cards. An Integrated MIDI / Audio Recording and Editing Environment The Fusion makes composing easy by displaying both MIDI and audio data on one screen. The Fusion can also import MIDI files for easy editing within the workstation. The Mode Buttons The Fusion has six main modes: Mix, Program, Song, Sampler, Mixer, and Global. Mix, Program, and Song modes have parameters that you can edit. To go "under the hood" of these modes, simply press the EDIT button located on the upper left of the data wheel. To return to the "top" just press the Mix, Program, or Song mode button again. Mix Mode This is the mode where you can assemble your "band" for a song. Let's say you want to compose a song with piano, bass, and drums. After you've found the instruments you want to use (using Program mode--see below), simply add your programs into a "Mix" and now you're ready to arrange your composition using either the Fusion's built in sequencer (in Song mode) or an external sequencer. Mix mode is also where you can go to set up keyboard splits (for example bass on the left half of the keyboard, and a synth on the right), or to layer sounds on top of each other. Program Mode This mode is where you'll probably spend most of your time. In Program Mode, you can load and play one instrument at a time and explore the thousands of sounds in the Fusion. Say you just want to play a Grand Piano--just enter Program mode, call up the type of piano you want, and go! The category buttons to the right of the display give you quick access to different groups of sounds, such as Piano, Guitar, Bass, Strings, etc. Song Mode After assembling your band (like the piano, bass, and drums trio we discussed in Mix mode), you can arrange, record, and edit your composition in Song mode. The Fusion's multitrack recorder is also integrated into this mode letting you record live instruments along side your synth tracks. On the display's upper right, Active Tracks refers to the number of tracks you are currently working with. The Fusion provides up to 32 MIDI tracks and 8 audio tracks per song. 3 Sampler Mode When you're ready to create your own custom instruments or sound effects, Sampler mode is where you'll need to go. All sampling and waveform editing takes place here. Pressing Edit when you're in Sampler mode and you'll see the all the layering and editing capabilities of the Fusion found within the Multi, Zone, Sample, Process, and Utility tabs along the left side of the display. Once you're done creating your new instrument, you can load it up and play it just like any other program in Program mode. Mixer Mode Mixer Mode has been created so you can conveniently mix your synthesizer and audio tracks together on one screen. The mixer is only accessible when you are in Mix and Song which are the only modes in which you can have multiple programs or audio tracks to mix together. Program or Sampler modes only play one instrument at a time and do not need a Mixer (because you have nothing to mix) The mixer lets you set levels and pan positions for each synth and audio track. You can also set send levels, and mute or solo tracks just like on a hardware mixer. Global Mode Global mode lets you set parameters that affect all areas of the Fusion. Things like MIDI transmit channel, master tuning, and keyboard velocity scaling can be found here. The SETTINGS tab lets you modify various keyboard, MIDI, and controller related settings, while the ITEM tab lets you open, load, move, or delete different items found on your Fusion (items include programs, mixes, songs, samples, multisamples, and arpeggiation patterns). The MEDIA tab gives you information about the hard drive and Compact Flash cards and allows you to format these devices. The SYSTEM tab lets you view and update the current system information. 4 Basic Navigation: The Fusion's General Layout Let's begin by familiarizing ourselves with the Fusion's layout. This will make it easier to find what you want as you start playing your Fusion or hooking it up to your studio. THE FUSION'S TOP PANEL SECTIONS FULL INSTRUMENT VIEW FUSION 6HD As you look at each Fusion's top panel, you'll notice there are two separate sections: · · The section of knobs, buttons, and wheels located on the instrument's left side is known as the Performance Panel. The section that includes the Fusion's display, the control wheel, and the various other buttons is known as the Control Panel. 5 PERFORMANCE PANEL VIEW 4 3 1 2 5 6 7 8 The Fusion's Performance Panel is what you'll often reach for during a performance. The wheels, knobs, and buttons will allow you to tweak things like pitch, modulation, or filter cutoff while you're playing. This chapter will explain the basics--for more in depth coverage see the reference manual. The Performance Panel's components consist of the following: 1. PITCH BEND WHEEL: This is a standard pitch bend wheel that behaves just like on any other synthesizer. Use this to create expressive pitch changes during a performance. 2. MODULATION WHEEL: The modulation wheel (or "mod wheel" for short) can be assigned to control many parameters within the keyboard like vibrato, tremolo, FM amount, etc. Like the pitch wheel, it's often used to add expressivity to your performance. The mod wheel is usually mapped to vibrato as a default, but it is possible to map it to almost anything using the Fusion's Modulation Matrix. See the reference manual to find out how to do this. 3. PERFORMANCE GRID: The Performance Grid tells you what your Control Knobs are currently assigned to. There are four rows and the active row is illuminated while other rows remain dimmed. Use the ARP, FILTER, EQ, and ASSIGN buttons (see below) to select your active row. 4. ARP, FILTER, EQ, ASSIGN: These buttons select the active row on the performance panel. ARP, FILTER, and EQ are hard-wired to arpeggiator, filter, and EQ functions whereas the assign row lets you map the Control Knobs to any parameter of your choosing. 6 5. CONTROL KNOBS: These knobs can be used to control all kinds of parameters within the Fusion like filter frequencies, resonance, modulation, or even tempo. You can use the Control Knobs to tweak settings in real-time as you're playing, giving you limitless creative possibilities. TIP: The bottom of the Fusion's display changes depending on what row you have selected in the Performance Grid. For example, if you select the ARP row, the "virtual knobs" on the bottom of the screen will say Gate, Velocity, Step Value, and Tempo. If you select "EQ," the bottom of the screen will change to Low, Low-Mid, High-Mid, and High. When you turn a knob, you'll notice the on-screen knob changes accordingly. 6. ARP On/Off, S1, S2: The ARP On/Off (Arpeggiator) button engages and disengages the Fusion's arpeggiator. The S1 and S2 buttons are assignable ON/OFF switches that can be set to affect all kinds of functions within the Fusion such as filters or effects sends. The Arpeggiator section is covered in more detail later in this guide. See the Reference Manual for more on the S1 and S2 buttons. 7. TRIGGER 1 ­ 4: These four assignable buttons can trigger LFOs, envelopes, and many other functions. Unlike the S1 and S2 switches described above, these trigger buttons are only active when you are holding them down--once you release the triggers they become inactive. See the Reference manual for more on how to assign these buttons. 8. MASTER VOLUME: This is the Fusion's master volume control. 7 CONTROL PANEL VIEW 1. MODE SELECT BUTTONS: These buttons take you to the different modes of the Fusion. If you're already in a mode and press the button again, you will be returned to the "top level" of that mode. Use these buttons to switch into Mix, Program, Song, Sampler, Mixer, or Global modes. 2. SOFT BUTTONS: These buttons allow you to access different parts of the Fusion's user interface. SOFT BUTTONS correspond to on-screen parameters that are displayed along the right and left sides of the display. TIP: As an example, if you press PROGRAM, then EDIT (upper left side of the Control Wheel), you will see Program, Synth, Mod, Arp, Effects, and Utility positioned along the left side of the display. The SOFT BUTTONS along the left access these tabs. Similarly, the right SOFT BUTTONS will access functions arranged along the right of each page. 3. CONTRAST: This knob allows you to adjust the contrast of the Fusion's LCD screen. 4. CATEGORY and BANK: The CATEGORY button accesses the Fusion's "sound librarian" mode. This mode allows you to view your programs (or mixes if you are in MIX mode) sorted by category. For example, when you're in PROGRAM mode, the Category button brings up a screen that lists programs contained within that category. This mode should make it easier to find a particular program you're looking for. The BANK buttons allow you to cycle through the different banks of programs that are stored on the Fusion. 5. QUICK ACCESS BUTTONS: The Fusion provides twenty-four QUICK ACCESS buttons (arranged in three rows of eight) for easy access to your sounds. The top sixteen of these buttons are labeled A through P whereas the remaining eight buttons (bottom row) are numbered 1 through 8. This gives you access to all 128 sounds that can be stored in a bank (since 16 * 8 = 128). Once you're familiar with the sounds you like on the Fusion, you can call them up directly from Program mode using these shortcut keys. For example, you can access the Grand Piano (program A-1) by pressing "A" and "1." 8 6. TRANSPORT CONTROLS: These seven buttons control the Fusion's integrated MIDI sequencer/multitrack recorder. The SET LOC button sets a locator point in the song that you can jump to using the LOCATE button. The remaining buttons control the recorder's various Record and transport functions just like on a regular tape machine (or computer-based sequencer). 7. CONTROL WHEEL (& surrounding buttons): The Fusion's control wheel lets you change sounds and parameters quickly. Turning it clockwise is the same as pushing the "Inc" (or Increment) button in rapid succession whereas turning it counter-clockwise is the same as pushing the "Dec" (or Decrement) button. Generally, you'll use this wheel to control large parameter changes (such as going from 0% to 100%) and you'll will use the Inc/Dec buttons for fine tuning (for example, going from 10%-12%). The EDIT, UNDO, STORE, PREV, NEXT, DEC, and INC buttons that surround the Control Wheel have the following functions: · · · · · EDIT: This button takes you "under the hood" of any given mode--letting you adjust or finetune the mode's various parameters. UNDO: This button allows you to undo actions in the event you change your mind about something you've edited. You have 100 levels of undo. STORE: This button allows you to save any edits you've made to your program, mix or song. PREV, NEXT: The Previous and Next buttons allow you to navigate through pages on the Fusion's LCD screen. DEC, INC: The Decrement and Increment buttons allow you to alter the values of various system parameters. 8. DISPLAY: The Fusion's large, backlit LCD display keeps you advised of what is happening within the synthesizer. 9 THE FUSION'S BACK PANEL SECTIONS POWER SWITCH AND POWER CABLE SOCKET As you face the Fusion's back panel, the power switch and power cable socket are to the left. 1. POWER switch. 2. Power cord socket. The Fusion uses a standard IEC power cord. 10 MULTITRACK INPUTS, EXTERNAL DRIVE PORT, COMPACT FLASH, USB As you face the Fusion's connections panel, the area toward the center left contains the following: 3. EXT DRIVE: This Serial ATA-type connector allows you to connect an external CD-R or hard drive to the Fusion. 4. MULTITRACK AUDIO INPUTS: These eight ¼-inch inputs connect to the Fusion's multitrack audio recorder. The Fusion can record 8 channels simultaneously. 5. COMPACT FLASH: This slot accepts CF cards for saving and loading programs, mixes, samples, and many other kinds of files. 6. USB: This connector is used to hook up the Fusion to your computer. The Fusion supports USB 2.0 and is backward-compatible with USB 1.1/1.0. 11 MIDI, DIGITAL OUTPUTS, MAIN / AUX / HEADPHONE OUTPUTS, SAMPLING, AND PEDAL CONNECTIONS As you face the Fusion's rear panel, the right half of the workstation contains the following connections: 7. FOOT PEDALS: These three inputs allow you to control a variety of functions. EXPRESSION is the Fusion's continuous controller expression pedal input and can be assigned to control things like volume or expression. The FOOTSWITCH input is configurable and enables you to trigger envelopes, LFOs, and other events with your foot. It is similar to the trigger buttons found on the Performance Panel. Unlike the EXPRESSION input, the FOOTSWITCH is binary, and is either "on" or "off" with no range of control in between. The SUSTAIN input is for a sustain pedal and is commonly used for piano, vibes, and other instruments. Like the FOOTSWITCH, the SUSTAIN pedal input is either "on" or "off" and there is no middle ground. 8. MIDI: These are standard 5-pin MIDI connections (In / Out / Thru) for interfacing with computers, sound modules, and other MIDI equipment. 9. DIGITAL OUT: The Fusion has a coaxial S/PDIF and an optical digital output. The optical output supports either 2-channel S/PDIF or 8-channel ADAT and can be set through the Fusion's software. See to the Reference Manual for more about this output. 10. AUX OUTPUT: The AUX OUTPUTS provide you with a second pair of analog outputs in addition to your MAIN OUTPUT (see below). This is useful because it allows you to route programs to a totally separate set of outputs on the keyboard. For example, you may want to play a piano/bass split, but EQ and compress each program differently using your favorite outboard EQs and compressors. No problem. Just route either one of the programs to the AUX OUTPUT and you can treat your two sounds totally independently. 12 11. MAIN OUTPUT: These two outputs--labeled Left/Mono and Right--are the Fusion's primary outputs. By default, all sounds are routed to these outputs and you'll generally connect these outputs to your amplifier (or mixer). TIP: By combining the Fusion's Aux and Main Outputs, you have two stereo-pair or four discrete channels to work with. For example, let's say you've composed a piece for a string quartet and want to mix it using the mixer and outboard gear (compressors, EQs, etc.) in your studio. You could route the violin, viola, cello, and double bass to separate outputs and then mix each output as a separate sound source. 12. HEADPHONE: Connect your favorite pair of headphones to this jack when you want to play without disturbing others. 13. INPUT: These inputs--Left/Mono and Right--feed the Fusion's integrated sampler. You can sample in stereo or mono, and the Gain control enables you to set the optimum input level. Note that you can use these inputs to route a microphone (or other external device) through the Fusion's synthesis or effects engines. This effectively turns the Fusion into an extremely powerful effects processor. 13 Playing Sounds Your Fusion workstation ships with an incredible assortment of Programs (in the Fusion, we refer to individual sounds as "Programs.") Let's take a brief tour of how to find and play these programs. Selecting sounds is easy. Just do the following... 1. Press the PROGRAM button This takes you to Program mode in the Fusion. If you are already in Program mode, pushing this button again will make sure you return to the "top level" of the mode. 2. Press Category Button The "Category" button takes you to the Fusion's "Explorer." The Explorer lists each instrument Category on the Fusion and also lists what Programs are contained within each category. Category names are listed on the left, whereas actual Programs are on the right. 3. Press the "A" button This switches your Category to "Piano." You'll notice the category names are written above the "A" through "P" keys on the Control Panel. When you press the "A" through "P" keys in Category mode, you'll jump to the corresponding Category in the Explorer. 4. Use the Control Wheel (or the Inc/Dec buttons) to select a sound Once you highlight a Program name, you can use the Control Wheel (or the Inc/Dec) buttons to cycle through all the different sounds in each category of sounds. Once a program is loaded, you can play that program from within the Explorer. This makes finding the right sound easy. 5. Press PROGRAM. Play the sound while on this screen to make sure it's the one you want. If you want to return to the regular Program mode press Program again. This will return you to the top of the Program section. 14 For those of you who are curious, let's take a look at what actually took place... In Program mode, pressing the Category button and then A (Piano) caused the Fusion's display to show the screen below. Think of this as Program mode: Category view. Here, you can see the categories on the left and the various programs within the current category on the right. This is the Fusion's "sound explorer". It shows what programs are currently on the keyboard. By pressing the NEXT and PREV buttons, you can move between the category and the sounds within that category. When you pressed the Program mode button (to the left of the display), the screen appeared as it does below--with the current Program name displayed in the center of the screen. This is the upper-most level of Program mode-- the main mode for playing and auditioning sounds. On the screen shown above, you'll notice that the ROM bank is named "Preset 1". In the Piano category, A-1 calls "Holy Grail Grand Piano," while A-4 calls the program "Fusion Suitcase" as shown below. TIP: The Fusion offers multiple Banks for organizing sounds. If you call a particular sound, but get something unexpected, check what Bank you are in. Chances are, you've changed banks. As an example, while in Program mode, each time you press the Bank left and right buttons (" Bank" and "Bank "), the display will show the currently selected Bank. While the Bank name for the image above is displayed as "Preset 1", pressing the Bank button once will cause the display to look like the one shown below. You'll notice that the ROM Bank is now named "Preset 2" and that the program name has also changed to "Fusion Dyno Tines." 15 By organizing Programs within the same Category and Bank, you have immediate access to your favorite sounds. Once you know where your favorite Programs are located.... In time, you'll likely come to rely on a core group of favorite sounds that you can use for a variety of circumstances. Once you know where those favorites reside, calling those Programs is as easy as selecting the right bank and pressing two buttons--such as A-1 and A-4 in the examples above. Program Mode: Category and Bank The Fusion's Programs are organized by Category and Bank. The Categories are labeled (above the A through P keys) Piano, Chromatic, Organ, Guitar, and so on. 16 Editing Sounds The Fusion's Control Knobs make it easy to tweak your sounds. First, let's select a sound: 1. Press PROGRAM. This takes you to Program mode on the Fusion. If you are already in Program mode, pushing this button again will return you to the "top level" of the mode. 2. Press the " Bank" or "Bank " until you see "[ROM: Preset 3]" on the upper left corner of the screen. The Fusion can store sounds in a virtually unlimited number of banks. You have to make sure you've loaded the right bank otherwise you'll find yourself loading unfamiliar programs. 3. Press "E" and then "5" from the quick-access buttons on Control Panel. This loads program E-5, or "Taurus The Bull." Your display should now look like the screen below: Now press the EQ button on the Performance Grid. The bottom of your display will look like the screen below. Your four Control Knobs now correspond to Low, Low Mid, High Mid, and High EQ respectively. As you play the bass sound and rotate the Low EQ knob clockwise, you can hear the bass sound gain more fullness, or bottom end. Similarly, you can press the Filter button to the right of the Grid on the Fusion's Performance Panel and your screen will look like the screen shot below. Now, the Control Knobs represent a different set of parameters--in this case, the Filter. 17 The four Control Knobs now correspond to Frequency, Resonance, Envelope Amount, and Key Track. Play some notes as you rotate the Envelope Amount knob and you'll hear your tone change (you'll also notice the on-screen knob changes to reflect the position of your settings.) Saving your edited programs.... You may have noticed a small "e" toward the top of certain pages (if not, you will see this icon appear on many of the images below). This icon indicates that your sound has been edited. Now that you've modified the original program, you may want to keep it--in which case, you'll need to save it somewhere. Here's what you do. 1. Press STORE (adjacent to the control wheel). The screen will look like the one below. 2. Because this sound is a Preset sound it can't be overwritten. You will be saving it to a different location. At this point, you are ready to save your program. Use the following steps to write your program to a new location: 1. Use the NEXT and PREV buttons to position the cursor on the ROM Bank field (currently shown as "ROM: Preset 2) and select your preferred storage Bank using the control wheel. You have the ability to save it a Compact Flash card (if you have one inserted) or to the internal hard drive of the Fusion. These will appear onscreen as either CF or HD; for example, CF:My Bank. 2. Now, use the NEXT and PREV buttons to position the cursor on the location field within the bank (currently shown as E-5) and select your preferred location using the control wheel. 3. Press STORE (either the soft tab button on the upper right of the display, or the dedicated STORE button. 18