Alesis DG8 - Manual

Important Safety Instructions 10 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL 14. Faites réparer par un personnel qualifié. Une réparation est nécessaire lorsque l’appareil a été endommagé de quelque sorte que ce soit, par exemple losrque lecordon secteur ou la prise sont endommagés, si du liquide a coulé ou des objetsse...

Important Safety Instructions 12 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL I NSTRUCTIONS TO THE U SER This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a class Bdigital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed toprovide reasonable protection against harmful interfere...

Important Safety Instructions DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL 13 CE D ECLARATION OF C ONFORMITY Manufacturer’s Name : Alesis Corporation Manufacturer’s Address : 1633 26 th Street Santa Monica, CA 90404USA declares, that the product: Product Name : DG8 Model Type : Digital Grand Piano conforms to the followi...

Introduction DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL 15 I NTRODUCTION In the years since electronic musical instruments made their debut in the early 1970s,the quest for a transportable piano that had the sound and feel of a true acousticinstrument seemed to elude every manufacturer. They tried everything, including...

Introduction 16 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL T YPOGRAPHIC C ONVENTIONS In this manual, we attempt to make the reading as easy as possible by using fontsand symbols that are easy to identify. The following list describes the conventions weuse in the manual for special or important information. Slider, butt...

Chapter 1: Getting Started DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL 17 C HAPTER 1 G ETTING S TARTED W HAT Y OU ’ LL N EED The DG8 is a completely self-contained instrument that needs nothing more than astandard AC electrical outlet and a stand to put it on. Before placing the DG8 on astand, see the topic Set It Up at...

Chapter 1: Getting Started 18 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL A TTACHING THE M USIC S TAND The DG8 is shipped with a music stand that attaches easily to the top of theinstrument: 1. Remove the music stand from its plastic wrapping and extend the braces away from the front of the stand approximately 5 - 6 inc...

Chapter 1: Getting Started DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL 19 S ETTING UP THE DG8 IN A H OME Placement of your DG8 in the room can have a great effect on its overall tonalbalance. Placing the DG8 is like placing loudspeakers in a room – placing the unitright up against a wall will accentuate the bass and if ...

Chapter 1: Getting Started 20 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL T HE DG8 IN A M USIC S YSTEM If you plan to use the DG8 with other MIDI instruments and devices in a musicsystem, you’ll need to integrate it into your system. Here’s a list of items you’re likelyto need: 1. standard MIDI cables: refer to the foll...

Chapter 1: Getting Started DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL 21 As a Slave : If you plan to control the DG8 from another MIDI device, you’llneed a MIDI cable connected to its MIDI IN port. You will also need a MIDI cable connected to the DG8’s MIDI THRU if you plan to pass MIDI data from the master through the...

Chapter 1: Getting Started 22 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL With a MIDI Patchbay: If you’re using a MIDI patchbay or “patcher” to connect all ofyour MIDI devices centrally, it’s likely that the patcher’s backpanel will have a series of paired MIDI OUT and MIDI IN ports for each device in your rig (the DG8 ...

Chapter 1: Getting Started DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL 23 T URN I T O N AND P LAY I T Flip the power switch on the DG8’s rear panel. The front panel display willilluminate and, if this is the first time you’ve used the DG8, it will recallKeyboard Program Pno1A:True Grand and display it under the PRIMARY ...

Chapter 1: Getting Started 24 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL The Bass Bank buttons are used in conjunction with the ▲ and ▼ arrows to access the Bass Programs in each Bank: • Press a Bass Bank button to select a Bass category. Bass Programs are always played as the Split sounds on the lower range of the key...

Chapter 1: Getting Started 26 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL 7. Splits A Split is simply a Bass or Card Program played on the lower range of keyswith a Primary sound played from the upper range. (Remember that thePrimary can be selected from the Keyboard Banks or the Card Bank.) • To set up a Split, press a...

Chapter 1: Getting Started 28 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL 11. Transpose You can transpose the DG8 ± 1 octave. Using Middle C (key “C3”) as yourreference, press and hold the TRANSPOSE button and press a key on the keyboard. Pressing a key above Middle C will transpose the DG8 up by the interval and pressi...

Chapter 1: Getting Started DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL 29 13. Graphic EQ The 5-band analog graphic equalizer on the left side of the control panelallows you to make tonal adjustments to the sound. Press the EQ ON/OFF button (its LED will light) to activate the equalizer and raise or lower thefrequency sl...

Chapter 2: Playing the DG8 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL 31 C HAPTER 2 P LAYING THE DG8 O VERVIEW The DG8 contains a total of 88 sound programs in its internal memory. 60 of these arecalled Keyboard Programs and represent a selection of pianos and other keyboardinstruments such as harpsichord, electric pia...

Chapter 2: Playing the DG8 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL 33 U SING THE D ISPLAY AND S OUND S ELECTION B UTTONS In Play mode, the display shows the name(s) of the selected sound(s) – all three if aSplit-with-Layer is selected. The most recently selected sound is underlined by the cursor . In our first examp...

Chapter 2: Playing the DG8 34 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL select another Program within the current Keyboard or Card Bank for the Layersound. When the cursor is at the SPLIT sound, pressing the ▲ and ▼ arrows will select another Program within the current Bass Bank or Card Bank for the Split sound. A com...

Chapter 2: Playing the DG8 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL 35 S ELECTING I NTERNAL S OUNDS The DG8’s internal sounds can be selected and arranged in any of four Play Modes or keyboard setups: Single, Layer, Split and Split-with-Layer. To make things a little more interesting – and flexible – these modes can ...

Chapter 2: Playing the DG8 36 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL Press any one of the Keyboard Bank buttons to select a Keyboard Bank. The lastKeyboard Program that was selected from this Bank will be recalled from memoryand displayed under the PRIMARY SOUND heading. Press the ▲ arrow to scroll through the othe...

Chapter 2: Playing the DG8 38 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL Split Mode A Split is simply a Bass Program played with a Primary Sound: the Bass Programwill be played from the lower range of keys and the Primary Sound will play fromthe upper range. As with Primary Sounds, each Bass Bank button represents a gr...

Chapter 2: Playing the DG8 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL 39 • The default split-point is key “C2”, the C that is one octave below Middle C: • To change the split point press the SET SPLIT button, then press any key on the DG8’s keyboard. This key will be the highest note of the bass range. This willalso be...

Chapter 2: Playing the DG8 40 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL U SING THE E XTERNAL C ARD S OUNDS You can take advantage of the DG8’s expandability by acquiring an Alesis QCard™or other compatible PCMCIA Type I sound card. The Alesis QCard is a credit-card-sized memory module that is pre-programmed with 128 a...

Chapter 2: Playing the DG8 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL 41 QCard as Primary: 1. Select a QCard Program to be the Primary by pressing the CARD button. Use the ▲ and ▼ arrows, if necessary, to select the desired QCard Program. 2. Press and hold the LAYER/OFF button, then press a Keyboard Bank button. Use th...

Chapter 2: Playing the DG8 42 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL QCard Programs In a Split-with-Layer In the following examples, a Split is created first, then the Layer sound is added tocomplete the Split-with-Layer. Note that you don’t have to create the Split first ; you can create a Layer first if you like,...

Chapter 2: Playing the DG8 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL 43 DG8 S OUND C HART GROUP NAME PRIMARY SOUND LABELS LAYER/SPLIT SOUND LABELS PIANO 1 Pno1A, Pno1B, Pno1C, Pno1D Piano1A, Piano1B, Piano1C, Piano1D PIANO 2 Pno2A, Pno2B, Pno2C, Pno2D Piano2A, Piano2B, Piano2C, Piano2D PIANO 3 Pno3A, Pno3B, Pno3C, Pno...

Chapter 2: Playing the DG8 44 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL F RONT P ANEL C ONTROLS T UNE Page 1: Master Tune The DG8 can be globally tuned to another instrument or tuning device, and thisoperation can be performed in any Play Mode. Press the TUNE button and use the ▲ button to raise the pitch of the DG8 a...

Chapter 2: Playing the DG8 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL 45 the keyboard globally (affects all modes), whether to an external MIDI device or to the internal DG8 sounds or card sounds. Once the keyboard is transposed, all Primaries,Layers and Splits are transposed by the same interval until you change the t...

Chapter 2: Playing the DG8 46 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL MIDI F UNCTIONS Pressing the MIDI button puts the DG8 into MIDI Edit mode. Pressing the MIDI button repeatedly will step through the six different pages of the DG8’s MIDI functions. Press the PLAY button to exit any of the pages in this mode. Page...

Chapter 2: Playing the DG8 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL 47 Page 2: Local Control It is possible to use the DG8 as a MIDI controller in a MIDI system without playing its own internal or card sounds by turning Local Control off. In this situation, the DG8’s keyboard becomes a MIDI transmitter only and does ...

Chapter 2: Playing the DG8 48 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL P EDALS B ACKGROUND Understanding the keyboard mechanism of an acoustic piano will help in under-standing how the pedals operate on the DG8. Before a piano is played, a series of dampers – small blocks of a felt-like material – rest on each string...

Chapter 2: Playing the DG8 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL 49 S OSTENUTO This pedal on an acoustic grand piano* causes only the dampers on played keys to lift until the pedal is released. In other words, if you play a chord, step on the Sostenuto pedal, and then release the keys, the notes you were playing c...

Chapter 2: Playing the DG8 50 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL A momentary foot switch with a 2-conductor 1/4” connector is used for the Soft Pedal function of the DG8. A momentary footswitch with a 3-conductor 1/4” connector isused for the Sustain/Sostenuto functions of the DG8. “Momentary” means that it is ...

Chapter 2: Playing the DG8 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL 51 A UDIO I NPUTS AND O UTPUTS The DG8 uses standard 2-conductor 1/4” tip-sleeve unbalanced connectors for backpanel audio connections and a 3-conductor 1/4” tip-ring-sleeve connector for the twoheadphone outputs on the front. The diagram below shows...

Chapter 2: Playing the DG8 52 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL I NITIALIZING THE DG8 F ACTORY D EFAULTS When the DG8 is shipped from the factory, its user parameters are set to certainvalues so that the unit will perform its most basic functions right out of the box.These are called defaults – values that are...

Chapter 3: MIDI Functions DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL 53 C HAPTER 3 MIDI F UNCTIONS MIDI B ASICS Before we delve into the specific MIDI functions of the DG8, we’d like to provide abrief background on MIDI for those who may not be familiar with this technology. MIDI (pronounced “MID-ee”) is the acronym fo...

Chapter 3: MIDI Functions 54 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL MIDI H ARDWARE MIDI instruments and devices are connected by a fairly simple system of cables. The MIDI OUT port transmits data from one device one-way through the cable to the receiving instrument’s MIDI IN . You can setup each device in the syste...

Chapter 3: MIDI Functions DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL 55 common. For example, certain instruments are designed such that you can set aVoice or group of voices to MIDI Channels other than the Basic Channel. Thisprovides enormous flexibility in the way that the instrument can control otherinstruments in th...

Chapter 3: MIDI Functions DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL 57 C HANNEL M ESSAGES : M ODE M ESSAGES There are four types of messages that determine the MIDI Mode of the instrument. The “mode” of a device refers to how it will respond to incoming MIDI data . The MIDI Specification outlines four possible modes a...

Chapter 3: MIDI Functions 58 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL MIDI AND THE DG8 With the previous description of MIDI basics in mind, let’s continue with a few moredetails concerning the MIDI functions that are present in the DG8. A MIDI Implementation Chart is provided in Appendix C that lists the MIDI functi...

Chapter 3: MIDI Functions DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL 59 Program Changes The way the DG8 sends and responds to MIDI Program Change commands wasdesigned to imitate the way Programs – whether Primary, Layer or Split – areselected from the front panel buttons. This is an important concept to understandand t...

Chapter 3: MIDI Functions 60 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL The following chart summarizes the DG8’s handling of transmitting andreceiving MIDI Program Change commands: MIDI Program # Primary/Layer Primary Layer Bass Split Program Channel Channel Program Channel 000 Pno1A Basic Basic + 1 ABasA Basic + 2 001...

Appendix A: Glossary DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL 61 G LOSSARY DG8 T ERMS Bass Program a sound Program selected from one of the Bass Banks Card Program a sound Program selected from the “Card Bank”, an externalsound card inserted into the DG8’s back panel Defaults settings or display values that are set a...

Appendix A: Glossary 62 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL MIDI T ERMS All Notes Off a command that is transmitted to all devices in a MIDI systemthat prevents notes from becoming stuck on Channel one of sixteen separate “paths” that Voice and Mode data cantravel on Channel Messages data that communicates Voice...

Appendix B: Troubleshooting DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL 63 T ROUBLESHOOTING If you experience problems while operating your DG8, please use the following tableto check for possible causes and solutions before contacting Alesis customer service for assistance. Some of them may seem rather obvious, but you...

Appendix B: Troubleshooting 64 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL SYMPTOM CAUSE SOLUTION All programs are out of tune with external MIDIdevices or otherinstruments. Master Tune has beenchanged. Adjust Master Tune– see page 44. DG8 is not playing atconcert pitch. Keyboard has beentransposed. Press the TRANSPOSE ...

Appendix B: Troubleshooting DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL 65 C LEANING AND M AINTENANCE While your DG8 should not need much attention, here are some tips for preventivemaintenance: • Disconnect the AC power Adapter, then use a damp cloth to clean the DG8’smetal and plastic surfaces. For heavy dirt, use a n...

Appendix C: Specifications DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL 67 S PECIFICATIONS MIDI I MPLEMENTATION C HART Function Transmitted Recognized Remarks BasicChannel DefaultChanged 1 - 3 1 1 - 16 1 - 3 1 1 - 16 Any threeconsecutiveChannels. Mode DefaultMessagesAltered Mode 3X * * * * * * * * Mode 3X NoteNumber True...

Appendix D: Warranty DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL 69 W ARRANTY This product is warranted by Alesis to the original purchaser against defects inmaterial and workmanship for a period of 1 year for parts and labor from the date ofpurchase. Complete terms of the Limited Warranty are stated on the Warranty Car...

Index DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL 71 I NDEX A AC power .......................................................... 19Alesis contact information ............................... 4arrow buttons ................................................... 27 tutorial ......................................................

Index 72 DG8 R EFERENCE M ANUAL S Safety Instructions English ............................................................. 7French .............................................................. 9German .......................................................... 11 selecting sounds .....................