Page 3 - TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 2 FIRST THINGS FIRST: DRIVER INSTALLATION ......................................................................... 3 WINDOWS ...............
Page 4 - INTRODUCTION; discernible latency.; How this manual is organized
2 INTRODUCTION Congratulations on your purchase of the Alesis MasterControl! The MasterControl is Alesis’s most advanced computer recording product to date and designed to be the centerpiece of your studio. Just consider this list of features: y 24-bit, 192kHz audio interface with analog preamplifie...
Page 5 - FIRST THINGS FIRST: DRIVER INSTALLATION; If your computer has Internet access, go to; WINDOWS; four; MAC OS X; INSTALLING THE OPTIONAL APPLICATIONS; WDM
3 FIRST THINGS FIRST: DRIVER INSTALLATION If your computer has Internet access, go to http://www.alesis.com/mastercontrol . It’s possible that updated drivers have been posted there since the time the software DVD included with your MasterControl was printed. WINDOWS If you are using the drivers fro...
Page 6 - REAR PANEL FEATURES; These two inputs can accept microphones (using an XLR cable) or an
4 REAR PANEL FEATURES 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 55 5 5 55 5 5 56 6 6 56 6 6 77 8 9 9 10 10 10 11 11 12 13 1. MIC / LINE INPUTS – These two inputs can accept microphones (using an XLR cable) or an instrument or line-level device (using a 1/4” cable) such as a guitar, bass, sampler, or other audio device. These a...
Page 7 - FOOTSWITCH –; You can use MIDI cables to connect; DIGITAL INPUTS –; This area features an ADAT; FIREWIRE –; These MIDI connections may
5 8. FOOTSWITCH – You may connect a remote footswitch to this jack. This can operate either as a control option surface or as a toggle switch to turn the MasterControl’s talkback function on and off. Please refer to the GLOBAL MENUS section to configure your footswitch. 9. MIDI IN / OUT – You can us...
Page 8 - TOP PANEL FEATURES
6 TOP PANEL FEATURES This section breaks down the control surface into its functional areas. The area being discussed is shaded in the accompanying diagrams. A F F F F D E G B C (A) Analog Input Signal Indicators (B) DAW Control: Channels (C) DAW Control: Multi-Function Knobs (D) DAW Control: Transp...
Page 9 - CHANNEL FADER –; channel. The exact level will be shown in the DISPLAY.; MASTER FADER –; These buttons control the corresponding functions in your; PREVIEW –
7 (B) DAW CONTROL: CHANNELS 56 1 2 4 3 3 3 3 1. CHANNEL FADER – Use this 100mm, touch-sensitive fader to adjust the volume levels of each channel. The exact level will be shown in the DISPLAY. 2. MASTER FADER – This fader controls the DAW’s master fader. Note that different DAWs control this fader d...
Page 11 - Place the short; ASSIGNABLE BUTTONS –; These buttons; DIRECT MONITOR
9 (E) DAW CONTROL: ASSIGNABLE BUTTON BANKS 1. TEMPLATE OVERLAY - Place the short plasticized overlay (included) that matches your currently selected DAW preset here. 2. ASSIGNABLE BUTTONS – These buttons perform functions in your DAW such as SAVE, LOOP, etc. For most presets, you can re-assign the b...
Page 12 - before
10 2. DIRECT MON LEVEL – This knob raises or lowers your entire direct monitor mix. This allows you to blend your direct monitor signals with the audio being played from your computer. 3. OUTPUT 1-2 LEVEL – This knob controls the volume sent out of the analog outputs for any of the analog output pai...
Page 13 - EDIT –; In Edit Mode, you can change the assignments for; GLOBAL –; TOUCH A CONTROL
11 4. EDIT – In Edit Mode, you can change the assignments for the A and B banks of the ASSIGNABLE buttons – a total of 16 assignable functions. Upon entering Edit Mode, the DISPLAY will look like the image on the right and the ASSIGNABLE BUTTONS will light up orange. First, press the button whose fu...
Page 14 - SELECTING THE PROPER PRESET FOR YOUR DAW
12 CONFIGURING YOUR DIGITAL AUDIO WORKSTATION SOFTWARE FOR USE WITH THE MASTERCONTROL Once your MasterControl is connected to your computer, there are three steps to perform to establish audio and control surface communication with your Digital Audio Workstation (DAW): 1) On the MasterControl, selec...
Page 15 - From the menu bar, go to; Devices
13 CUBASE AND NUENDO SETUP: SELECTING THE AUDIO DRIVER (WINDOWS ONLY) This discussion addresses Cubase. Nuendo setup is similar. 1. From the menu bar, go to Devices f Device Setup… 2. Click on “VST Audio System” in the left-hand pane. Then, in the right-hand pane, select “ASIO Alesis Firewire” for t...
Page 16 - Again from the menu bar, go to
14 CUBASE AND NUENDO SETUP: CONTROL SURFACE (MAC AND WINDOWS) 1. Again from the menu bar, go to Devices f Device Setup… 2. Click the “+” button on the upper-left corner of the window and select “Mackie Control” from the list.
Page 17 - Under; Remote Devices; , select “Alesis FireWire” from the MIDI Input and MIDI
15 3. Under Remote Devices f Mackie Control , select “Alesis FireWire” from the MIDI Input and MIDI Output drop-down menus. 4. Press “OK” to accept this setting. 5. Once the MasterControl is selected as the audio device, individual channels must be activated for use. From the “Devices” menu, select ...
Page 19 - ABLETON LIVE SETUP; Options
17 8. If you want, you can rename channels by clicking on the entry under “Bus Name.” This is useful for keeping track of which instrument is on each stereo channel. 9. Close the window. You are now ready to begin recording with the MasterControl. 10. See the Cubase/Nuendo notes later in this manual...
Page 22 - Insert
20 6. Close the Preferences window. 7. From the menu bar, go to Insert f Audio Track. 8. Be sure the circular button on the right-hand side of the screen labeled “I-O” is on. Underneath each track, you should see the headings “Audio From,” “Monitor,” and “Audio To.” (MIDI tracks will read “MIDI” ins...
Page 24 - CAKEWALK SONAR SETUP; Click the button with the “star” icon to add a new device.
22 CAKEWALK SONAR SETUP 1. From the menu bar, go to Options f Controllers/Surfaces . 2. Click the button with the “star” icon to add a new device. 3. Select “Mackie Control” from the Controller/Surface drop-down menu, and select “Alesis FireWire” for the Input Port and Output Port. Click “OK,” then ...
Page 27 - Click “OK” to close the “Audio Options” window and begin recording.
25 8. Move to the “Drivers” tab. Click on each input pair and also on the output pair to make them available to Sonar. The available input channels (corresponding to the MasterControl’s input channels) will depend on the sampling rate, which you can set in the “General” tab. There will always be thr...
Page 28 - LOGIC PRO SETUP; Logic Pro; Click on “New” and select “Install” from the drop-down menu.
26 LOGIC PRO SETUP 1. From the menu bar, go to Logic Pro f Preferences f Control Surfaces f Setup . 2. Click on “New” and select “Install” from the drop-down menu.
Page 29 - Select “Alesis FireWire” for the Out Port and Input.
27 3. Select “Mackie Designs > Mackie Control > Logic Control” from the list, and click “Add” at the bottom-right. Close the window. 4. Select “Alesis FireWire” for the Out Port and Input. 5. See the Logic notes later in this manual for details on MasterControl operation with Logic.
Page 31 - AUDIO INPUTS AND OUTPUTS; Channels Sent from the MasterControl to the Computer; channels: eight analog channels, 16 digital; Channels Received from the Computer into the MasterControl; The Firewire port receives; Available Channels at Various Sample Rates; ADAT channels
29 AUDIO INPUTS AND OUTPUTS Channels Sent from the MasterControl to the Computer The FireWire port sends every available individual MasterControl channel to the computer. This means that, from the MasterControl, you can send a maximum of 26 channels: eight analog channels, 16 digital channels over...
Page 32 - WINDOWS AUDIO CONFIGURATION; CHOOSING THE MASTERCONTROL AS YOUR DEFAULT AUDIO DEVICE; From the Windows; Start; Choose; Sounds and Audio Devices; Click “Apply” to apply these changes.
30 WINDOWS AUDIO CONFIGURATION CHOOSING THE MASTERCONTROL AS YOUR DEFAULT AUDIO DEVICE To use your MasterControl as your default Windows sound device, follow these steps: 1. From the Windows Start menu, choose Control Panel . 2. Choose Sounds and Audio Devices (XP) or Sounds (Vista). 3. Click the “A...
Page 33 - DISABLING WINDOWS SYSTEM SOUNDS; Click the “Sounds” tab of; Click “OK” to accept this entry and close the dialog box.
31 DISABLING WINDOWS SYSTEM SOUNDS Windows System Sounds – the sounds that Windows plays to signal starting up, shutting down, alerts and so forth – can interfere with your audio recording. We strongly suggest disabling these sounds. 1. Click the “Sounds” tab of Sounds and Audio Devices (XP) or Soun...
Page 35 - such thing as latency
33 4. Adjusting the sample rate: You can change the sample rate that the MasterControl uses in this area. Some audio programs require that you change the sample rate under their Project Setup or similar menus. For instance, Cubase will take control of this parameter. 5. Adjusting latency by changing...
Page 36 - MAC AUDIO CONFIGURATION; AUDIO MIDI SETUP
34 MAC AUDIO CONFIGURATION AUDIO MIDI SETUP On Mac, after you install the drivers, open the Audio MIDI Setup utility. Choose “Alesis Firewire” for your “Default Input” and “Default Output” devices under Mac’s Audio MIDI Setup utility. Also, choose your clock source, and set your sample rate here. Au...
Page 37 - If you are experiencing system instability, experiment; Nickname tab; to see if a firmware update is available.
35 ALESIS FIREWIRE CONTROL PANEL (MAC) On Mac, buffer sizes are controlled by individual applications, and clocking and sample rates are set in Audio MIDI Setup. Therefore, the Alesis Firewire Control panel—available either by pressing “Configure Device” from within Audio MIDI setup or by choosing P...
Page 38 - GLOBAL MENUS; Screen Contrast; the rear panel of the MasterControl) with the MasterControl’s; -2 LEVEL knob operation; OUTPUT A SOURCE; If you are going to turn off
36 GLOBAL MENUS Press the GLOBAL button to edit the MasterControl’s configuration, including where you want to route which channels, talkback and footswitch settings, and other features. Use the PAGE buttons beneath the DISPLAY to scroll through the settings. For each page, you can scroll through yo...
Page 39 - This setting determines the volume of the talkback signal.
37 Direct Monitoring When the MasterControl’s Direct Monitoring function is enabled, the signal you are hearing is taken directly from the MasterControl rather than from your DAW. This allows you and your musicians to monitor the audio with no perceptible delay (latency). Here, you can choose whet...
Page 40 - Factory Reset; FACTORY RESET
38 Factory Reset Activating a Factory Reset will restore all default settings and Preset configurations. If you want to reset, select “Reset all.” You will be asked, “You sure?” If you want to continue, select “Yes.” The DISPLAY will read “Resetting” with two asterisks moving across the screen to ...
Page 41 - MONITORING & CONTROL ROOM FEATURES; Speakers / Outputs Controls; and
39 MONITORING & CONTROL ROOM FEATURES Speakers / Outputs Controls The SPEAKERS / OUTPUTS buttons allow you to monitor the MasterControl’s MON / LINE OUTPUTS as follows: y The “A” SPEAKERS / OUTPUTS button monitors the “A” outputs (Channels 1 and 2) y The “B” SPEAKERS / OUTPUTS button monitors ...
Page 42 - DIRECT MONITORING; When to Use Direct Monitoring; or; Special Considerations at Double- and Quad-Speed Sample Rates
40 DIRECT MONITORING The MasterControl contains a hardware-based, DSP mixer which enables you to route the inputs to the outputs directly, bypassing any latencies associated with sending the audio to and from the computer. This hardware-based routing provides the minimum possible latency – only the ...
Page 43 - CREATING A CUBASE LE PROJECT FOR RECORDING; File
41 CREATING A CUBASE LE PROJECT FOR RECORDING Once you have set up Cubase to work with the MasterControl, you’re ready to create an audio project. 1. Choose File f New Project. 2. You can begin with a template or an empty file. For now, begin with an empty file. 3. Cubase needs to know where to plac...
Page 44 - menu in
42 4. Now, you have a blank project. Add an audio track for recording by choosing Project f Add Track f Audio . 5. Be sure that the “inspector” – a strip on the left-hand side of Cubase that shows all sorts of information about the selected track – is active. If your view is similar to that shown be...
Page 46 - IMPORTANT POINTS FOR USERS OF VARIOUS DAWS; The SCRUB button does not work in Cubase LE4.; ABLETON LIVE; Some important notes:; DISPLAY
44 IMPORTANT POINTS FOR USERS OF VARIOUS DAWS When using the MasterControl with various Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs), you will find the control surface interacts slightly differently with some of them. This is normal! This section lists the kinds of control surface behavior that are unique to c...
Page 47 - LOGIC PRO; Send Mode; SAMPLITUDE
45 LOGIC PRO y Ensure that you choose a “Mackie Control” control surface. The “Logic Control” control surface uses a different set of MIDI messages and is not compatible with the Alesis MasterControl. y Rows 2 and 3 on the MasterControl correspond to different modes in Logic: Row 2 is Send Mode . Fo...
Page 48 - DIGITAL PERFORMER
46 DIGITAL PERFORMER y Row 2 of the MasterControl is not mapped. y Vertical Zoom is not possible from the MasterControl. y MasterControl’s ZOOM button cycles through three stages (as opposed to two on most other DAWs): unlit, lit, and flashing. It will be lit when it is on and unlit when it is off. ...
Page 49 - Only the bottom row of the MasterControl’s DISPLAY will show data.; SOUNDTRACK PRO
47 PRO TOOLS y JOG is unavailable in Pro Tools. This is a limitation of the HUI protocol used by Pro Tools. Pressing the SCRUB button puts the JOG WHEEL into Scrub Mode. y When scrubbing, if you want your cursor to remain at the last scrub point in the timeline, go to Setup>Preferences>Operati...
Page 51 - SIGNAL FLOW DIAGRAM
Page 52 - SPECIFICATIONS; Mic In to Line Out:
50 SPECIFICATIONS Microphone preamplifier Gain range: +9.1dB to +59.2dB Impedance: 3.67K @ min gain; 3.33K @ max gain Line preamplifier Gain range: -7dB to +43.1dB Maximum input signal levels before clipping Mic In to Line Out: At min gain: 9.6dBu in, 18.7dBu out (gain = 9.1dB) At max gain: -4...
Page 53 - Alesis Contact Information; DEMO MATERIALS
51 TRADEMARKS All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Specifically: “MasterControl” is a trademark of Alesis, LLC. “Soundtrack,” Soundtrack Pro,” “Logic,” Logic Pro,” “CoreAudio,” “CoreMIDI,” “Mac” and “Mac OS” are trademarks of Apple, Inc. “Windows,” “Windows XP,” and “Windows V...