Alesis QS8 - Manual

Chapter 1: Setting Up L INE C ONDITIONERS AND P ROTECTORS Although the QS is designed to tolerate typical voltage variations, in today’s world thevoltage coming from the AC line may contain spikes or transients that can possiblystress your gear and, over time, cause a failure. There are three main w...

Setting Up: Chapter 1 The connections between the QS and your studio are your music’s lifeline, so useonly high quality cables. These should be low-capacitance shielded cables with astranded (not solid) internal conductor and a low-resistance shield. Although qualitycables cost more, they do make a ...

Your First Session: Chapter 2 C HAPTER 2 Y OUR F IRST S ESSION P OWERING U P After making your connections, turn on the system’s power using this procedure: ¿ Before turning on the QS’s power, check the following items: • Have all connections been made correctly? • Are the volume controls of the amp...

Chapter 2: Your First Session The QS provides 640 internal Programs, divided into 5 Banks of 128 Programs each.More Programs can be added by inserting a Sound Card into the Sound Card slot onthe rear panel of the QS. Each Bank is broken down into 12 Sound Groups of 10Programs each, plus a 13th Sound...

Chapter 2: Your First Session S ELECTING THE MIDI C HANNEL IN P ROGRAM M ODE While in Program Play Mode (press [PROGRAM]), the QS can transmit and receiveinformation on any single MIDI channel of the 16 available channels. The currentlyselected channel appears in the bottom-right corner of the displ...

Your First Session: Chapter 2 R EALTIME P ERFORMANCE F UNCTIONS The QS provides various ways to control the sound as you are playing. Try out someof these functions while playing the keyboard. The sound of the effects can alsochange by using these controllers. The effect of these realtime controller...

Your First Session: Chapter 2 C HOOSING P ROGRAMS IN A M IX In this section, we will choose Programs for the 16 channels in a Mix, for playing backtracks from a MIDI sequencer. There are many other aspects of a Mix we may wishto edit, however. Refer to Chapter 5 for more information about Mix editin...

Chapter 2: Your First Session S TORING AN E DITED M IX Once you have made changes to a Mix, you will need to store the Mix into the UserBank; that is, if you want to keep the changes you have made. The User Bank isdesigned to hold up to 100 (00 – 99) of your custom-made Mixes. Whenever youstore an e...

Chapter 2: Your First Session J If an internal Program uses one or more Sounds that reside on a sound card, thesound card must be inserted into the same PCMCIA EXPANSION CARD slot, [A] or[B], as when the Program was stored. In other words, if a Program uses a Soundfound on the card currently inserte...

Connections: Chapter 3 C HAPTER 3 C ONNECTIONS B ASIC MIDI H OOKUP MIDI is an internationally-accepted protocol that allows musical-related data to beconveyed from one device to another. See the MIDI Supplement in Appendix B if youare not familiar with how MIDI works. The QS has three MIDI connector...

Chapter 3: Connections U SING AN E XTERNAL S EQUENCER The QS can generate MIDI signals that are recorded by a sequencer. On playback,the sequencer sends this data back into the QS, which then serves as a multitimbralsound module (in Mix Mode). The sequencer can generate data over severalchannels; in...

Connections: Chapter 3 The QS can communicate directly with a computer via its [SERIAL PORT] connector.This eliminates the need for an additional computer-MIDI interface, as well as theMIDI cables to connect to it. The [SERIAL PORT] can be set to one of two modes,depending on the computer you are us...

Connections: Chapter 3 before powering up the QS; on power up, it will automatically sense the footswitchpolarity and calibrate itself accordingly. J If your footswitch seems to respond backwards (notes sustain unless the footswitch ispressed), turn off the QS, make sure the footswitch plug is fully...

Overview: Chapter 4 C HAPTER 4 O VERVIEW B ASIC A RCHITECTURE The QS contains 16 megabytes of Sound ROM which provide digitized acoustic andelectronic samples. These samples are organized into 17 sample groups ofdifferent types. The groups are: Piano String Noise Sound FX Chromatic Brass Voice Rhyth...

Chapter 4: Overview M ODES The QS is always in one of two main modes: Program Play Mode or Mix Play Mode.Pressing [PROGRAM] selects Program Play Mode, while pressing [MIX] selects MixPlay Mode. While in Program Play Mode, you can press [EDIT SELECT] to accessProgram Edit Mode and Effects Edit Mode. ...

Overview: Chapter 4 The upper-right section of the display will indicate the currently selected pagenumber. Each page provides a different parameter. The parameter’s name willappear in the bottom section of the display. Press the [PAGE ] button to select the next higher-numbered page, and [ PAGE] to...

Editing Mixes: Chapter 5 QS7/QS8 Reference Manual 39 C HAPTER 5 E DITING M IXES W HAT IS A M IX ? Mix Mode is one of the most powerful features of the QS. Although in ProgramMode you can play only one Program at a time, in Mix Mode you can play up to 16Programs at once, either from the keyboard (as ...

Chapter 5: Editing Mixes 40 QS7/QS8 Reference Manual Once in Mix Edit Mode, use the [ 0 ] - [ 9 ] and [ 00 ] - [ 50 ] buttons to select a MIDI channel to edit (1 – 16). Use the [ 60 ] – [ 120 ] buttons to select a Function Group (Level, Pitch, Effect, etc.) If a Function Group has more than one para...

Editing Mixes: Chapter 5 QS7/QS8 Reference Manual 41 Program into the User Bank. If you select another Mix before storing, your changeswill be lost. L EVEL S ETTING FOR E ACH P ROGRAM The Level function (press [ 60 ]) of Mix Edit is used to control several parameters that deal with the audio output ...

Chapter 5: Editing Mixes 44 QS7/QS8 Reference Manual C ONTROLLERS The Controllers function (press [ 100 ]) lets you turn on and off the various MIDI controllers that can effect the selected MIDI channel. The following four parametersdetermine whether or not specific types of MIDI information will be...

Editing Mixes: Chapter 5 QS7/QS8 Reference Manual 45 S ETTING THE R ANGE AND MIDI S WITCHES The Range function (press [ 110 ]) allows you to restrict each MIDI channel to a specific range of the keyboard. This is ideal for creating splits (e.g., bass in the loweroctave and a half, piano in the middl...

Chapter 5: Editing Mixes 46 QS7/QS8 Reference Manual P OLYPHONY IN M IX P LAY M ODE The QS has 64-note polyphony. In Mix Play Mode, if you have all 16 MIDI channelsassigned to the same keyboard range, and each channel’s Program has only oneactive Program Sound, you’ll have 4-note polyphony as you pl...

Editing Mixes: Chapter 5 QS7/QS8 Reference Manual 47 CH SOLO. In this mode, the only sounds coming from the QS, and the only MIDI Out messages, will come from the MIDI channel in the display which is selected byusing the [ ▲ PAGE ] and [ PAGE ▲ ] buttons. This allows you to isolate individual channe...

Chapter 6: Editing Programs H OW THE QS G ENERATES S OUND The QS uses custom integrated circuits, developed by the Alesis engineering teamspecifically for the QS. These resemble the types of chips used in computers andother digital devices. In fact, you can think of the QS as a special-purpose compu...

Editing Programs: Chapter 6 • When you want to layer more than four voices. In Mix Play Mode, it is possible(though not advisable) to stack all 64 voices onto a single key. • When each sound is likely to be used by itself by other setups. For example, ifyou are programming three different keyboard s...

Chapter 6: Editing Programs V OICE This digitally-based oscillator provides the actual raw sounds from the 16 megabytelibrary of on-board samples. The oscillator’s pitch can be tuned to a fixed frequencyor modulated. Modulation is the process of varying a parameter dynamically overtime; the oscillat...

Chapter 6: Editing Programs LFO (L OW F REQUENCY O SCILLATOR ) The pitch, filter, and amp modules each have a dedicated LFO module formodulation. The term LFO stands for low frequency oscillator, and comes from howmodulation was created in the early synth days (an oscillator set to a low frequencyco...

Editing Programs: Chapter 6 D RUM M ODE Any one or all of the four sounds in a Program can be put into Drum Mode. The DrumMode parameter is found in the Misc. Function (see last section of this chapter). Notethat Drum Mode isn’t the only way to hear drums or percussion from a Program. InStandard mod...

Chapter 6: Editing Programs P ROGRAM E DIT F UNCTIONS To edit a Program you must select Program Edit mode. This is done by pressing the[EDIT SELECT] once from Program Play Mode (each time you press [EDIT SELECT]in Program Mode, the display cycles between Program Edit and Effects Edit Modes).When edi...

Editing Programs: Chapter 6 Sound Group (17 options) Page 3 Choose from among 16 different sample groups (see chart below). Sound Page 4 Selects one of the available samples by name from the selected group, or OFF (nosample selected). Each group has a variety of samples from which you can choose,alt...

Chapter 6: Editing Programs P ITCH The Pitch function (press [60]) lets you control the pitch aspects of each sound layer. Semitone (-24 to +24 semitones) Page 1 Sets the oscillator pitch in semitone steps, from -24 (transposed down two octaves) to+24 (transposed up two octaves). Detune (-99 to +99 ...

Chapter 6: Editing Programs F ILTER The Filter function (press [70]) lets you control the tone of each sound layer. Filter Frequency (00 to 99) Page 1 This sets the filter's initial cutoff frequency. Lower values give a duller sound sincethis removes more harmonics; higher values let through more ha...

Chapter 6: Editing Programs A MP /R ANGE The Amp/Range function (press [80]) lets you control the velocity and keyboard rangeof each sound layer. Velocity Curve (13 choices) Page 1 This selects how the sound will respond to the dynamics of your playing thekeyboard. A LINEAR curve is the norm, whereb...

Editing Programs: Chapter 6 PITCH ENVELOPE The Pitch Envelope function (press [90]) can lead to dramatic effects, since it cancause the pitch of a single key to change drastically over time. It’s typically used inspecial-effect synthesizer programs, but it may also be used more subtly in anacoustic ...

Chapter 6: Editing Programs Time Tracking (On or Off) Page 8 This determines whether or not keyboard position will affect the cycle speed of theenvelope. When turned on, playing toward the higher end of the keyboard will resultin a faster envelope cycle; playing toward the lower end of the keyboard ...

Editing Programs: Chapter 6 M OD 1 – M OD 6 About General Purpose Modulation Although there are several dedicated modulators in the QS (e.g., the pitch can alwaysbe modulated by the pitch LFO and Pitch Envelope), sophisticated synthesizerprogramming demands the ability to use as many modulation sour...

Editing Programs: Chapter 6 • Controllers (A, B, C, D) Four incoming MIDI controllers can be recognized bythe QS and used as modulation sources. These controllers are assigned as A–Din Global Mode (see Chapter 8). In Program Play and Mix Play Modes, theCONTROLLER [A], [B], [C] and [D] sliders can be...

Chapter 6: Editing Programs P ITCH LFO The Pitch LFO function (press [7]) is most often used to apply vibrato to a sound. J The following Pitch LFO variables will make a difference in the sound only if thePITCH LFO DEPTH (on Page 6 of the PITCH function) is set to a value other than 0,or, if the Pit...

Chapter 6: Editing Programs Level (00 to 99) Page 5 This is the base output level of the Amp LFO. If you want to have a constant value oftremolo, even without using the Mod Wheel or Aftertouch, set Level above 00. TheMod Wheel and Aftertouch will add or subtract from this base level. Example: If Lev...

Editing Programs: Chapter 6 to “Pitch” and the Tracking Generator’s input is an LFO using an “Up Sawtooth” as itswaveform. TIP: The Tracking Generator can be used to turn a variable control, such as the ModWheel or velocity, into a switch by setting all of the points to 0 except for point 10.Only ne...

Chapter 6: Editing Programs P ROGRAMMING D RUM S OUNDS To program a sound in Drum Mode, you must first set the Sound Type to “Drum” forthat particular sound in the Voice Function, page 2 (see previous section). The [0] –[9] buttons are used to select a Drum (1–10), regardless of which Function or Pa...

Editing Programs: Chapter 6 Mute Group (Off, 1, 2, or 3) Page 2 This is an important feature when using multiple sounds of the same instrument. MuteGroups allow multiple drums to share a single voice. For example, if you haveassigned a Closed Hat and an Open Hat to two different notes, playing eithe...

Chapter 6: Editing Programs √ Press [s VALUE] four times to select “EFFECT”, which is the Effects Patch in thecurrently selected Program to copy from. ƒ Press [PAGE ] to advance the cursor to the lower line of the display. ≈ Use the [s VALUE] and [VALUE t] buttons to select which Program (0–127) toc...

Editing Effects: Chapter 7 The Effects Patches themselves are not edited in Program Edit Mode or Mix EditMode, but (could you guess it?) Effects Edit Mode. You can enter Effects Edit Modefrom Program Mode by pressing the [EDIT SELECT] button twice, or until the displaylooks something like this: ED:P...

Editing Effects: Chapter 7 C ONFIGURATIONS A Configuration is essentially the starting point of any Effects Patch. You must selectthe Configuration you are going to use before making any other edits, since allroutings and parameters change to their default settings each time you change theconfigurat...

Chapter 7: Editing Effects C ONFIGURATION #1: 1 R EVERB Pitch 1 Delay 1 Reverb 1 Mono chorus Mono delay Plate 1 Stereo chorus Stereo delay Plate 2 Mono flange Ping-pong delay Room Stereo flange Hall Pitch detune Large Resonator GateReverse Pitch 2 Delay 2 Reverb 2 Mono chorus Mono delay Balance and ...

Chapter 7: Editing Effects C ONFIGURATION #4: R EVERB AND EQ Pitch 1 Delay 1 Reverb 1 Mono chorus Mono delay Plate 1 Stereo chorus Stereo delay Plate 2 Mono flange Ping-Pong delay Room Stereo flange Hall Pitch detune Large Resonator GateReverse Pitch 2 Delay 2 Reverb 2 Mono chorus Mono delay Balance...

Chapter 7: Editing Effects EQ The shelving EQ is only available in Configuration #s 4 and 5. It provides bass andtreble boost, and effects the entire Main Output (not just the Effects Sends). Four EQparameters are included: Low Frequency (range: 30Hz to 180Hz), Low FrequencyGain (0dB to +12dB), High...

Editing Effects: Chapter 7 Mod Source Page 1 (Mod 1) & Page 4 (Mod 2) The Mod Source parameter selects the MIDI controller which will remotely cause achange (modulate) in one or two of the parameters in the effects processor. Nearlyevery MIDI controller can become a Mod Source (using controllers...

Chapter 7: Editing Effects L EZLIE The Lezlie function is only available in Configuration #s 3 and 5. The Lezlieparameters found in Configuration 3 include: Motor (on/off), Speed (fast/slow), andHorn Level (-6 to +6 db). In addition to these, the Lezlie found in Configuration #6also provides 3 addit...

Editing Effects: Chapter 7 P ITCH The Pitch function is used to edit Pitch parameters. Pitch Type Page 1 The Pitch Type function allows access to 6 pitch altering modes. The Pitch typesavailable are: Mono Chorus, Stereo Chorus, Mono Flange, Stereo Flange, PitchDetune and Resonator. Although some of ...

Editing Effects: Chapter 7 D ELAY The Delay function is used to edit Delay parameters. The QS’s effects processor hasthree different Delay types available. Note: Some Configurations only feature a mono Delay, and therefore the Delay Typeparameter will be unavailable. Instead the parameters normally ...

Chapter 7: Editing Effects R EVERB Reverb can be thought of as a great number of distinct echoes, called reflections, thatoccur so fast that our ear hears them blurred together as one. In nature, different sizedspaces give distinctly different sounding reverbs, depending on the size and shape ofthe ...

Editing Effects: Chapter 7 Pre-Delay Mix (<99 to <0> to 99>) Page 8 This allows you to mix the amount of Pre-Delay into the Reverb signal path. Thisgives you the ability to hear a bit of the Reverb before the loudest part of the Reverb(the Pre-Delayed Reverb) sounds. This makes for bigge...

Chapter 7: Editing Effects O VERDRIVE The Overdrive effect provides four parameters spread across four editing pages. It isonly used in Configuration #5. Overdrive Type (Hard or Soft) Page 1 This selects one of two Overdrive Types: Soft and Hard. The Soft Overdrive has lessgain and provides slightly...

Editing Effects: Chapter 7 M IX Not to be confused with an actual Mix or Mix mode, the Effect’s Mix function is whereyou can mix the various signal levels of all the effects to the Main Left and Rightoutputs of the QS. Only effect modules that have access to the Main outputs willappear on the Mix pa...

Global Settings: Chapter 8 QS7/QS8 Reference Manual 112 112 C HAPTER 8 G LOBAL S ETTINGS Global Edit Mode is where you will find several parameters which affect theentire instrument, such as overall master tuning, controller settings, and keyboardmode. E DITING G LOBAL P ARAMETERS To select Global E...

Global Settings: Chapter 8 QS7/QS8 Reference Manual 114 114 G ENERAL MIDI M ODE Page 7 Page 7 of Global Edit Mode lets you enable and disable General MIDI Mode. If thisparameter is turned on, you will immediately be taken out of Global Edit Mode andinto Mix Mode, and Mix 00 of Preset Bank 4 will aut...

Global Settings: Chapter 8 QS7/QS8 Reference Manual 115 115 Likewise, if either Pedal is assigned to Controller 1, then they will automaticallyfunction like the Modulation Wheel for any Sound in Program Play Mode, and inMix Play Mode, Sounds that are controlled by the Keyboard and have Pedalsturned ...

Global Settings: Chapter 8 QS7/QS8 Reference Manual 117 117 MIDI O UT Page 16 The MIDI Out Mode determines whether the MIDI [ OUTPUT ] connector will transmit MIDI information originating from the QS (when set to Ò OUT Ó), or will ÒechoÓ MIDI information that is received at the MIDI [ INPUT ] connec...

Global Settings: Chapter 8 QS7/QS8 Reference Manual 118 118 C LOCK P AGE 19 The Clock function, found on Page 18 of Global Edit Mode, determines the sampleclock rate the QS will use. Normally the QS uses its own internal clock to determinethe actual number of samples per second. Remember, the sounds...

MIDI Transfer and Storage Operations: Chapter 9 C HAPTER 9 MIDI T RANSFER A ND S TORAGE O PERATIONS U SING PCMCIA E XPANSION C ARDS The QS provides two PCMCIA EXPANSION CARD slots, [A] or [B], which are foundon the rear panel. These accomodate Alesis QCard RAM cards. The QCard is a typeof PCMCIA SRA...

MIDI Transfer and Storage Operations: Chapter 9 L OADING AN I NDIVIDUAL P ROGRAM OR M IX You can load a single Mix or Program from a Sound Card into the User Bank, insteadof having to load the entire Bank from the Sound Card. To do this, select the Mix orProgram in the Sound Card Bank that you wish ...

Chapter 9: MIDI Transfer and Storage Operations S AVING P ROGRAMS VIA MIDI S YS E X As an alternative to storing data to a card, the QS lets you transmit internal data viaMIDI System Exclusive messages. This data can be sent to a storage device, orrecorded into a MIDI sequencer, or sent to another Q...

Troubleshooting: Appendix A A PPENDIX A T ROUBLE -S HOOTING T ROUBLE -S HOOTING I NDEX If you are experience problems while operating the QS, please use the following tableto locate possible causes and solutions before contacting Alesis customer service forassistance. Symptom Cause Solution The disp...

Appendix A: Troubleshooting M AINTENANCE /S ERVICE C LEANING Disconnect the AC cord, then use a damp cloth to clean the keyboard’s metal andplastic surfaces. For heavy dirt, use a non-abrasive household cleaner such asFormula 409 or Fantastik. DO NOT SPRAY THE CLEANER DIRECTLY ONTO THEFRONT OF THE U...

MIDI Supplement: Appendix B A PPENDIX B MIDI S UPPLEMENT MIDI B ASICS Most current electronic instruments and signal processors, including the QS, containan internal computer. Computers and music have been working together for decades,which is not surprising considering music’s mathematical basis (c...

Appendix B: MIDI Supplement MIDI M ESSAGE B ASICS The are two main types of MIDI messages. Channel messages, which are channel-specific, consist of Voice and Mode messages. System messages, which do nothave a channel number and are received by all units in a system, include Common,Real Time, and Exc...

Appendix B: MIDI Supplement S YSTEM C OMMON M ESSAGES Intended for all units in a system, some of these MIDI messages are: Song Position Pointer. This indicates how many “MIDI beats” (normally a 16th note)have elapsed since a piece started (up to 16,384 total beats). It is primarily used toallow dif...

MIDI Implementation Chart MIDI IMPLEMENTATION CHART Function Transmitted Recognized Remarks BasicChannel DefaultChanged 1 — 161 — 16 each 1 — 161 — 16 each Memorized Mode DefaultMessagesAltered Mode 3X * * * * * * * * Mode 3X NoteNumber True Voice 0 — 127 * * * * * * * * 0 — 1270 — 127 Velocity Note...

Parameters Index: Appendix C APPENDIX C: P ARAMETERS I NDEX P ROGRAM E DIT P ARAMETERS Parameter Function Display Page Page in Manual Aftertouch Depth: Amp Amp/Range 2 58 Aftertouch Depth: ALFO Amp LFO 7 76 Aftertouch Depth: Filter Filter 5 57 Aftertouch Depth: FLFO Filter LFO 7 75 Aftertouch Depth:...

Appendix C: Parameters Index Parameter Function Page Page in Manual Modulation: Gate Mode Mod 1 – 3 4 71 Modulation Level Mod 1 – 6 3 71 Modulation: Quantize Mode Mod 4 – 6 4 71 Modulation Source Mod 1 – 6 1 69 Name (Program) Name 1 – 10 68 Output Level 3 53 Pan Level 2 53 Pitch ENV Depth Pitch 7 54...

Index INDEX Aftertouch 15 Amp 62Filter 60Pitch 58 Compare 29, 34Computer 23, 117Controllers 115Copy Sound 85Effects 85 Demo 11Direct Select 33Digital Output 25Display 30Drum Mode 53Edit buffer 34, 40Effects Edit 29, 89 Clip 88Configuration 91, 92-97EQ 98Mix 111Mod 98Modulation 98Reverb 106 Footswitc...