User manual ALESIS SR18 REFERENCE MANUAL

[. . . ] TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 WELCOME TO THE SR18 DRUM MACHINE!. . . . . 5 GROUND RULES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 CONNECTION DIAGRAM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 TOP PANEL PHYSICAL LAYOUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 GENERAL CONTROLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 NAVIGATION BUTTONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 MODE BUTTONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 SETUP BUTTONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 TRANSPORT CONTROL BUTTONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 REAR PANEL PHYSICAL LAYOUT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 DISPLAY LAYOUT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 BASICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE SR18 . . . . . . . 14 10 STEPS TO INSTANT GRATIFICATION (SETUP AND CHECKOUT). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 THE INSTRUMENT LAYERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 PLAYBACK / RECORD BASICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 RECORDING PATTERNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 STEPS TO RECORDING A PATTERN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 PRACTICE MODE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 RECORDING OTHER PARTS (PERCUSSION AND BASS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 PATTERN PLAY MODE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 PLAYING PATTERN SEQUENCES WITH THE PADS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 RECORDING PATTERN SEQUENCES INTO A SONG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 ASSIGNING PATTERNS TO THE PADS. . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 SELECTING, EDITING AND CREATING DRUM SETS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 SELECTING A DRUM SET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 CREATING AND EDITING DRUM SETS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 EFFECTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 SAVING YOUR DRUM SETS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 RECORD SETUP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 PAGE 1: SELECT THE QUANTIZATION VALUE (QUANTIZE SELECT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 PAGE 2: GATE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 PAGE 3: SELECT THE SWING VALUE (SWING SELECT). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 PAGE 4: ENABLE CLICK AND SET RHYTHM (CLICK SELECT). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 PAGE 5: SET CLICK VOLUME (CLICK VOL) . . . . . 31 PAGE 6: VELOCITY SENSITIVITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 PAGE 7: BEAT VALUE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 PAGE 8: NOTE VALUE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 PAGE 9: PATTERN LENGTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 PAGE 10: OFFSET A PATTERN OR DRUM PART . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 PAGE 11: NAME THE PATTERN (NAME) . . . . . . . . . . 33 EDITING PATTERNS ­ ERASE FUNCTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 ERASING DRUM EVENTS WHILE RECORDING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 ERASING AN ENTIRE PATTERN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 ERASE ALL EVENTS PLAYED BY A PARTICULAR DRUM PAD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 ERASE ALL INSTRUMENT EVENTS IN SUBPATTERN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 EDITING PATTERNS ­ COPY/SAVE FUNCTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 SAVING A PATTERN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 COPYING A PATTERN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 APPENDING A PATTERN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 EDITING PATTERNS ­ TRANSPOSITION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 PATTERN STEP EDITING (STEP EDIT MODE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 ADDING A NEW DRUM TO A STEP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 ERASE A DRUM SOUND FROM A STEP . . . . . . . . . . . 37 CHANGE A DRUM SOUND'S VOLUME IN A GIVEN STEP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 EXIT STEP EDIT MODE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 SONG MODE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 PLAYING SONGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 RECORDING A SONG IN REAL-TIME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 MANUAL SONG CREATION (SONG STEP EDIT MODE). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 SETTING SONG TEMPO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 INSERTING A TEMPO CHANGE IN A SONG . . . . . 42 CONTROLLING PLAYBACK POSITION. . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 LOOP A PATTERN INDEFINITELY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 START FROM THE MIDDLE OF A SONG. . . . . . . . . . . 43 ERASING AN ENTIRE SONG. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 SAVING YOUR SONG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 APPEND A SONG. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 NAME A SONG (NAME) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 SYSTEM SETUP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Page 1 / MIDI CHANNEL (MIDI CH) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Page 2 / RECEIVE MIDI NOTES (DRUM IN, PERC IN, BASS IN). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Page 3 / TRANSMIT MIDI NOTES (DRUM OUT, PERC OUT, BASS OUT). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Page 4 / ASSIGN MIDI NOTE NUMBERS TO DRUM PADS (NOTE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Page 5 / ACCEPT EXTERNAL CLOCK VALUE (CLOCK IN) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Page 6 / SEND CLOCK VALUE TO OTHER DEVICES (CLOCKOUT). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Page 7 / MERGE MIDI IN WITH MIDI OUT (MIDITHRU) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Page 8 / SELECT DRUM SETS VIA MIDI PROGRAM CHANGES (PRG CHNG). . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Page 9 / TEMPO SELECTION (TEMPO) . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Page 10 / MAP DRUM NOTES (NOTE MAP) . . . . . 49 PAGE 11 / MANUAL DRUMSET OVERRIDE (SET MODE). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Page 12 / LEDs (LEDS OFF) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Page 13 / BACKLIGHT BRIGHTNESS (BACKLITE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Page 14 / BATTERY LEVEL (BATT LVL) . . . . . . . . . . 51 Page 15 / LOW BATTERY WARNING (LO BATT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Page 16 / CHECK AVAILABLE MEMORY (MEM FREE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Page 17 / SEND SONG AND PATTERN DATA TO MIDI SYS EX STORAGE DEVICE (SEND OUT MIDI?) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 SENDING MIDI SYSEX SONG AND PATTERN DATA TO THE SR18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 APPLICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 MIDI SYNC APPLICATIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 STRATEGIES FOR ASSEMBLING PATTERNS AND SONGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 UNDERSTANDING RHYTHMIC NOTATION . . . . . . . 56 MIDI IMPLEMENTATION CHART . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 FACTORY RESET. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 KEY FEATURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 f INTRODUCTION WELCOME TO THE SR18 DRUM MACHINE! The SR18 includes high-fidelity drum, percussion and bass sounds, and is easy to operate. You can easily switch among the different instrument layers in real-time. As you strike the 12 pads (each of which can be assigned to any of the available sounds), the SR18's on-board sequencer records exactly when you triggered the sounds and the dynamics of your playing. Data can be saved so that it is retained in memory even if the power is turned off. [. . . ] Press the pad (the display will show the pad number in the upper right corner). Enter the desired mode with the INC/DEC buttons, the number keypad (buttons 1-4) or the VALUE dial. 27 PAGE 12: OUTPUT Background The SR18 includes two independent stereo output pairs (Main and Aux). You can direct any pad to either output pair, and pan the sound within the selected output's stereo field (see page 4 of the Drum Set menus). This allows several output assignment options: Mono: Plug into one of the output pair jacks; the SR18 is smart enough to know that plugging in one plug means you must want mono. Stereo with Fixed Placement: Plug the left Main output into the left channel of your amp (or mixer), and the right Main output into the right channel. The default voice mix for the preset Drum Sets pans the drums between the Main output jacks in a way that works well for most applications. Stereo with Variable Placement: Plug the left Main output into the left channel of your amp (or mixer), and the right Main output into the right channel. With the User Drum Sets, you can pan the drums between the Main output jacks as desired. Separate Percussion/Drum Outputs: Standard drum kit sounds can be spread in stereo and assigned to the Main outputs, with percussion sounds spread in stereo and assigned to the Aux outputs. Run the outputs to a mixing console or computer audio interface, and you can treat the drum kit and percussion sounds as two sub-mixes. This technique might also be useful if you're recording the part on your DAW or disk recorder; feed the drums to two tracks, and the percussion to two other tracks. Adjust the balance between the two in the mix, or fade the percussion in and out independently of the trap drum sounds. Or, process the two groups individually. By default, pad sounds are output through the Main connections on the rear of the unit. However, you also have the option of outputting individual pads through the Aux connection. Please note that the Bass sounds can only be output as a group; in other words, all Bass sounds will either be output through the Main or Aux connections. Select the sound set which you would like to edit by pressing DRUM, PERC or BASS. Use the INC/DEC buttons, Value Dial or number buttons (1 chooses the Main output pair, 2 selects the Aux output pair). PAGE 13: DRUM SET NAME On this page you can assign a name to your Drum Set. If you wish to edit and rename one of the Preset Drum Sets, copy it to a User location first. You will see the cursor underneath the letter which is currently selected. Use the INC / DEC buttons or the VALUE dial to change the letter above the cursor. PAGE UP moves the cursor forward, while PAGE DOWN moves the cursor backwards (or goes back to the previous menu page if the first letter is selected). 2. 28 EFFECTS The Effects settings are stored per kit. Each Kit can have separate Reverb, Compression / EQ settings that are specific to that kit. [. . . ] After assembling several short Patterns, use the copy function to append Patterns into a longer Pattern. Example: Create four eight-beat Patterns, then use the copy function to combine these into a single 32-beat Pattern. Save Memory Through Song Steps Whenever possible, repeat Patterns using Song steps rather than program long Patterns. Example: Suppose you have a 16-measure figure where the first three groups of four measures are identical, and the final group of four measures provides some sort of variation. Recording this as one 16-measure Pattern will take up more memory than recording two Patterns (one of the first group of four measures and one of the last group of four measures), and while in Song mode repeating the first group three times followed by the last group once. Odd Time Signatures For time signatures based on quarter notes, changing the number of beats in a Pattern can also change the time signature. [. . . ]