Alesis MasterControl manual

REFERENCE MANUAL[...]

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TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 2 FIRST THINGS FIRST: DRIVER INSTALLATION ......................................................................... 3 WINDOWS ..............................................................[...]

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 stu dio. Just consider this list of features: y 24-bit, 192kHz audio interface with analog preampl ifiers and line inputs , plus ADAT and S/PDIF digi[...]

3 FIRST THINGS FIRST: DRIVER INSTALLATION If your computer has Internet access, go to http://www.ales is. 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 from the DVD, click to begin th e MasterControl d[...]

4 REAR PANEL FEATURES 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 5 6 6 6 7 7 8 9 9 10 10 10 11 11 12 13 1. MIC / LINE INPUTS – These two inputs can accept micr ophones (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 are balanced, low- impedance inputs. For [...]

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 M a sterControl’s talkback function on and off. Please re fer to the GLOBAL MENU S section to configure your footswitch. 9. MIDI IN / OU T – You can use MIDI cables to connect an external MI[...]

6 TOP PANEL FEATUR ES This section breaks down the cont rol 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: Transport (E) DAW Control: Assignable Button Banks (F)[...]

7 (B) DAW CONTROL: CHANNELS 5 6 1 2 4 3 3 3 3 1. CHANNEL FADER – Use this 100mm, touch-sens itive 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 DA W’s master fader. Note th at diffe rent DAWs control this fader differently . Some DAWs, suc h as Pr o T[...]

8 (C) DAW CONTROL: MULTI-FUNCTION KNOBS 3 1 2 1. TEMPLATE OVERLAY – Place the long plasticized overlay (included) that matches your currently selected DAW preset here. Remove the plastic protective covering from the te mpl ate overlay before placing it in the s lot. Insert one end first, then bend the over lay slightly upwards in order to slide t[...]

9 (E) DAW CONTROL: ASSIGNABLE BUTTON BANKS 1. TEMPLATE OVERLAY - Place the short plasticized overlay (incl uded) 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 pr esets, you can re-assign the buttons to various f unctions by pr essing EDIT[...]

10 2. DIRECT MON LEVEL – This knob raises or lowers your entire direct monitor mix. This allows yo u to blend your direct monitor signals with th e audio being pl ayed from your computer. 3. OUTPUT 1-2 LEVEL – This knob controls the volume sent out of the analog outpu ts for any of the analog output pairs tha t are set to listen to DAW outputs [...]

11 4. EDIT – In Edit Mode, you can change the assignmen ts for the A and B banks of the A SSIGN ABLE buttons – a tota l of 16 assignable functions. Upon entering Edit Mode, the DISPLAY will look like the image o n the right and the ASSIGNABLE BUTTONS will light up orange. First, press the button whose func tion you want to assign (the other but[...]

12 CONFIGURING YOUR DIGI TAL AUDIO WORKSTATION SOFTWARE FOR USE WITH TH E MASTERCONTROL Once your MasterControl is connecte d to your computer , there are thr ee steps to perform to establish audio and control surface communicati on with your Digital Audio Worksta tion (DAW): 1) On the MasterControl, select the prop er MasterControl preset for your[...]

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 . The n, in the right-hand pane, select “ASIO Alesis Firewire” for the ASIO driver.[...]

14 CUBASE AND NUENDO SETUP: CONTROL SURFACE (MAC AND WINDOWS) 1. Again from the men u bar, go to Devices f Device Setup… 2. Click the “+” button on the u pper-left corner of the window and select “Mackie C ontrol” from the list.[...]

15 3. Under Remote Devices f Mackie Control , select “Ales is FireWire” from the MIDI Input and M IDI Output drop-down menus. 4. Press “OK” to accept this s etting. 5. Once the MasterControl is selected as the audio devic e, individual channels must be acti vated for use. From the “Devices” menu, select “VST Connections.” Some versi[...]

16 6. In this first tab labeled “Inpu ts,” you can decide which of t he MasterControl’s channels will be routed to the Cubase’s inputs. Click the entries under “Device Port” to select an available channel from a drop-down menu. (This numb er and kind of available channels will vary depending on the sampling rate.) If necessary, you can [...]

17 8. If you want, you can rename channels by clicking on the entry under “B us Name.” This is useful for keeping track of which instrument i s 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 for details on MasterC ontrol operation wi[...]

18 2. Click the MIDI/Sync tab. Sele ct “Mac kieControl” from the C ontrol Surface drop-down menu , and select “Alesis FireWire” for the corresponding Input and Output. 3. Click the Audio tab. Sel ect “ASIO” from the Driver Type drop-down menu. (The MasterControl will still work if another option like MME/DirectX is se lected, but we rec[...]

19 4. Click “Input Config.” In the window that appears, selec t the inputs from the MasterControl that you want to be sent to the DAW, then click “OK.” 5. Click “Output Config.” In the window that ap pears, se lect the outputs on the MasterControl to which the DAW will send its audio. We reco mmend the selecting the top two boxes, whi c[...]

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 ri ght-hand side of the screen labeled “I-O” is on. Underneath each track, you should see the he adings “Audio From,” “Monitor,” and “Audio To.” (MIDI tracks will read “MIDI” instead of “Audio.”) 9. In [...]

21 11. Underneath “Monitor,” select the mo nitoring conf iguration you want. “Auto” will monitor the channel when it is “record-armed” or recording. “In” will monitor the channel continuously, whether it is being recorded or not. “Off” will disable monitorin g for that track. 12. The box underneath “Audio To” should read “[...]

22 CAKEWALK SONAR SETUP 1. From the menu bar, go to Options f Controllers/Surfaces . 2. Click the button with the “s tar” icon to add a new device. 3. Select “Mackie Control” from th e Controller/Surf ace drop-down menu, and select “Alesis FireWire” for the Input Port a nd Output Port. Cli ck “OK,” then close the Controller/Surfaces[...]

23 4. From the menu bar, go to Options f Audio…” 5. Click the “Advanced” tab. Select “ASIO” as t he “Driver Mode.” Most users will find that this provides better performance than WDM/KS mode. If you change this setting, you will need to exit and then restart Sonar.[...]

24 6. On the “General” tab, select any available MasterCont rol channels as the “Playback Timing Master.” We recommend “ASIO Alesis FireWire MasterControl DAW1,” which corresponds to the physical MON / LINE OUTPUTS 1 and 2 o n the MasterControl. 7. Select any available analog MasterControl channel as the “Playback Record Master.” Th[...]

25 8. Move to the “Drivers” tab. C lick on each input pair and also on the ou tput pair to make them available to Sonar. The available input c hannels (corresponding to the MasterContro l’s input channels) will depend on the sampling rate, which you can set in the “General” tab. There will always be three available output channels, which [...]

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 “Ins tall” from the drop-down menu.[...]

27 3. Select “Mackie Designs > Mackie Control > Logic Control” from t he 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 note s later in this manual for d e tails on MasterContro l operation with Log ic.[...]

28 SAMPLITUDE SETUP 1. From the menu bar, go to MIDI f MIDI Options f System O ptions f Hard ware Contro ller . 2. Click the “Add New” button and select “Mackie Control” from the list. 3. Select “Alesis FireWire” for the “MIDI Input” and “M IDI Output,” and be sure “Activate Controller ” is checked. DIGITAL PERFORMER SETUP 1[...]

29 AUDIO INPUTS AND OUTPUTS  Channels Sent from the Master C ontrol to the Computer The FireWire port sends every available individual Ma sterControl 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 the ADAT connections, and two digital ch ann[...]

30 WINDOWS AUDIO CONFIGUR ATION CHOOSING THE MASTERCONTROL AS YOUR DEFAULT AUDIO DEVICE To use your MasterControl as your default Windows sound device, follow the se steps: 1. From the Windows Start menu , choose Control Panel . 2. Choose Sounds and Audio Devices (XP) or Sounds (Vista). 3. Click the “Audio” tab. Change the de fault devices for [...]

31 DISABLING WINDOWS SYSTEM SOUNDS Windows System Sounds – the sounds that Windows plays to signal starting up, shutting down, alerts and so forth – can i nterfere with your audio record ing. We strongly suggest di sabling these sounds. 1. Click the “Sounds” tab of Sounds and Audio Devices (XP) or Sounds (Vista). Under the “Sound Scheme?[...]

32 ALESIS FIREWIRE CONTROL PANEL (WINDOWS) Open the Alesis Firewire Contro l Panel from the shortcut on your Desktop, the Programs menu, or from within your audio application. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1. Selecting the Alesi s MasterControl: Be sure that your MasterCont rol is shown here. If it is not shown, then your comput er does not “see” it. Check[...]

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 th eir Project Setup or similar menus. For instance, Cubase w ill take control of this parameter. 5. Adjusting latency by changing the buffer si ze: “Latency” refers to the a[...]

34 MAC AUDIO CONFIGURATION AUDIO MIDI SETUP On Mac, after you install the dr ivers, open the Audio MIDI Setup utility. Choose “Alesis Firewire” for your “Default Input” and “Def ault Output” devices under Mac’s Audio MIDI Setup util ity. Also, choose your clock source, and se t your sample rate here. Audio MIDI Setup is available from[...]

35 ALESIS FIREWIRE CONTROL PANEL (MAC) On Mac, buffer sizes are controlled by individual applications, and clocking and sample rates are set i n Audio MIDI Setup. Therefore, the Alesis Firewire Control panel—available eith er by pressing “Configure Device” from within Audio MIDI setu p or by choos ing Preferences from your Apple (top left) me[...]

36 GLOBAL MENUS Press the GLOBAL button to edit the MasterControl’s configuration, including where you want to route which c hannels, talkback and footswitch sett ings, and other featur es. Use the PAGE buttons beneath the DISPLAY to scroll through the settings. For e ach page, you can scroll through your options with the VALUE / ENTER knob at to[...]

37  Direct Monitoring When the MasterControl’s Direct Mon itoring function is enabled , the signal you are hearing is taken directly from the MasterControl rather than from your DAW. Th is allows you and your musicians to monitor the audio with no perceptible delay (latency). Here, you can choose whether or not the Direct Monitoring si gnal wi[...]

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 wa nt to continue, select “Yes.” The DISPLAY will read “Resetting” with two asterisks moving across the screen to indicate its progress. When the[...]

39 MONITORING & CONTROL ROOM FEATU RES  Speakers / Outputs Controls The SPEAKERS / OUTPUTS buttons allo w you to monitor the MasterControl’s MON / LINE OU TPUTS as follows: y The “A” SPEAKERS / OUTPUTS button moni to rs the “A” outputs (Channels 1 and 2) y The “B” SPEAKERS / OUTPUTS button moni to rs the “B” outputs (Channe[...]

40 DIRECT MONITORING The MasterControl contains a hardw are-based, DSP mixer which enables you to route the inputs to the outputs directly, bypassing any lat encies associated with sending the audio to and from the computer . This hardware-based routing provides the minimum possible latency – only the time required for audio to be converted betwe[...]

41 CREATING A CUBASE LE PROJECT FO R RECORDING Once you have set up Cubase to work with the Mast erControl , you’re ready to create an audio project. 1. Choose File f New Project. 2. You can begin with a template or an e mpty file. For now, begin with an empty file . 3. Cubase needs to know where to place audio. Choose a directory here. An excell[...]

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 s ide of Cubase that shows all sorts of inform ation about the selected track – is active. If your view is similar to that shown below, th e Inspector is active. If you do[...]

43 6. Choose an input for your track by selecting it from the drop-down menu of available inputs. B y default, the input will be the first ster eo bus in the “VST Connections” window. 7. You will do most of your monitoring through the mi xer. However, if you want to monitor with Cubase’s effects, or if you just want to hear what the computer [...]

44 IMPORTANT POINTS FOR USERS OF VARIOUS DAWS When using the MasterControl with various Digital A udio 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 uniqu e to certain DAWs, using their current versions at the[...]

45 LOGIC PRO y Ensure that you choose a “Mackie Control” contro l sur face. The “Logic Control” contro l surface uses a different set of M IDI messages and is not compatible wi th the Alesis MasterControl. y Rows 2 and 3 on the MasterCon trol correspond to differen t modes in Logic: Row 2 is Send Mode . Four “Send Parameter” options ar [...]

46 DIGITAL PERFORMER y Row 2 of the MasterControl is no t mapped. y Vertical Zoom is not possibl e from the Ma sterControl. y MasterControl’s ZOOM button cycles through th ree 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. When the bu tton is flashing, no zoom func t[...]

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 in to Scrub Mode. y When scrubbing, if you want your cursor to remain at the last scrub point in the timeline, go to Setup>Preferences>Operation>Transport and check "Edi t Insertion F[...]

48 PLUG-IN 1, 2 y These presets are designed to cont rol virtual instruments and e ffects plugins. If you are using a virtual instrument within a DAW, you will need to disconnect the Al esis Firewire MIDI ports from control surface operation (Mackie Control or HUI) so that you can use th e MasterControl as a generic MIDI controller. In these preset[...]

49 SIGNAL FLOW DIAGRAM[...]

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 cli pping Mic In to Line Out: At min gain: 9.6dBu in, 18.7dBu out (gain = 9.1dB) At max gain: -40.5d Bu in, +18.7dBu out (g ain = 59.2dB) L[...]

51 TRADEMARKS All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Specifically: “MasterControl” is a tr ademark of Alesis, LLC . “Soundtrack,” Soundtrack Pro,” “Logic ,” Logic Pro,” “C oreAudio,” “CoreMIDI,” “M ac” and “Mac OS” are trademarks of Apple, Inc. “Windows,” “Windows XP,” and “W indows Vis[...]

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