Alesis MIXING CONSOLES manual

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Table of contents for the manual

  • Page 1

    A L ES I S MidiVerb 3 Reference M a nu a l[...]

  • Page 2

    i TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 2 FEATURES ............................................................................................................. 2 HOW TO USE THIS MANUAL ..............................................................................[...]

  • Page 3

    ii SECTION 3 INTERFACING MIDIVERB III ......................................................................... 14 INSTRUMENTS/MICROPHONES ........................................................................... 14 MONO OPERATION .................................................................................. 14 MIXING CONSOLES ...............[...]

  • Page 4

    iii TRANSMITTING PROGRAMS VIA MIDI .................................................... 42 RECEIVING PROGRAMS VIA MIDI ........................................................... 43 MIDI MAPPING .......................................................................................... 43 MIDI PROG ...................................................[...]

  • Page 5

    [...]

  • Page 6

    USERS MANUAL[...]

  • Page 7

    INTRODUCTION 2 Alesis MIDIVERB III 16 BIT MULTI-EFFECTS PROCESSOR WITH REAL-TIME MIDI PARAMETER CONTROL INTRODUCTION The A lesis MIDIVERB III is a high quality multi-effects unit which features up to 4 simultaneous effects (Delay, Reverb, Chorus, EQ) at a full 15KHz bandwidth and with 16 bit resolution. Since all features of MIDIVERB III are access[...]

  • Page 8

    INTRODUCTION 3[...]

  • Page 9

    INTRODUCTION 4 HOW TO USE THIS MANUAL Since a musician's time is better spent making music than reading manuals, we've tried to make this manual not only easy to use, but also fast and easy to find things when you need to. Therefore, the manual is broken down to 6 major sections, of which Section 4 will be probably be referred to the most[...]

  • Page 10

    QUICK START 5 SECTION 1 MIDIVERB III QUICK START FACTORY PROGRAMS The MIDIVERB III contains 200 factory supplied programs, 100 of which are stored in memory locations 000 to 099 and repeated again in locations 100 to 199. Only the programs in locations 100 to 199 can be permanently al tered and stored as desired by the user. SELECTING PROGRAMS 1) P[...]

  • Page 11

    SECTION 1 6 2) Pressing the EDIT button again will select the upper LED which indicates that the top row of edit functions on the top row of buttons can be accessed. 3) Select the desired function to be edited. The stored value of the parameter will appear in the numeric dis play and the button will light up. 4) Press either VALUE button to adjust [...]

  • Page 12

    QUICK START 7[...]

  • Page 13

    SECTION 1 8 SAVING (STORING) EDITED PROGRAMS 1) Once a program has been edited to your liking, press the STORE button. The LED in the middle of the button will flash. 2) The numeric display will show the current program number if it was program 100 through 199, or will display the program number plus 100 if it was 000 to 099, since 000 to 099 canno[...]

  • Page 14

    DESCRIPTION OF CONTROLS 9 SECTION 2 DESCRIPTION OF CONTROLS FRONT PANEL INPUT The INPUT control is a stereo control that determines the master volume level of the signal being fed into both inputs of the MIDIVERB III . MIX The MIX control determines the ratio of direct to effect signal. Full counterclockwise (to the left) applies only direct signal[...]

  • Page 15

    SECTION 2 10 VALUE The VALUE buttons can be used to select the desired number or, once a desired parameter has been selected, edit the parameters value. PROGRAM The PROGRAM button will display the number of the current pro gram. A period appearing behind the program number indicates that a parameter or function has been edited and is different from[...]

  • Page 16

    DESCRIPTION OF CONTROLS 11 DELAY/2 When in the EDIT mode, pressing the DELAY button will access either the D ELAY TIME or D ELAY REGENERATION amount for edit ing, depending which EDIT LED is lit. The D ELAY TIME parame ter allows the user to adjust the time between repeats as required. The D ELAY REGENERATION parameter adjusts the number of repeats[...]

  • Page 17

    SECTION 2 12 MIX/5 When in the EDIT mode, pressing the MIX button will adjust the relative level of either the Delay or Reverb, depending on which page the Edit LED is set. The Chorus level is always the same and is either On or Off depending upon the Configuration selected. After pressing the MIX button, pressing the VALUE buttons will se lect the[...]

  • Page 18

    DESCRIPTION OF CONTROLS 13 When in the EDIT mode, the MIDI button is used to select the send and receive channel for the MIDIVERB III . The range is channel 01 through 16. Pressing the MIDI button a second time selects if the MIDIVERB III will accept MIDI Program Change commands. Pressing the MIDI button a third time selects the ECHO On or Off func[...]

  • Page 19

    SECTION 2 14 The other half of the MIDI program MAPPING section when in the EDIT mode, the INT. PROG (Internal Program) button selects the internal MIDIVERB III program (from 000 to 199) that will be cho sen by the external MIDI program number that is selected by the MIDI PROG button. When in the PROGRAM mode, this is button 0 of the keypad for sel[...]

  • Page 20

    DESCRIPTION OF CONTROLS 15 Retransmits MIDI information received by MIDIVERB III to other MIDI units if the MIDI ECHO function is enabled. Also used as a MIDI OUT jack for MIDI system exclusive data dumps. BYPASS JACK The BYPASS jack bypasses the effects of the MIDIVERB III and supplies only Direct Signal Level to the stereo outputs. When the signa[...]

  • Page 21

    SECTION 2 16 Program button Value buttons Edit button LED display Clip indicator Reverb button Delay button Chorus button EQ button Mix button Store button Signal present LED Input Mix Output Config button Mod button MIDI button MIDI Mapping buttons (Mapping and Int. Prog) Bypass button Bypass footswitch jack Power jack MIDI Out/Thru MIDI In L-R In[...]

  • Page 22

    INTERFACING MIDIVERB III 17 SECTION 3 INTERFACING MIDIVERB III INSTRUMENTS MICROPHONES The A lesis MIDIVERB III has high impedance inputs that are ideally suited for use either with instruments or line level signals. Although microphones can be connected directly into the MIDIVERB III , it is recommended that for quietest operation they be connecte[...]

  • Page 23

    SECTION 3 18 MIXING CONSOLES INTERFACING VIA AUX SENDS The MIDIVERB III handles mono or stereo sends at all system levels. The input circuitry of the MIDIVERB III can easily handle +4dBv levels (+20dBv peaks), while having enough input or output gain to interface with the extremely low signal levels of budget recording systems. The MIDIVERB III may[...]

  • Page 24

    INTERFACING MIDIVERB III 19 AUX SEND 1 RIGHT INPUT AUX RETURN OR INPUT CHANNEL LEFT OUPUT RIGHT OUPUT B. STEREO IN - STEREO OUT LEFT INPUT AUX SEND 2 INTERFACING VIA INSERT SEND AND RETURNS Another way of interfacing the MIDIVERB III is to connect the unit directly to the insert send and return patch points of the channel that is to be effected. Se[...]

  • Page 25

    SECTION 3 20 CONNECTION TO THE MAIN OUTPUTS Still another way of interfacing the MIDIVERB III to a mixer or recording console would be in-line across the output of your mix ing console ( See Figure 4 ). This setup would be used only if you needed to effect the entire mix. FIGURE 4 STEREO CONNECTION TO THE CONSOLE MAIN OUTPUTS MAIN OUT LEFT MAIN OUT[...]

  • Page 26

    INTERFACING MIDIVERB III 21 2) Now turn the OUTPUT LEVEL control up (clockwise) un til there is sufficient level at the amplifier or mixer. Be careful not to turn the OUTPUT LEVEL control up too high since the strong signal may cause your amplifier or mixer to overload. 3) Next, turn the MIX control until the correct balance be tween effect and dir[...]

  • Page 27

    SECTION 4 22 SECTION 4 USING MIDIVERB III PROGRAM MODE When power is first turned on, the MIDIVERB III automatically re sets to the Program mode and the last program selected before the power was turned off will be currently selected. For the purpose of illustration, let's assume that you are turning your MIDIVERB III on for the first time. Th[...]

  • Page 28

    USING M IDIVERB III 23 023 Note that the front panel still displays the following: — The PROGRAM LED will be lit, indicating that the MIDIVERB III is in the Program mode. — The display will read the program number, only now it reads "023". WITH KEYPAD Another way to select program 23 would be to use the ten function keys on the right [...]

  • Page 29

    SECTION 4 24 Pon 3) Press the "Up" VALUE button until display read "Pon" 4) Set program 023 on the MIDIVERB III to correspond with the desired program number on your synth, se quencer, or other MIDI device. (see " How to Use MIDI Mapping" on page xxxxxxx). 5) Send the program change from your synth, sequencer, or other[...]

  • Page 30

    USING M IDIVERB III 25 ro1 3) Select the desired function to be edited. The stored value of the parameter will appear in the numeric dis play and the button will light up. In this case we will edit the DELAY TIME. When we se lect the DELAY button, the display will read: 080 4) Press either VALUE button to adjust the desired param eter. 5) Select an[...]

  • Page 31

    SECTION 4 26 REVERB Reverb can be thought of as a great number of distinct echos, called reflections, that occur so fast that our ear hears them blurred together as one. In nature, different size spaces give distinctly different sounding reverbs, depending upon the size and shape of the space (called Reverb Density), and the texture of the surfaces[...]

  • Page 32

    USING M IDIVERB III 27 REVERB DECAY The Reverb Decay determines the length of time that the Reverb will sound before it finally fades away. It is not used in the Reverse 1 and 2 Algorithms. It is functional in all others. DELAY The Delay section of the MIDIVERB III can be used in two modes, depending upon the configuration. In some configura tions,[...]

  • Page 33

    SECTION 4 28 There are 24 different Chorus Algorithms (Chorus versions), in the MIDIVERB III . Each algorithm has a different sound and simu lates a different pitch based effect. There are two major types of algorithms: Chorus and Flanging (see explanation below). Both Chorus and Flanging have 6 algo rithms of mono and 6 algorithms of stereo. See F[...]

  • Page 34

    USING M IDIVERB III 29 variables are available, from varying the Speed and Depth of the LFO to feeding back part of the signal to make the effect stronger. In the case of a Stereo Flange , the signal is split into three parts with a dry signal and a separate Delay section for both left and right channels with one channel flanging up while the other[...]

  • Page 35

    SECTION 4 30 INPUT EQ The INPUT EQ is a high-cut filter that rolls off the high frequency response of the input signal before it is sent to either the Delay, Reverb, or Chorus. The VALUE button selects the frequency where the signal has been rolled off -3dB. See Figure 7. EFFECT EQ The EFFECT EQ is a high-cut filter that is part of the currently se[...]

  • Page 36

    USING M IDIVERB III 31 MODULATING MIDIVERB III 's PARAMETERS MOD PARAMETERS The MOD section lets you control various MIDIVERB III parame ters from a MIDI controller such as the pitchwheel, modwheel, keyboard aftertouch, keyboard note number, keyboard velocity, sustain pedal, or breath controller. This is extremely useful when dynamic or real-t[...]

  • Page 37

    SECTION 4 32 FIGURE 8 MIDI CONTROLLER SOURCES CONTROLLER DESCRIPTION PITCH BEND The pitch bend wheel or lever common on most synthesiz ers. CONTROLLER #1 The Mod Wheel common on most synthesizers is desig nated Controller #1 in the MIDI specification. It is called Con troller #1 instead of Mod Wheel here since it is easier to dis play as "1&qu[...]

  • Page 38

    USING M IDIVERB III 33 Figure 10 shows how MIDIVERB III will display the routing and which controller/parameter combinations are active. FIGURE 10 MIDIVERB III MOD ROUTING DISPLAY 1st character of display 2nd and 3rd character of display MIDIVERB III PARAMETER DISPLAY MOD CONTROLLER MODULATED OFF None None Prd Pitchwheel Reverb Decay 1rd Modwheel R[...]

  • Page 39

    SECTION 4 34 PdL Pitchwheel Delay Level 1dL Modwheel Delay Level ndL Note Number Delay Level UdL Velocity Delay Level AdL Aftertouch Delay Level SdL Sustain Pedal Delay Level bdL Breath Controller Delay Level 7dL Volume Pedal Delay Level MOD AMPLITUDE The Mod Amplitude is the amount that the selected MIDIVERB III parameter will be affected by the M[...]

  • Page 40

    USING M IDIVERB III 35 PLEASE NOTE : In all Configurations except #14 and 15, the maximum delay is 100 milliseconds. In Configurations #14 and 15, the maximum delay time is 490 milliseconds .[...]

  • Page 41

    SECTION 4 36 FIGURE 10 CONFIG CONFIGURATION CHRS in REVERB NUMBER SIGNAL PATHS OUTPUT PRE-DELAY 1 EQ > CHRS > DELAY > REVERB ON YES 2 EQ > CHRS > REVERB ON NO EQ > CHRS > DELAY 3 EQ > CHRS > REVERB ON NO DELAY 4 EQ > CHRS > REVERB ON NO EQ > DELAY 5 EQ > REVERB ON NO CHRS > DELAY 6 EQ > DELAY ON NO CHRS [...]

  • Page 42

    USING M IDIVERB III 37 Below is a chart for each configuration that shows what the effects possibilities of each are, as well as where the Chorus section is routed to.[...]

  • Page 43

    SECTION 4 38 CONFIGURATION 1 CHORUS EFFECTS POSSIBILITIES Routed to Output 1. EQ'd, Chorused, Predelayed Reverb 2. EQ'd, Chorused, Predelayed Reverb with echo 3. EQ'd, Chorused Delay 4. All of the above at once 5. EQ'd Chorus only EQ CHORUS DELAY REVERB DELAY LEVEL REVERB LEVEL MIX L R L R OUTPUT INPUT INPUT EQ TIME REGEN EQ 100[...]

  • Page 44

    USING M IDIVERB III 39 CONFIGURATION 3 CHORUS EFFECTS POSSIBILITIES Routed to Output 1. EQ'd Chorused Reverb 2. Delay 3. All of the above at once 4. EQ'd Chorus only EQ CHORUS DELAY REVERB DELAY LEVEL REVERB LEVEL MIX L R L R OUTPUT INPUT INPUT EQ TIME REGEN EQ 100ms ALGORITHM SPEED DECAY ALGORITHM CONFIGURATION 4 CHORUS EFFECTS POSSIBILI[...]

  • Page 45

    SECTION 4 40 CONFIGURATION 5 CHORUS EFFECTS POSSIBILITIES Routed to Output 1. EQ'd Reverb 2. Chorused Delay 3. All of the above at once 4. Chorus only EQ CHORUS DELAY REVERB DELAY LEVEL REVERB LEVEL MIX L R L R OUTPUT INPUT INPUT EQ TIME REGEN EQ 100ms ALGORITHM SPEED DECAY ALGORITHM CONFIGURATION 6 CHORUS EFFEC TS POSSIBILITIES Routed to Outp[...]

  • Page 46

    USING M IDIVERB III 41 CONFIGURATION 7 CHORUS EFFECTS POSSIBILITIES Routed to Effects only 1. EQ'd, Chorused, Predelayed Reverb 2. EQ'd, Chorused, Predelayed Reverb with echo 3. EQ'd, Chorused Delay 4. All of the above at once EQ CHORUS DELAY REVERB DELAY LEVEL REVERB LEVEL MIX L R OUTPUT INPUT INPUT EQ TIME REGEN EQ 100ms ALGORITHM [...]

  • Page 47

    SECTION 4 42 CONFIGURATION 9 CHORUS EFFECTS POSSIBILITIES Routed to Effects only 1. EQ'd Chorused Reverb 2. Delay 3. All of the above at once EQ CHORUS DELAY REVERB DELAY LEVEL REVERB LEVEL MIX L R L R OUTPUT INPUT INPUT EQ ALGORITHM SPEED TIME REGEN DECAY EQ 100ms ALGORITHM CONFIGURATION 10 CHORUS EFFECTS POSSIBILITIES Routed to Effects only [...]

  • Page 48

    USING M IDIVERB III 43 CONFIGURATION 11 CHORUS EFFECTS POSSIBILITIES Routed to Effects only 1. EQ'd Reverb 2. Chorused Delay 3. All of the above at once EQ CHORUS DELAY REVERB DELAY LEVEL REVERB LEVEL MIX L R L R OUTPUT INPUT INPUT EQ TIME REGEN EQ 100ms ALGORITHM SPEED DECAY ALGORITHM CONFIGURATION 12 CHORUS EFFECTS POSSIBILITIES Routed to Ef[...]

  • Page 49

    SECTION 4 44 EQ CHORUS DELAY REVERB DELAY LEVEL REVERB LEVEL MIX L R OUTPUT INPUT INPUT EQ TIME REGEN EQ 100ms ALGORITHM SPEED DECAY ALGORITHM CONFIGURATION 14 CHORUS EFFECTS POSSIBILITIES Routed to Output 1. EQ'd Chorus 2. EQ'd Chorused Delay 3. All of the above at once EQ CHORUS DELAY DELAY LEVEL MIX L R L R OUTPUT INPUT INPUT EQ TIME R[...]

  • Page 50

    USING M IDIVERB III 45 SAVING (STORING) EDITED PROGRAMS 1) Once a program has been edited to your liking, press the STORE button. The LED in the middle of the button will flash. 199 2) The numeric display will show the current program number if it was program 100 - 199, or will display the program number plus 100 if it was 000 to 099, since 000 to [...]

  • Page 51

    SECTION 4 46 USING MIDIVERB III WITH MIDI MIDI PARAMETERS The MIDI button accesses the various MIDI parameters of MIDIVERB III . The MIDI functions are global functions and are not stored with an individual program. MIDI CHANNEL The MIDIVERB III can receive MIDI information on channels 1 through 16. When in the EDIT mode, the MIDI button is used to[...]

  • Page 52

    USING M IDIVERB III 47 MIDI PROGRAM CHANGE Pressing the MIDI button a second time accesses the MIDI Pro gram Change page which allows the MIDIVERB III to change programs remotely by a MIDI Program Change command. The MIDIVERB III will also send Program Change commands when programs are selected from the front panel. When used in con junction with t[...]

  • Page 53

    SECTION 4 48 exception of System Exclusive data) to be retransmitted back out the MIDI OUT jack.[...]

  • Page 54

    USING M IDIVERB III 49 SELECTING MIDI ECHO 1) While still in the EDIT mode ( either EDIT LED lit), press the MIDI button THREE times . The numeric display will read "Eon" if MIDI Echo is on, and "Eof" if MIDI Echo is off. Eof 2) Press the VALUE "Up" button to toggle MIDI Echo "On"; Press the VALUE "Down&[...]

  • Page 55

    SECTION 4 50 2) Press the STORE button, which causes MIDIVERB III 's entire memory to be sent out via MIDI to an external storage device like an A lesis DATADISK or another MIDIVERB III. The display will read "____" while sending the data, which will take about 1 second, after which it will return to "Snd". --- RECEIVING PR[...]

  • Page 56

    USING M IDIVERB III 51 MIDI Controller Program 102 = MIDIVERB III Program 39 MIDI Controller Program 103 = MIDIVERB III Program 25 Selecting program 101 on the MIDI controller would result in pro gram 33 of the MIDIVERB III being accessed, selecting program 102 would result in program 39 of the MIDIVERB III being ac cessed, and selecting program 10[...]

  • Page 57

    SECTION 4 52 100 3) Select the INT. PROGRAM button on the MIDIVERB III . 4) Press the VALUE button until the desired internal MIDIVERB III program number is displayed. In this case it would be program 33. 033 5) Select the MIDI PROGRAM button on the MIDIVERB III once again. 6) Press the VALUE button until the next desired program number of the exte[...]

  • Page 58

    USING M IDIVERB III 53[...]

  • Page 59

    SECTION 4 54 MISCELLANEOUS FUNCTIONS INITIALIZING THE MIDIVERB III There are two reasons why you may want to reinitialize your MIDIVERB III : 1) To return all programs to their factory parameter settings (called "initializing"). 2) In case the unit locks up from a power surge. To initialize your MIDIVERB III , do the following: 1) Turn th[...]

  • Page 60

    USING M IDIVERB III 55 DETERMINING THE CURRENT SOFTWARE VERSION 1) Hold the PROGRAM button and press the EDIT button. The display will read X.XX which represents the current version number of the software. 1.00[...]

  • Page 61

    SECTION 5 56 SECTION 5 SPECIFICATIONS ELECTRICAL CHARACTERISTICS FREQUENCY RESPONSE 16Hz - 15KHz, ±1dB DYNAMIC RANGE 85 dB HARMONIC DISTORTION .1% typical @ 1KHz @ 0dBV INPUT NUMBER OF CHANNELS 2 NOMINAL LEVEL +4dBV MAXIMUM LEVEL +20dBV IMPEDANCE 1 M ½ per channel in stereo 500K ½ per channel in mono A/D - D/A CONVERSIONS CONVERSION SCHEME 16 Bi[...]

  • Page 62

    SPECIFICATIONS 57[...]

  • Page 63

    SECTION 5 58 MIDI CONTROL Program Change MIDI Sysex TransferMIDI Program Mapping MIDI Echo MIDI Modulation Exten sive real-time control of Program parameters and Effects levels Mod Sources Pitch bend, Mod wheel, Aftertouch, Note number, Note velocity, Sustain pedal, Breath Controller, volume pedal Destinations Reverb Decay, Delay Time, Delay Regene[...]