ALESIS Playmate Vocalist - Manual (Page 3)

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MICROPHONE IN GAIN
MICROPHONE IN GAIN
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Quick Setup
1.
Make sure all items listed on the
front of this guide are in the
Playmate Vocalist’s box.
2. Read the Important Safety
Instructions.
3. Study the Hookup Diagram above.
Refer to the next section for details
on which cables to use.
4. Make sure all devices and
instruments are turned off and all
gain knobs set to zero.
5. Connect your microphone to
either the XLR input or the 1/4”
direct input located on the rear of
the Playmate Vocalist.
Note: The Playmate Vocalist does
not provide phantom power. Do
not attempt to use microphones
that require external phantom
power.
6. Connect your headphones to one
of the PHONES jacks. You may
connect two sets of headphones.
7. To output the signal to a PA
amplifier, mixer or other
equipment, connect the Playmate
Vocalist’s Left and Right OUTPUT
jacks to the inputs of the device
using 1/4” TRS plugs. To connect
to your stereo, you will need to
buy 1/4”-to-RCA plug converters.
8. Turn on the Playmate Vocalist first,
followed by the other equipment.
Be sure to turn on any amplifiers
last to avoid any sudden “pops”
that could damage speakers.
9. When finished, turn off any
external amplifiers first—
before turning off or
disconnecting the Playmate
Vocalist—to prevent damage
to external speakers.
10. Go to http://www.alesis.com
to register the Playmate
Vocalist.
Rear-Panel Features and
Connection Details
1.
POWER – Turns the unit on and
off. Always use this button to turn
off the unit before removing the
power cord.
2. IEC Power Plug Connector –
Plug in the power cord that came
with the unit here.
3. Voltage Switch – Adjusts the
voltage from 115V/60Hz
(American) to 230V/50Hz
(European). It’s important that this
is set to the correct voltage;
otherwise, you could damage the
Playmate Vocalist.
4. MICROPHONE Input – an XLR
input that accepts any microphone
with an XLR plug.
5. DIRECT IN Input – a 1/4”
instrument input. This input
bypasses the Playmate Vocalist’s
effects section and works well for
adding your synthesizer or other
instrument into the mix.
6. Gain Knob – controls the gain of
the MICROPHONE input. Turn this
knob up until you achieve a loud,
clear sound. Turn it down if you
experience distortion, feedback,
clipping or excessive hiss.
NOTE: The Gain knob only works
with the MICROPHONE input; it
does not affect the DIRECT IN
input.
Mic
Headphones
Power
Source
For Recording Live
PA System
ADAT
Hookup
Diagram
Rear Panel
Digital Audio
Workstation
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Top of the Playmate Vocalist 7. PHONES – stereo 1/4”
unbalanced jacks for connecting
two sets of headphones.
8. L and R OUTPUTS – 1/4” TRS
stereo output for routing the left
and right signals to a device such
as a mixer or amplifier.
Features of the Playmate Vocalist
1. Display – Shows the current
track and effect program, CD
time and various other settings.
Refer to the “Features of the
Display” section for details.
2. Play/Pause Button – Plays the
CD. If you press this button while
a CD is playing, it will be paused
until you press Play/Pause again.
3. Stop Button – Stops a playing CD.
4. Skip Previous Button – Skips to
the beginning of the current track,
or skips to the previous track on
the CD.
5. Skip Next Button – Skips to the
beginning of the next song on the
CD.
6. Scan Forward Button – Scans
forward through the current song.
Hold down this button to continue
scanning.
7. Scan Back Button – Scans
backward through the current
song. Hold down this button to
continue scanning.
8. PITCH Knob – Controls the
tuning of the CD audio. When you
turn this knob, both the pitch and
the speed of the audio are affected.
You may adjust the pitch by as
much as plus or minus 8%.
9. SPEED Knob – Adjusts the speed,
or tempo, of the CD audio without
affecting its pitch. You may
decrease the tempo by as much as
50% and increase it as much as
150%.
10. TRANSPOSE Knob – Changes the
key of the CD audio in half-step
intervals, a maximum of seven
half-steps up or down, without
affecting the speed of the audio.
The TRANSPOSE knob does not
affect the audio’s tuning either. For
example, let’s say you tune the
audio to 5% sharp using the
PITCH knob. If you then transpose
the audio up four half-steps, it will
then be four half-steps plus 5%
sharp.
TIP: We recommend that you
transpose a song to the
appropriate key first, and then
adjust the speed, followed by the
pitch. That way you can tune the
music to your voice or instrument
first, adjust the tempo without
affecting that tuning, and then
make minor pitch adjustments if
necessary.
11. VOLUME Knob – Controls the
master output volume of the
Vocalist Playmate.
12. BALANCE Knob – Controls the
ratio of the volume of the inputted
vocal (along with the selected
effect) versus the volume of the
CD audio. Turn this knob all the
way to the right and the main
outputs will contain 100% CD
audio. Turn it all the way to the
left and the outputs will contain
100% vocal. When the knob is in
the center position, the vocals and
CD audio will be mixed evenly at
50% each.
13. EFFECT Knob – Turn this 16-
position knob to select an effect
program from the Playmate
Vocalist’s digital vocal processor.
When you turn on the unit, you
automatically have access to the 16
effects in Bank A. To access Bank
B, press and hold the SET button
and hit the ON/OFF button. The
sixteen positions of the EFFECT
knob will then be mapped to
Programs 17 – 32.
Bank A contains traditional effects
such as reverbs and delays. Bank
B offers some inventive reverbs,
echoes, pitch shifters, distortions