ALESIS QS8.1 - Manual (Page 154)

Part 8: Editing Programs
142 QS7.1/QS8.1 Reference Manual
• Pitch Wheel The leftmost wheel, Pitch, usually controls the oscillator pitch but
can be tied to other parameters as well.
• MIDI Volume MIDI can produce a variety of controller messages (see the MIDI
supplement in the back of this manual). Of these, controller #7, which controls
channel volume, is one of the most frequently used. Example: Assign the filter
cutoff as the destination, and you can have the signal become less bright as it
becomes lower in volume.
• Sustain Pedal The sustain switch plugged into the sustain pedal jack provides
this modulation signal.
• Pedal 1 The default setting assigns Pedal 1 to MIDI Controller 7 to act as a
volume pedal. But it can also be assigned to any other incoming MIDI controller
number (Global Edit Mode, page 12) and routed to any destination in the Mod
section.
• Pedal 2 Even if you’re not using a “Pedal 2,” it is still available in the Global
section as an assignable controller (Global Edit Mode, page 13). This parameter is
what enables you to select that incoming MIDI controller as a source for
modulation.
• Pitch LFO/Filter LFO/Amplitude LFO: You can select the LFOs as modulation
sources, even if they aren't being used to affect the Sound in their usual ways.
Once selected, you can route them to affect some unusual things -- like
eachother! Any item on the Destination list is fair game.
• Pitch Envelope/Filter Envelope/Amplitude Envelope: These can also be selected
as modulation sources. Try routing them to LFO speeds or the Effect Send Level
of a Sound, or whatever you can think up!
• Random This provides a different modulation value every time you hit a key.
Example: With vintage analog synth patches, use pitch as the destination and
apply a very slight amount of random modulation. Each note will have a slightly
different pitch, which simulates the natural tuning instability of analog circuits.
• Trigrate This is a Trigger Rate Follower, which monitors how fast notes are
being played on the keyboard. For example, if routed to the Effect send of a
Program, you could automatically have more effect when playing slowly, and
less effect when playing quickly (or vice versa).
• Controllers (A, B, C, D) Four incoming MIDI controllers can be recognized by
the QS and used as modulation sources. These controllers are assigned as A–D in
Global Edit Mode (pages 8-11). In Program Play and Mix Play Modes, the
CONTROLLER [A], [B], [C] and [D] sliders serve the same purpose.
• Tracking Generator This accepts the output of a signal processed by the
Tracking Generator module (see page 149).
• Stepped Tracking Generator This accepts the output of a signal processed by
the Tracking Generator module in stepped mode (see page 150).