Manuale d’uso / di manutenzione del prodotto MasterControl del fabbricante Alesis
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REFERENCE MANUAL.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 2 FIRST THINGS FIRST: DRIVER INSTALLATION ...............................................
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 an.
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.
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.
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 .
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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” SPEA.
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 .
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 .
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.
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.
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.
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 .
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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Un punto importante, dopo l’acquisto del dispositivo (o anche prima di acquisto) è quello di leggere il manuale. Dobbiamo farlo per diversi motivi semplici:
Se non hai ancora comprato il Alesis MasterControl è un buon momento per familiarizzare con i dati di base del prodotto. Prime consultare le pagine iniziali del manuale d’uso, che si trova al di sopra. Dovresti trovare lì i dati tecnici più importanti del Alesis MasterControl - in questo modo è possibile verificare se l’apparecchio soddisfa le tue esigenze. Esplorando le pagine segenti del manuali d’uso Alesis MasterControl imparerai tutte le caratteristiche del prodotto e le informazioni sul suo funzionamento. Le informazioni sul Alesis MasterControl ti aiuteranno sicuramente a prendere una decisione relativa all’acquisto.
In una situazione in cui hai già il Alesis MasterControl, ma non hai ancora letto il manuale d’uso, dovresti farlo per le ragioni sopra descritte. Saprai quindi se hai correttamente usato le funzioni disponibili, e se hai commesso errori che possono ridurre la durata di vita del Alesis MasterControl.
Tuttavia, uno dei ruoli più importanti per l’utente svolti dal manuale d’uso è quello di aiutare a risolvere i problemi con il Alesis MasterControl. Quasi sempre, ci troverai Troubleshooting, cioè i guasti più frequenti e malfunzionamenti del dispositivo Alesis MasterControl insieme con le istruzioni su come risolverli. Anche se non si riesci a risolvere il problema, il manuale d’uso ti mostrerà il percorso di ulteriori procedimenti – il contatto con il centro servizio clienti o il servizio più vicino.
